I had a meeting up at Brodie's High School this morning. And boy was I glad today was a school day. Brodie had a four day weekend this time round and I was so over it by lunchtime yesterday. Not that I don't love my boys but having to spend that much time with them can drive a person to absolute distraction.
Brodie & I had a PSG (Program Support Group) this morning with the special ed co-ordinator and his integration aide. Basically it was about what sort of things Brodie will be doing next semester & possibly for the rest of his VCE.
B is super keen to drop his Biology class (he's not that keen on the subject & he says he finds it too hard) which means that he would get 4 extra study periods a week so that he can 'catch up' with his work & he wont have the need to do as much homework (not that he really does much school work at home any way). The thing was we (the teacher & I) wanted B to do a third VCE/VCAL year to make up for the subject he wants to drop. If he can spread it out over three years it will mean less stress for him NOW. My goodness do you know how hard it is to convince a 16 year old that it would be a great idea to do a year 13 at school??? It wasn't all that easy.
I suggested to Brodie that he talk with the student who is currently doing a Yr 13 at his school. This boy is currently going to school for one day, TAFE for one day and then working the remaining weekdays. I think that sounded more appealing to Brodie who probably thought that it meant going to school full-time. Something that he definitely doesn't want to do.
At least this way if he does Yr 13 from school he will have support at TAFE with one of the integration aides going with him. If he stops going to high school he wont have that support & I feel he gets so many more benefits when he has someone there to help him out. He gains so much more out of it.
So far B has agreed to do Yr 13. He really does need to keep his options open by finishing high school.
All we need to do is wait for an email letting me know what will happen in regards to Brodie dropping Biology. Chats with the Physics teacher & the Careers teacher needs to happen before everything is finalised. Hopefully we will get the okay for what we talked about. I don't see a problem but you never know - so I am crossing my fingers for now.
So interesting to read about the PSG experience and challenges/solutions in high school.
ReplyDeleteWe are doing our first proper PSG next week for my daughter who is grade one. There was one PSG last year but it was the day the school principal announced her resignation and not much got done.
Hi Marita,
ReplyDeletePSG's in High School would most certainly be different to the ones you will have in Primary.
Brodie was only officially diagnosed with Aspergers at aged 12 & was no longer in PS. So we never had a PSG there. But his school was pretty small & I caught up with the teacher every week.
Good luck with your upcoming PSG. I hope that everything runs smoothly.