Date Set for Bean

The unfortunate thing when you're dealing with public school is that they are completely understaffed at the moment due to budget cuts.  In our district this means that certain people, like the speech therapist, travel the district from school to school working with kids.

Why does that matter?  Because in order to have Bean's IEP meeting and get her started in Early Childhood we have to coordinate everyone (teacher, psychologist, speech therapist, and school principal) to be at the meeting.

This means her IEP meeting won't be until November 3.  It isn't that far away, but I was hoping she could start sooner.  Oh well.  We will go on November 3, we will do our thing, and she will start the following week.

Social Story - Asking Someone to Play

My son's Special Ed coordinator sends home updates every week and this week she sent home a copy of the social story that they are using to help him on the playground.  I thought it might be useful to others so I am posting pictures of it.  

Just click the picture to make it bigger.

Basically, this is a social skills lesson for Bug.  He has a really hard time on the playground at school and has come home crying a lot because he "doesn't understand the other kids".  In an effort to help him engage and make some friends, his Special Ed coordinator goes out on the playground with him and goes through these steps in the social story to get him to interact.

This week she got him to join in a game of soccer.  Apparently the ball whizzing by him gave him a scare, but once he got to kick it he really enjoyed it.

She also had him ask a peer to help open his snack when he couldn't do it.  Normally he would go to an adult and just kind of hand it to them, but she made him go to another kid and ask nicely for assistance.  This is great progress!  It sounds so simple to some, but I'm telling you that for a kid with Asperger's this is HUGE!

And another good thing, she is making him move on rather than letting him perseverate on certain subjects.  This is very difficult for Bug and he has expressed to me that he is frustrated because he likes to talk about certain things, but I think rocking his little Aspie world is so good for him!

Early Childhood Program - Here She Comes!

As you know, Bean went through a bit of testing for speech and adaptive skills.  So now I am telling you the main result of it all - she has delays.  Um, yeah, we already knew that.  She has speech delays and she has developmental delays.  Lump it all together and the school district gives her a standing of "developmentally delayed" and thus she is qualified for services.

One great thing that comes with being qualified is that she can enter into the Early Childhood program.  I suppose there are other options - like carting her up to school for a half hour here and a half hour there for specific therapies (like speech) but the Early Childhood program is such a better avenue to take.  So today we went and sat in on the class.  Bean got to participate and I just sat back and watched.  My oh my, was she terrified!  The look on her face was something I wish I had a picture of.  For half the class she sat there scowling and looking mad at the world.  She would not talk and she would not participate.  But then she was directed to the water table and everything changed.

Can you say sensory stimulation?  Yes, Bean craves that.  She got into that water and just had a blast!  It totally opened her up to the situation.  While she wasn't big on talking to anyone, she was actually enjoying herself.  And then she saw the ball pit!  Yes, they have a ball pit and it was great fun!

She painted, she participated in the letter lesson of the day, she had snack time, she had circle time, she enjoyed reading time - all around she did great!  Sure, it was slow going at first - but it was also all new to her.  Once she saw how fun it could be she lightened up.  By the end of the day she still wasn't sure if she should talk to anyone (with the exception of one boy that she seemed to become buddies with instantly) but she did respond in a very excited manner when I asked her if she would like to go back tomorrow.

So tomorrow we go back and observe and participate some more.  The sitting in was the idea of the school psychologist to make sure that Bean would find a good fit in the class.  We all have some concerns with her possibly modeling behaviors because she does it with Bug, but I didn't see anything today that would be any great worry.  Tomorrow we will just see how it goes, but I'm pretty sure it will go well.

Now there is a meeting getting set (should be next week) so we can get all the paperwork done and then Bean will officially start in the class.  I think this is going to be so good for her!

Show & Tell

Today is Show & Tell at my son's school.  Every Friday they do this.  I generally ask Bug what he wants to take the night before and then place it in his backpack.  Last night I forgot.

So there we were this morning, halfway to school, when suddenly Bug yells at the top of his lungs, "Oh no!  I forgot my Show & Tell!"

