Expert: James Michael Roan - 5/5/2009

Question
My 3 year old son who has been diagnosed with both mild autism and PPD-NOS
(depending upon whose diagnosis you believe) is entering a 4 hour per day Early Learning
Environment at his public school (for 2 weeks) to be evaluated for his ARD meeting and to
determine what level of service he will receive.  He is crying all day, and refuses to leave
the teacher's lap.  His teacher even said that he cried a lot, and he had to eat lunch on her
lap because he was scared.  The class has kids age 3-5, about 7 of them, with 2 teachers.  
Are we doing him emotional harm by sending him?  (He is non-verbal, only about 10
words, and has never been left anywhere before or gone to day care at all)   I want him to
experience play with other kids, etc., and to receive services from school, but I don't want
to scar him for life or cause him emotional stress or abandonment issues.  Is it possible
he is just not able to handle this, or is this all just separation anxiety?

Answer
Hi Kelly;

You are are not scarring him for life, but there may be ways to diminish his stress and misery with transition. Ask the staff to develop a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) system to develop a daily calendar for your son at home and at school. Also, the use of a Time Timer will help him with transition. You may want to consider staying with him for 10-15 minutes and fading that out over a week's time but only as a last resort. Ask for a Sensory Profile to help determine his sensory processing difficulties in order to modify his environment as well.

Kind regards,
James




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Bio

James Roan is a certified school psychologist who has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years (http://www.jamesroan.com). James earned his M.Ed. in School Psychology and M. Ed. in Adult Education and receives ongoing post graduate training in autism at the University of Washington’s Autism Center. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disabilities. James Roan was the consulting assessment professional responsible for many of the autism and AD/HD screening tools and other content for Access Special Needs.Com. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford Ireland in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors. James has conducted formal assessments of students in the Autism Unit in the Claddagh National School in County Galway Ireland.