Back to our regulary scheduled (and wonderful) program

 Where is that bus?

Sorry its been awhile since I posted, but it took awhile to come down from that high from Will's birthday.

Things are going well enough.  School keeps on going well, I've received several more amazing emails from Will's teacher.  Will's interaction and sentence structure is slowing coming along too.  As little as a few months ago you could ask him "What's this?" (lion) and his replay would have been "lion",  then his response became "a lion" to today its "It's a lion."  I see this as a big gain for him.

We are now able to tell him to his question "Where's the gigi?" (Gigi aka beloved blanket) "It's upstairs on your bed go up and get it."  AND HE DOES!  Even in the last 6 months or so is would have been SO much more involved in that exchange.  Our response would have been closer to "on bed.....upstairs......Will go get it."

When I started this blog Will also couldn't really tell me what hurt when he was sick.  Just this past week he told me "tummy hurt" when he was suffering from a stomach bug.

All of this equals progress to this mom.  Compared to others it may seem like small potatoes, but in this house its great gains.  Sometimes my husband and I feel kind of lucky as this language issue has kept Will innocent longer.  He is the most easy going kid and now that he understands more complies so willingly to requests. We don't have bad attitude or too much acting out.  Now I don't know how long this will last, but I'm happy that right now I have a 5 year old who is such a sweet, happy easy kid.

Am I living in an alternate universe?

Do you remember in the movie the Sound of Music???  The scene where they sing "I must of have done something good." Well that is how I am feeling right now.  I have been reading recently blogs, message boards of fellow mothers with "different" kids and a lot of them are doing the beginning of the school year struggle.  A few have gone so far as removing their child from the daycare/preschool/Kindergarten, then deal with people who don’t want to help their child. 

Well let me tell you a little story that happened yesterday, which happened to have been Will’s 5th birthday........

As Will’s 5th birthday only happens once I decided to bring in donuts and cider to celebrate his day with his classmates.  I showed up while the class was in Spanish and set up the cups, plates, and napkins.  Then all the kids come in.  Will is all smiles saying “You came in!”  and trying to show me all the cool animals in the classroom.  His friends all gathered around him asking how old he is and he was happy to reply “Five years old”.  That response alone would have made his day for me but wait it gets so much better.

I turn to look and see Will’s special ed teacher.  I’ve not met her in person, but talked to her briefly on the phone a few weeks back.  A bit nervous on what she would say to me as Will’s 5 week IEP meeting was later in the day I approached her cautiously.  What proceeded to happen then I couldn’t have imagined even if I tried. I was told how much she loves Will and was asked how I managed to figure out what was going on with him and had taken him to the right doctors.  Then she says “The Einstein Syndrome is so fascinating. At first I was a bit of a skeptic, but as I read it and he had all of the traits listed I became convinced he isn’t on the spectrum.”  I was completely flummoxed!   “You read the book?!”  I asked  “Yes and I made my assistant read it too.  She thought he probably had Aspergers, now I am convincing everyone with this book that is not the case.”  She went on to tell me what a wonderful job I’m doing with Will and how she has applied things she read in the book in helping Will in the classroom. 

I practically skipped out of the school that morning.  But me being me was still nervous about the IEP review meeting later that day. By nature and hearing others past bad experiences I always enter these meeting cautiously.  I need not have worried.  Carl came with me and counting us there were 9 people in the room all to discuss Will.  Not intimidating in the least right?  What proceeded to happen was a big love fest of Will.  I was prepared for a meeting of  “Will can’t do this.....he can’t do that”  Instead it was ...... “He can do this....He is doing that!”  Everyone one of these teachers/aids/therapists had great things to say about Will.  A few wanted to change his IEP goals as he had met some already and to set up others that were more appropriate for him.  Also they wanted to take off things that were no longer happening anymore, potty training and some sensory stuff.  These were things I wanted removed, but felt it wasn’t worth the effort to fight over as this point, so having them want to voluntarily take then off was wonderful.  Most said he was easily correctable, direct-able and a pleasure to work with.  We heard how his classmates love him, how all the girls circle around him and help him with his lunch box and how they all wave goodbye to him when he leaves for his half day.  My heart was so full from that meeting. Will’s OT told me she emailed his last school district OT with one line “I heart Will” 

Then Will’s teacher gave us a copy of her report that went in his file sorry for the length, but I need to right this out......

