Update on Pauly

Paul and I met with a team from the school on Tuesday to go over the results of all the checklists, observations and testing that have been done over the last 2 months. There was a school social worker, psychologist, speech specialist, special education teacher, autism consultant, and occupational therapist present.

I'll keep the results short and to the point since it was a 2 hour meeting. Bottom line is that he definitely meets the criteria for the academic diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and qualifies for Special Education services. Since he has no official medical diagnosis, they looked strictly and academics and his social skills. He is very intelligent and capable of learning which would put him on the high functioning end of the spectrum. They feel pretty strongly that he has Apsergers which makes sense considering his difficulties and anxieties with transitions, social situations, communication, and his intense emotions and behaviors.

We will meet with the team again the beginning of January to come up with and IEP-Individual Education Plan. We will continue to home school him and keep him primarily home with us, but we will devise a plan that will include special ed. services that will equip Pauly and us to cope with his challenges. I have also scheduled him to be fully evaluated by a psychologist, so we can get a clearer understanding of what we are dealing with.

We appreciate all the prayers and support; they most definitely have gotten us through some tough moments, and there may be more to come. I am no longer fearful and overwhelmed, but I am full of hope and relieved to finally have so many people understand my son and be so willing to help. We've been going it alone for long enough. God is so good, and is timing is absolutely perfect. I needed the time going it alone, so that I could really feel God's hand and hear His voice. I'm a bit thick headed sometimes, but I'm glad He keeps trying.

Please feel free to talk about this with us; we need our family and friends to really understand what's going on so that Pauly can be the most successful and happy little boy that he can be.