Click here for the video of his Music Therapy Recital.
That was this morning. It's a good thing he was first because it was too loud in there and he didn't want to sit for any other performances. Oh well. He did a good job. Of course he normally says go and stop during therapy (I sit in the waiting room but I can hear him) so you'll just have to imagine it.
In other news we are all finished with his assessments for the school district. He did an OT, PT, speech, & psychological assessment and we filled out many questionnaires and and answered lots of questions. They will be doing one more observation at his preschool and then will be finished completely. The psychologist does not want to label him with autism so he will be labeled other health impaired. I'm ok with it for now, if it becomes an issue later on then we will deal with it. He would be placed in an autism preschool classroom likely all day all week. It would definitely be a change. He would have a teacher and two aides with 8-9 children. They use similar teaching to ABA so it would be familiar to him as well as things he is already familiar with like circle time. We would be looking to start in August and he would graduate from his current preschool in July. We're still deciding, next we will see the classroom he would be in. He is also starting ABA therapy soon. We've met the lead therapist and one of the line therapists and will be meeting the coordinator next week.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Hello!
Busy, busy, busy around here! Going through the process at our school district for Joshua possibly attending preschool there next school year. So far we've done the intial meeting, and the hearing & vision screenings. Sent in the permission to evaluate so we next will be the evaluations and they will go to his current preschool to do an observation. We did the evaluation with our ABA therapy service provider. Joshua was approved for way more hours than he will ever be able to use so now we wait to meet with our "team". Coordinators (people who oversee services) and the line therapists who they likely have to hire although they are supposed to start us with someone who's had experience. I am still taking classes, almost halfway done with my courses at the school where I am now! I'm now 100 credits in and will have 6 courses left to take when I finish the I one I'm taking now! The reason I came on here was to share this - 100 Ways You Know You're a Special Needs Mom. The ones that I like the most are #s - 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 31, 35, 36, 47, 51, 53, 55, 60, 67, 73, 75, 82, 89, 95, 99, & 100. Some of these more than others.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Happy Birthday Joshua!
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| Free digital collage created with Smilebox |
Happy 4th Birthday Joshua! I look back on these 4 years with amazement, you have come so far and taught me so much! I am reminded of what's really important in life because of you. People, love, life, experiences. You have made my world a brighter place!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thankfulness
This is the time of year we are supposed to remember what we are thankful for. I sometimes have trouble with this as I am thankful for things but it reminds me of all the challenges Joshua has. So I think rather than make this about all the things I have to be thankful for I will just write an update about Joshua. His progress is something I am thankful for.
Unfortunately, the foundation that provided funding for Joshua's 6 months of music therapy has decided he will not be receiving any more. They did agree to let him continue for another month so he could finish out the year. That gives me more time to try to find funding elsewhere. I have already applied to two other foundations and I am waiting to hear back from them. Also a possibility is that with a job Jamie is doing he may receive a small payout, personally, and if it's anything substantial it can go to pay for music therapy.
The biggest strides, I am happy to say, have been verbal and cognitive. Of course he is still working on gross motor and fine motor but since he started walking the gross motor goals have lessened. He works on balance a lot at PT and he does really well with fine motor. He is on a waiting list for OT near where we live since for the longest time he has gotten OT out of town at a great place but we are looking to move it closer to home because he will be getting ABA therapy soon! We just found out that his number came up on the PDD Waiver which means for the next 3 years he will get ABA therapy. We had to say goodbye to his early interventionist who had been with us for almost 3 years because he has to move to service coordination because of the PDD Waiver (ABA therapy). We meet with our service coordinator next week to start the paperwork and process of him receiving ABA therapy.
On to the progress as I said he has been doing well verbally. He is actually saying some words now! I am constantly hearing from preschool about words he says, he doesn't do as much of it at home but he is doing a lot at school and hopefully that will transition to his new school next year. He is counting at preschool, one note said he counted to 15 with help from a teacher! I have not been able to get him to do this yet but they said to try with him on the potty, that's usually the best time for him to count for some reason. The one thing he is doing consistently everywhere is saying go. It started with us saying ready set and he says go and now he will imitate go from the tv, from music and from us! He is also doing really well with music therapy which is why I hope he can continue. He is doing a lot of verbalizations there, a lot of copying and filling in the right sounds in songs. It has been really great for him! I love it when something like this works. I just knew from that workshop on music therapy that it would be great for him and it has been.
