Hi Tamlynne,
You wrote:
In september he started out in first grade, and quickly moved up to third grade for math and science. Meanwhile, he was so bored in first grade that his behavior was out of control. He would get so frustrated that he ended up being physical to teachers. Anyhow after endless unsuccessful behavior plans, they moved him totally up to third grade because he exhibited no negative behaviors in the third grade class.
That however has changed. He is now exhibiting more behaviors, including a refusal to do writing, flopping on the floor when he doesn't want to do something, and just general rigidity when asked to do something he doesn't want to do.
Yes, these are classic AS symptoms, and it's probably not the first time the school has seen them. It does sound as though they don't have the expertise to deal with what they're seeing; in your shoes I'd seek good outside help.
This is probably a minority position here, but in our family's experience (DS8 gifted with AS) the AS is more important in the early grades than the giftedness. Not that they shouldn't address both, but you need to get him social skills ASAP so he can function at school.
We found that other kids in grades K-1-2 needed to learn reading, writing, spelling, basic science; ours HAD all that but needed to learn social behavior in the classroom. We considered it an alternative curriculum. He didn't really stall in his learning in the academic subjects (because he kept reading widely), but we focused on remediating the AS, and we're not sorry we did that.
The school is now discussing moving him (AGAIN) to an EDBD class that only has 4 students in it,(although they say he will be allowed to join the regular class for math and science.
An emotionally/behaviorally disturbed classroom is NOT a place for a child with AS. This placement is likely to make everything worse.
ASAP, request in writing a functional behavior analysis. (The Wrightslaw book From Emotions to Advocacy has template letters.) This means they have to take data on his behavior to see the function of the behavior (what he gets from doing it). The data helps you see the patterns; often a bad behavior in school functions to allow the child to escape work he doesn't want to do.
We have had the best success with our DS using both meds to address anxiety and behavior therapy (ABA). The ABA helped us address compliance with instructions and also lots of other areas where DS was weak; it made a huge difference.
Whatever help you get from the school, it is unlikely to be enough to teach your DS enough social skills to be successful; we found that therapy outside school was important. Our therapy team also negotiates with the school on our behalf about things like placement, and trains the teachers. And they write the behavior plan, which means it's done by experts and can actually work.
There are a lot of parents at OASIS who have good advice to offer on remediating AS. The forum is at
http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/Forums.aspx .
HTH, best wishes,
DeeDee
