Another change on the horizon

Going away to college is huge, but there’s another transition coming up in our household. It’s hard to guess how big it will be. Msk is going to be finishing middle school in a year and a half. After that comes high school. With a kid with significant challenges, high school is a big deal. College seems hard to imagine, so high school might be the end of the school phase of his life. Or not… who knows?

Questions need to be asked, and they are hard as hell for me to write down, much less answer:

• What goals are we shooting for – academically and in terms of life-skills?
• How long do we want school to last and what comes next?
• What kind of supports will come when high school is finished and what types will end?
• What school will best build on his strengths and help him cope with his weaknesses?
• After working hard to find an inclusive setting are we going to need to find a separate autism specific program?

A year and a half seems like a long time, but I know it isn't. There's lots of work to be done - assesments, school visits, team meetings, internet research...

It's intimidating to think about this process, how to start and what path to follow. Nothing to be done, but get down to it, I suppose. As the King from Alice in Wonderland says, "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop."