Well,as I said previously,Bear is now in First grade. The year started a little rough, but overall has been pretty good. He began the year with one teacher and due to budget and zoning issues, received a new one about 2 months into the year. Overall, Bear has had a good year. He has a great techer, continues to have the same awesome therapists and now has his own paraprofessional. She is amazing with him. She is loving and kind, but still tough and demanding ,but in a good way. She has high expectations for him just as she knows I do. He has proven to be a well mannered, very smart little boy with varied interests.His interests don't tend to be what the "typical" child is interested in though. I don't know if that is because of his blindness or the fact that he is considered on the autistic spectrum, but he tends to focus on certain things for a while. At Christmas time it was dustbusters. He does not enjoy the vacuum cleaner at all unless he can work the buttons himself, but my mom got a dust buster in the fall and he went crazy for them. Everytime he went there, he wanted to hear it. He would ask if it was charging and constantly asked me when I was going to get one. He wanted a toy one for Christmas. It was all he talked about for months. Well, he got a toy one for Christmas and played a little with it, but soon that obsession was done and he was on to another one.
Now,he is in love with cars- a little more boyish- but he wants to know what kind of car and is it a car or a van and if it isn't what he wants to be, he pretends it is- ie my van lately has been an airplane and a car as well as a church bus in his mind- I never know what I'm gonna be driving! LOL
His other obsession is baths and showers. He wants me to wake him in the morning so he can turn on the bath or shower for me. He wants to hear it and if I take a bath after he goes to bed, instead, he asks "Mommy, did you take a bath or a shower?" "Mommy, why did you take a bath instead of a shower?" "Mommy, did the water come from the top or the bottom?" etc etc etc. He is also obsessed with Barney lately. Not the worse thing to be obsessed with, but admittedly, mommy gets tired of it. When most kids his age were loving Barney, he had no interest. Now, he is at the age that most boys would DIE before they would even say Barney, and he can't get enough of it. Yesterday, he asked me what would it be like if the rain was really lemon drops and gum drops. I told him "it would be sticky." Well, with that thought, I guess I better go take a bath, or a shower,so I can answer his questions about it tomorrow.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
Sunday, March 27, 2011
What a Year it Has Been!!!
Well,it has been quite a while since I posted anything. I appologize for that and I hope to do better this time.I am going to give a quick explanantion for whay I haven't been posting. You will also notice that the posts have changed somewhat. They will focus some on Bear still, but there will be more about issues that we face as a family based on changes we are going through.
It was quite a year! Bear was not the only one going through changes. The whole family has. When 2011 greeted us with new opportunities to grow and change,we made a big one. Bearz dad and I decided to separate. I returned to work after holiday break heavy hearted, but determined to not let things in my personal life affect my work life. Trying to be mom and dad and trying to work out things so that Bear still got time with both of us and trying to make sure that his view of his dad wasn't tainted by my personal feelings sounds alot easier than it was/is. I did my best. I prayed ALOT and I leaned on family and good friends to get through it. It did take a toll on my health however and something I was diagnosed with back in 1999 returned with a vengeance. I was told that I again had Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome. I had it in 99 and after quitting my job and really taking care of myself, it went into something like a remission for a while. However, the stresses of the year both personal and professional proved to be too much and I once again found myself facing this disease. Knowing that there was no way I could even consider quitting or even cutting back on work, I did everything I could and I still am to keep being able to work. It means a lot of cutting back. It means trying to eat right and it means not always being able to do what I want to do. The thing that I have the toughest time with is scaling back on what needs to be done. I finally get a little energy and try to get some things done. However, if I overdo, I am no good for a long time. There are days that I go to work feeling barely there. I have been so tired that I couldn't speak or think coherently, but I knew I needed to be there. My students are pretty great. I've told them that some days they just have to give me a minute to think. Some days I need a nap almost as soon as I get out of work and yes... there are a few days when I am just tooo sick to go at all. I hate those days and I try to make them as few and far between as possible. But, that is the life of this illness.
