Monthly Archives: May 2009

There’s No F in IEP

This week Nigel received his mid-term progress report for his first term back at regular school after over a year of homeschooling. He is receiving an F in math, and I am not surprised. What’s that you say? How am I not surprised? Because a few weeks ago we discovered that the entire time I was homeschooling him, I was teaching him out of the wrong book.

It all started at his IEP last September, when I requested the school-issued math book so that I could teach him exactly what his peers were learning so that he would be up-to-date when he transitioned back into regular school. I also knew that at the end of eighth grade, this year, this month, actually, there would be benchmark testing for his entire grade, including him, whether he was still homeschooled or not. I wanted him to know what he needed to know. The school’s sped coordinator spoke to Nigel’s previous math teacher at the school, and then he, the sped coordinator, went to pick up the math book and brought it back to the meeting to give to me. I thanked him and was very appreciative that the school complied with my request for the book, since they are not obligated to do so.

And since last September, Nigel and I diligently worked through that book every single day, along with working on the other school subjects. I felt certain that we kept up very well, since we made it two-thirds of the way through the book by March, two-thirds of the way through the school year. When he started back at the middle school that month, initially I was more concerned with how he was doing socially and behaviorally than academically. Things seemed to be going well for the most part, and then it was time for Spring Break. After that, I started asking him how things were going in class, and how he was doing in math. I asked him where they were in the math book, if it was near where we had left off with homeschooling. That’s when he told me. “Mom, I found out that was a seventh grade math book we did homeschool with.”

I wanted to scream. “Are you serious?! Are you sure? It didn’t say seventh grade on it!”

He confirmed that was indeed the case. And had I not been so busy with Aidan’s health issues at the time, I would have marched straight into the sped coordinator’s office and let him have it. Or the math teacher who recommended the book. I was angry. I felt like I had wasted Nigel’s and my time and effort and had put him at a great disadvantage for returning to regular school and taking the required benchmark testing. My heart raced and I clenched my fists. I took a deep breath and vowed I would deal with it when I had time. I went home and trundled Aidan off to whatever doctor’s appointment he had.

A few days later, maybe that weekend, I remembered what I had read around the blogosphere about there being no accidents. Carrie mentioned it, and Jess and Pixie expanded on it. I started to calm down when I thought about that. And then Nigel wanted to rent Kung Fu Panda that weekend, which we hadn’t seen yet, and guess what the theme of that movie is? That’s right – there are no accidents. The wise old tortoise master says it several times. And I started thinking that maybe I was meant to receive the wrong math book. Maybe I received it because that was what Nigel needed me to teach him, and what he needed to learn. I realized that no one had intentionally given me the wrong book, it was just a mistake, and I was glad I hadn’t stormed into someone’s office threatening to bestow one of Mama Mara’s Ieppie Awards in the Worst Great Idea category.

And so the benchmark tests are in two weeks. It is what is and what will be, will be. I’m not going to get stressed out over it, and I certainly don’t want Nigel to be. His transitional IEP will be coming up soon, and I’ll be sure to diplomatically let everyone know the reason behind his (very) low math grade, without pointing fingers. And if anyone apologizes for giving me the wrong math book, I’ll surprise them by thanking them. Because I learned a lot from this experience. And not just how to divide fractions again.

Scratch Where It Itches

“But it itches!”

This is often Nigel’s refrain (spoken between clenched teeth) when I discreetly remind him to stop scratching his head. And no, he doesn’t have dandruff. Nor does he have lice, scabies, or any other type of external cause of itching.

The head itching started about a year and a half ago, before he began taking either of his two daily medications. Interestingly, it also started right around the same time that the “adjustments” started. By that I mean the “situating” of certain appendages that seem to become jostled throughout the day. Not having the same certain appendages myself, I’m unable to identify with the need for their frequent “adjustments.” Fortunately, my son’s hand remains outside of his clothing when he makes these “adjustments,” but I often have to remind him to go to a bathroom to do it, especially when we’re out in public. Same with the head-scratching.

“People don’t like to see other people scratching their heads for long periods of time,” I tell my son. “It’s not socially acceptable. When people see someone scratching endlessly, they think they have lice or some type of skin disease. A quick, occasional scratch is okay,” – and here, I demonstrate a discreet scratch –  “but not a lengthy, ‘Bare-Necessities’-type of scratch-fest.”