I quickly said, "Is there something in the car you can take?"  We actually do have some toys in the car.  But he started yelling, "No, no, no!  Today is Sparks!"

So I said, "Do you want me to go back?"  Thank goodness we don't live far from school.  I mean seriously, we don't live far at all so it wasn't a big deal.

Bug said, "Yes, go back!  I need my Sparks!  I am going to tell how I bought him with my birthday money and he is from Toy Story 3 and we saw the movie in the theater.  TWICE!  And he doesn't talk but his arms go in and out and he is a robot and I like to play with him outside..."

And it went on and on and on and on... He was still talking when I jumped out of the car to go in and get Sparks.  He was still going on about Sparks all the way to school.  He was still talking about it as we parked the car.  He was still going on while we walked to his area to put down his backpack.

God bless his teacher.  I'm certain he has given her quite an earful - and the day isn't even over yet.

Tiger Cub!

Last night we braved the storm (which consisted of lightning, thunder, rain, and hail) to take Bug to the Boy Scout information meeting.  Last week in his peechee (weekly folder sent home with all kinds of stuff) there was a flyer for the meeting and Bug saw it.  He asked what the boys were doing in the picture and I told him about scouting.  He thought it sounded neat, but then I told him that his Uncle was a scout when he was kid and that did it - Bug had to be a scout!  He talked for a week straight about it and when I picked him up from school yesterday he was wearing a sticker on his shirt that said "I want to be a Cub Scout. Please take me to the meeting tonight." (I just remembered that his Grampa was a scout, too!  Oh he is gonna be stoked to hear that!)

He doesn't get very excited about joining things so seeing him light up over it was really cool - and so we went.  And, of course, we signed up!

Bug is now a Tiger Cub Scout.  They go from Tigers to Wolves to Bears to Webelos.  And then they go into regular Boy Scouts.  We have our first Pack meeting on October 14.  And from there we will have Den meetings.  Packs and Dens - I love it!

Now I just have to get in gear and get him his Tiger Cub Scout book, his uniform shirt, and a couple of patches.  We already have the Pack number patches.

Dilemma - I don't sew.

I Feel Like I Can Breathe

A funny thing has happened... When the whole public school thing became an idea I was completely freaked out about it.  I was unsure.  I was nervous.  I was stressed.  I was worried.

But here we are, on October 1, and those feelings are not there anymore. In about 45 minutes I will be taking Bug to school and I am not freaked out, I am not unsure, I am not nervous, I am not stressed, and I am not worried.  Rather, I am happy.  I am looking forward to him going for the day.  I am looking forward to him enjoying himself and then coming home to tell me all about it when the day is done.

School is not perfect.  There are a few issues here and there and it isn't all smiles for Bug all of the time.  But over all, well over all this is proving to be a very good thing for everyone.  Bug is being forced to deal with things that he didn't have to deal with when he was at home - and in the long run I believe this will be a benefit to him.

Bean is enjoying her time with me.  We have spent almost every afternoon lazing around at the park just enjoying the sunshine.  We have played princesses and tea party.  We have watched princess movies.  We have danced around and just been silly.  She needed this time and you can literally see the difference in her.

I have been able to get a few naps in.  They are just 20 minute naps, but the power naps are powerful!  With both kids home I never got a nap.

I feel like I can breathe.

I love my kids.  I love being with them.  But aside from the benefits for Bug, public school has also benefited me.  Mommy needed a break.  Is that selfish?  I know some people who would say yes.  But I disagree.  If everyone is happier now then selfish is hardly the word I would use to describe it.

And now I'm off.  I have to get Bug ready to head out for the day.  Today is music and he loves music class, he has been talking about it since the moment he woke up.  And when we get back, Bean and I will be having a little princess party - we even got a stack of princess-type books from the library to read, too.

Yes, I think this was the best decision all around - and I'm not sure what happens at your public school, but at mine there are moments of silence, a great respect for patriotism, and they even send home announcements from local churches.  So politically I am feeling good, too.