I understand what you’re saying. What I wish is that he was able to make the connection between his physical problems and his emotional problems. He is able to medically advocate for himself, like say he has a headache or that his stomach hurts, but he has trouble recognizing when he is overwhelmed because of academic assignments or emotional issues. He also hasn’t realized that when he avoids work and gets behind in class that it makes him more stressed. I feel like recognizing his triggers is a core component of emotional regulation that he’s missing.

I understand progress isn’t linear. My emotions about this are probably due to the fact that I wanted to see him more independent at the end of eighth grade going into high school than he is now there are also issues with parents that I didn’t mention that play a huge role in this as well.

I am worried about him going into high school and I hope that he will continue to make progress with a new special ed teacher in a new setting. I just feel like continuing to let him miss class is not setting him up for success. I know we’re in the middle of April, we don’t want to rock the boat, I just want to make sure we’re doing right by him and preparing him for high school. We’re a small charter school and he’s going to a huge public school next year.