Unfortunately, the foundation that provided funding for Joshua's 6 months of music therapy has decided he will not be receiving any more. They did agree to let him continue for another month so he could finish out the year. That gives me more time to try to find funding elsewhere. I have already applied to two other foundations and I am waiting to hear back from them. Also a possibility is that with a job Jamie is doing he may receive a small payout, personally, and if it's anything substantial it can go to pay for music therapy.
The biggest strides, I am happy to say, have been verbal and cognitive. Of course he is still working on gross motor and fine motor but since he started walking the gross motor goals have lessened. He works on balance a lot at PT and he does really well with fine motor. He is on a waiting list for OT near where we live since for the longest time he has gotten OT out of town at a great place but we are looking to move it closer to home because he will be getting ABA therapy soon! We just found out that his number came up on the PDD Waiver which means for the next 3 years he will get ABA therapy. We had to say goodbye to his early interventionist who had been with us for almost 3 years because he has to move to service coordination because of the PDD Waiver (ABA therapy). We meet with our service coordinator next week to start the paperwork and process of him receiving ABA therapy.
On to the progress as I said he has been doing well verbally. He is actually saying some words now! I am constantly hearing from preschool about words he says, he doesn't do as much of it at home but he is doing a lot at school and hopefully that will transition to his new school next year. He is counting at preschool, one note said he counted to 15 with help from a teacher! I have not been able to get him to do this yet but they said to try with him on the potty, that's usually the best time for him to count for some reason. The one thing he is doing consistently everywhere is saying go. It started with us saying ready set and he says go and now he will imitate go from the tv, from music and from us! He is also doing really well with music therapy which is why I hope he can continue. He is doing a lot of verbalizations there, a lot of copying and filling in the right sounds in songs. It has been really great for him! I love it when something like this works. I just knew from that workshop on music therapy that it would be great for him and it has been.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
A link to a wonderful video and update
Wow, it has been a really long time since I've done any kind of posting here. Just been busy with life. I don't know if I ever mentioned it but I have gone back to school, online! I'm taking online classes so add that to everything else already going on and I'm a bit busy but it's good and important so I'm dealing with it. I'm determined! Joshua is doing well. He has been going to music therapy since May and will get to do so through October at least. The foundation gave him 6 months and then will decide if he gets more. We decided to add another preschool day for Joshua this year. So he is going to preschool 3 days a week, he's also getting PT, OT, SLP (speech) and music therapy so to say we are busy is an understatement. Oh and he's doing horseback riding as well, not every week but a few times a month. So far so good with the new schedule, we've done 2 weeks of it and he's doing well. We had to say goodbye to his SLP 2 weeks ago because of schedule change and because she doesn't see kids past 4 and somehow Joshua will be 4 in November, not even talking about that yet. I think it's really that she doesn't see kids past age 3 but just kept seeing Joshua. So when we decided to put him in preschool 3 days a week we had to make some schedule changes and knew that we would be switching anyway so decided to go ahead and do it. His new SLP seems nice but she'll never take the place of the old one. Oh and last month Joshua got to meet his Uncle Tony (my brother) for the first time! It was such a wonderful visit and I'm so glad it finally happened. We went on vacation to the beach in June and had way more rain than sun but we go away to the mountains in 4 weeks so hopefully this vacation will make up for it! (fingers crossed, knock on wood!)
Okay now for that video. I just came across it today and I can't really describe it just that if you are in the special needs world or know someone who is or work with families that are then you should watch it. I think really whether or not you've gotten a diagnosis it's relevant. It's about what you would say to yourself on the day of your child's diagnosis or I guess what you say to yourself back when you first found out something was different about your child. The Extreme Parenting Video Project by Elizabeth (no, not me)
Okay now for that video. I just came across it today and I can't really describe it just that if you are in the special needs world or know someone who is or work with families that are then you should watch it. I think really whether or not you've gotten a diagnosis it's relevant. It's about what you would say to yourself on the day of your child's diagnosis or I guess what you say to yourself back when you first found out something was different about your child. The Extreme Parenting Video Project by Elizabeth (no, not me)
Friday, May 4, 2012
Music Therapy Update!
