Good Effort

Yesterday we had a "Student of the Marking Period" assembly. All of the students in sixth grade are invited to this event. Each of the team teachers (Language Arts, Math, etc.) get together and nominate a "Student of the Marking Period" to receive each award. The awards were: "Most Improved," "Good Effort," "Good Citizenship," "Academic Honors" and "Overall Student of the Marking Period."

You bet I nominated my kids for the awards. They were at a little bit of an advantage over the 150 other 6th graders, because in my classroom there was one teacher making nominations for each of the five awards. I have five students. They really did deserve them, though! The other teachers were very nice and let me stand in front of the auditorium with them as they called off their short list of names. I even asked that they intersperse my kids within theirs, so we didn't stand out so much (i.e. The ASD teacher reading off each of the ASD kids in a row).

You'd have thought it was the Academy Awards or something. These little sixth graders were cheering and whistling as each of their friends got called. The principal would call the student's name, the crowd would roar, and the student would slowly make it to the stage to claim their certificate, bumper sticker, and two Rutgers basketball tickets. Then came my first student to be announced. The room was uncomfortably silent. I put my hands together and looked into the crowd, hoping they'd follow... we got some "mini claps" from the nice kids in the back. It didn't really matter to my kids though, they were just stoked to be in the front of a crowd getting an award! The next time a student was called, the crowd got a little louder. There were a few more claps with each name being called. Finally, my one and only non-verbal student was called. She has a 1:1 aide who walked with her to the front of the auditorium to get her award. She did a little donkey kick out of excitement. She looked into the audience (which sounds silly, but this is huge for her to notice that there are other people around her...) - got her award, smiled, and walked back to sit down. She was so very proud. She didn't know why people were clapping for her, but she knew it felt good.

I wrote in all of the kids Communication Notebooks that they had been nominated for "Student of the Marking Period" for various awards. I said that they were recognized in a ceremony in front of the entire sixth grade, they each won two Rutgers basketball tickets, as well as an "Honor Student" Bumper Sticker. They are technically on the Honor Roll because they only receive grades in PE and Art. Haha. But, that's OK!

All of the parents wrote back to me today. They said they were happy their children are doing so well, Thank you for working so hard with them, etc. There was one note that was extra special, however. It read:

"Hi Mrs. Smith,

We were so proud ___ has been named "Honor Student," I will proudly place the sticker on my car. ____ has never been honored before, and my family thanks you for making this possible.

Thank you,

Mrs. _____."

It just so happens that this is my student who came to me at eleven years of age, completely non-verbal, non-communicative, zero pre-academic skills, and in pull-ups. She so deserves this "Student of the Marking Period" award for Good Effort, because that's exactly what she's had. Good effort. It doesn't matter if you can talk, recognize your numbers, read, or even say hello to others by waving or smiling, you can still put in old fashioned good effort.

I am happy to report that with her effort, she truly deserves the title of "ASD Honor Student." She is now completely toilet trained and wears a "bathroom tag" (with a picture of a toilet velcroed to a badge tag). She hands the toilet picture to whoever she is with when she needs to go to the bathroom. She is also climbed the ladder to Phase IV of the Picture Exchange Communication System. She's able to discriminate pictures of various items to request them. She uses the pictures to communicate with us. We've got a long road ahead, but she's able to complete 4-6 piece puzzles, sequence the rings on a ring stacker, imitate actions with and without objects, and is learning more and more receptive instructions each day ("Throw this away," "Stand up," "Sit down," "Touch your mouth," etc.) She is acquiring new skills at an incredible rate. Sometimes, she will come tap our shoulders to get our attention, a skill that we explicitly taught over a period of two months. She even looks at us when we say "hi" to her. Now THAT is achieving success daily.

Bus Update

I've had a few inquiries as to how the regular ed bus is going for my little guy. Let's just say that he blew everyone away. I knew he could do it. This is why I worked hard to get him on the regular bus! The first few days, they sent someone to "shadow" him from the bus to the classroom. They informed me that, for safety reasons, they'd be doing this for at least a month. It only lasted a few days, because he navigated his way so independently. He no longer requires a "shadow" and is able to walk from the bus to the classroom each morning. Alright!

He is now riding the bus in the afternoon as well. He walks out with the group, the aides take the other kids to their special ed buses, and he will find his bus in the bus line. If you've been following this blog from day 1, you know about my color coding in the classroom. I put a yellow circle in the window of the bus and he's able to look down the line of buses and know exactly which one is his!

I couldn't be more proud. I've had several teachers comment, "He rides the regular bus?" and "Does he know where he's going?" Yes, he knows exactly where he's going. And he is so proud of that!

The ASD program is so new to this school. They have a "cookie cutter" thought of how things should look (i.e. ALL ASD KIDS ride the Special Ed bus). We're achieving success daily... by riding the big bus.