A note to parents about your children and school.

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Hi Another One and Chronos-

I am just speculating that the noisemaking may be trying to avoid the work. Since I can't be in the classroom, I can't be for sure. I do feel that it is somewhat sensory related, and the teachers are treating it completely as sensory. They are giving him breaks to rock and bear walk, and go into a quiet place (a little tent they have set up) They play classical music during his rest time, and I have been sending in his headphones for The Listening Program which he does first thing in the morning. Like I said, he is only in a class of 4 kids, so I don't see how it can be so overwhelming. My son just seems to crave noise. He actually enjoys loud noises like fireworks and smoke alarms! Lately, he wants me make his noises at him! Sometimes I do it as a game.

Anyway, it is just hard to pinpoint because sometimes I think he is doing it as an attention seeking behavior too. For instance, almost every day when my husband comes home from work, my son will start getting really loud. But if my husband starts to engage with him, he usually stops. He will also start it up when my husband and I are trying to have a conversation. We will tell him very nicely, you can make your noises, but you will need to go into your room to do them, not as a punishment, but just matter of factly. He will go in his room, and do them for a little while, but he then becomes quiet shortly after.

Yesterday at home, he started up with the noises, and I just ignored it and left the room. He stopped doing it within a few seconds of me leaving the room. I would love the teachers to just try ignoring the behavior for a while to see if it diminishes, but I realize that is hard when you are trying to teach..

Sometimes, he will start it up with me when I am trying to help him with his homework. That is why I think that it may have an avoidance element to it as well.

This is my theory-----he just started this about a year ago when he was 4. At that time, he was in a special needs pre-school class with some non-verbal children who were very loud. I think he started it as a coping mechanism, and then realized that he enjoyed it. Then, he realized it was a way to get out of sitting still at the table to do his work. I think when they are paying so much attention to him when he does it, now it is getting reinforced . I could be wrong, but something just isn't adding up. My son is VERY VERBAL. He has lots of words and speaks in perfectly articulated full sentences....

Another One---as far as the physical activity, I totally agree with you. My son is sort of hit or miss with physical activity. He has low muscle tone, so some days he just seems to be a bit more fatigued than others. He sleeps and eats pretty well most of the time, so I don't think that is the problem. It is just hard to get him going at times.
We do the best we can. We suggest some form of exercise everyday, and hope that we can get him interested.

I really adore my son, and just want to help him be the best he can be, but this situation is really problematic. I just fear that it is preventing him from learning as well as he could. I am not determined that he has to stay in public school, so I am open to other alternatives if this just doesn't work out. But right now, the teacher is willing to work with us on it, so I am continuing to try.

Oh, another idea that I have is that he could be bored, and is doing this to get things stirred up! Not sure though----

I learnt about homeschooling on WP.
In Italy I never heard about it, but actually it is what I'm doing at the moment. We don't have special schools for autistic children and parents who want to do ABA do it at their own expenses.
School don't recognize it as a child's right, even if the child has the right to have a support teacher. That teacher is absolutely not prepared for special teaching. Often he/she doesn't know anything about autism.
I hired an ABA therapist and I'm fighting to make her gain entrance to school. My son is 3 years old and he has started aba 3 weeks ago. There's no time for him to go to school since then.

The possibility of homeschooling is interesting along with an appropriate socialization therapy.

THANK YOU CHRONOS!! you are absolutely right

Funny that this thread came back up. I just got the recommendation from my son's teacher for his placement next year. They are recommending that he either repeat Special needs Kindergarten or be placed in a mild to moderate autism class. I am sorry, but my son may be mild, but he is definitely not moderate. No offense intended, but this is just not the environment for him. He is speaking in full sentences, asking questions, making comments and noticing things that he never has before. He is LEARNING the material. The problems are that he is still not doing his work independently, and his noisemaking behaviors are hindering him from learning to work independently. He is still only 5.5 years old though!

The teacher has started a behavior intervention of rewarding him when he is quiet, and ignoring him when he makes his noises (as much as she can). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Anyway, I am just so concerned that I don't have a good choice for his placement, so I am really considering homeschooling at this point.

WOW, some divine intervention must have just taken place because after I got off of WP, I checked my emails and my son's teacher had emailed me. Apparently, she discussed it with my son's team at school again and they agreed that he is too high academically to be in the Mild to Moderate class. They are going to place him in the HFA/Asperger class! Praise the Lord!

So glad to hear that it was resolved. Also I am glad that you were willing to fight their wrong assessment. The thing that I hate the most is "we want to help him so he can learn" while none notices that he has learned.

Excellent post! I only get stressed when some idiot around me decides to try to convince me that I need to do X or Y and send my kiddo to school so that he can be forced into a "round hole" along with the other kids...when it's just us, no outside BS...we have a very peaceful life. We homeschool. Best decision we ever made. Stopped working after 19yrs. Went from a 400K home to a tiny 200K apt by the beach...it's great for our son. When he needs to be outside, there is peace all around and he can run and be around other kids, nature, etc...when he wants to be alone, he goes into his game room.

The more we stress about it, the more stressed the kiddo becomes...the worse off we all are...Life is good...We must accept our kids, work on our own peace and then things do begin to fall into place.

PS - my favorite school was when I was in 7th-8th grade...my school day began at 1230PM and ended at 530PM...public school where I live had alternate schedules as it was a small school with too many children...some kids did 7AM-12PM others like me 1230PM to 530PM...

For years, I thought I was being sent to school as punishment.

Chronos, this post is awesome. It is so true!