Last month I posted about the Family Connection Conference and a music therapy workshop I attended. I was determined to try to get funding so Joshua could get Music Therapy. A friend told me about The Lindsay Foundation, she has a child with special needs and has received funding from them for her son's specialty therapies and equipment. I decided I had nothing to lose and everything to gain so I contacted them, filled out a form and waited. They said they had a meeting mid-April during which they would review requests and make approvals. I got a call 2 weeks ago from The Lindsay Foundation that they had approved my request for Joshua's music therapy! I couldn't believe it! They said they had never approved a request for music therapy before but they had received some. I don't know why they chose to approve Joshua's request but they did. He is getting 6 months of music therapy starting this month and they want a progress report in 90 days.
I immediately contacted Natalie at Key Changes Music Therapy, the one whose presentation I went to in March, told her that Joshua was approved and scheduled our first session which was today! The first two sessions are assessments and one of those was today. She does one session with the parents and one without, since Jamie went with us today and he had never met her before we did this session with us in the room. It went great! When we got there Joshua was a little hesitant at first but once he saw the room with all the musical instruments in it he went straight in there. They played with drums, bells and maracas but Joshua discovered his favorite instrument pretty quickly and it was no surprise, the guitar. As soon as she started to sing and play he was happy. After a few songs he started dancing, bouncing and smiling. He only came over to me once, he would have been just as happy without us there. I was thrilled but I had a pretty good felling it would go well. Every time she put down the guitar to try to get him to play with something else he went right back over to it. She wanted him to strum it, he would grab her hand and try to make her strum it. It was so nice to get that confirmation that I was hoping would happen. It just fell into place like it was supposed to, it felt like it was meant to be. Since this is a rare thing in my life or at least feels like it is when it happens I have to try to be as grateful as possible.
I immediately contacted Natalie at Key Changes Music Therapy, the one whose presentation I went to in March, told her that Joshua was approved and scheduled our first session which was today! The first two sessions are assessments and one of those was today. She does one session with the parents and one without, since Jamie went with us today and he had never met her before we did this session with us in the room. It went great! When we got there Joshua was a little hesitant at first but once he saw the room with all the musical instruments in it he went straight in there. They played with drums, bells and maracas but Joshua discovered his favorite instrument pretty quickly and it was no surprise, the guitar. As soon as she started to sing and play he was happy. After a few songs he started dancing, bouncing and smiling. He only came over to me once, he would have been just as happy without us there. I was thrilled but I had a pretty good felling it would go well. Every time she put down the guitar to try to get him to play with something else he went right back over to it. She wanted him to strum it, he would grab her hand and try to make her strum it. It was so nice to get that confirmation that I was hoping would happen. It just fell into place like it was supposed to, it felt like it was meant to be. Since this is a rare thing in my life or at least feels like it is when it happens I have to try to be as grateful as possible.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Music Therapy
Two weeks ago I attended the Family Connection Conference. All of the workshops were great. I went to ones about assistance dogs, stress management, ABA therapy techniques, The Anat Baniel Method and sensory activities. They were all very good and informative but the one that stuck with me and I have not been able to forget was about music therapy. Prior to this I knew nothing nothing about it, not what it was or anything. I quickly learned in that 1 hour 15 minute presentation what it was and I wondered how did I not know about this, how come no one told me about it and how do I get Joshua into it. Not just it but I was enthralled by the therapist, she runs her own practice. So not only do I want Joshua doing music therapy but I want her doing his therapy. Unfortunately it is not something that insurance covers. Joshua gets physical, occupational and speech therapy all covered by insurance. Music therapy is new compared to these types of therapies, hopefully it will soon be covered by insurance. Until then it is an out of pocket expense. I have already contacted one foundation about getting funding and Joshua's Early Interventionist told me about summer support funds that the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs gives out for children with special needs to go to summer camp. We will be applying for these funds to get Joshua started with music therapy (I do not know how much we will be able to apply for or receive). I have also started a FundRazr to raise money for this. I am planning to ask family and friends to donate instead of buying gifts for Joshua's birthday or Christmas/Hanukkah. I don't know if that will work but I'm going to give it a try.