10-12-10

"Will is a very bright, curious child.  He has an amazing smile that lights up the room.  He is loved and cared for by his peers.  The often write him notes or cards during center time.  They invite him to join them on the carpet.  Some days Will sits at circle time and other days he prefers to watch or listen from the perimeter of the rug or while playing in an adjoining area.  Even if he is engaged with another activity, Will is often  smiling and watching what the group is doing/learning.   He attends keenly to what is going on around him.  When he is interested in an activity or a toy, he becomes fully engrossed in what he is doing.  He is excited about math, counting, computers, magnetic letters and words! He read the entire poem of the week aloud to the class.  He reads aloud from Dr. Seuss books.  Last week during the engineering center, he joined a small group of classmates as they constructed a large building and added animals to it.  He joined me at the semi-circle table to work for 5 or 20 minutes on a task.  He enjoys Spanish class and likes to use the instruments and move to the music.  He is excited about the flannel board puppets that were used to tell the story one day.  He goes to hall meeting and sits amongst the children from various classrooms  and he goes to the auditorium with his Mr. K buddy and sits attentively for the most part.  He will listen to a re-direction from an older child and adjust his behavior.  For example, he will remove this feet from the back of the seat when asked.  He is a joy to work with and he teaches me so much every day.  Thank you for sharing such a fantastic little boy with me and with our classroom.”

I don’t think I could ask for more....do you?  Oh yeah after this love fest for Will we had a birthday party with family.  For the first time he really got into the idea of presents, candles on his cake, and enjoyed the party immensely.

It was a great day to start off 5!

Been afraid to say this outloud.....

Its been before school started that I've updated this blog, and maybe someone may wonder why.  Could it be the poops hit the fan? 

Truthfully school seems to be going pretty well.  I've spent this last week wondering when the other shoe was going to drop and didn't want to jinks anything by posting how wonderful the school has been.

The first day of school went down as a happy day for Will and Mommy.  He was so excited to ride the bus!  I had made him his own book "Will Goes to Kindergarten" and I think reading it every night and seeing himself in his classroom and pictures of his teacher, locker, etc. really helped with the adjustment. 

I've gotten either nice emails or phone calls from Will's support staff.  His SLP seems to want to utilizes the techniques the Camaratas had listed in their last report, so that is nice.  His teacher is already using the techniques I've given her before school started.  Right now their is NO pressure for Will to conform in the classroom.  If he doesn't want to participate he doesn't and when he does I have a feeling is rewarded and encouraged.  I've also been told he is not a distraction nor does he present any disiplinary issues, so that is good. He has been described by the school psychologist as easily distracted, to which I replied "well if you watched a french film with no subtitles you tell me how distracted you would be."  I think this got the point across.

The call from the special ed teacher that works with Will informed me that there was a meeting about Will and I guess the information that I wanted him to repeat K was discussed and agreed with.  She told me that are treating Will like a preschool student who happens to be taking K this year and will repeat next year.  Right now we are all concentrating on getting Will used to the routine and getting him more socialized and participating with the class.

More complex language is starting to creep in as well, but the scripting still continues.  So right now we are going with the flow and taking it one day at a time.  Hears to hoping we end the year as happy as we started it, for Will and I.

Feeling blessed - Some things are meant to be.

Well if anyone actually is reading this blog you know school choices for Will have been the bane of my existence since last February, when we went through the whole K vs. preschool,  private vs. public.  Then the unfortunate non-acceptance from said private school (Grrrr that STILL makes me so mad - I heard they only have 6 kids this year for K, serves them right).

