Nerves have set in for me. It's four days until J starts at his new school.
My main worries are to do with the staff not understanding him, and his quirks, and creating stressful situations that could have been avoided if they knew what his triggers are, or how to calm him.
Yes I understand they are trained to work with older children/teenagers with moderate to severe learning difficulties, but each child is different. As J cannot communicate effectively or appropriately, there will be situations arising.
I am contemplating jotting some things down for his teacher. Information such as ;
* His dislike or being frightened of something, when he says "goodbye ..............".
* His penchant for not wearing underwear - this has been occurring for over two years now...
See This Post here for the first time I blogged about it.
I have been reassured by a few people, that it is quite common, and is a sensory issue. I have tried him with different styles, and only buy 100% cotton, but he removes them instantly.
I am fairly relaxed about it really, and know that in the bigger picture, it really doesn't feature very highly as a major problem, so I am hoping that my laid back approach will reward me with him one day just deciding to wear them again. This approach has proved me right before and seems to work for us.
*His need to be free to attend bathroom breaks as and when he requires it. - The school state that children are requested to wait for break time to go to the bathroom, but this being a special school, I find this not appropriate and a little misguided. It is, after all, not a mainstream school. J again has sensory issues relating to his bladder, not medical, and to deny him a bathroom break is going against his needs, in my opinion.
The first week will be tense for me, I know that for sure. As for J, if his stress triggers are kept to a minimum, he will settle in well.
