The first two weeks, by the Class Teacher

Jimmy has been in his new class for two weeks now.  I have to say I see a big difference in how he is now and what he was like when he first came in to my class, a fortnight ago.  I really felt for Jimmy that first morning, as he chanted away and ran around the room, clearly unsettled.

However, over the past week I have noticed that Jimmy responds to what I ask him to do and is sitting for longer periods of time. He won’t sit on the carpet preferring a chair but that’s fine. He has a small piece of plasticine that he enjoys playing with and it seems to calm him. 

On Wednesday this week Jimmy went to music.  He sat on my knee and joined in with the games.  It was obvious he was enjoying himself.  Today Jimmy came to our infant assembly again on my knee and managed to stay for the whole time, something he had never been able to do before.  He was enjoying the songs we are learning for our Christmas play and it was good to see.

Jimmy has also started joining in with our little Check-in, in the mornings. That’s where the class sit in a circle and say "Good morning!" to each other and tell how they are feeling that day.

While all this is good, I really hope for Jimmy’s sake that a place is found for him soon in a special unit.  I agree with what the team determined at his review meeting: mainstream is not for him at this time. 

Meanwhile - roll on next week!

Written by Mrs Mouat

The first day after the move by the Learning Assistant

Jimmy came into the classroom quite happily after the October holidays.  He smiled when he saw us.  Mrs Mouat, his new class teacher, asked him to sit down on his learning spot and he did.  However, after a few moments, he stood up and was moving about, repeating phrases over and over.  He left the area to play with the farm.  I wrote down a social story for Jimmy to help him use a quiet voice.  He was able to read this and this worked: Jimmy was certainly a lot quieter this morning.

He was happy to do his work outside the class in the quiet area.  He then chose the computer after work time.


Written by Mrs Brodie

The review meeting, by the Support for Learning Teacher

The day of the Jimmy's review meeting was nearly five weeks after we saw Jimmy's parents and we all voiced the same concerns.  Since that meeting, the P1s have started to attend school for the full day.  Most of the time, Jimmy falls asleep for a part or most of the afternoon.  He is beginning to soil himself at school too, sometimes multiple times a day.  Overall, Jimmy was continuing to be unsettled in class and at school.  There are some small rays of light, though: Jimmy was granted extra Learning Assistant time to help him with the full days and now another Learning Assistant other than Mrs Brodie works with Jimmy in the afternoons.  Jimmy at times sits, listens to a story and drinks his milk with the rest of the class.  The other children look out for Jimmy and try to engage with him.  It isn't reciprocated, unfortunately.

Jimmy's parents also decided that they were definitely going to protest the rejection of a special school place.  The team around the table (consisting of two Educational Psychologists, a Support Learning Co-ordinator, a Visiting Teacher from the Visiting Teacher and Support Service, Mrs Irvine, Mrs Morris, Mrs Brodie and me) generally agreed with this decision.  After all, most of us had observed or worked with Jimmy in class and agreed that his situation was serious and untenable. 

The team also discussed another, different point: Jimmy being moved to the other P1 classroom.  This move was recommended by Visiting Teacher and Support Service.  The team again discussed the issue and determined that, while we were not sure this would necessarily help Jimmy to settle better, the current situation was so grave that this option must be heeded.  So after the October holidays, Jimmy will move from Mrs Irvine's class to Mrs Mouat's class.


Written by Ms Childs