Progress report - Who wants to help?

CrocusPocus

Progress reports came home yesterday. Background: DS (who is on the autism spectrum) is almost 5 and in a 5 days/week, full-day inclusion Pre-K at our town's public elementary school. He has speech therapy and OT weekly as part of his IEP (one individual session and one group session per week for each). All of his academic readiness items were rated "M" for "Mastered," which didn't surprise us - he's great with numbers, letters, reading, etc. The social section was more of a downer, as most items were rated "NTE" for "Needs Time & Exposure." And the comments section said (among other things about him being well-mannered, kind, and eager to learn and showing good growth/progress):

"If interested in the lesson at hand, he can be observed being a very active participant in the classroom. However, there are days when he chooses not to participate at all. I don't feel this is due to his inability to answer questions appropriately and/or understand the questions being asked. I feel this may be due to him internalizing ideas or wanting to share about a different subject. Once he has something in his mind that he wants to share, he has to get it out before he can move on." 

Other negative/needs work comments were "He is a little sensitive after conflict arises, even if not at fault. His reaction to others does not often imitate a peer's reaction from a similar circumstance. As well, social cues are not always identified."

Any suggestions/recommendations for ways to work on these things specifically? We have parent-teacher conferences on Friday, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask other parents who have maybe dealt with these issues for ideas or things that have worked for you. Any advice is appreciated!

DS had this same teacher last year when he was 3/4 years old, and she said in our fall conference "He really doesn't strike me as having ASD, more like a communication or processing disorder." Now that his communication has grown by leaps and bounds, it seems she's starting to notice the social stuff that's been apparent to us for a while. As I've said on this board before, the social aspect hardest for me to handle. I even said to DH last night, "I think I'd rather he were bad at the school stuff but great at the social stuff, because I'm afraid of how difficult life will be for him." DH thinks I'm focusing too much on the negative parts of the progress report but I worry. Anyway, TIA for your thoughts and opinions!

hopecounts

Has he had any ABA? 

Attending to non-preferred activities/tasks is one of the things DD's ABA team and now school work on with her to help her learn to stay on task and present even when she'd rather do something else.

As for the handling upsets more appropriately, does he respond well to social stories?

DD really seems to get a lot out of them so we use them a good deal when she is struggling with something to help her do better.

A social story about handling upsets (ideally using actual examples from school if teacher will provide them) with pics pulled from google and talking him through whatever is causing him problems (is he a rule enforcer he doesn't handle others not following them well, has sensitive feelings and needs to understand that his friends don't necessarily mean anything by whatever, does having Oopses upset him and he has trouble with others when they 'cause' them) 

Also possibly something like The Incredible Flexible You or similar social skills program may be helpful with some of this. 

CrocusPocus

hopecounts said:

Has he had any ABA?

His behavioral therapist when he was in EI was wonderful and did lots of ABA with him. He hasn't had any since then (so in two years). I guess we need to look into finding a way to get it again. I'll google around to see what's in our area and how much it costs. I forgot that they work on tackling non-preferred tasks. Thanks!

As for the handling upsets more appropriately, does he respond well to social stories?

DD really seems to get a lot out of them so we use them a good deal when she is struggling with something to help her do better.

A social story about handling upsets (ideally using actual examples from school if teacher will provide them) with pics pulled from google and talking him through whatever is causing him problems (is he a rule enforcer he doesn't handle others not following them well, has sensitive feelings and needs to understand that his friends don't necessarily mean anything by whatever, does having Oopses upset him and he has trouble with others when they 'cause' them) 

He does really like reading social stories, but he's super literal and doesn't always extrapolate them to himself unless the situation is identical. I love the idea of asking his teacher on Friday for specific examples from the classroom. Thank you for that. DS is definitely a rule follower and a "boss" - he thinks he can tell people what to do despite our repeated insistence that he needs to worry about himself and not what others are doing. And if anyone is reprimanded - even if it's not him! - it's all he thinks about all day. As soon as he walks out the door from school, he'll tell MIL or DH or whoever picks him up that, "Teacher was so mad at [Kid's Name]. She yelled 'No jumping! Stay in line!'" This is despite the fact that his teacher makes a point of never using negative language and always correcting in a positive way - for example, she probably said, "We always keep our feet on the ground and stand in line with our friends!" instead of the angry version DS provided.

Also possibly something like The Incredible Flexible You or similar social skills program may be helpful with some of this. 

Will look this up now!