chapter 11 Schools part 2 Autism
Meanwhile an exclusive group of parents were starting a small school for 6 autistic kids. At the time this group needed Lee as much as Lee needed them. Meaning my parents could prove the public school had done everything possible for Lee. Even giving him his own private classroom and teacher. However, his behaviors were becoming more and more challenging and it was clear he needed to be in a different environment. Lee was the first student Albemarle County paid for to attend this up and coming school for autism.
Lee excelled the first years he was there. Applied Behavior Analysis “ABA” was the chosen method of teaching. Unfortunately, Lee was their oldest student so he was the first to hit adolescence. By the time Lee was 12 the meds seemed to stop working and my parents knew they had to try something different.
They enrolled him in a 4 month program at Kennedy Krieger Institute next to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Which specialized in behavioral management for kids like Lee.
The thought of sending Lee away made us all sick, but my parents felt they had no choice.
Lee’s stay at Kennedy Krieger was stressful on so many levels. It was the first time he had been away from home. To make matters worse no sooner had Mom and Dad gotten Lee settled in at Kennedy Krieger there was a national disaster!
September 11, 2001. Baltimore was under high alert as were many large cities. Mom still faithfully went to Baltimore every week-end. Dad thought she was crazy!
As the weeks passed by, Mom convinced Dad it was safe for all of us to travel to Baltimore. We had to make the best out of a bad situation. We had many an adventure visiting the aquarium, eating out, playing in the hotel pool and my favorite memory was the paddle boats in the inner harbor.
Since Lee loves water, we rented a paddle boat with Mom and I doing all the paddling and Lee sitting in the middle. The goal seemed to be to paddle out to a big white buoy right in the middle of the harbor. It looked like a big volleyball, but it was really a giant gum ball, because everyone had stuck his or her gum on it. Mom asked me if I wanted to add to it, but I didn’t have any gum at the time so I just touched the buoy. Lee of course wanted to touch it and pull a wad of gum off!!! Monkey See Monkey Do!!! Yikes!! We quickly paddled back to shore.
Adjusting to Lee being in a hospital setting was frustrating for Mom and Lee. We were
originally told that Lee could only have one toy when he came there so Lee had picked his sleeping bag. No exceptions to the rule.
Yet, when Lee got there, we could clearly see there were kids who had brought whole boxes of toys.
Apparently this wasn’t as big a rule as they had made it out to be. But at least Lee still had his sleeping bag. That was some small comfort for him.
So when Kennedy Krieger lost it two weeks later it was devastating for Lee and infuriating for my parents. Mom made the hospital buy him a new one.
Sometimes the hospital staff asked Mom and Dad to help with testing. They wanted to see what Lee was like when he was mad. They would give him a little toy and had Dad pretend to talk on the phone. But Lee didn’t interrupt once. So then they had Mom play with Lee’s ball, which usually got him mad. But this time he didn’t mind and even helped Mom bounce higher. It wasn’t until Dad tried to give him a salad that he finally got mad.
Lee’s experience at Kennedy Krieger had mixed results. Lee’s meds were drastically changed. To wean him off the old and introduce him to new medications is a long involved process. As for his behaviors. In the beginning I think Lee was so happy to be home for Christmas he didn’t act out. However, when he returned to school with all the new techniques and strategies put in place, nothing worked, unfortunately.
Mom tries Homeschooling next.
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