Happy New (School) Year!

We are in the middle of the second week of the 2011-2012 school year.  In spite of Drew's rough first grade year, he was ready to go back to school and walked into the building with a little bounce in his step.  So far, everything has been good.  Fortunately, the boys who gave him trouble last year are not in his class.  He only knows one girl from last year and he seems perfectly fine with that.  His class right now stands at 16 but I am sure that will go up a little. 

HIS TEACHER & CLASSROOM
Drew's teacher, Mrs. Armour, has been teaching for 9 years.  Her classroom is in one of the portable buildings and I think this may be a good thing for Drew.  No hallway noise or sound coming through the thin walls that surround the classrooms inside the building (his school was of the open concept variety at one time so they had to retrofit walls once that education fad went out of style).  Drew seems to like his teacher so far.  She is very nice and she did not give me a "look" when I handed her a brief bio about Drew and his ASD.  Yeah, I was "that" parent who gave the teacher some information about her kid before the year even started.  She took it graciously and thanked me.  I am unapologetic about that because, as a teacher, I would have loved to have some background on any students other than their "label".  Anyway, so far, he is liking her class.

THEY BLOCK IN SECOND GRADE?!?!?
At our year-end ARD in May, we learned that some of the second grade classes are blocked for language arts and math/science.  Two teachers, two classrooms, two sets of kids, two sets of expectations for a kid like Drew is a crisis waiting to happen.  Fortunately, they had one second grade class that is self-contained.  Isn't second grade a little early to be changing classes or am I just behind the times?  Even my stepmother, a 30-something year veteran of first grade, thought that was too young to start that.  Fortunately, we did manage that contingency effectively.

WITH AGE COMES WISDOM...HOPEFULLY
In addition to this being Drew's second year on Lemm's campus and feeling more comfortable in his surroundings, he is also a little older and (maybe) a bit more mature and better able to cope with the ups and downs that are a part of a typical day at school.  He seems more relaxed to me than he did last year and I think it's a simple matter of  knowing his way around pretty well.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR DREW?
He will be continuing to meet with his social skills group each week.  I am thinking about maybe putting him in some kind of acting classes because he really seems to enjoy acting things out and I think he'd enjoy it.  However, Drew gets overwhelmed with the thought of school work and "extras" so instead of being fun it might end up being a source of stress so I am still thinking about it. 

A huge thanks for all of you who pray for Drew and our family.  I feel your energy and your positive thoughts.  I know that we couldn't be doing as well as we are if it wasn't for all of you who care about us.