Next post will focus more on Bear
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
It was quite a year! Bear was not the only one going through changes. The whole family has. When 2011 greeted us with new opportunities to grow and change,we made a big one. Bearz dad and I decided to separate. I returned to work after holiday break heavy hearted, but determined to not let things in my personal life affect my work life. Trying to be mom and dad and trying to work out things so that Bear still got time with both of us and trying to make sure that his view of his dad wasn't tainted by my personal feelings sounds alot easier than it was/is. I did my best. I prayed ALOT and I leaned on family and good friends to get through it. It did take a toll on my health however and something I was diagnosed with back in 1999 returned with a vengeance. I was told that I again had Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome. I had it in 99 and after quitting my job and really taking care of myself, it went into something like a remission for a while. However, the stresses of the year both personal and professional proved to be too much and I once again found myself facing this disease. Knowing that there was no way I could even consider quitting or even cutting back on work, I did everything I could and I still am to keep being able to work. It means a lot of cutting back. It means trying to eat right and it means not always being able to do what I want to do. The thing that I have the toughest time with is scaling back on what needs to be done. I finally get a little energy and try to get some things done. However, if I overdo, I am no good for a long time. There are days that I go to work feeling barely there. I have been so tired that I couldn't speak or think coherently, but I knew I needed to be there. My students are pretty great. I've told them that some days they just have to give me a minute to think. Some days I need a nap almost as soon as I get out of work and yes... there are a few days when I am just tooo sick to go at all. I hate those days and I try to make them as few and far between as possible. But, that is the life of this illness.
Next post will focus more on Bear
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
Monday, February 1, 2010
Ch Ch Ch Changes
Hi all,
I am back. I find myself in a bit of an altered circumstance that has me questioning a lot of who I am. My husband and I are in the midst of separation and divorce and I am beginning to see a me that hasn't been part of me for a while. I don't know if it will eek out in my writing or not. People who know me see a difference in my everyday activities and attitude. Is that good or not? I don't really know. I don't see or feel the difference in myself, but apparently it is there.
Although it is tough for me right now and I have spent more than a couple sleepless tearful nights, I know that I can't return to the relationship I had. It was not healthy for Bear or me. Sadly, though, Bear is caught in the middle. Despite both of us trying to make it easier on him and trying to always put his needs first, he knows that his life has inexplicable changed and he doesn't fully understand why. His cognitive abilities are lagging a little behind his cohorts, which may be a good thing sometimes, but he knows that mommy and poppy do not live together any more and he misses his poppa. Where we live, we rarely get snow. However, this weekend we got about 6 inches.In our area, that amount of snow shuts everything down and I do mean everything. The DOT crew couldn't keep up with the roads and so we have been a bit snowbound for the past 3 days and will be tomorrow. Bear was supposed to go visit his poppa yesterday and spend the night, but due to the weather, that hasn't occurred. Hopefully there will be a short visit tomorrow if the roads are a little better. He has been very patient with me(for a five year old)and I have experienced the joy of piggy back riding him around the house, listening to him practice his braille reading and listening to many many repititions of Curious George on his CD player.
His new interest is video games. We went to my best friend's house to vist over Christmas break and both of her boys played video games for a good part of our visit. Well, that kind of left Bear out a bit. He couldn't really do that and the things he was interested in didn't really interest them- although they did try. It caused me to see the larger gap between him and his class-mates. I thought,"this is what his class-mates at school are like when they go home." This is another realm that he doesn't fully understand, another brick in the wall that is up between him and his sighted peers. It made me sad. I have since been looking for video games that are out that are for blind kids or that have enough audio sounds so that he would at least have on some level the same experiences. Most that ahve been geared for blind, seem rather mature. I read that most companies who produce video games are not interested in making them accessible to the blind because it would not be enough of a money-making venture for them due to the snall population of blind people. Others just think its ridiculous to have a video game for a blind person. They should walk a mile and see if they still agree with that. I do not know if he would understand what to do with them or not though. I know I do not have the skillsets needed for teaching video gaming to anyone. I also don't know if it would be a good thing for a child who has issues with social skills to have a video game to play on his own. It might be a further isolation for him. I'm in a bit of a quandry about it. So I have started looking at other types of games. I am considering braille versions of Go Fish or Uno. At least they are games that you play with other kids. He seems excited about the prospect. I got him a braille version of Hi-ho Cheerio for Christmas and he seems to enjoy that. Of course, he beats me every time I play it with him, but that is okay. I would be curious to hear about what other parents of blind children have done in regards to games and such.
We live in an area where there are not a lot of kids and we do not live in the same community as his class-mates, so it makes it hard to have a lot of social interaction with peers outside of school and his group therapy.
This was his first snow. I thought he would love it, but he didn't. He thought it was okay for the time he was out there, but then he wanted to come back in and hasn't wanted to go back out. However, he did enjoy the snowcream I made. He said, "Mom.I like the creamy snow better."