Music has always been something wonderful in Joshua's life. From the time he was a newborn when he was upset especially in the car I could put on a certain song from a certain CD and he would stop crying. Once when he was getting an x-ray and had to be still I sang to him, that was all it took. Now I can sing to him and get an immediate smile. Music has also been how we have gotten the first imitations out of Joshua most recently he quacked at preschool to a song, he can (when he wants to, like everything else) go EIEIO in Old MacDonald, I taught him how to do Ring Around The Rosie and he was doing DA for down at the end of the song and it all comes back to music. It was immediate for me upon learning about music therapy, I want to do this for Joshua. The possibilities are endless. Now we just have to figure out how to make it happen. Here is the link to the FundRazr
Music has always been something wonderful in Joshua's life. From the time he was a newborn when he was upset especially in the car I could put on a certain song from a certain CD and he would stop crying. Once when he was getting an x-ray and had to be still I sang to him, that was all it took. Now I can sing to him and get an immediate smile. Music has also been how we have gotten the first imitations out of Joshua most recently he quacked at preschool to a song, he can (when he wants to, like everything else) go EIEIO in Old MacDonald, I taught him how to do Ring Around The Rosie and he was doing DA for down at the end of the song and it all comes back to music. It was immediate for me upon learning about music therapy, I want to do this for Joshua. The possibilities are endless. Now we just have to figure out how to make it happen. Here is the link to the FundRazr
Friday, January 20, 2012
iPad and other news
I wrote this post a few days ago and then forgot all about it. Oh well, here it is.
Joshua is playing more with the iPad with some apps that I picked out for him. We took some videos of him playing last night with 2 apps; Baby Games - My First Shapes and Match It Up. They are all 4 of the Joshua on the iPad videos. You can see him actually learning with the Match It Up game, he gets the shapes right sometimes and this is just from playing it. Yes, I have to help him but he is learning to match the pictures and how to drag the matching picture to the one in the middle. He is also learning with the shapes game, he doesn't always get it right but he knows that if he gets it wrong to choose the other picture. We also keep playing, these and other games, repetition helps him learn. www.youtube.com/user/JBrown2218
Joshua is learning to clap and to imitate clapping and other things. Some shows he watches the characters will clap, mostly in certain Wiggles songs and on Play With Me Sesame. I have just recorded one episode of Sesame where the characters ask you to clap with them. Joshua has done this independently before. Of course when I got out the video camera to record him doing it he wouldn't do it. He is also imitating motions during circle time at school. Most of the songs they do during circle time involve motions, including sign language. Joshua is starting to imitate the hand motions in the songs.
Joshua is playing more with the iPad with some apps that I picked out for him. We took some videos of him playing last night with 2 apps; Baby Games - My First Shapes and Match It Up. They are all 4 of the Joshua on the iPad videos. You can see him actually learning with the Match It Up game, he gets the shapes right sometimes and this is just from playing it. Yes, I have to help him but he is learning to match the pictures and how to drag the matching picture to the one in the middle. He is also learning with the shapes game, he doesn't always get it right but he knows that if he gets it wrong to choose the other picture. We also keep playing, these and other games, repetition helps him learn. www.youtube.com/user/JBrown2218
Joshua is learning to clap and to imitate clapping and other things. Some shows he watches the characters will clap, mostly in certain Wiggles songs and on Play With Me Sesame. I have just recorded one episode of Sesame where the characters ask you to clap with them. Joshua has done this independently before. Of course when I got out the video camera to record him doing it he wouldn't do it. He is also imitating motions during circle time at school. Most of the songs they do during circle time involve motions, including sign language. Joshua is starting to imitate the hand motions in the songs.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Update
I wrote this yesterday and then never posted it oh well, here it is.
