Auties transition to Year 1 - thread 3

[LightTripper]

This is the continuation of the thread for parents and carers of autistic children in reception year at school, going into Year 1 in the autumn. All welcome (also parents with older or younger children who want to ask questions or share their wisdom!)

Welcome!

Open We have that set of ORT from book people. Is it the biff chip kipper collection?

If so, they are harder than songbirds, the level 1's between the 2 sets is quite different, ds has a level 1 ORT book from school today and it has words like pancake etc he's got no chance of reading it but I can only try, he can just about get through a level 1 songbirds with minimal help but level 1 ORT I can't see it being possible at the minute.

Our homework is, 6 spellings a week, read write and spell. There are little boxes mon-fri for him to practise writing each word in every night, he's got a reading book to read every night from his book bag and he has to log on to his schools reading scheme and choose a book from his library to read each night.

Also he will get a scrap book and there are tasks in it each week to complete that starts next week.

Blimey!

He hates doing anything at all so I'm not sure how possible all of that will be! The 40 min kick off earlier started because I tried to get him to read his reading book with me, then it escalated to being over me looking at him breathing near him being in the same room as him

Bedtime yet????!!!

His afternoon TA said at pick up that he's done well with his maths this week, he's been doing some activities were he has to match the number to the amount of objects and then to the written word.

She's laminated some cards for him to learn his spellings and she has some games to play with them and she is working a bit more closely on his letter formation as he only has a handful of recognisable letters he can write.

Oh yes, lunch time! I forgot.

He won't go in the dinner hall or the big playground at all, so he's having his pack lunch in the classroom with his TA and playing in the small playground or yesterday he played in the classroom with the dolls house. She said whatever he wants to do, but other than that he's fine with staying.

DD is getting what I consider to be loads! Basically:

• 10-15 minutes a night of maths or writing (e.g. a worksheet with numbers 1-20, or writing 5 sentences using adjectives - which are given at the top to pick from) - every day except Monday, to be handed in the next day.
• 10-15 minutes a night of reading (luckily DD likes this now and is getting more confident so I think we'll be able to do this in bed - whereas previously it felt like hard work and I had to do it at breakfast or she was too tired).
• Spellings given on a Thursday to learn for the following Wednesday (so they are supposed to practice every day). There are about 12 of them (!) although this week they are all very short words with "ll" in (Well, Pill, Bill, Nell, etc.) so hopefully doable.

So everything by itself is OK but given it's every night and there isn't really any wiggle room it feels like quite a lot. Luckily DD is actually enjoying it at the moment, so hoping it stays that way!

Glad lunchtime is going well danni and that DS is doing so well with maths! I think it makes sense to give him a bit of quiet time to decompress over lunchtime. Is he on his own in the afternoon too, and just in with the other kids in the morning? Will they try to integrate him in the afternoon too at some point?

I'm pretty sure the evidence on homework is that it doesn't actually do anything for kids, it just keeps parents happy (?!?!) so hopefully it doesn't matter too much whether they actually do it or not!

I was expecting Maths homework today to do for Monday (as that's what the newsletter stated) but there's nothing in the bag - result! They also are expected to do 10 mins reading a day and practice spellings (also haven't got yet).

All of last year's homework involved handwriting or drawing - neither of which DS will do.

I have been really pleased by how much DS (and I) enjoy reading. I remember before he started school the Ed Psych thought that DS wouldn't manage phonics at all but he's actually doing quite well.

@LittleTripper i believe it could be something like EDS ots getting someone willing to listen even though ds struggles to communicate his struggles.

@danni we have reading that ia supposed to be done everyday including weekend days. We have spellongs weekly with a worksheet that has day 1 to day 5 above each column to practice spellings in they want this back next Friday. We get a home grid every term with homework for every subject on that has to be completed across the term theres 25 different things on it. I have yet to manage to het ds to read once. I have asked about spellings and he screamed at me hes not doing it.

We got school news letter today with a picture on it from assembly of all the kids dressed up for roald dahl day ds is at the front to the left with his legs pulled up to hos chest one arm wrapped around them and the other arm covering his face it looks such a sad site. How can they not notice and put it on a news letter!

Light that is a lot of homework, but I think that’s normal with private schools? It’s good your dd is enjoying it so far, hopefully that will last.

I think homework is supposed to help cement what they’ve been learning in class. I remember my primary teacher friend said that the kids who really needed it were the ones whose parents wouldn’t bother to do it with them. I don’t know how true that is now. I think it would help ds (if he engages with it) because I can see how much of an impact even the small, but regular, amounts of phonics, writing and maths that we have done have made to him. Tonight we blended words from set 4 of phase 2 phonics (m) and ds got all 7 words correct. When we did it in early August he only got 3 correct, he’s doing so well.

danni that sounds like a lot of homework too. Are you going to talk to them about differentiated homework or are you happy to give the regular one a go?

dimples that’s brilliant. How on earth do people think they can make such fatalistic judgements on a young child when, really, they have no clue how they’re going to develop. I’m so glad he has proved him wrong.

then it escalated to being over me looking at him breathing near him being in the same room as him

Crossed post Harley. That’s a lot of homework too. I feel like we are rather lucky, though goodness knows how I am going to get ds to do his...