Anyway the last part of this ongoing saga the last minute switch to our school of choice.  This school is an international baccalaureate school.  I could try to explain it, but I'm not to adept at it so here is a link if you want to learn more.  IB information  After taking a tour of the school and going to one of their informational parent nights I was sold.  One thing I liked the most is they combine grades and the kids get the same teacher for both years.  So K is alone than grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 are together.  It's pretty cool.


We got this last minute spot that had I not brought my cell phone to our cabin in the woods and had a signal not made it too my phone we would have missed our chance to go.  Some times I think things really happen for a reason.  


Yesterday we had our meeting with Will's teacher.  I had taken Will to the open house on Wed. night and had gotten this wonderful email from his teacher on Thursday.

"...It was great to spend time with you and William last night. I enjoyed speaking with you and watching William as he was engaged in some activities in the room. He is a beautiful, bright and amazing young man.  I am looking forward to seeing you and your husband tomorrow morning. .....I am so excited to have William in our classroom. I will do everything possible to make sure he is appropriately challenged and always enjoying his time at school. See you soon,..."

I teared up just reading it and was hoping our meeting would go well.  It did!  I honestly do not think I could have hand picked a better teacher.  As I mentioned before in an earlier entry she has a child (19 now) that has high functioning autism, or so they told her.  She told me now she is not so sure on the diagnosis, but back then there was so little information about it.  The interesting thing is she would not let the school give him an autism label and fought and got a speech/language impairment label.   This information alone made me happy.  I shared with her the doctors reports from Nashville and told them a little bit about them.  She was totally open and supportive of our decisions to get answers for Will and wanted their email so she could "glean info from them".  Also we talked about how K this year was not what we really wanted for Will which is why we want him to repeat it again next year.  Her response was this was the best decision we could make.  "Give him the gift of time" were her words.  I couldn't agree more.  


We talked for 2 hours with her asking all kinds of wonderful questions on how Will learns, his interests, likes dislikes.  We were very frank about our concerns of Will's scripting and how we thought it could be an obstacle.  Evidently Will will not be her first student who has scripted and she was not at all concerned.  


Am I dreaming.......I hope I never wake up from this.  School starts in 4 days and for the first time in forever I am optimistic and excited to see how Will flourishes.  Fingers crossed.

Riding a wave of High Emotions

Yeah the title says volumes doesn't it?  I'm headed to my 2nd glass of wine right now.  What has me in such a state you wonder?  The same stupid crap.... school, my child etc. etc.

Today was a red letter day in this house.  We started it off with Will's 5 year routine physical.  A bit early, but he HAD to have his last vaccinations before the start of school.  He is growing like a weed, 90 something percentile for height, 88 for weight.  Tall and slim is what the doctor said.  So what is so bad about that??? Well Will HATES the doctor.  Since his memory is so wonderful he knows exactly what happens every time he goes there.....ouchies AKA shots.  Will's recall memory started as soon as we drove up to the office telling us that "Daddy go to doctor".  He waited beautifully in the waiting room, but as soon as his name was called the battle began.  Height and weight were a bit of a battle and then we went back to the exam room.  Fine again as we waited and then the doctor came in.  Truth be told he did AMAZING  compared to his 4 year exam and complied with all the exam as long as I came up with ways for him to comply.  The doctor asked him some questions and Will actually responded to the ones he could, which was nice.  She told us she was extremely happy with his language progress and thought he may just flourish in K this year.    Then it was time for the shots.  I can still hear, but I am positive I lost some hearing due to the screeching.  The nurse just about ran out when she tied to talk to Will after she gave the shots and he screamed at her with such passion I've not seen before.

We were both drained after that and after some mindless time watching the boob tube, both Will and I took a nap together upstairs.  I needed my energy for part II of the day... school open house.

