BTDT people please advise about AS and public school

[*Lulu*]

So Punk has an AS diagnosis as well as an LD that makes output very difficult for him. His spelling is on a 1st grade level and his ability to write is well below the 5th grade.

 

His OT is suggesting we put him in school for social reasons.

 

I do not buy the old socialization argument for homeschoolers in general, but feel I may need to consider it for him.

 

And if we do send him to school for social issues will his academics fall behind even more? Even with an IEP and accommodations will they be able to possibly accommodate him enough?

 

I know there are pros and cons to every choice and I need help seeing both in this situation.

 

Help, please.

[City Mouse]

It really depends on him and the school. Is he "on level" in other academic areas? Is only his written output below level? If he dictates a writing assignment is the content appropriate to his grade level?

 

I am going to answer based of the idea that he is "on level" in everything except spelling/written expression. There would be different experiences for a lower functioning student that might be in "resource" classes instead of "regular" classes.

 

In the schools where I worked, by middle school the IEP focus was less on remediation and more on accommodations. So I child like this might be allowed to use an electronic dictionary for spelling assistance and be allowed to dictate assignments that requiring writing. Perhaps he would learn to use computer for dictation or word prediction software.

It would be unusual (in the schools where I worked) for him to continue to work on spelling at a first grade level when he would have been working on that skill for several years without much success. (Not saying this is true for your DS, just generalizing based on my experiences).

 

Some kids that have AS have a very difficult time with the social aspects of PS. The typical minor poking at other kids that goes on causes some AS to "over react", get into fights, be labeled a behavior problem, and academics suffer as a result. I know of several kids with AS that chose to do online PS due to the behavior issues and have been much more successful in an online situation where the social issues are reduced.

On the other hand, I have seen kids get to middle school where there is a larger pool of kids and be able to make real friends for the first time because there are more kids to choose from and find some with similar interests.

 

My good friend has a DD with AS and Dyslexia who was in 6th grade this year. Overall, the year was successful for her but there were some issues. Including a day where the school police officer was called to remove the child from class because there was a substitue teacher that day and none of the normal people who would have intervened were at the school that day.