Thought it was time for another update, the last week has been good. First we stared trying to get him to use a straw. I bought a cup where you squeeze the cup to get the liquid to go up the straw. So he learned that he gets liquid through the straw. After doing that a few times he actually sucked juice up the straw! So I tried a regular straw cup and he got it! He can now suck through a straw! This is a huge milestone. Straws are very good for oral motor development, help strengthen his facial muscles and get him to use muscles he hadn't used before.
Another thing we decided to try working on again was getting him to feed himself with a spoon. In the past whenever I had done this he had gotten upset and sometimes didn't even want to finish whatever he had been eating. So we tried it at OT, she handed him the spoon and he grabbed it with his left hand and fed himself! He knew just what to do, to dip the spoon in the yogurt cup and put it to his mouth. Like he had always been doing this. I LOVE it when he surprises me like this! He doesn't always want to do it but he CAN do it so we just have to keep encouraging him.
Earlier this week we went to the AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication) Resource center. The reason we got the iPad for Joshua was so that one day he would be able to use it to communicate. So I wanted some guidance with choosing an app or something else to get him started learning to communicate with something. She gave us lots of great information and she was very positive about Joshua's ability to learn to communicate! I love hearing positive things about him especially from a professional (she is an SLP - speech language pathologist who specializes in AAC). She was not very positive about the iPad though, she thinks our best bet is to go with something low-tech. I did mention an app I've been looking at and she e-mailed me later on about it and said that looked like a good possibility. She also gave us a photo book that we could fill with photos and picture cards. The app is Verbal Victor, if you know anything about it or have any other suggestions I would love to hear them!
Last night was the Christmas Party at Joshua's preschool. They had one last year too but we didn't go because it's so late, it was late this year too but we went anyway. It's from 6:30 to 8:30, we left around 8 and Joshua didn't fall asleep until after 9 but he had a great time! It was a rough start. We got there right at 6:30 but very few people were there, his teachers were there but not many guests had arrived yet. Joshua got a pouty face and then started crying. So we took him outside to calm him down. When we came back in lots more people had arrived with their kids so Joshua was happier. He loved watching them all run around and trying to chase them. He ate and ate and ate! He even sat on Santa's lap for a few seconds! Long enough for one of his teachers to get a photo and she got a good one! Of course he was smiling at his favorite teacher, she got him to sit still and smile for a minute, he has good taste as she is young and pretty she's even a ballet dancer! He flirted with her all night!
Thought it was time for another update, the last week has been good. First we stared trying to get him to use a straw. I bought a cup where you squeeze the cup to get the liquid to go up the straw. So he learned that he gets liquid through the straw. After doing that a few times he actually sucked juice up the straw! So I tried a regular straw cup and he got it! He can now suck through a straw! This is a huge milestone. Straws are very good for oral motor development, help strengthen his facial muscles and get him to use muscles he hadn't used before.
Another thing we decided to try working on again was getting him to feed himself with a spoon. In the past whenever I had done this he had gotten upset and sometimes didn't even want to finish whatever he had been eating. So we tried it at OT, she handed him the spoon and he grabbed it with his left hand and fed himself! He knew just what to do, to dip the spoon in the yogurt cup and put it to his mouth. Like he had always been doing this. I LOVE it when he surprises me like this! He doesn't always want to do it but he CAN do it so we just have to keep encouraging him.
Earlier this week we went to the AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication) Resource center. The reason we got the iPad for Joshua was so that one day he would be able to use it to communicate. So I wanted some guidance with choosing an app or something else to get him started learning to communicate with something. She gave us lots of great information and she was very positive about Joshua's ability to learn to communicate! I love hearing positive things about him especially from a professional (she is an SLP - speech language pathologist who specializes in AAC). She was not very positive about the iPad though, she thinks our best bet is to go with something low-tech. I did mention an app I've been looking at and she e-mailed me later on about it and said that looked like a good possibility. She also gave us a photo book that we could fill with photos and picture cards. The app is Verbal Victor, if you know anything about it or have any other suggestions I would love to hear them!