As soon as we woke up I told Will we were going to ride a bus and meet his new teacher and school.  He seemed okay with it and even when asked what we were going to do at diner replied "teacher".  Again he did well enough.  Rode the bus like a champ and would have rode it again and again if I had let him.  Then we went on to meet the teacher,  Mrs. Pilon. 

If you read my blog you're probably wondering what happened to Mrs. Glasgens.  Well last Thurday we found out Will had gotten a last minute spot at our school of choice.  It has a lottery system in which we entered but lost sometime in March.  I guess we were high on the wait list and someone dropped out of school last week opening up a spot for Will.

I checked out his new teacher and was a bit amazed at our luck.  She won a teaching excellence award and went to the White House last year to meet President Obama.  Pretty cool right?  But was she the right teacher for Will?

I dropped in on her classroom on Tuesday and immediately was feeling better about school.  I shared a little about Will and she told me she kind of understood since she has a 19 year old son with high functioning Autism and he didn't talk until 5, so she knew the anxiety I was feeling with Will.

Sorry got off the story there.  So the classroom visit went fairly well.  Will loved her room with all the toys and animals.  She has a snake, tarantula, bearded dragons, turtle an iguana and some other furry creatures.  She chatted with me again and we set up a meeting for Friday to discuss Will.  She was very reassuring and that was a good thing.  I was dreading a teacher who wanted only round pegs and would be non accepting of my cute square peg.

I just wish I had a heads up all those years ago that my preconceived ideas on school and how my child would be could be so entirely different than reality. 

School starts in a week.  I'm not sure I'm going to make it......Will on the other hand can't wait to ride the bus again.  Go figure.

Another first - - Plus A quick note to Mrs. Glasgens

Just a quick post to notate a big deal in this household.  Yesterday I was off with a friend enjoying some mommy alone time when I received a text from my husband.  It stated "Will just said I like Uncle John".  Okay well this may not seem like a big deal, but IT IS.  Will has never expressed a like unprompted before.  Oh you can ask him if he likes something and 99% of the time he'll say yes.....even if he hates it.  So to volunteer with language he likes something is a very BIG deal.  I foresee big things to come.....

Mrs. Glasgens,

Just sending you a quick note congratulating you for getting assigned my son Will for your kindergarten class this year. You must feel so blessed to be able to be such a big influence on Will and he you.  You see if you allow it, Will can challenge you to be the best teacher you ever thought you could be.  If you simply can open your eyes, heart and mind you will be delighted on how much he knows and how willing he is to learn from you.  You may have to use some unconvential teaching methods, but I promise you that by doing this not only will Will benefit, but so will others who undoubtedly come after him.

You lucky teacher you.  Enjoy the year.

Sincerly,
Will's Lucky Mother

A Little School Freak Out - I feel entitled.

Soooooo its now Aug 10th.  School starts for Will September 8th.  It was about 2 days ago that I started to really think about Will going to school.  I've been watching him all summer going to "speech school".  This is a class of 5 kids all with speech/language issues that meets 2x/week for 1.5 hours.  He has the same teacher he had this last school year.  In the beginning of summer I was really impressed with Will.  He answered most questions asked of him and tried to answer for others.  He seems to attend fairly well.  Cut to the end of summer and he seems to be checking out a bit, acting out a bit too. 

I know I am suppose to have the happy optimistic outlook for how schools going to go this year, but right now I'm panicking.  The good news is that since he is repeating K next year whenever I hear he's not where his peers are I can say this is why we are giving him another year to master these skills.

So what have I decided to do to help ease this time for Will???.......I went shopping.  Because the truth is there isn't too much I can do to determine how successful Will is this school year, but by golly that kid will have new scuff free shoes to wear.  Of course I plan to be in his teacher's/OT/ST ear all year long and volunteer in the school as much as they'll let me (yes - do know how fortunate I am that I can stay at home and do this.  I am VERY thankful.)  But in truth Will's success will in large part fall on him.  Seems like a lot to ask of a 4 year old - don't you think? 

One more month to enjoy.....and worry. Oy.