Four months after starting the new school we've had our first meltdown in school. It's the last full weeks in school, it's party week, it's school sports week. The normal routine of school is adapted. It's an exciting time for kids, looking forward to Summer holidays, possibly missing friends for a few months and maybe even missing the routine and structure of school.
At the previous school, myself, my wife and our son would be brought in for a 'reconciliation meeting' where up to 8 adults would outline, review and rehash the incident and lead up to the incident.
Thankfully the new school and staff are amazing. Our lad was given some time to calm himself, then talk through with the staff the situation. He apologised, they apologised. He highlighted some areas for himself to improve. They highlighted some areas for the school to improve. It was talked through and resolved to everyone's satisfaction. A God send.
As parents we were extremely nervous of moving schools but t's been the best decision we could've made. Each week, we are seeing the benefits and the examples of how the school is helping.
The ASD unit has seen dramatic improvements and developments for our lad. Our only issue is that the previous school couldn't accommodate an ASD unit - something that the minister of education had been pushing for them to do. The old school was 10 minute drive away. The new school is around a 40 minute drive away.
Currently the Minister of State for Education, in Ireland, is trying to get most schools to provide some sort of support for autistic kids like an ASD unit. A lot of the schools have set up or are in the process of setting up but there are more who are fighting against this instruction. The Board of Management and principals of these school have no care or thoughts of autistic children. They are only happy dealing with the 'norm' any child outside of this 'no