Well it’s back to school time. I know this can be exciting, stressful, scary and very welcomed in different houses. In ours it is a mix of things.
Cole is excited to get back to seeing his friends, doing new classes, having different classmates and being back to a routine. For Ryan it will be good to get him back into his routine too for sure. He needs it and I think he’s been missing it.
He loves the summer time for swimming and more swimming but overall I think school is better. It challenges his brain, keeps him busy and active and also gives me a break from the long summer days of constantly trying to keep him occupied.
Since I work there we all go back together which is nice. I look forward to seeing my coworkers and all my previous students. I will definitely miss the summer, the hot weather and the sunshine. But one thing that comes now with heading back to school is a bit of worry for me.
I worry about the boys. I worry they won’t get what they need because classes are so big and it’s just not possible for teachers to help everyone. They try but they can only do so much. They are all great and do whatever they can which is helpful and reassuring. But I still worry. Will Cole do ok in grade 7? Will he thrive in his class? Will he have a good year? I’m sure these are the things every parent wonders and hopes for their kids.
Last year I felt so bad because there was a point Cole came to me and said “Mom it’s so loud in my room sometimes I find it hard to concentrate and I get a headache” and at first I said yea most classes will be loud with big classes. But then that night I remember laying in bed and thinking, if this was Ryan I would be trying to get something put in place to help with the noise. Why am I not doing that for Cole?
It made me realize that I sometimes forget about his needs, his things that may be bothering him. So much time is spent on Ryan because he is more challenging. It made me so sad to think that I don’t ask Cole and talk to him more to see if there is something more he needs. He’s such a good student that I do forget sometimes that he is on the spectrum too, he might need adaptations as well.
The next day all I had to do was go to a learning center teacher and get noise cancelling headphones for him and he used those. It was a simple fix which was great but that made me realize I have to be more mindful of him for future years.
With Ryan it’s a bit different. I worry about his behaviour. Will he have a great year like he did last year? Who will he have for a TA? Who will be his learning center teacher? Will he do ok in grade 4? Will he be able to keep up with the rest of the class? Will new challenging behaviours come out? There are so many variables that can make or break his day and year.
I think I get more stressed about his year than I do mine. I don’t want him to get there and restart all the past silly behaviours. I always hope he will make friends too, be able to play with other kids and be included. I know it will take some time to get back into the swing of things of course but I just hope that overall it will go smoothly. Sometimes it can be a very hard transition back to school.
I know most parents of kids who are Autistic have many of the same worries. Especially if their kid is non verbal. I was there. You worry they won’t be able to get their needs met, how will they communicate with their TA? Other students, their teacher. But I can tell you from a TA perspective that we spend so much time with our students that we learn their cues, their ways of communicating, their triggers, etc. It will all work out in the end and hopefully all the kids will have a wonderful school year, learn lots of new things, be challenged and excel.
Really in the end that’s all we really want for our kids, is for them to be successful, learn and grow.