The house birthday party went well for us today. I was quite nervous before hand but relieved and proud of him afterwards. He did a mix of playing with other children and playing by himself and it was all very low key in their garden. He had fun and that was the most important thing.

We haven’t done any homework yet...

That's great Open

We are having a nice, relaxing weekend

Thats great @openupmyeagereyes glad it was a good time.

We have had a very screamy weekend every request has been met with growling and screaming and hea now decided to create his own language.

I also got the ehcp request written up today.

dimples lovely, I hope you got a chance to rest your foot.

Harley that sounds challenging. Is it just pressure of first week back do you think, or something else?

We got some homework done. Once he was persuaded to do it was fairly straightforward though we helped him a lot, of course.

@openupmyeagereyes i think its school pressure. Hes pretty much like this during term time but is very calm during holidays. I find he regressed during term time to. Hes very baby like in his behaviour.
We have kids club tonight he wants to give it a go again he had a panic attack last week hopefully this week will be better.

Wow, sounds like there is a lot of homework in Y1!

Hope everyone had a good weekend?

Harley is it a reaction to his first week back at school? Great that you got the EHCP request written up though, it's exhausting (did mine in December last year and found it very hard) but good to get things moving. Have you got someone from Sendiass who can look at it? I sent mine to them and they came back with a few bullet points and ideas for me.

Openupmyeagereyes sounds like the party went really well!

We had a few growls and grunts too here this weekend but not as had as I'd anticipated. We basically let DD chill in her PJ's with TV for most of Saturday. Probably way too much screen time!

Hope for a smooth start to the week for everyone

@LittleSwede his behaviour always goes like this during term time hes so much more calmer in holidays. He regresses to alot of baby like behaviour during term time.
I self referred to sendiass 2 weeks ago am still waiting to hear from them.

Fathering Autism recommended a book on their vlog today - Uniquely Human. It looks interesting so I’ve got it ready in my Kindle for when I’ve finished Testaments. I’ll let you know what I think.

We were 15 mins late for school this morning with ds refusing to leave. Mondays are often tricky after the weekend, hopefully he’s had a decent day! 🤞

On the topic of parties, I gave in to DD's request for a 'big birthday party' this year. She's only ever had me, DH, FIL, SIL and two cousins 4 yo and 6 yo (one of them is currently undergoing assessment for ASD) for her little parties so far. So this Sunday I'm hosting 10 children and their parents at the Parish Centre!

Although it's not that 'big', I am quite (or rather a lot!) nervous about it. The children know DD and her quirks, so fingers crossed it goes ok. Some parents know about DD and ASD but not all of them.

Have bought lots of craft stuff for them all to do (so DD can sit quietly with her arty stuff for the full party, if she wants to). Am hoping to avoid the traditional games and stuff. Although DD wants some games...

Ds was difficult to get into school today tried to run back out of yard shouting mummy lets just go home. He came out of school with shoes on odd feet and poo showing though his trousers.

Harley typed up a message but then DD accidentally kicked the phone out if my hand! Oh dear, not sure what to suggest further re your DS and the school's lack of support. What are we supposed to do when school aren't supporting out DC and it's affecting their health and wellbeing?

Thats the thing i don't know what to do @Littleswede . Ds is on laxido due to chronic constipation hes just informed me that the teacher told him to not have his medicine drink anymore so he won't poo. They don't seem to be getting its nothing to do with that its stress he wasn't like this over the weekend or the weekend before and he isn't like it before or after school. Then again i do his toilet routine with him.

Harley well done for getting the EHCP application done. It can be a bit of an emotional wringer so I hope you’re not too down about it. Hopefully you can speak to sendiass before you send it off. How was the kids club? Have you spoken to one of the school governors yet?

Little the party sounds manageable, I hope your dd enjoys it. Rope in some extra adult support if you can.

Ds had a great day at school yesterday his TA said. This morning though, when he got up and I came out to see him he said in a little voice ‘I want to be in x class’ (his reception class). I felt so sad for him

@open i am still trying to find out who the school governers are. Sendiass are phoning me today so hopefully they can help. I haven't sent the ehcp request off yet it needs tweaking a little.

The governors should be on the school website.

Great that you will speak to sendiass today, make sure you have a list of your issues. Good luck.

Thanks @open will look.

Sendiass been in contact this morning. They want me to organise a meeting with school. She laughed at schools excuses for not doing things like communication book.