Last night was the Christmas Party at Joshua's preschool. They had one last year too but we didn't go because it's so late, it was late this year too but we went anyway. It's from 6:30 to 8:30, we left around 8 and Joshua didn't fall asleep until after 9 but he had a great time! It was a rough start. We got there right at 6:30 but very few people were there, his teachers were there but not many guests had arrived yet. Joshua got a pouty face and then started crying. So we took him outside to calm him down. When we came back in lots more people had arrived with their kids so Joshua was happier. He loved watching them all run around and trying to chase them. He ate and ate and ate! He even sat on Santa's lap for a few seconds! Long enough for one of his teachers to get a photo and she got a good one! Of course he was smiling at his favorite teacher, she got him to sit still and smile for a minute, he has good taste as she is young and pretty she's even a ballet dancer! He flirted with her all night!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
3 Years
Earlier this week Joshua turned 3. It was a bit bittersweet. He is growing older but in many ways he is still like an infant. He is making progress in all areas, slowly but surely but I fear every year he gets older will be a little bittersweet. He's no longer considered a baby, of course he will always be my baby but he still needs me as much as ever. I know I could sugar coat it but I'm not going to. I love him of course but it doesn't make it any easier when he has a birthday and still has so far to go. I wonder if the pain will ever go away, if I will ever feel better about where he is. I worry about the future, every day I worry about it. I try to take one day at a time but I still worry. I am so very proud of him, he has come so far and works so hard for each and every inchstone and milestone. Things the rest of us take for granted. So on this Thanksgiving I will do my best to be thankful that Joshua is healthy, so very healthy and is beating the odds right there. That he is walking! That he is making progress. I know it could be worse and I try to remember that every day. So as you eat your turkey or whatever you will be eating this Thanksgiving. Please be thankful. If you have children who are "typical" please be thankful for that.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Photos!!
I acknowledge that I am a bad blogger. I really prefer to read other blogs but I just started following a new blog and the author acknowledged me being a new follower of hers by saying that Joshua was gorgeous! I told her thank you more than once and decided that it was time to update with some new photos of my gorgeous son!!
Today we went to have photos taken since his going to be 3 next month! How the heck did that happen? So now that he's walking he just did that, walked everywhere, sometimes tried to run away from us and from the photographer especially. We hope she got some good ones, she did a good job he was just uncooperative. Had she had a video camera it would have been fine. :)
Not much news, his birthday party is in less than 2 weeks! We did decide to keep him at his current preschool because we love it so much. So for the rest of the school year that's where he will be. He is doing really well, not much new since my last post but he has been healthy. I realized again how lucky we are that he is so healthy, he has not had an ear infection or really any other kind of infection (that we know of) since his last birthday! Without further ado here are some photos from the last year.
These are totally out of order but I don't know how to fix it so I am not going to mess with it. The two beach photos are from May/June of this year, he loved the ocean this year and even put up with walking on the sand. The playground photos are from January/February of this year. The other photo is from our most recent vacation this month to Gatlinburg and was taken at the aquarium in the play area where we showed him how to pull the handle to see the light and then all he wanted to do was pull the handle.
If you are interested in seeing more I post all my photos to Facebook so look me up there.
Today we went to have photos taken since his going to be 3 next month! How the heck did that happen? So now that he's walking he just did that, walked everywhere, sometimes tried to run away from us and from the photographer especially. We hope she got some good ones, she did a good job he was just uncooperative. Had she had a video camera it would have been fine. :)
Not much news, his birthday party is in less than 2 weeks! We did decide to keep him at his current preschool because we love it so much. So for the rest of the school year that's where he will be. He is doing really well, not much new since my last post but he has been healthy. I realized again how lucky we are that he is so healthy, he has not had an ear infection or really any other kind of infection (that we know of) since his last birthday! Without further ado here are some photos from the last year.
These are totally out of order but I don't know how to fix it so I am not going to mess with it. The two beach photos are from May/June of this year, he loved the ocean this year and even put up with walking on the sand. The playground photos are from January/February of this year. The other photo is from our most recent vacation this month to Gatlinburg and was taken at the aquarium in the play area where we showed him how to pull the handle to see the light and then all he wanted to do was pull the handle.
