Expanding the Circle of Friends

We had TH's ARD meeting a couple of days ago. As usual, a room full of professionals. We got to have the Circle of Friends plan read into the minutes, and we also discussed his upcoming re-evaluation, which will take place in the spring. His first testing with the school took place in August 2006, and I'm really interested to see what the numbers will yield now. Back then, he scored in the single percentile digits for some things--the one I remember is nonverbal reasoning--but then scored incredibly high for other things, including verbal reasoning. We mentioned that our ongoing concerns include his own complaints about visual memory and his inability to tell time.

In fact, today, we were completing a math homework having to do with dollars and cents. He has no problem with money and likes it a lot, not for its value but because he just likes it. But when I asked him to put the date on his homework, he simply had no idea what I was talking about. "What day is it?" I asked. "Um...two-oh-oh-eight?" "No," I said. "That's the year." I asked him what month it was. Again, "Um...two-oh-oh-eight?" I narrowed it down to three choices--September, October, or November, and he did choose "October." No clue about the date (got "two-oh-oh-eight?" again). And then I asked him what day of the week it was. "Um...Saturday?" (I'd just picked him up from school; we were at OT for Dubya; TH was doing homework). He proceeded to pretty much guess every day but Thursday.

Clocks are no better. Even with digital clocks, he cannot figure out the time or the passage of time. It's an odd block but one that it appears is not that unusual for right-brain deficits.

One thing we've noticed about TH is that lately, he's really been doing a lot of flapping. Every time I see him at school, which is pretty much daily, I see him flapping like he's trying to take flight. He's always flapped, usually when excited but also when nervous (are those really different?), but now it's almost dangerous for anyone standing too close. We discussed it, but Mr. DMFP and I can't really figure out what might have triggered this change. Maybe his awareness at some level of all of this uproar about the bus, soccer, school, playground, Circle of Friends...gee, ya think?

Speaking of change, the Circle of Friends so far seems to be doing nothing but good. I've become almost enthusiastic (for me) about it, to the point that I think I'm going to develop a real program with a slide show template, objectives, project plan, draft letter, etc., to offer as a package to any parents who feel that it might benefit their child. I'm also meeting with someone in the district about it next week, not only to talk about that but also to talk about a parent-education program for general ed parents about special needs children. I'd really like to see both of these take off. TH's teacher reports that the mere knowledge that TH is not willfully trying to annoy or upset the other students seems to have already made a difference: the kids don't respond as negatively to TH, and he doesn't respond by escalating his efforts to get their attention. Apparently, peace rules in the valley in this week that has passed since we presented the idea to the children.

So, I'd like to share that circle with others who need it.