Have a blessed day.
BEARZ Mom
I am back. I find myself in a bit of an altered circumstance that has me questioning a lot of who I am. My husband and I are in the midst of separation and divorce and I am beginning to see a me that hasn't been part of me for a while. I don't know if it will eek out in my writing or not. People who know me see a difference in my everyday activities and attitude. Is that good or not? I don't really know. I don't see or feel the difference in myself, but apparently it is there.
Although it is tough for me right now and I have spent more than a couple sleepless tearful nights, I know that I can't return to the relationship I had. It was not healthy for Bear or me. Sadly, though, Bear is caught in the middle. Despite both of us trying to make it easier on him and trying to always put his needs first, he knows that his life has inexplicable changed and he doesn't fully understand why. His cognitive abilities are lagging a little behind his cohorts, which may be a good thing sometimes, but he knows that mommy and poppy do not live together any more and he misses his poppa. Where we live, we rarely get snow. However, this weekend we got about 6 inches.In our area, that amount of snow shuts everything down and I do mean everything. The DOT crew couldn't keep up with the roads and so we have been a bit snowbound for the past 3 days and will be tomorrow. Bear was supposed to go visit his poppa yesterday and spend the night, but due to the weather, that hasn't occurred. Hopefully there will be a short visit tomorrow if the roads are a little better. He has been very patient with me(for a five year old)and I have experienced the joy of piggy back riding him around the house, listening to him practice his braille reading and listening to many many repititions of Curious George on his CD player.
His new interest is video games. We went to my best friend's house to vist over Christmas break and both of her boys played video games for a good part of our visit. Well, that kind of left Bear out a bit. He couldn't really do that and the things he was interested in didn't really interest them- although they did try. It caused me to see the larger gap between him and his class-mates. I thought,"this is what his class-mates at school are like when they go home." This is another realm that he doesn't fully understand, another brick in the wall that is up between him and his sighted peers. It made me sad. I have since been looking for video games that are out that are for blind kids or that have enough audio sounds so that he would at least have on some level the same experiences. Most that ahve been geared for blind, seem rather mature. I read that most companies who produce video games are not interested in making them accessible to the blind because it would not be enough of a money-making venture for them due to the snall population of blind people. Others just think its ridiculous to have a video game for a blind person. They should walk a mile and see if they still agree with that. I do not know if he would understand what to do with them or not though. I know I do not have the skillsets needed for teaching video gaming to anyone. I also don't know if it would be a good thing for a child who has issues with social skills to have a video game to play on his own. It might be a further isolation for him. I'm in a bit of a quandry about it. So I have started looking at other types of games. I am considering braille versions of Go Fish or Uno. At least they are games that you play with other kids. He seems excited about the prospect. I got him a braille version of Hi-ho Cheerio for Christmas and he seems to enjoy that. Of course, he beats me every time I play it with him, but that is okay. I would be curious to hear about what other parents of blind children have done in regards to games and such.
We live in an area where there are not a lot of kids and we do not live in the same community as his class-mates, so it makes it hard to have a lot of social interaction with peers outside of school and his group therapy.
This was his first snow. I thought he would love it, but he didn't. He thought it was okay for the time he was out there, but then he wanted to come back in and hasn't wanted to go back out. However, he did enjoy the snowcream I made. He said, "Mom.I like the creamy snow better."
Have a blessed day.
BEARZ Mom
Monday, December 14, 2009
Christmas in my Family Room
Hi all,
If you are like me, the holidays are taking a lot of your time. Its my absolute favorite time of the year. Its hilairious in my family room though. Most people have these delicately dressed trees and all the pretty nativities, glass dishes of candy etc etc. My family room is full of scattered Little People: Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus tossed on their heads in amongst the cows, sheep, shepherd and wisemen- tumbled from their humble abode so that Bear could lift the stable up and play the music. The music.... is all that matters.
Then, once those are carefully replaced , for the eleventeenth time, they are carefully watched over by no fewer than 25 singing Christmas critters. We have Santa on the Christmas bull, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Woodstock, Penguins, and a host of carolling cats, dogs, cows, chickens, pigs, birds, and a horse. Then, across the room is the Christmas tree. It has a beautiful star on the top. Then, it is completely blank except for lights, until you get to the middle. At that point, it is laced with every kind of Christmas singing ornament, singing animal and bell we could find. Bear loves it!!!
