Best phrase today: "Little People on bus, go to store." I asked him if he wanted to play with the bus or go to the store. He told me he wanted to take the Little People bus with him to the store.
School shopping: We went to a "Meet the Teachers" night at Trillium Charter School. This school boasts a democratically run, mixed-grade, small class, project and theme based curriculum. The room with the teachers was full and chaotic. Derek did okay for about fifteen minutes before starting to push other kids. We found some quieter spots and he set to finding and playing with all the tape players and computers. Some kids like the animals, he likes the buttons.
I saw Sebastian's mom Jennifer there and we kvetched on the way home about this whole overwhelming process. It's hard to know exactly what your kid will be like in 6-9 months when they start school. (Hell, I don't even know what job I'll have in 6-9 months, but that's another story. At least Allen knows what job he'll have.) So first of all it's hard to choose the perfect school, and who knows what school you'll get into, anyway, given the lottery process for some and application process for others. And it's nigh on impossible to write three years worth of goals and accommodations on an IEP 6 months before the three years start. Jennifer reminded me of the Multnomah County Developmental Disabilities Office and how I have a social worker there who can help us get stuff like respite care and grants for therapy. Plus, there's Autism Specialist that's connected to the schools, but not to the school district that I can bring in to help make the decision about kindergarten. So now I have a big old to do list.
Derek and I had a good day today. We vegged a bit after I came home from work, then we set off for the grocery store. Derek did quite well – no stimming on doors or refusing to go down an aisle. He made some choices regarding foods he wanted, like cereal and popsicles. Then we headed over to the park. We didn't have the best Floortime experience there, but it was COLD, and we did our best, so I forgive us. Back home we had a snack and some computer time, then a good dinner, and off to Trillium. Not the best ever transition to the bath, but he got in there and liked it eventually. Then pajamas, stories, and peacefully off to sleep. (His toothbrushing is improving immensely. He gets the brush in his mouth and moves it around some almost every night and even goes for toothpaste sometimes. He used to never allow anything like a brush near his mouth. The secret: electric toothbrush.)
I think I am nearly all better after the evil flu, though I still have the sea lion cough and the alarm rings damn early in the morning. It's so nice to hear from my fans, so I will do my best to post more.
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2 comments:
Good luck finding the right school for Derek. I'm rooting for you both. Oh, and what exactly is an IEP?
The IEP is the Individualized Education Plan. Since the goals for the education of a child with a disability are different and attaining those goals is gone about differently than for typical kids, it's all spelled out in bureaucraticspeak in the IEP. For instance, Derek will need a certain number of hours of one-on-one speech therapy per week working towards goals like having a conversation and using pronouns correctly. It can end up being very contentious because the school district wants to do as little as can be considered adaquate, and parents have to fight for more services or "weird" services like yoga or incandescent lamps in the classroom or to be included in mainstream education. It determines the quality of a huge part of your kid's life, so it's gotta be good.
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