Top Tip: With the right support network, things can change. This story is dedicated to a teacher who (like a set of braces) gave us our smiles back.
I am a father of a son Charlie, Charlie is now aged 11 and has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Charlie had moved from a mainstream class to an Autism Spectrum Disorder special needs unit, in a different school. It was felt that Charlie, while coping well in the mainstream environment would soon start to fall way behind. With the Characteristics of Autism becoming more noticeable; he started getting more frustrated and agitated in class. So, after loads of bustling with the Department of Education and some politicians, we eventually got Charlie into the special needs Autistic unit. He was to start in September at the age of seven. His new class was to have six new children, all different ages and all of different abilities. Charlie was to be the eldest and would be, by far the most vocal. So, after the summer holidays Charlie started in his new school; we were very apprehensive. Charlie started on a Thursday, two days ahead of everyone else, he absolutely loved it. He got to play on the PC on his own, he basically had free reign.
On the Monday after Charlie's first real full day we went to collect him. Charlie's teacher met us at the school door an explained that Charlie "had had an incident," he went to kick a Special Needs Assistant. This was quite out of character for Charlie and we found ourselves in a situation where we actually had no answers, it was new territory for us. Over the next few months Charlie's behaviour went downhill, we were called to the school regularly and our lives turned into hell. Charlie had become a hot tempered unreasonable child, he was not happy in school and he threw tables, hit adults and caused havoc in the class, it was just a nightmare. Jane hadn't wanted to send Charlie to the new school and she was being proved right, our relationship was straining, life was not good even poor Chris (Charlie's brother) was finding life tough. We were living life day to day, expecting a call from the Principal at anytime, making ourselves available to collect Charlie at the drop of a hat. We arranged meetings with the school Principal and the behavioural specialist. Jane had an argument with the Principal because she felt the Principal was being unreasonable (both Jane and the Principal are tough cookies), we were called to the school by the Principal three times to bring Charlie home because they couldn't handle him. By Christmas we were totally and utterly stressed and by the summer we were pulling our hair out, so much so that we were thinking of moving Charlie to a Higher Dependency Autism Unit. The children in this unit would have far greater educational needs than Charlie, however, they wouldn't have as bad a temper. My biggest problem with Charlie's change of character was, that Jane and I could only control his home environment and we felt helpless when it came to his schooling issues, however home life had also dramatically worsened.
In June we received a letter home from the school to say the current teacher (who had twenty five years experience teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorder) was retiring. Jane and I embraced this as we felt maybe a change in teacher might bring a fresh set of eyes to a difficult situation. I met with the new teacher (Mrs. Hannon) for a few brief minutes, she ran through her qualifications and explained to me about what she hoped to be able to achieve with Charlie. I explained where we were at the start of last year versus where we are now, and how traumatic the last year had been, both for us and Charlie. Mrs. Hannon said she has dealt with far worse than Charlie and she would expect him to reach the goals and targets that she sets out for him. I left the meeting delighted, at last we would have the support structure that Charlie needed and Mrs. Hannon seemed to know her stuff, she was like a breath of fresh air.
September arrived, I have to say Jane and I really weren't looking forward to Charlie going to school again. "What if he starts on Mrs. Hannon," Jane said "I don't know, let's just wait and see," I answered. For the first few months Mrs. Hannon had to get to know Charlie, his moods, his tantrums and his likes and dislikes. She had some difficult issues, one that sticks in my mind was where Charlie had been so violent that the whole class had to be moved to another room, however, things were changing and the teacher was getting a handle on the situation. By December of the first year with Mrs. Hannon, Charlie's tantrums had drastically reduced. By the summer he was only having tantrums a few times a month. Mrs. Hannon had set the boundaries and Charlie knew not to cross them, because he would receive dire consequences. Jane and I were delighted with the new teacher; we showed our appreciation by doing exactly as we were asked, and also being proactive with Charlie's educational and social needs. By September of the following year Mrs. Hannon suggested that Charlie be included in the mainstream class for two hours a day. This was a dream come true we had at last got our son back. There were a few sticky incidents with Charlie going to the mainstream environment but in general he did well and if he had an issue he was brought back down to the Autistic Special Needs Unit.
By the following September (which is this year) we were asked by Mrs. Hannon to allow Charlie to spend most of his time with the fifth class boys, and only go to the Autism Special Needs Unit for Math and English. Again we were ecstatic, Charlie has surpassed himself, he hasn't had one incident yet, our fingers and toes are crossed, we are hoping he keeps up the good work. We think he has turned a corner in his life. It seems as if Charlie's thought process has changed, he now thinks he is in a mainstream environment needing remedial help rather than being in a remedial environment needing mainstream help. We know from the past that things can go wrong at the blink of an eye but it does seem at this stage that Charlie will continue on this path to improvement.
If it is not obvious from this story, my family owe our entire happiness to Mrs. Hannon and her team, which include beech park services. Mrs. Hannon is without a doubt an unsung hero, it is people like her that make life worth living; she always has the child's interest at heart. Just seeing how dedicated she is, and how exhausted she looks at 14:30 hrs on a Friday evening, after putting all her strategies in place, is moving. We have been given our son again, the son that laugh's in the morning at seven o'clock, and laugh's when he goes to bed, the son that doesn't hurt daddy anymore and doesn't curse at his brother. The son that tells his mammy he loves her and she is the best in the world, the son that says he will tell his teacher if daddy gets angry and the son that picks up acorns for the fifth class nature table. We owe a great deal to Mrs. Hannon and maybe this story can be a small repayment for the immense work she has put in.
My Name is Peter Devlin, my website is AutismInIreland, Here is the URL http://www.autisminireland.com/. I have an 11 year son Charlie, he has Autism. I am now an expert on Autism. The journey has been tough, extremely tough. I have decided to write a series of short stories about how I managed to beat Autism and sometimes how Autism managed to beat me. Have a look at Charlie's pictures they are amazing. Send me your stories, and lets educate together. My website has a multitude of stories and helpful hints about Characteristics of autism and traits pertaining to Autism Spectrum Disorder.
No comments:
Post a Comment