The end of the second grade school year is here - 20 days to be exact. Curtis has been up against some large challenges, big obstacles and some heavy emotions over the last nine months. He has taken on the work load of a 3rd/4th grader in all areas, he has blossomed socially in the classroom and in small groups and he has navigated a different hallway, a different mainstream classroom and a different teacher like a champ. To honor all of these accomplishments I have created a chain of "rewards" that Curtis gets to tap into every morning once he hangs up his bag. Each chain link has a "Congratulations - you have worked hard this year, you get to  ____________!" 

The rewards are mostly centered around struggles he has gone through (and successfully made it out on the other side) all school year. For example, he usually puts up a fight in doing his morning work on Monday morning after the weekend. So, one of the rewards allows him to skip it and "take a chill pill in my chair", on another day he might get to "skip" music class - another year long struggle for Curtis. Finishing some "useless" (according to Curtis) classwork has also caused a lot of stress for him. One of the rewards coming his way this week is to go through his math journal and rip out one page and putting it in the trash - something he has been itching to do all year long. I lined up the chain links with certain rewards on certain days knowing where he is usually struggling and making the last chunk of the school year smooth and filled with joy and pride - as it should be. We all deserve to be rewarded for making big leaps in life. Curtis has the next 19 school days filled with rewards for navigating second grade like a warrior and coming out stronger on the other side.

Caron, 1:1 School Support

A day in the life of Curtis at school never looks the same, no matter how much planning we have done as a team. This is a concept that we take on every morning with a calm awareness, preparing either for a choppy storm or a beautiful rainbow - really, either could occur between 8:30 and 3:00. The days always start out the same with Curtis working his way down his fifteen "target" behavior plan broken down academically, socially and behaviorally with expectation that I have formatted to match his classrooms plan and his own needs. For the first two years with him I had him "earning" his free time as long as he met his target - each target he meet a target, he earned 3 minutes towards his free time with the most earned amount of free time being 60 minutes total for the day. This year I decided to raise the bar with him, doing away with 1/2 of that free and taking away the "earning" component to his plan. Having the expected behaviors  be expected and the free time simply being there twice a day (11:45 - 12:00 and 2:45 - 3:00). At first thought this might seem counter productive for a child with Autism but I found that when Curtis was on a behavior plan where he had to "earn" his free time he would constantly be fixated on either earning it with flying colors or the complete opposite, being a rascal and testing the waters of forbidden detention. Once I got rid of the earning drive and he started to see that his free time was there every day, he started to just accept the day and the expectations. He is still getting use to this concept and and asks the same questions when he is tempted with doing the unexpected, "What will happen if I don't do this?" and I simple say, "Nothing. I know you will do this - you are in school and this is what you do" -  and he does. I have raised the bar this year for him behaviorally because I do want to pull back and have him stand on his own two feet with his classmates down the road. If Curtis is always doing something different in school, or earning something - he feels separate. Once he feels separate he tends to deviate from the expected school behaviors. This can be a downward spiral that is not fun for anyone.

This new spin on his plan is an internal struggle for me sometimes because there are so many things that I want to do with him individually, so many places I want to take him socially and emotionally that simply do not match with what a public school classroom can offer but I have to remind myself of my job, my role in that school and the ultimate goal for Curtis. It is a balance to meet and foster him as an individual but also keep the goal of allowing him to flow with his classroom on a daily basis. Curtis has met this new expectation head on and has succeeded. Back in kindergarten, Curtis use to make it in the classroom 30-40% of the day, now we are looking at Curtis being in the classroom 80% of the day and doing as the other students are doing, aside from his advance academic work we do - but even that is done in the room at my desk with the buzz of kids all around us. Yesterday was a day just like this and I made sure to tell him numerous times how proud I was of him for persevering in an environment that is a struggle. A big chunk of what I do is assist Curtis in being comfortable with the uncomfortable -  not everything is easy, predictable, planed out and/or happens at lighting speed. I would have failed at my job if I missed this crucial goal. Together, Curtis and I are learning how to sit in situation that are uncomfortable. I am pretty sure he comes home exhausted - that is a huge lesson for a seven year old to take on, autism or not.

Caron, 1:1 School Support