My eighth grade son is on an IEP for emotional disturbance because before he was diagnosed, we thought his problems were due to anxiety. I ended up pulling him from school in December because panic attacks on the way to school, lashing out to teachers and peers, and shutting down in class by having staring spells. On our exit meeting, his case manager said she was unaware of his diagnosis. Since then, we have discovered your books and courses and have started to understand defense mode. Everything is starting to make sense now! The problem is that I am not able to give him the high school education he needs, nor am I up for the challenge. He already stresses about his future and agrees that he needs to be in school. I am meeting with the school this week and am already frustrated with the system in place. The case manager said that the school psychologist needs to assess him for an autism diagnosis, but the goals and support given to him wouldn’t change much, if any. It seems that the professionals ( his psychologist, psychiatrist, OT, and paras) are still treating these kids issues with an umbrella solution. Any suggestions from other parents on working with the system to help Caleb succeed in this next stage? His main issues are intrusive thoughts, anxiety, becoming overwhelmed by his thought, noise, his own unrealistic expectations, and exhaustion.

Posted by sheila.bjornson at 2023-04-01 20:38:45 UTC