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Apr. 19th, 2010 11:23 pmCo-ordinating their different shifts to get a day off for school viewing is tricky. As a rule, Guppy and Frogspawn try to work non-overlapping hours, in order to spend maximum time with Alex. Which means that anything they want to do as a three means rearranging all sorts of things. In the end, they manage to arrange to do all four schools in the same day.
They stop at the only qualifying state school first, get the guided tour and ask their questions. But they're disappointed to learn that he can't apply specifically there, but will have to go through the system and may not get there until five. He could end up at either of the schools that Guppy or Frogspawn were bullied at every day. And they don't know how Alex would cope with that.
They move onto the next one. Alex looks quite interested in the nursery there. He ignores the other children and lines up the blocks while his parents chat to the headmaster. The headmaster skims through the statement Max provided.
"Do you think he'll be able to cope on his own in a class of eighteen?" he asks, looking through the file.
"He may need more attention than the average kid. But if the other kids don't touch him he shouldn't be aggressive. When he understands the instructions he's actually pretty well behaved."
One of the other kids approaches Alex, leans over and grabs one of his blocks. Alex makes an irritated whine noise. The kid pushes him gently out the way, and looks surprised when Alex screams and bites him. Guppy grimaces and moves quickly over, telling Alex off sternly, while the nursery teacher picks up the wailing older child.
Guppy doesn't think Alex's chances of getting in are good when they leave. The headmaster stopped short of admitting refusal, but didn't seem to be very enthusiastic or accommodating.
The third school, however, proves a lot more promising. The headmistress greets them warmly, and crouches to Alex's level.
"Hello Alex, I'm Mrs Patel."
"Hello." Alex replies, looking at her sparkly shoes.
"How old is he?" Mrs Patel asks his parents.
"He's seva-teen munts." The reply comes from Alex, who has heard this sentence twelve times this morning. Mrs Patel stares at him, then smiles, delightedly. Frogspawn restrains a giggle.
"We've been asked that all morning." she admits honestly. "He's good at repeating things he heard before."
"It's still very impressive; well done Alex." Mrs Patel smiles again, even though Alex isn't looking. "Let's go on the tour."
The kids in the classrooms look happy and interested. The class sizes are small, with good spacing between the kids; Alex shouldn't be crowded. In front of one of the classes, Mrs Patel pauses.
"It's Asperger Syndrome that's the most likely diagnosis for Alex, isn't it? We have another little boy with that. He's been with us since he was four and he's one of our star pupils now in this class."
They enter the class. Guppy can't actually spot the kid with Alex-like features, which is presumably a good thing. Everyone seems to be working happily, and at their own pace. He can see that the kids aren't on the same pages in their books, and just go up to the teacher when they get stuck. He glances down at Alex, who is looking at people's shoes. One of the little girls giggles when he crawls under her table.
"Oh, Alex, come out sweetie." Guppy coaxes his toddler out from under the desk.
"Hello Alex." The girl giggles and makes baby noises at him.
"He doesn't like to be touched." Guppy says quickly.
"Oh, that's okay, we learned about personal space." the girl replies, as though it were part of the curriculum.
It takes a couple of minutes to get Alex out from under the table, but he succeeds. Nobody seems to mind; they seem to think it's funny if anything. They finish the tour in the nursery class. Alex immediately bounds off into the room to play with the cars while Guppy and Frogspawn discuss what he would need with the nursery teachers. They seem positive about the idea of having him, enthusiastic even. One of the teachers quickly gathers the other children to tell them that Alex doesn't like to be touched and that that's okay because everyone has different likes and dislikes.
"I'd be happy for you to put his name down for here, starting January 2012." Mrs Patel says at the end. "I can't promise a place in case things change with him in that time, but so long as his Statement of Educational Needs at age three shows we can accommodate him then I'd be happy to accept him. He's already demonstrating a marvellous vocabulary for his age, you must be very proud."
It's a weight of Guppy's mind as they leave the school, and a fair bit of pride in his son's performance. He'd been worried that they wouldn't be able to get Alex in anywhere. The kid seemed to like that school so much that he didn't want to leave - though that could have been just because he got settled with the cars.
"Guppy?"
"Hm?" Guppy breaks his thoughts to glance at his wife. "S'up?"
"Can we afford to send both Alex and the new baby there?"
"Yes, so long as we don't splash out on any other major money commitments." Guppy turns into the next street. "But when this baby is born, we're going to have to suss out some better methods of contraception until I get a payrise."
Frogspawn giggles. "I'll bear that in mind. I think he'll be happy there, the kids seemed nice and open minded about him not wanting to be touched and stuff. And at the end of the day that's what he needs." She glances at the toddler in the back seat. "My parents were dead against private schooling, but I really worry about his chances of getting anywhere stuck in a classroom of thirty kids."
They share a mental image of Alex hiding under the table rocking like he does when it's too noisy at nursery.
