School Support

Eoin at home with our visuals.

We have been blessed with an awesome school and a team of staff that work so hard to help Eoin be the best he can be. Eoin has his very talented Kinder teacher and  a caring and supportive resource teacher who not only teaches Eoin but also coordinates the team of school psychologist, Occupational Therapist, Speech & Language Therapist (Eoin doesn't need speech help but the S&L teaches social thinking and skills) and last but not least Eoin's aide. This really scrapes the surface because just about everyone at the school knows Eoin and watches out for him.

When we first learned about the size of Eoin's year and the size of the school we were worried. Eoin is one of approx. 350 kinder kids and the school has approx. 1200 students (K-5). However the size of the school has been a blessing as all of the above support staff are there at least two days a week. This means that Eoin gets regular support. The team is always available to talk and as parents we have been welcomed into the team and our ideas and opinions matter and are listened too.

Social thinking work

So what does the support look like? Well Eoin has an Individualized Education Program or IEP for short. As part of the IEP he has a behavioral plan and support in place with a reward system for expected behaviors. We are focusing on the Zones of Regulation program to learn about expected and unexpected behaviors. The zone system also helps Eoin how to identify how he or his body is feeling and what can be done to help him stay in the 'green zone'.

Eoin also has social skills lessons. His favorite part of social skills is when he and a few friends get to have a 'special lunch' together where they play board games etc. Here Eoin can learn to not be in control all the time and to use the social skills he has learned.

Out of all of this Eoin's absolute favorite is Occupational Therapy. Thursday's are the highlight of the week when he gets to go see Ms Maggie and explore different sensory experiences. He learns that bear hugs or a core compression vest helps him feel safe and calm. Here we also found out that if Eoin rights on a slanted writing board his hand 'doesn't get so tired' and he applies appropriate pressure to the pencil.

Behavior chart - a good day is rewarded with lego.

When he is at lunch or in his regular class (about two thirds of the day) he has a one on one aide. Ms. Rosa reminds him to take a break and do some yoga or deep pressure exercises (like wall push-ups). Eoin has also been allowed to take part in the running club at lunch time (kinders aren't normally allowed).

All of this sounds fun and sunny but there is also the very real fact that many of Eoin's support team have to take training on how to safely restrain him. This is for the most part a precaution but when Eoin really has a fight or flight reaction it can be necessary. But even in this the school was supportive and included us in discussions on how to avoid restraining Eoin but also to teach us so that we are all using the same approach and the same language. The day we were all learning this we must have had some strange looks as people passed by the office. We had a teacher sitting on my knee retrained at one point and then later in fits of giggles we were trying to restrain each other. Maybe you had to be there but sometimes you just have to have a good laugh and giggle in the middle of a serious thing.

Our hope as a team is that Eoin can be the amazing kid that we see so much. He has friends and contributes (sometimes too much) in class. He is so smart it is scary sometimes. We are very fortunate to be on this journey with Eoin and to have him (and us) supported by his awesome school.