Full Inclusion, No More

Though Brian transitioned into an inclusive program at the beginning of his Kindergarten year with no problems, we are now looking at adding in a lot of day treatment time into his day.

For a month now Brian has been refusing to do any work at school. He tantrums, he elopes, he lets them know he doesn't want to do it.

I have been busy making meetings, scheduling new evaluations, and finally decided to just do a full IEP, which we had yesterday.

Though I'm still upset I haven't been able to get the behavioral specialist I want, and I'm not giving up on that, I have to agree with what we have decided for him. I don't have to be happy about it but I know it's best for him.

Why does having to be taught one-on-one in the day treatment room upset me? First of all I am bitter that suggestions that I made at the beginning of the year weren't followed and I think if they were followed we wouldn't be in this situation. If visual schedules were used consistently, a quiet place to work without any distractions, and a sense of "strict" guidelines were in place I don't think he would of learned it was okay to just get up and walk away from the assignment. It's a learned behavior, because he didn't have it at the beginning of the year.

Secondly, I'm upset because, for me, personally, this is another setback. I was proud to say he was excelling in an inclusive program. It made me hopeful for his future. Backsliding into the day treatment room is making me sad and making me lose a little bit more of that hope.

Staying positive makes me hope this will be short-term. It will teach him once again that it's not okay to refuse every task put in front of you and once he realizes that again maybe he'll be able to start doing the work portion with his classroom. He will still be with his class for areas that he does well in- circle time, morning meetings, snack & lunch (of course lol), and the "specials" (gym, music, etc.).

Life with Brian will always be filled with awesome moments mixed with set-backs and it's something parents of special-needs children learn to live with. It's a long road ahead of us, and learning to let go of what I want his future to be and accepting what is best for him is a very important skill that I'm still learning.