The final school is Book Lane, the private special school for autistic children. That one proves impressive too; the teachers certainly know how to cater for kids like Alex. But they don't take children under five, so it's mostly a reconnaisance visit. In the end, they decide to try mainstream first, to give Alex the chance to mix with all sorts of children.
They stop at the only qualifying state school first, get the guided tour and ask their questions. But they're disappointed to learn that he can't apply specifically there, but will have to go through the system and may not get there until five. He could end up at either of the schools that Guppy or Frogspawn were bullied at every day. And they don't know how Alex would cope with that.
They move onto the next one. Alex looks quite interested in the nursery there. He ignores the other children and lines up the blocks while his parents chat to the headmaster. The headmaster skims through the statement Max provided.
"Do you think he'll be able to cope on his own in a class of eighteen?" he asks, looking through the file.
"He may need more attention than the average kid. But if the other kids don't touch him he shouldn't be aggressive. When he understands the instructions he's actually pretty well behaved."
One of the other kids approaches Alex, leans over and grabs one of his blocks. Alex makes an irritated whine noise. The kid pushes him gently out the way, and looks surprised when Alex screams and bites him. Guppy grimaces and moves quickly over, telling Alex off sternly, while the nursery teacher picks up the wailing older child.
Guppy doesn't think Alex's chances of getting in are good when they leave. The headmaster stopped short of admitting refusal, but didn't seem to be very enthusiastic or accommodating.
The third school, however, proves a lot more promising. The headmistress greets them warmly, and crouches to Alex's level.
"Hello Alex, I'm Mrs Patel."
"Hello." Alex replies, looking at her sparkly shoes.
"How old is he?" Mrs Patel asks his parents.
"He's seva-teen munts." The reply comes from Alex, who has heard this sentence twelve times this morning. Mrs Patel stares at him, then smiles, delightedly. Frogspawn restrains a giggle.
"We've been asked that all morning." she admits honestly. "He's good at repeating things he heard before."
"It's still very impressive; well done Alex." Mrs Patel smiles again, even though Alex isn't looking. "Let's go on the tour."
The kids in the classrooms look happy and interested. The class sizes are small, with good spacing between the kids; Alex shouldn't be crowded. In front of one of the classes, Mrs Patel pauses.
"It's Asperger Syndrome that's the most likely diagnosis for Alex, isn't it? We have another little boy with that. He's been with us since he was four and he's one of our star pupils now in this class."
They enter the class. Guppy can't actually spot the kid with Alex-like features, which is presumably a good thing. Everyone seems to be working happily, and at their own pace. He can see that the kids aren't on the same pages in their books, and just go up to the teacher when they get stuck. He glances down at Alex, who is looking at people's shoes. One of the little girls giggles when he crawls under her table.
"Oh, Alex, come out sweetie." Guppy coaxes his toddler out from under the desk.
"Hello Alex." The girl giggles and makes baby noises at him.
"He doesn't like to be touched." Guppy says quickly.
"Oh, that's okay, we learned about personal space." the girl replies, as though it were part of the curriculum.
It takes a couple of minutes to get Alex out from under the table, but he succeeds. Nobody seems to mind; they seem to think it's funny if anything. They finish the tour in the nursery class. Alex immediately bounds off into the room to play with the cars while Guppy and Frogspawn discuss what he would need with the nursery teachers. They seem positive about the idea of having him, enthusiastic even. One of the teachers quickly gathers the other children to tell them that Alex doesn't like to be touched and that that's okay because everyone has different likes and dislikes.
"I'd be happy for you to put his name down for here, starting January 2012." Mrs Patel says at the end. "I can't promise a place in case things change with him in that time, but so long as his Statement of Educational Needs at age three shows we can accommodate him then I'd be happy to accept him. He's already demonstrating a marvellous vocabulary for his age, you must be very proud."
It's a weight of Guppy's mind as they leave the school, and a fair bit of pride in his son's performance. He'd been worried that they wouldn't be able to get Alex in anywhere. The kid seemed to like that school so much that he didn't want to leave - though that could have been just because he got settled with the cars.
"Guppy?"
"Hm?" Guppy breaks his thoughts to glance at his wife. "S'up?"
"Can we afford to send both Alex and the new baby there?"
"Yes, so long as we don't splash out on any other major money commitments." Guppy turns into the next street. "But when this baby is born, we're going to have to suss out some better methods of contraception until I get a payrise."
Frogspawn giggles. "I'll bear that in mind. I think he'll be happy there, the kids seemed nice and open minded about him not wanting to be touched and stuff. And at the end of the day that's what he needs." She glances at the toddler in the back seat. "My parents were dead against private schooling, but I really worry about his chances of getting anywhere stuck in a classroom of thirty kids."
They share a mental image of Alex hiding under the table rocking like he does when it's too noisy at nursery.
The final school is Book Lane, the private special school for autistic children. That one proves impressive too; the teachers certainly know how to cater for kids like Alex. But they don't take children under five, so it's mostly a reconnaisance visit. In the end, they decide to try mainstream first, to give Alex the chance to mix with all sorts of children.