This Thursday, we have his Eligibility meeting. A lot has changed in a few weeks. His VI has been out and we have missed her, but the other VI has filled in on Braille and other VI related things. Meanwhile, the paraprofessional they got to take her place in the classroom with Bear, has been awesome. She loves him and she is able to stay with him all day instead of just in the morning. It has really made things so much better for him. His behavior and what he is getting out of the class has really improved having her there with him. It has given us some real ammunition to say that he needs his own paraprofesional in the classroom. His grades have been good. He is showing people how smart he is. I'm sad sometimes about his teacher, Mrs. M though. She occasionally says positive things about him, but I don't hear much. I mostly hear it from his new para Ms. SB. and other teachers he sees. I don't know if Mrs. M just isn't around him much, or if she just doesn't think to tell me the positive things as much- as long as she tells him- or if that is just the way she is. I guess I will never know that part.
I've written a non illustated children's book about Bear's first year- when we ofund out about his blindness. I'm considering E-publishing it. I'd love to know what y'all think about that idea.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
If you are like me, the holidays are taking a lot of your time. Its my absolute favorite time of the year. Its hilairious in my family room though. Most people have these delicately dressed trees and all the pretty nativities, glass dishes of candy etc etc. My family room is full of scattered Little People: Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus tossed on their heads in amongst the cows, sheep, shepherd and wisemen- tumbled from their humble abode so that Bear could lift the stable up and play the music. The music.... is all that matters.
Then, once those are carefully replaced , for the eleventeenth time, they are carefully watched over by no fewer than 25 singing Christmas critters. We have Santa on the Christmas bull, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Woodstock, Penguins, and a host of carolling cats, dogs, cows, chickens, pigs, birds, and a horse. Then, across the room is the Christmas tree. It has a beautiful star on the top. Then, it is completely blank except for lights, until you get to the middle. At that point, it is laced with every kind of Christmas singing ornament, singing animal and bell we could find. Bear loves it!!!
This Thursday, we have his Eligibility meeting. A lot has changed in a few weeks. His VI has been out and we have missed her, but the other VI has filled in on Braille and other VI related things. Meanwhile, the paraprofessional they got to take her place in the classroom with Bear, has been awesome. She loves him and she is able to stay with him all day instead of just in the morning. It has really made things so much better for him. His behavior and what he is getting out of the class has really improved having her there with him. It has given us some real ammunition to say that he needs his own paraprofesional in the classroom. His grades have been good. He is showing people how smart he is. I'm sad sometimes about his teacher, Mrs. M though. She occasionally says positive things about him, but I don't hear much. I mostly hear it from his new para Ms. SB. and other teachers he sees. I don't know if Mrs. M just isn't around him much, or if she just doesn't think to tell me the positive things as much- as long as she tells him- or if that is just the way she is. I guess I will never know that part.
I've written a non illustated children's book about Bear's first year- when we ofund out about his blindness. I'm considering E-publishing it. I'd love to know what y'all think about that idea.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Looking Better....
Hi
I'm back. I know its been a while. There has been a lot going on here in addition to Bearz situation. Since I wrote, I spoke with a lot of people regarding what we can do for Bear. I'll do my best to shorten it for now. I contacted three places that I thought could help him with his social/ communication problems. I heard back from none. So, I called two of them back again. One called back and said they couldn't help. Sadly it was one that had financial assistance and was run by my Alma Mater. Their program was more for children with articulation type speech problems. Then, I heard from the one that I was most interested in based on the testimonials I heard. They invited us to come for an assessment. We went about two weeks ago Tuesday and he seemed to take to the place and people really well. The leader, Ms. B showed me all around and described how the group works. It is run by a Speech Pathologist and an OT together. The kids are put into a social situation playing together to encourage natural conversation skills. Then, they have what is the equivalent of a Calendar Time and they talk about current things going on. Following that, they have a craft activity and they basically force the kids to have to ask for supplies by having only one of something each child needs. They do realize that they willl have to tell him that and where it is so he will know who to ask. He will begin that program Nov 3. I am very excited!! I have heard great things about this program. I also spoke with one of the head Speech Therapists for our school system , who is also on the Autism Cadre. She is going to observe him, as will the Speech Therapist for our building . Then, they are going to try to pull him into a group of speech kids during the week sometimes. Our Guidance Counselor has a group of kids that she works with on social skills. We tried that, but it didn't work out to be a good fit for him or the counselor.
