SBISD autism/asperger's program answer

[Guest guest]

Hello again,

Someone here asked me a question a week or so ago about a program I

mentioned that my Asperger's (almost totally recovered now) son is

in. With the holiday and travel, plus our own list to monitor, I

forgot to answer until just now! Sorry.

Please realize that I may be shot for sharing this! The program is

very closely guarded -- so closely that it was in existence in our

own elementary school when my son was in 3rd grade (when I diagnosed

him after starting to heal kids with autism in my own profession!) --

and he was at the end of 8th grade when I found out about it. It

took me hiring a professional advocate to even find out that it

existed -- in spite of the fact that the mere diagnosis of

Asperger's made my son eligible.

The district we are in is Spring Branch ISD. The name of the

program is AIM - a cute little acronym for Autism Is Manageable.

GAG! Anyway, the program has just started its first high school

program, which is based at Memorial High School. The middle school

program is at Memorial Middle School. The elementary program used

to be at Terrace Elementary, then I think it went to Bendwood

Elementary. To be honest, I don't know now how many schools they

have elementary programs in.

My son is in 9th grade now. And he is in 100% mainstream programs,

with just a " study hall " in the AIM classroom. He has made HUGE

social gains, and he called me last night (I'm out of town on

business) to report that he had received his mid-grading period

progress report -- a C in biology (he blew one test or it would have

been a , A in Algebra I, A in Choir (he's a 9th grade basso

profundo with a great ear! His choir teacher loves him!), B in

Language Arts, B in Health, and he just took a test for World

Geography that he missed when he had the stomach flu last week, so

we don't have the grade. But his current grade in there without the

test is an 80, so he should have at least a B there.

I am SUCH a rabble rouser. Any of you who are in SBISD, push for

it, and just tell them you know about the AIM program for Aspergers

kids and you expect your diagnosed child to become a part of it. It

really is small right now -- and since I work extensively with

autism in the treatment side, I know it should be a HUGE program.

You still have an IEP for your child, but it is implemented and

watched over by the AIM teacher -- she becomes the go-between for

you and the other teachers, she is the " resource " teacher, they have

a separate room so that if the kids are overwhelmed they can handle

it by a cooling off period at the AIM classroom. It's great. It

has been great for my son - and for me. PRior to this year I was

spending more time keeping up with teacher e-mails than I was on

running my own very busy business! This year I have time to be

POSITIVE with my son -- because I'm not daily inundated with

negativity from his teachers. In fact, he LOVES being at Memorial

now, loves his AIM teacher, and two weeks ago, he sat down and laid

out his entire remaining 4 year course schedule for high school on

his own! His teachers love him, most didn't even know he had an IEP

until the AIM teacher pointed it out. Most of the accommodations

are falling away as he picks up and runs with it.

I'm proud of him -- but still pretty put out with the district that

it's not more well-known. I understand that it is very expensive -

they have one teacher and one aide for about 9 kids in high school.

The middle school program was a bit smaller. But the elementary

programs are doing a great job, too, from what I hear.

So there it is! Sorry it took me so long to put it out there!

President, Homeopathy Ctr. of Houston

list owner Homeopathy-ADDthruAutism