Primary 2

T1 entered his Primary 2 year with all of the other boys and girls in his class.  There were 15 of them in total.  They are a close knit class so it was lovely for them to be on their own as opposed to being in a composite class.  T1's P2 teacher was a really lovely lady who was due to retire after T1's P2 year.  This year at school went really well for T1.  He really achieved a lot.  Some of his achievements in this year were:

• Making closer friendships with his peers both in and out of the classroom
• Coping much better with school Sports Day
• Beginning to self regulate his emotions e.g. taking himself off for some quiet time in the book corner in class if he needed to (his teacher was very supportive of this and would encourage it as required but would also help to re-integrate T1 back into the class goings on once he had had a bit of space)
• The small class size allowed T1 to play games etc. with his peers and get some honest feedback from them which helped him modify his behaviour e.g. his friends said that he was laughing too loud so they didn't want him to play anymore.  This sounds harsh but he actually needed to hear that to think 'Mmmm perhaps I need to tone down the volume of my laughing so I can keep playing'.

After his first term in P2 we had another meeting with the Educational Psychologist, his class teacher and the Head Teacher.  The feedback was that T1 was doing really well and was making closer friendships.  They knew this because he joined in with others more in class and spent time playing with others in the playground.  His handwriting was improving and he was doing well at concentrating on his work when he knew what was going to come next.  At the end of this meeting we all decided that T1 didn't need formal Educational Psychology input anymore as there did not appear to be any issues in school that couldn't be worked out between DP and I and school staff. 

Also during this year, T1's friends expressed an interest in learning about ASD as T1 was beginning to say that that is why he finds some things difficult and why he is good at remembering things that he is interested in.  I got a hold of some books that I let others borrow for their children to read if they wanted to know more.  Particular favourites are:'Friends Learn About Tobin' and 'Tobin Learns To Make Friends', both by Diane Murrell.  I think these books are pitched well for ages 4-6.

At the end of his P2 year, T1 let me know that he didn't want to use his pencil grip anymore.  I could have insisted but I believe that it's his choice unless I think he is going to harm himself.  He was still happy to use his sloping board for writing and his disc-o-mat.  T1 was also discharged from the Child and Family Mental Health Service where he recieved his diagnosis.  We didn't have any concerns/difficulties that required such a specialist service.  We knew that we could be re-referred to be seen again via our GP if T1 needed it.

All in all T1 had a very happy year in P2.  I believe a lot of this was down to being in a small class with the children he has always known and having a very caring, compassionate teacher with oodles of experience :-)  I found this quote somewhere online and it sums up how I feel about my chats with  T1's P2 teacher...

'I may forget your name but I will recall in detail the way in which you spoke to me about my child - and most of all I will remember the compassion and realism you exhibited'.