I think I knocked on as many doors as I could though to try and help him. We also got to meet with the lady who observed him from the Autism Cadre. She made some suggestions for helping him, like to have a Playground Buddy who might encourage him to do more than he currently likes to do. She also suggested one of the other SPed teachers at our school who is really good with social skills training maybe could come and work with him in a small group during Literacy Stations because that is a social time for the kids. He had a screening from the School System Dr. I was there as well. The Dr agreed that although he doesn't think Bear has true Autism, he would classify what he has as an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although, I don't love that label, it will open up more doors for services. We (the IEP team)now have to decide whether we want him to continue in his current classroom, but have a paraprofessional with him most of the day who has been trained and approved by the VI and the autism teacher. Our other choice would be for him to be in a self contained environment either full or half day, with other children who have ASD- however, some are nonverbal and they are of different ages. I am planning to push for the Paraprofessional. I don't think I want him self contained. I think he needs to be in the regular Inclusion classroom, just with the additional services. Luckily, his classroom teacher agrees with me that self contained would not be his best option, so I won't feel like she wants him out of her room.
Overall, things seems to be going fairly well. He has been having green days. : ) so, we have been listening to all kinds of things on the computer. Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch and he picked out a pumpkin. Today, he helped me to pull out the guts and told me what shape to make the eyes, nose and mouth for a Jack-o-lantern. That was kinda fun.
We are working on a play date with a friend in his class. I wrote a note to the mom of a little boy who seems to enjoy Bear in class. I told her a little about him and asked if she would be interested in doing a play date. She called me back and said yes. She sounded really nice. Now, we just need to work out the details. That excites me. I really want him to have a friend and enjoy doing things with him and have friends stay over one day. Will he be able to do that? Is he going to have relationships like other kids do or will he just not care? These are questions I have. However, God is the only one who has the answers and I guess in due time, they will be revealed to me as well. Hope everyone is doing well.
If you have a blind child or special needs child in kindergarten this year, I would really like to hear how your experiences are comparing to ours.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
I'm back. I know its been a while. There has been a lot going on here in addition to Bearz situation. Since I wrote, I spoke with a lot of people regarding what we can do for Bear. I'll do my best to shorten it for now. I contacted three places that I thought could help him with his social/ communication problems. I heard back from none. So, I called two of them back again. One called back and said they couldn't help. Sadly it was one that had financial assistance and was run by my Alma Mater. Their program was more for children with articulation type speech problems. Then, I heard from the one that I was most interested in based on the testimonials I heard. They invited us to come for an assessment. We went about two weeks ago Tuesday and he seemed to take to the place and people really well. The leader, Ms. B showed me all around and described how the group works. It is run by a Speech Pathologist and an OT together. The kids are put into a social situation playing together to encourage natural conversation skills. Then, they have what is the equivalent of a Calendar Time and they talk about current things going on. Following that, they have a craft activity and they basically force the kids to have to ask for supplies by having only one of something each child needs. They do realize that they willl have to tell him that and where it is so he will know who to ask. He will begin that program Nov 3. I am very excited!! I have heard great things about this program. I also spoke with one of the head Speech Therapists for our school system , who is also on the Autism Cadre. She is going to observe him, as will the Speech Therapist for our building . Then, they are going to try to pull him into a group of speech kids during the week sometimes. Our Guidance Counselor has a group of kids that she works with on social skills. We tried that, but it didn't work out to be a good fit for him or the counselor.
I think I knocked on as many doors as I could though to try and help him. We also got to meet with the lady who observed him from the Autism Cadre. She made some suggestions for helping him, like to have a Playground Buddy who might encourage him to do more than he currently likes to do. She also suggested one of the other SPed teachers at our school who is really good with social skills training maybe could come and work with him in a small group during Literacy Stations because that is a social time for the kids. He had a screening from the School System Dr. I was there as well. The Dr agreed that although he doesn't think Bear has true Autism, he would classify what he has as an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although, I don't love that label, it will open up more doors for services. We (the IEP team)now have to decide whether we want him to continue in his current classroom, but have a paraprofessional with him most of the day who has been trained and approved by the VI and the autism teacher. Our other choice would be for him to be in a self contained environment either full or half day, with other children who have ASD- however, some are nonverbal and they are of different ages. I am planning to push for the Paraprofessional. I don't think I want him self contained. I think he needs to be in the regular Inclusion classroom, just with the additional services. Luckily, his classroom teacher agrees with me that self contained would not be his best option, so I won't feel like she wants him out of her room.
