Northern Utah Autism Program

About 4 months ago I ran into the parents of an old classmate of Jason's.  He had been in his preschool class the year before last.  She asked how Jason was doing, and then proceeded to tell me about the school that her son was attending that year.  It's an state funded ABA school in Ogden. She said the her boy was potty trained and doing so well!  I had to get Jason in there.

On the 9th Jason had an evaluation.  I was supposed to get Jason registered with the Weber district the previous week, but with Tori's surgery and all the fun we had that week, I didn't get to it.  So I got to go about an hour early and get him registered.  We headed over to the school and wandered around looking for the office.  It's one of those schools that have a lot of circles.  We found the office and were led to a classroom.  They took Jason and then we headed to the faculty room.  I didn't see any of the evaluation but I assume it's an awful like the previous evaluations.

                                 

They asked me a bunch of questions about our home life.  Whether we are stable, how many siblings he has.....you know the background stuff.

The psychologist came in and talked to me for a while.  Then the head of the department said, "In the next three weeks we will give you a call and let you know who his teacher is and all that stuff."  I looked at her and asked, "So he's in?"  She said "Oh yes!!"  I woohoo'ed and she laughed.  I am so excited for him.  My level of hope for my boy increased 10 fold from the drive up to the drive home.  I'm so hopeful and nervous for this upcoming year.

The funny and amazing thing is, that as I was explaining this to my In-Laws my Father-in-Law started asking questions about the location of the school.  I told him, and he chuckled.  He started telling me about his experience while he was in the state Legislature.  He was asked to support a bill opening a school for children with Autism.  He said at the time he was very uneducated with Autism, but was convinced this was a good thing.  This is the bill that is funding the Northern Utah Autism Program.  I love my Father-in-Law for being open to the needs of special needs kids even before we had one of our own.