Last year was not a good year for him, in that regard. I liked his teacher as a person, but she had never taught that age group before and was not too eager to get it all going. She basically started off the school year by apologizing at PT conference, assuring me that she was talking to other teachers to learn what she needed to do and how to do it, and not to worry- she'd have it sorted out by Christmas. I don't want to focus on the negative on here, but suffice it to say that it didn't go well. Tyler regressed a bit last year in his reading and such, instead of progressing. My inside source basically told me that Tyler spent most of his time by himself, doing nothing in that classroom, since the teacher was just trying to contain the other kids. Late in the spring we found out that this teacher was not returning . . . along with all the other teachers for the small group classes at his school. No matter what, if we stayed with the public school we would have a new teacher who was just learning what they were doing. And after how badly last year had gone for Tyler, I just wasn't okay with another year of throwing the dice. I needed a sure thing.
Thank heavens I knew right where to go. We've taken Tyler to Clear Horizons for summer school for years now, and I can't tell you how happy I am to have him there this year! Actually, I could go on and on about this. Maybe I'll go with bullet points on why this is the most awesome school ever.
* In public school, there are privacy laws that protect the students from other people knowing they are receiving services. For example, if you ask my friend the speech therapist if she is seeing so-and-so, she can't tell you. But that meant that parents are not actually allowed into the classroom for these special ed kiddos. Regular classrooms have parents coming in daily to help with reading centers or lead art time, but in the classes that need it the most, it is not allowed! Not only are the missing out from added help, but I missed out from learning how to help my little guy. I'm not a professional in special ed! I don't have a clue what I am doing- but I am eager to learn.
But not only CAN I come and watch at this school, I could come all day every day if I want to. Each classroom has an attached room with a one way mirror, and I am welcome to come and sit in there to see the class if I don't want to disturb them. If I want to come in and help out? Come on in. If I want to learn what techniques they use, or what the latest research is showing? They have classes for the entire community to come and learn, and partnered with UVU in the creation of an Autism Studies Minor that even non-UVU enrolled students can take. They fought so that parents like me can take those classes and learn how to help my own child.
*Sometimes it is the little things that get me. At our parent meeting the other night, a parent asked the Adaptive PE teacher if there was anything they could do to help her child learn to ride a bike. And they said sure- bring a bike in, and we'll work with him! Another parent volunteered that she loves teaching kids to ride bikes, and I think they are now developing a bike riding workshop. But the look on that mom's face is what got me. Her jaw just dropped. "I've asked that same question at IEP meetings for years," she said. "And they all told me it wasn't their job."
"Welcome to Clear Horizons!" someone chimed in from the back row. They consider their "job" to be anything they can do to help these kiddos. That is truly evident in their classrooms. Anything they can do - from special desks that help the kids focus, to extra aides, to rearranging their schedule to meet the needs of the class, they are on it.
*Another story- the age group from 16 to 18 is called "transition" because they are transitioning from school to life on their own. They need to polish off their skills from handling currency, to doing their own laundry, to job skills. In public schools, I have to say that the people I have talked to don't see it as a place of hope. If you are still in special education by transition age, then they just don't see much hope for you. But the teacher of that age group at this school spent her entire summer writing to businesses and asking them if her kids can come in and visit. She wanted them to see, hands on, what sort of entry level jobs they could get, and to be introduced to employers willing to hire them. Do you know how many letters she sent out? "I expected to hear back from 1 in 10 of them, but can you believe it was actually double that?" She told me with a huge smile. She has enough for them to take a field trip every single week out into the community. That is a teacher filled with hope in her students!
*Their school building is awesome because it is designed with these kids in mind. They have a tendency to run off, so all the doors have alarms to make sure everyone is contained. They need a lot of physical therapy, so there is a giant room dedicated to the most awesome swings and tunnels and everything they could want to use for that. They sometimes need to divide and conquer, so there are smaller rooms attached to each room so an aide can take some kids aside and away from the chaos of the rest of the class if they need to. The students often have sensory issues with certain clothes, so there isn't a dress code, let alone uniforms. Many students have dietary restrictions, so their cafeteria has microwaves the kids can use to heat up whatever they bring in.
Wow, my bullet points are actually novels. Um, sorry. But when people ask me if I mind the drive (sadly, they are 15 minutes away) or the cost (they are a private school) I tell them I could not be more thrilled to be there.
And so is Tyler.
I love this "first day of school" picture. Tyler was being silly, and Jasmine wanted to join in- but Kaitlyn is trying to be a big grown up first grader (while actually just laughing at her siblings).
Oh, and I don't want to leave out Kaitlyn. Because she has the sweetest teacher in the world.
Her teacher has been teaching First Grade for 10 years, and told us that the point of first grade was for the students to learn to love school. And she does a great job at making that possible. Kaitlyn just gushes with all the details of how much fun she has and what she learned that day, and her teacher has emailed me notes just to tell me how much she loves having Kaitlyn in her class and all the wonderful things that she has seen Kaitlyn do. The parent next to me at the back to school night told me that this was her 5th child to have Miss Hull. And that if she had enough money, she would pay Miss Hull to quit her job and come to her house and homeschool all of her kids.
I'm glad that if the kids have to be gone from home so much for school, I can at least know that they are in such awesome hands!
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