Things are not going very well right now in the school department. Monkey has been having all out meltdown fits in the mornings lately. It started with some whimpering and now it’s full out crying with snot flying everywhere fits. We’re completely wrung out. We have a game plan we’re going to work with the teacher to follow. It has to get better.
Fragile X sucks.
Monkey boy is still enjoying school but we can now tell that they’re asking more of him on a daily basis. He is a LITTLE less excited about going each morning but has a blast once he gets there. It’s just not all fun and games anymore!
He’s using more and more words. Last week when they were discussing his classmate K’s birthday Monkey jumped into the conversation to add “I’m 3.” And yes he is…I’ve been trying to get him to say that for quite a while, too bad I missed it.
Yesterday during potty time he decided to try the potty…STANDING UP. Oh boy. He needed a little bit of help from his friend O. (ha!) but he did it! After he was done he told one of the classroom assistants “I pee.”
Tonight we’re going to try trick or treating. I’m pretty sure he won’t want to hold his bucket for candy but we’ll try a house or two. Then we’ll hang out on the porch and pass out candy. He always enjoys that. He’s going to be an old west sherriff. We’ll take pictures!
It was bound to happen, I suppose. He’s always been a favorite of the ladies with those curls and he’s always been a bit of a flirt to boot. He’s just growing up so fast, lol.
I think it’s safe to say he loves everything about school at this point although there is that little thing called Circle Time that he could do without…but he’s starting to give in there too. Yesterday morning he woke up and led me to the top of the stairs and indicated that we should go down them. SCHOOL! was his first thought when he woke up.
His teachers love him. They tell us how gentle and soft he is. How he takes the most interest in those younger than him or those who are having a rough day. He is learning all the rules and he’s enjoying himself more than we had hoped. He may even recognize his own name…twice today he picked out his own floormat for Circle Time.
Monkey has now completed two days at school. They gone quite well. He’s warming up quickly to the classroom and has basically been just really exploring it. He did great on his first day and we left without any issues at all. It was a really smooth transition. Today was a bit harder as he was a bit hyper-aroused to start, but a few minutes of squeezes and he was back to normal and exploring. He still isn’t a fan of circle time, but he never really was. Hopefully that’ll change with time. Each day they’ve gone to a different nearby park as the playground at the school is still being worked on. Today on the way back from the park they got a little wet as they got caught in the rain but I was told he did great. He even played with a little girl that was at the park and he did great sharing a sit in car with other kids as well.
and he could not care less apparently! We drove him in so Duhdee could get a workday at home. When we arrived at daycare he walked right in. The place was very lively this morning with lots of big and little kids. He went to the little kids side, sat down, took off his shoes and asked for his blanket. Then he took off to play. I stood around while Duhdee completed a form thinking he’d at least look for me but no. He kept playing. We each kissed him and told him good-bye then we left. He just kept on playing.
He’s going to do just FINE at school!
Things are still super busy at work and I’m trying to make it a point to get a decent amount of sleep….there’s not much time for blogging right now so you get another long update post.
This past weekend was pretty relaxed. It was rainy and cold so we pretty much just hung out. On Saturday Monkey’s battery operated train finally kicked the bucket. I can’t say I’m sorry it died either. It was really loud and used up batteries at an alarming rate. One battery would handle about 1.5 hours of play, we’d started rationing the batteries. He got one battery per day, lol.
We’re so glad it’s over and….we got pretty much everything we wanted.
Monkey is going to continue to receive in home services from Building Blocks (new providers but the same therapies) and he’ll start getting his ST, OT and PT through the school. Duhdee will have to drive him to the schools for those sessions, the schedule needs to be worked out between us and the new providers.
Starting in September he will be in a fully integrated preschool class. It’s pretty much perfect. He doesn’t have to start full days until he’s ready, they’re leaving that up to us to decide with his teacher. They don’t think he needs the transition classroom…they think he’ll do well in a regular classroom and they don’t want to force him to go through all those changes unnecessarily.
They also put in his IEP that they want him in a mainstreamed Kindergarten with whatever supports he needs but they don’t want him in a special education classroom.
We’re really pleased with the outcome!
We saw the substantially separate/transition classroom that CPS proposed at our last meeting. It’s OK.
There are 3 kids in there right now and 1 more starting after vacation. 3 of those 4 may be in there in the fall, 1 is being mainstreamed. There are two teachers. One is trained in sign (though possibly rusty, she doesn’t have much chance to use it according to the director.) One of the girls is non-verbal (I think), one has 11 words, the boy is on an IEP from another state b/c he doesn’t speak English so he is the one being mainstreamed. Read more
