Summer School

Summer school started this week. (It actually started last week, but my son was away.) We were offered the opportunity for my son to attend by the School District, even though he'd been moved out of a smaller special education class toward the end of the school year. I was eager to take them up on it — I thought somehow it might help prepare him for next year.

I've no idea what might have given me that impression (or what I was thinking). His summer class is, essentially, the environment he left behind, months ago. (In fact, many of the same students are there.) The classwork is far, far behind what he had been doing in his mainstream class. He's doesn't seem frustrated by it, not really (not yet), but I think he is a bit bothered that he isn't learning anything new and novel.

And I'm beginning to wonder if it's become a challenge for him to deal with his former classmates. As he spent more time with his larger mainstream class through the school year, that class became his peer group. Socialization with other children was always one of his weak points (part of his Autism), but he's shown great improvement from moving into an environment where he has more typical kids to interact with (and learn behavioral cues from). Now he's back among the problem behaviors of his former classmates, and I think he's finding that to be difficult at times.

Thankfully, his teacher for the Summer was his teacher for Kindergarten (and for last Summer, as well), and knows him well. And we know her well enough to ask how he's getting along, and if she feels this is best for him.

I've already promised him we won't do this again next year, that I'll try to find something better.