Overall, things seems to be going fairly well. He has been having green days. : ) so, we have been listening to all kinds of things on the computer. Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch and he picked out a pumpkin. Today, he helped me to pull out the guts and told me what shape to make the eyes, nose and mouth for a Jack-o-lantern. That was kinda fun.
We are working on a play date with a friend in his class. I wrote a note to the mom of a little boy who seems to enjoy Bear in class. I told her a little about him and asked if she would be interested in doing a play date. She called me back and said yes. She sounded really nice. Now, we just need to work out the details. That excites me. I really want him to have a friend and enjoy doing things with him and have friends stay over one day. Will he be able to do that? Is he going to have relationships like other kids do or will he just not care? These are questions I have. However, God is the only one who has the answers and I guess in due time, they will be revealed to me as well. Hope everyone is doing well.
If you have a blind child or special needs child in kindergarten this year, I would really like to hear how your experiences are comparing to ours.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
SO FRUSTRATED!!!!!
Hi
Well, Bear actually had a couple of good days. He was on Green Tues and today. It would have been a really nice night for me had it not been Interim Report Card day. I don't know if your school system does this, but ours runs on a schedule of 4, 9 week periods a school year. Then, half way through each 9 weeks, there is an Interim report. It has much less detail than the regular report card. Well,today the kids got them and I wasn't pleased. He got S's for the 4 core subjects, but I have never seen so many Ns in social skills. It hurt. I've been waiting for years and years for him to get his first report and it was terrible. At first, I was kind of angry. It seems like if he has documented issues of an autistic nature that affect his social skills, he shouldn't receive an N. Then, on the other hand,I don't want to make excuses for him. I want him to learn to do these things. I think I knew the problems and all, but seeing it in black and white was really harder than I would have thought. I almost wish it was academic problems instead. I know what to do for them.
Mean time, we were supposed to meet Monday with the person who observed him. However, she had a death in her family and was not there. She sent 3 social stories for him. Our VI shared them and the team of teachers at the meeting shortened them to make them easier for him. (they were really long) He has one to help him remember what to do when he comes in the classroom and one to help him remember to greet his class-mates. I also found out that the drinks I was sending him for snack were not okay, because he can't open them on his own(the pouch drinks). I can't tell you how many of those I have opened for sighted kids, but that isn't the point. So now, he is taking sugar-laden drinks that are supposedly easier to open. I also found out that he needs another backpack. His tends to fold down when he is trying to put stuff in, so he needs one that the front is stiffer on than the one he has. It is not easy to find those now, but Walmart had backpacks, unfortunately, not the right kind. Today, I went to Big Lots. I think I got what he needs, but if not, they said I could return it. Another suggestion that was made to me was that he needs to be in some sort of structured group to learn social skills/communication skills outside of school. I was told about 3 possible groups. Unfortunately, I have tried in my limited time to contact them and have left voice-mails or e-mails for all three and still have heard nothing back from them. Do you know how frustrating it is to know that your kid needs something and you can't get the people who may be able to help him to return a call. GRRRRRR It makes me so mad!!!!! Once I find them, I have to figure out how to afford the programs. They are quite pricy and because they are group therapy, I don't know if my insurance will help or not. The best one, I would also have to try and convince my boss to let me leave early one day a week to get him there on time. I'm told they are miracle workers though.
I think what is so hard in all of this, is that for years, I have heard his teachers talk about how much they enjoy having him and how much they learn from him. Now, I never hear anything but what he still needs to learn to do. Its quite a change. I guess the expectations are just different.
I have a lot to pray about, I guess. If you also believe in Christ and pray, please remember us in your prayers. We need guidance and we need to figure out how these needs can be met logistically and financially.
On a happier note, he did get a green day today, so after a bath, we heard some sounds on the computer- water fountain, chimpanzee, electric toothbrush, and Indri. Well, hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for Bear and for all of you too.
Blessings,
BEARZ mom
Well, Bear actually had a couple of good days. He was on Green Tues and today. It would have been a really nice night for me had it not been Interim Report Card day. I don't know if your school system does this, but ours runs on a schedule of 4, 9 week periods a school year. Then, half way through each 9 weeks, there is an Interim report. It has much less detail than the regular report card. Well,today the kids got them and I wasn't pleased. He got S's for the 4 core subjects, but I have never seen so many Ns in social skills. It hurt. I've been waiting for years and years for him to get his first report and it was terrible. At first, I was kind of angry. It seems like if he has documented issues of an autistic nature that affect his social skills, he shouldn't receive an N. Then, on the other hand,I don't want to make excuses for him. I want him to learn to do these things. I think I knew the problems and all, but seeing it in black and white was really harder than I would have thought. I almost wish it was academic problems instead. I know what to do for them.
