Growth Spurts
As most of you know, we've been on this "appropriate" education placement setting roller coaster for over a year now. What a difference a year makes! We have made some strides. Big kid has gone through some growth spurts. Not just physically, but emotionally as well.
He's not the only one. We've all grown so much more as a family. A year ago, we embarked on a journey to figuring out what big kid educational and emotional needs were. We saw him go through emotional roller coasters with almost daily behavior issues at school. The year was a series of meetings (IEP, reconvenes, resolutions) followed by endless evaluations - all to figure out what was going on with big kid. I did not care what the diagnosis was. I just wanted to know WHAT it was and HOW we can move forward to get him the help he needs to flourish.
As luck would have it, big kid has two diagnoses: Spina Bifida and Autism. Two unrelated conditions. So what did we do with this information? Mourn? Get angry? Move on? That's tough to say. Maybe it was a little bit of all. What we did do was look towards the future. Once I got the Autism confirmation, I was like a one of those European trains going full speed ahead to get big kid the services and placement he needed. We hit a few bumps along the way until I felt like I ran out of steam by the summer.
But something interesting happened. Just as I ran out of steam, big kid began to make some strides. Summer school worked out pretty well - he gained confidence, interest. Combined with the at-home tutoring, he seems to be in a better place.
School has only been in session for about 3 weeks now, but so far his behavior has been on track. One thing the teacher wrote one day was that big kid had to work on waiting to be called on to answer questions in class and not just shout out the answers. Well, guess what? In my eyes that was a WIN! I read it out loud to hubby and we were like YES! Why do you ask? This is HUGE! Big kid is showing INTEREST in class! He actually WANTS to participate, even if the answer is wrong. A year ago, he was too busy falling asleep in class. He would break down with all the commotion going on. So this is a WIN in our book. Did i mention that it was a WIN????? (Proud mama right here!).
I took a hiatus over the summer from pursuing non public schools, research, etc. Truth be told, I was drained. I knew that I needed a break in order to get back at it this Fall. The last thing I wanted was to look like a Golden Girl by December!
So now I am proceeding with caution. Big kid just got tutoring extended for the entire school year along with extra hours. We have an IEP reconvene coming up. Time to analyze and see where this is heading. At times I feel like things are too good to be true right now. Big kid is in an after school program also. Something new that he's adapting to. He's also improving on his eating. He still has some food aversions but he's not as resistant as he once was. This is what we've wanted. He's even playing a sport! He's playing soccer. Every Sunday he has practice for about an hour or so and gets to play and interact with other kids. We've come a long way baby! He just told me he wants me to find out about basketball, baseball and swimming.
So now what? The battle continues. Am I addicted to the fight? Ha! Maybe. But if we don't fight for him, then who will? Stay tuned....
He's not the only one. We've all grown so much more as a family. A year ago, we embarked on a journey to figuring out what big kid educational and emotional needs were. We saw him go through emotional roller coasters with almost daily behavior issues at school. The year was a series of meetings (IEP, reconvenes, resolutions) followed by endless evaluations - all to figure out what was going on with big kid. I did not care what the diagnosis was. I just wanted to know WHAT it was and HOW we can move forward to get him the help he needs to flourish.
As luck would have it, big kid has two diagnoses: Spina Bifida and Autism. Two unrelated conditions. So what did we do with this information? Mourn? Get angry? Move on? That's tough to say. Maybe it was a little bit of all. What we did do was look towards the future. Once I got the Autism confirmation, I was like a one of those European trains going full speed ahead to get big kid the services and placement he needed. We hit a few bumps along the way until I felt like I ran out of steam by the summer.
But something interesting happened. Just as I ran out of steam, big kid began to make some strides. Summer school worked out pretty well - he gained confidence, interest. Combined with the at-home tutoring, he seems to be in a better place.
School has only been in session for about 3 weeks now, but so far his behavior has been on track. One thing the teacher wrote one day was that big kid had to work on waiting to be called on to answer questions in class and not just shout out the answers. Well, guess what? In my eyes that was a WIN! I read it out loud to hubby and we were like YES! Why do you ask? This is HUGE! Big kid is showing INTEREST in class! He actually WANTS to participate, even if the answer is wrong. A year ago, he was too busy falling asleep in class. He would break down with all the commotion going on. So this is a WIN in our book. Did i mention that it was a WIN????? (Proud mama right here!).
I took a hiatus over the summer from pursuing non public schools, research, etc. Truth be told, I was drained. I knew that I needed a break in order to get back at it this Fall. The last thing I wanted was to look like a Golden Girl by December!
So now I am proceeding with caution. Big kid just got tutoring extended for the entire school year along with extra hours. We have an IEP reconvene coming up. Time to analyze and see where this is heading. At times I feel like things are too good to be true right now. Big kid is in an after school program also. Something new that he's adapting to. He's also improving on his eating. He still has some food aversions but he's not as resistant as he once was. This is what we've wanted. He's even playing a sport! He's playing soccer. Every Sunday he has practice for about an hour or so and gets to play and interact with other kids. We've come a long way baby! He just told me he wants me to find out about basketball, baseball and swimming.
So now what? The battle continues. Am I addicted to the fight? Ha! Maybe. But if we don't fight for him, then who will? Stay tuned....
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