Third Grade - ends with a diagnosis!

Mason meet his third grade teacher, Mrs. Clewett, as well as Ms. Riveria (his special education support/inclusion teacher) and we liked them right away. He had his moments during this year, but we were pleased with how Mrs. Clewett handled things, and Mason! Loved that he got to know her family as well (her hubby was student teaching at Hensley's school).

                                          Mrs. Riveria                      Mrs. Clewett

At the end of the year, it was during a phone call discussing scheduling his ARD, that I found out that his district has an Autism unit that would provide testing - so we approved the testing and knew we'd get results before the end of the year.



This year, Mason was invited to a particular birthday party that he said he "had to go to" because it was his "best friend". He also told Carter that he "better not mess this up for me". When I asked him why he and this boy were best friends, all he could tell me was that they had"things". Little did I know that they were kindred spirits of sorts. His friend's mom told me that there were several mornings her son did not want to go to school or enter the classroom, but it was Mason that was able to coax him into the room. "My Mason", I thought? No way. Well, yes, it's been a very special friendship they have formed! So proud of him!

At our meeting in September, we changed Mason''s special education "qualifying disability" from "ED" to "AU" because "Mason has a unique learning style and development profile that is consistent with an autism spectrum disorder." When we met with his doctor for his yearly checkup and I mentioned that Mason has really matured and at times I wasn't sure which one of my boys was my sped kid. Doctor said it was because all these years we have used strategies for an autistic child, as opposed to an ED child, which means that all the strategies and the consistency is finally paying off. Wow, so pat on the back for actually doing it right!