I have had years to get used to the fact J would never take any exams, but he is learning a lot at school despite this. Every teacher he has had over the last few years has said the same - J is a compliant, happy, helpful member of the class, who adapts to change with ease, learns quickly a task or job given to him, and who is just a joy to be around.
I attended a 'Post 16' Open Evening at school as well, which had local colleges and other accessible organisations there, to discuss what they could offer. As J is now 14 and a half, he only has a year and a half left of schooling. His special school does not do A Level exams ( exams between 16-18 years of age).
I know J will not attend a mainstream college, even with support, and this is fine with me. It looks likely he will attend the school's follow on college, which teaches further life skills. He already has jobs he does during school breaks, which can be either sweeping up leaves, washing up in the cookery room, or tidying away chairs. The older children share these jobs, and J does them without complaint. He is very diligent in his work.
J's maths ability has developed well too. He has always been quick to work out which bowl has the most biscuits in, but he seems to have increased in the speed at which he can visually count ( ie ; he sees different piles of the same object ) and can just look at something and speak the number. A good example is when I had a tray of roast potatoes in the oven (before he got home from school so didn't see me chopping them up and laying them out) and when I took them out in front of him, he said instantly - "22 roast potatoes". It's quite a skill he has.
Art is also still a passion for J. Using different mediums at school has helped him broaden his style.
This term he has been focusing on different tones of colour. I am sent photos of him doing his work, via an app that the school uses. I still encourage his love of art at home. He has free access to pens and pencils, paper and card, child safe scissors, glue, sellotape, and a mix of foam shapes and fluffy pom poms. I do keep the paint locked away, and put the glue away at night, as I don't want to run the risk of him being creative at 4 am in the morning, when I'm asleep, and I wake to find a new design on my landing wall, his bedroom wall, or even the carpet. This hasn't stopped him in the past, with one memorable design being created using a metal spoon that he scraped a pattern out on the wall that the stairs runs up and down with.
This is a link to the original post I made (with accompanying photo of the 'art work') - The Artist Strikes Again
Mixing paint to create a variety of shades of green.
Smiling away as he mixes paint to create tones of brown.
I have put some of his creations on this blog before, and I do display some of his work within the home.
Some of his work is an insight into what he's thinking, but cannot convey with words. I still find it fascinating what he produces. Who knows, one day his pieces could be displayed in an art gallery. I'd be so proud if that day ever became reality.