Mean time, we were supposed to meet Monday with the person who observed him. However, she had a death in her family and was not there. She sent 3 social stories for him. Our VI shared them and the team of teachers at the meeting shortened them to make them easier for him. (they were really long) He has one to help him remember what to do when he comes in the classroom and one to help him remember to greet his class-mates. I also found out that the drinks I was sending him for snack were not okay, because he can't open them on his own(the pouch drinks). I can't tell you how many of those I have opened for sighted kids, but that isn't the point. So now, he is taking sugar-laden drinks that are supposedly easier to open. I also found out that he needs another backpack. His tends to fold down when he is trying to put stuff in, so he needs one that the front is stiffer on than the one he has. It is not easy to find those now, but Walmart had backpacks, unfortunately, not the right kind. Today, I went to Big Lots. I think I got what he needs, but if not, they said I could return it. Another suggestion that was made to me was that he needs to be in some sort of structured group to learn social skills/communication skills outside of school. I was told about 3 possible groups. Unfortunately, I have tried in my limited time to contact them and have left voice-mails or e-mails for all three and still have heard nothing back from them. Do you know how frustrating it is to know that your kid needs something and you can't get the people who may be able to help him to return a call. GRRRRRR It makes me so mad!!!!! Once I find them, I have to figure out how to afford the programs. They are quite pricy and because they are group therapy, I don't know if my insurance will help or not. The best one, I would also have to try and convince my boss to let me leave early one day a week to get him there on time. I'm told they are miracle workers though.
I think what is so hard in all of this, is that for years, I have heard his teachers talk about how much they enjoy having him and how much they learn from him. Now, I never hear anything but what he still needs to learn to do. Its quite a change. I guess the expectations are just different.
I have a lot to pray about, I guess. If you also believe in Christ and pray, please remember us in your prayers. We need guidance and we need to figure out how these needs can be met logistically and financially.
On a happier note, he did get a green day today, so after a bath, we heard some sounds on the computer- water fountain, chimpanzee, electric toothbrush, and Indri. Well, hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for Bear and for all of you too.
Blessings,
BEARZ mom
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Mommy, Are you having a red day?
Hi all
well, not a lot to tell this week. Bear stayed home Thurs and Fri with a bad cold. Wednesday was not a good day for him. After his 2 green days, he had another red day. I'm hoping it was because he wasn't feeling well. The observer from the Autism Cadre has been to observe him. She is coming Monday to have a meeting with us to provide some strategies for us to use with him. She isn't saying he does or does not have Autism, she is just going to give us some strategies that shuld help with his social skills. I'm actually a little excited about the meeting. I'll let you know how it goes.
Bear has sort of taken the red, yellow,green day to heart. This morning, I knocked over some oats, dropped a container of oranges and then while stirring the oats in the pot, I stirred some of them out of the pot onto the floor. I said, Bear, momma is having a bad morning. He said,"Is it a red day?" I said, "Yeah, I guess it is a red day." He said,"So, what are you gonna do?" I said, "I guess I'll have to put myself in time-out." So I put myself in time-out.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
well, not a lot to tell this week. Bear stayed home Thurs and Fri with a bad cold. Wednesday was not a good day for him. After his 2 green days, he had another red day. I'm hoping it was because he wasn't feeling well. The observer from the Autism Cadre has been to observe him. She is coming Monday to have a meeting with us to provide some strategies for us to use with him. She isn't saying he does or does not have Autism, she is just going to give us some strategies that shuld help with his social skills. I'm actually a little excited about the meeting. I'll let you know how it goes.
Bear has sort of taken the red, yellow,green day to heart. This morning, I knocked over some oats, dropped a container of oranges and then while stirring the oats in the pot, I stirred some of them out of the pot onto the floor. I said, Bear, momma is having a bad morning. He said,"Is it a red day?" I said, "Yeah, I guess it is a red day." He said,"So, what are you gonna do?" I said, "I guess I'll have to put myself in time-out." So I put myself in time-out.
Blessings,
BEARZ Mom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)