If you are interested in seeing more I post all my photos to Facebook so look me up there.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Injustice
I can't stand injustice. I don't want to be a part of it and worse I can't stand to sit idly by while the person who should do something does nothing. Joshua has enough working against him, he fights enough battles, he shouldn't have to fight this one. When you stop doing something you've done for a long time why can't the other people step up and do it? Why do some people get everything handed to them on a silver platter while others have to fight tooth and nail for everything and sometimes still not get it? I know life isn't fair, but does it have to be this unfair, this unjust? I know I deserve better, I know Joshua does too but if I say anything to anyone then I'm the bad guy looking for trouble. I'm just supposed to sit idly by and do nothing and that is very difficult for me. It's down right depressing.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Joshua's Transition Meeting
Last Thursday we had Joshua's transition meeting. We brought him with us since his EI (early interventionist) had said that he would be in one room getting an evaluation while we were in another. Well it turned out they didn't evaluate him, she said later that now they are only doing that for children on the cusp, who may or may not qualify for services. So we were in this tiny little room with only a round table and chairs around it and Joshua hated it, I'm not sure how much I heard, I mostly had to deal with him and eventually went out into the waiting area to get him a toy which calmed him down.
Basically the meeting was about us signing papers and for us to ask any questions we had. They provided very little information when we did ask questions. The woman who ran the meeting is the psychologist who it looks like is in charge of special education for all of our school district. I went to a mom's night out on Saturday and met with some other moms who had children in special education in our school district and they too deal with this woman, most did not have good things to say about her it seems she is rather inflexible with her rules. I am not looking forward to having to deal with her and frankly why would I want to start now if I don't have to? She has a big fake plastic smile and was very fake with us, smiling her fake smile the whole time she talked to us. Saying things like well he would go to school 5 days a week (he goes 2 days a week now to the program he attends). Yeah, we know that already.
So we go to leave and have to make an appt. for a hearing & vision screening, supposed to be later on this week. We make the appt. and leave. Talking on the way home and thinking about it more, why do we have to do this when we're not sure we are even putting him in the program at 3 or later on in the school year and I find out from the EI if he doesn't go now or sometime during the year we will have to repeat the hearing & vision screening as it is only good for a year. So why am I doing it now when we haven't decided if he's going?
Why am I hesitating? Joshua goes to a wonderful preschool program right now that he can continue to go to until he turns 5 if we want. It is the only one in our area and through word of mouth has become full this year. I learned about it through our local organization for families with children with special needs (who sets up our mom's night out and other events) Family Connection. I was assigned a parent through their support group and she told me about it, turns out she lives just blocks away from the preschool. It is for children with and without special needs, so he goes to school with typical developing children as well as children with a range of disabilities. There is no formal IEP (Individualized Education Plan) which he would get before he got into the school district's program. Yet we do have an individualized plan with goals and it is much easier to change and it is followed. There is one head teacher and 2 other teachers plus an aide and at most there are 9 kids in the class. The teachers love their jobs and care about the children, you can tell, it is a wonderful loving environment. Joshua is happy there! Sure it took some time to get him adjusted but he loves going to school and being there! What more could I want?
The school district's program is strictly for children with special needs/disabilities. There are no peer role models (typically developing children) such as he has now at his school. He would have to have an IEP right away. There is only 1 teacher and 1 aide for each class, the class size is the same (although at his school there are rarely 9 kids in the class and he does get individual time). He would most likely get group therapy, not individual therapy like he gets at home and in clinics he goes to. He could still get outside therapy though but he would be going to preschool 5 half days a week (we would want mornings, he goes in the morning now and he naps in the afternoon). I take him an hour + each way to OT/cranial sacral therapy now on Monday mornings, not sure I could take him out of preschool to do that if I did he would only go 4 days a week. I have no idea what we would do with him in the summer. At his current school they are only out 2 weeks at a time, in the summer it is for only the last 2 weeks in July.
