He Is Special After All

After going to the psychologist office Griffin told us what it is that he meant when he said that he wasn't special. He said that when he was treated special that he went "crazy" and made some gestures with his head and hands as if to go coo coo. So the doctor said to Griffin that he thinks that the days of going crazy are gone and that he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. That he can do special things with mommy like playing together and that he can feel special without feeling crazy.That is all that it took for Griffin to agree to play with mommy and to feel okay with feeling special. I just wish that Griffin has disclosed that information to me when he had told me that he didn't feel special and saved me a lot of grief. But at least it came out with a third party and we now know what it is all about finally.

We had an I.E.P. meeting for Griffin on Monday to help him in his mainstream classroom because he has been struggling. Griffin is in third grade and has no problem doing third grade work but has been having a problem with keeping up with the faster pace of the classroom. Between the autism specialists, the speech pathologist, the resource teacher, and the teacher, we decided that the resource teacher would visit Griffin in the classroom for 30 minutes three times a week to help him out. This was the alternative to sending Griffin into the resource room for an extended period of time, which none of the experts seemed to think was a good idea.

We also discussed: Griffin reading in monotone and possibly helping him with that by reading aloud to him and demonstrating inflection, his lack of confidence in giving answers because he is so afraid of getting the wrong answer and his lack of confidence in making transitions, he has peer buddies in resource who help him out some who are older, and his entire classroom has lunch buddies everyday for Griffin's benefit but they don't know that and apparently it is working out great for him because there is a new lunch buddy each day. And it gives him the chance to get to know each child and for that child to get to know him on a more personal level, and a great chance for socialization. Also the speech pathologist is playing games with Griffin and the classroom for better socialization for him on Wednesdays at recess (that is above and beyond her call of duty I think). I think that everyone is working as a great team this time around and I am very happy about it!