Flexi-Schooling a go-go

Ruaridh has not settled into school at all. Don't get me wrong he loves being there - it's all one big adventure for him. That's the problem - he's totally not ready to be sitting at a desk writing to order. He is disruptive, loud, sometimes angry and even violent. If he stays in school full time I fear that he will become the trouble-maker of his year. I don't think that's fair to him or to his classmates. He is actually very intelligent and is learning to read and is good at maths.

He has finally in the last two or three months started to enjoy drawing but writing is something that does not interest him. A lot of the emphasis in school is on writing. Learning your letters and numbers, writing your name or whatever else they are working on. That's the bit he struggles with.

He also is not great at socialising. Boys tend to play rough and if someone does something he doesn't like he is not good at walking away or saying 'no'. Instead he lashes out or bites - not good.

I do wonder if a lot of his problems are caused by Morgan. Having an aspie big brother is not easy. Morgan shows a lot of his emotion through anger and is not good at resolving issues or feeling empathy. Morgan does, however, respect his elders (most of the time) something that Ruaridh appears not to do. The Headmaster at the school is baffled by Ruaridh and can't get through to him at all.

So - after writing to the LEA I now have the go ahead to flexi-school Ruaridh. The woman at the LEA was really helpful getting back to me very quickly after speaking to the Headmaster about Rua. She is also the person I contact if I decide to HE Ruaridh full-time - so I am pleased that she is so approachable.

Flexi-schooling, for Ruaridh, means he will be spending some of the day at school and some at home. I sat with his teacher this afternoon to discuss his timetable and we are going to give it a two week trial and see how it goes. He will be doing three mornings at school and coming home for the afternoons. Then the other days - he will spend one in school and one at home. This is more to do with the timetable to avoid him missing his favourite part of the week (sewing!) and to ensure he can keep up with group work.

Who knows what the future will hold for Ruaridh. He may go back to school full-time in January. He may come home full-time. He may come home full-time for the rest of the academic year and then start again in P1 or P2 next August. We just don't know.