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<p>It’s supposed to be put away? I honestly feel like I just recovered from the tree taking down. Guess what I am doing today? It’s cold and gray – not very motivating to do much.</p>
<p>Will send good thoughts your way Missy for your afternoon meeting. Your proximity is a good thing.</p>
<p>I worked in a junior high a few years ago and LOVED it. The things the students would come up with…</p>
<p>I rather wish I’d kept my junior high gym suit (very baggy one piece white outfit with name embroidered in red over pocket) - my kids might die of laughter seeing it.</p>
<p>WPI moms - grades are on the way. They mailed them Monday or Tuesday.</p>
<p>fingers crossed for a good conversation, missypie!</p>
<p>good luck missypie! Many good thoughts sent your way.</p>
<p>S was nominated for a scholarship that is due this month. He has done just about nothing. I woke up in the middle of the night and downloaded the app. Oh my, it was just like last year…many questions,etc. It has a feeling of “here we go again”. He does not know that he should REALLY want this as it comes with 2 summer interships because he is still too college new to know how important this could be. Thus I will begin the push. sigh.</p>
<p>D1 is home from surgery…passed out on couch from the drugs. Will see how she does later in the day. The snow is flying! H is still home so sending him to get “soft” groceries for D1 when she can eat. Looks like lots ot yogurt, applesauce and mashed potatoes!</p>
<p>Storm headed our way. Hope the kids make it out on Sunday so that they can get back to school. The way it’s tracking now I think it will be fine but who knows what will happen going through tomorrow and Sat…</p>
<p>Oregon 101 – That struck a chord. I’m trying to get D2 to fill out a SIMPLE application for a terrific summer internship in the area. Sure, it’s competitive, and she may not get it, and she’s “on break” – but it involves requesting a couple of transcripts, 2 letters of recommendation, and writing about 6 short answers of no more than 250 CHARACTERS each. Come on; how hard is that?</p>
<p>I’m trying hard not to recall the tedious and nagging days of college apps…</p>
<p>I have a dear and close friend who is a middle school science teacher. Talk about chaos, but she is awesome. She loves those kids, sees all that’s good. along with the bad. It takes a special type IMO. This is NOT an easy age to teach, but can evidently be very rewarding for the right folks. There is a dearth of these folks however and is why we pulled #theoryson out of middle school and home schooled during those years</p>
<p>Admittedly I keep checking to see if Missypie has checked in to say how the meeting with the school went. Hopeful that the school is putting Missy’s money where their mouths were 8 months ago during acceptances.</p>
<p>me too Modadunn…keep checking and hoping that missypie will have good news</p>
<p>I was checking in to see if missypie had any news yet as well. I have a feeling I’d want her on my team if I had a tough meeting like that.</p>
<p>Y’all are so sweet to be thinking about us. </p>
<p>The meeting was…okay. They made a big deal about using the “peer mentor” who had been assigned to him at the first of the year (each freshman has one if they want to use one.) They talked about writing things on a calendar, color coding, blah blah blah, heard it in 4th grade, 7th grade, 9th grade…</p>
<p>Poor Son couldn’t eat lunch beforehand and said very little in the meeting…(he says he becomes “more autistic” when he’s uncomfortable.)</p>
<p>No one cared that he has Asperger’s - not even the Disablities lady. It was as if we kept bringing up his hair color. Maybe it’s like HS - no meaningful accomodations could help? It’s interesting that the Disabilites lady has so little to contribute. She’s a very nice lady, but maybe she’s better with the blind kids and kids in wheelchairs.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that, missypie. Sounds like they need someone else in that Disabilities job.
