Ok, I had a tour last week of the other school that we were considering for Perrin. I was very pleased with it.

He will be starting out in the Behavior Disorder classroom, which currently has either 4 or 5 students, a BD teacher, and an aide. There he will be taught the same materials that the other 2nd graders are learning...just in a much lower student-teacher ratio environment. The classroom is bigger than his current one, and it has a little nook with a couch for him to put himself in time-out to cool off if he needs to. It also has a time-out room built into it. It's about the size of a full bath; the walls are hollow, so if he bangs his head, he won't do any permanent damage to himself. He can choose to put himself in it, or the teacher may physically pick him up and carry him there. (It's a good alternative to restraining him, in my opinion.) If she has to put him there, he'll stay 8 minutes - one minute for each year of his age - and if he goes by himself, he gets to choose when he comes out. What goes on in the time-out room stays in the time-out room...so if he decides to tell the world just how "pissed off" he is at the top of his lungs? He won't get in trouble for cussing. That's a good thing, IMO.

Anyway, the kids are given a behavior sheet each day. The days are divided up into something like six parts. Each section has five stars automatically in it. If the kid misbehaves, one of the stars is taken away, and the reason is listed. If the kiddo has three good days in a row, he is "rewarded" with 1/2 an hour of time in his regular classroom. If that day goes well, the next day he gets an hour in the regular classroom, etc, etc. The goal, of course, is to get them into the regular classroom full-time.

One other nice thing about this program is that when he does have time in the regular classroom, the BD teacher or aide is likely to be available to go WITH him! Someone who can sit beside him and help him stay focused!

It really sounds like just what he needs. I really think it will help him out a LOT with school. We have an IEP meeting on Thursday to get the paperwork done so we can get him moved. He'll probably start the new school Monday.

On the therapist front, he will be having his first, actual, therapy session today. We met his therapist last week. Nice lady. We did some paperwork and boring stuff. This week, she's going to actually spend more time with him than me. LOL They'll be going to the library, maybe. That's was the plan last week, anyway.

So things are still moving. Hopefully, they'll get better. Heaven knows, they can't get much worse!