“But it won’t stop itching!”

Initially I thought that he might have been allergic to the shampoo he had been using, so we switched to a chemical-free, organic shampoo. Then a different one. Then T-Gel. Then we tried various ointments and creams. Heck, we even tried saturating his scalp with organic olive oil for 20 minutes prior to washing his hair, since I had read somewhere that it was a good remedy for itchy scalps. Nothing has worked. Nothing.

I considered the possibility of a food allergy causing his scalp to itch, but his diet hasn’t changed that much in the past year and a half since the itching started. We already tried the GF/CF diet, but Nigel has never exhibited the gut and digestive issues present with GF/CF allergies, nor did he show any signs of improvement when we tried the diet. It could be something not GF/CF-related, but since his daily diet has not changed much, I have no idea what it could be.

One thing’s certain – the itching started right about the time I realized that he was into puberty. So it could be a result of the hormonal changes he’s experiencing. If that’s the case, how long before his body adjusts? How long before his scalp normalizes and the itching goes away? I had learned last year at the Autism and Puberty seminar that I attended that people with autism are prone to Candida, a type of fungus, which can cause itching. However, that is usually accompanied by gastrointestinal issues and other symptoms. Yet again, I am at a loss for the cause of the itching of Nigel’s scalp.

So I’ll just blame puberty. It’s responsible for many other problems we experience around here. And since the average time span of puberty for boys is six years, we’ve got a few more years of rampant scalp-itching to contend with. Any ideas out there other than Baloo’s tree method? Please?

Signs of Teen Autism

This week, the greatest number of page views for this site as a result of an internet search was for my recent post centered around Tigger. He’s one popular cat, apparently. But the second most common search that yielded this website was “signs of teen autism.” I figured that subject warranted a post of its own.

I thought about it and realized that there would be primarily two groups of people who could be typing in that search:

a) either a parent, relative, or teacher trying to figure out a possible explanation for the different characteristics of their teen

b) anyone wanting to know how to recognize autism in the teen years, perhaps because they think they’ve come in contact with an ASD teen in their community

First of all, in the teen years, the signs of Asperger’s and high functioning autism are so similar that many people think that there is no difference between the two. Both have much difficulty with social skills (e.g. random, little, or no eye contact while conversing; random, little or no voice inflection; compromised ability to read facial cues and body language), often exhibit reactions to sensory issues (e.g. being easily startled by noises, covering ears; running away from bees and other flying insects), have a great need for routines and rituals, and exhibit obsessions with particular “specialty interests.” How, then, does one tell the difference between Asperger’s and high functioning autism in teens? The difference lies primarily in the child’s early development of language, although there are other differences as well. In cases of classic – or Kanner’s – autism, language development was very late, labored (took many years), or did not occur at all. My son Nigel falls into this category because his language acquisition was quite late and labored. Asperger’s, by comparison, was nicknamed “little professor syndrome” because the young children observed by Hans Asperger were quite verbal, but they often fixated on certain topics and exhibited some differences in social interaction. Because they can talk, many children with Asperger’s are not diagnosed until later, so the searchers listed above in group a) are most likely trying to identify a teen with Asperger’s.

For the group b) people, THANK YOU for wanting to find out. Thank you for caring enough to take the time to do so. We parents of ASD teens truly appreciate you.  You’ll find some characteristic signs of teen autism listed in bold green in this post (which you probably already figured out, because you’re a smart person for seeking out the information in the first place). You’ll also find some tips for interacting with an ASD teen in my post Getting to Know an Autistic Teen. If you’re looking for signs of autism in teens who are more profoundly autistic, in most cases they will not be mainstreamed in regular school classes, and when they are in the community they will be with a parent or someone else accompanying them. They exhibit little to no speech or echolalic speech. They may also exhibit more reactions to sensory stimuli especially in noisy, crowded places and may make repetitive body movements (spinning, flapping, rocking). Autism manifests itself differently in every person affected by it, so these traits, in addition to those listed in the previous paragraph, may or may not occur and in varying degrees. One thing’s for sure – you’ll find that people with autism at all functioning levels are wonderful, fascinating individuals worthy of your time, interest, and respect.