How disappointing that the person who should be able to help doesn’t.</p>
<p>What a disappointment, missypie. I guess “disabilities” doesn’t really mean what it says. And what exactly is the “peer mentor” supposed to do, and how well (if at all) has he/she been trained to deal w/ Aspergers?</p>
<p>I too am sorry to hear they didn’t have something more concrete and meaningful to offer. But I suppose you have to look at exactly where son gets off track and try to put in some safeguards there. I am always amazed at some of the people who get these jobs (much like the school nurse who was in charge of all 504 plans at older D’s HS who encouraged D to NOT let teachers think she was “disabled.”). It was as if no one should ever have to do one thing different and the kicker, that this was all in prep for college. My point was that at least in college the kids get a syllabus so they can at least attempt to plan their time! So… if it’s weekly quizzes he needs some sort of alarm that says take the online quiz now.</p>
<p>I sometimes think that we crush kids’ self esteem when in reality if they were an older professional, they might have an assistant doing all the mundane crap or at least a secretary to tell them they had a meeting at noon or whatever. So my question is, what kind of role can a peer mentor serve? Is it a kid who also has aspergers (as in true peer) or is it a student who perhaps is in the school of education studying special needs kids? I assume Missy’s son isn’t doing poorly because he’s partying. This is a kid who doesn’t really ‘get’ that he’s sinking. And I feel bad when kids sit in a room like that, with everyone talking about their shortcomings, as if this won’t affect what they see when they look in the mirror. What are his innate strengths - surely not the same for ALL aspergers kids. If he is very verbal, as Missy has suggested, perhaps someone else taking the notes as he comes up with a plan to compensate for where he is weak, like remembering to turn in assignments.</p>
<p>Here’s a question… beyond the weekly quizzes in the one class, what was the downfall in each class? Was it a matter of the tests or… I assume he’s going to class, but if you look at things in the context of his strengths, perhaps he can see how his strengths can be rearranged to help? I honestly don’t know what the innate difficulties are, but I know that for my niece (and my neighbor’s son who is very autistic), routine and structure becomes very necessary. If his teachers knew that he could use a personal verbal reminder of any change to their expectations, would they be willing to help? While I think a peer tutor (depending on who that person is) can be helpful, I think at least at first, this person needs to “keep the appointments” instead of S doing the set up.</p>
<p>Son always went to class and didn’t party. </p>
<p>Once his schedule is finalized, I’m going to look for blocks of time during the day where he can study. His Concerta lasts 12 hours and as I’ve said before, after it wears off he becomes The Most Distractible Person on Earth. One hour of studying on Concerta equals at least three hours of “studying” off Concerta. He admits that he only studied at night last semester. I’m sure he was in his room, with books open. Beyond that…</p>
<p>The peer mentor is a psych major, so although she probably doesn’t know Asperger’s at all, she may get a kick out of him.</p>
<p>I’m going to go back to the “books” (internet) and see what I can figure out myself. The Disabilites lady has a social work background, so she’s excellent at running a meeting and being respectful. </p>
<p>As I’ve mentioned, Son has considered changing his major to English. He’s decided to stay with Psych for now. I think over the weekend and early next week I’ll spend time on the school website to see if any spots open up in any English classes that would count toward a major or minor. (None were avaialble at initial registration.) I’d love for him to have an A in a class that he loves in a subject that comes easy to him.</p>
<p>oh, missypie that is disappointing. in my limited experience with the disabilities person at D"s school, I too was less than impressed (D was diagnosed with ADHD just last summer and we are still grappling with medication, accomodations, etc.) </p>
<p>I’m CBBB and Moda - what exactly is this peer mentor and how much training does s/he have? and was your S expected to reach out to this person for help on his own?</p>
<p>oops, crossed posted with you missypie. sounds like you’ve got some good strategies of your own, but still too bad they weren’t more helpful. “helpful” - that sounds lame. what i really mean is too bad the Disabilities people can’t do the job we parents think we are paying them to do.</p>
<p>This reminds me to get on the ball and have us or my d contact the disabilities people as she has a significant unilateral hearing loss and is taking spanish. want tob e proactive. I wish missypie they could have been more proactive and thqt would have give you more confidence.
At a time when you are letting go its hard to have to be right there. such a delemma.</p>
<p>MissyPie, have you or your son’s doctors considered Focalin? My D also takes Concerta, but she takes Focalin (short acting) to help in the morning as the long acting Concerta kicks in, and as needed when she needs to work after the Concerta wears off. For her a very small dose helps keep the focus. It has not seemed to have the drop-off effects that the short acting ritalin has.</p>