So I told the EI that before we set up any more evaluations (they want to do hearing & vision right away and a psych evaluation) I'd like to see a classroom. The psychologist said she couldn't just show us a classroom, she would need to see where he would fit and then she would show us that classroom but in order to do that she needs to know where he would fit so we have to do the hearing & vision eval and a psych eval. But if he doesn't end up going we have to do those evals all over again and possibly others (they want current OT, PT & speech evals from the past year) before he attends. We have the OT & speech, have to get the PT but we would have to get them all over again next year if he doesn't go this year and if we didn't have them they would do their own.
I want to see the environment because frankly they have a lot to live up to to be anywhere close to where he goes now. I can tell they are not going to make it easy for us to do this. The psychologist told the EI that we should call her ourselves, I do not think she will be any more flexible with us. You may think just do what they ask but you don't know Joshua very well. He will fight the hearing & vision screenings, we've done it before but not in the past year (it was early last summer). It will not be a pleasant experience for any of us and why do I want to put him through that when we may not even need to? I knew and I told my husband when we left the meeting that they would not make this easy for us. That we have to do things their way, just the way they said. We have to do all the evaluations and then we could see the classroom. If I didn't have a choice then I would probably do it all but I do have a choice so why do I need to change that right now?
Basically the meeting was about us signing papers and for us to ask any questions we had. They provided very little information when we did ask questions. The woman who ran the meeting is the psychologist who it looks like is in charge of special education for all of our school district. I went to a mom's night out on Saturday and met with some other moms who had children in special education in our school district and they too deal with this woman, most did not have good things to say about her it seems she is rather inflexible with her rules. I am not looking forward to having to deal with her and frankly why would I want to start now if I don't have to? She has a big fake plastic smile and was very fake with us, smiling her fake smile the whole time she talked to us. Saying things like well he would go to school 5 days a week (he goes 2 days a week now to the program he attends). Yeah, we know that already.
So we go to leave and have to make an appt. for a hearing & vision screening, supposed to be later on this week. We make the appt. and leave. Talking on the way home and thinking about it more, why do we have to do this when we're not sure we are even putting him in the program at 3 or later on in the school year and I find out from the EI if he doesn't go now or sometime during the year we will have to repeat the hearing & vision screening as it is only good for a year. So why am I doing it now when we haven't decided if he's going?
Why am I hesitating? Joshua goes to a wonderful preschool program right now that he can continue to go to until he turns 5 if we want. It is the only one in our area and through word of mouth has become full this year. I learned about it through our local organization for families with children with special needs (who sets up our mom's night out and other events) Family Connection. I was assigned a parent through their support group and she told me about it, turns out she lives just blocks away from the preschool. It is for children with and without special needs, so he goes to school with typical developing children as well as children with a range of disabilities. There is no formal IEP (Individualized Education Plan) which he would get before he got into the school district's program. Yet we do have an individualized plan with goals and it is much easier to change and it is followed. There is one head teacher and 2 other teachers plus an aide and at most there are 9 kids in the class. The teachers love their jobs and care about the children, you can tell, it is a wonderful loving environment. Joshua is happy there! Sure it took some time to get him adjusted but he loves going to school and being there! What more could I want?
The school district's program is strictly for children with special needs/disabilities. There are no peer role models (typically developing children) such as he has now at his school. He would have to have an IEP right away. There is only 1 teacher and 1 aide for each class, the class size is the same (although at his school there are rarely 9 kids in the class and he does get individual time). He would most likely get group therapy, not individual therapy like he gets at home and in clinics he goes to. He could still get outside therapy though but he would be going to preschool 5 half days a week (we would want mornings, he goes in the morning now and he naps in the afternoon). I take him an hour + each way to OT/cranial sacral therapy now on Monday mornings, not sure I could take him out of preschool to do that if I did he would only go 4 days a week. I have no idea what we would do with him in the summer. At his current school they are only out 2 weeks at a time, in the summer it is for only the last 2 weeks in July.
So I told the EI that before we set up any more evaluations (they want to do hearing & vision right away and a psych evaluation) I'd like to see a classroom. The psychologist said she couldn't just show us a classroom, she would need to see where he would fit and then she would show us that classroom but in order to do that she needs to know where he would fit so we have to do the hearing & vision eval and a psych eval. But if he doesn't end up going we have to do those evals all over again and possibly others (they want current OT, PT & speech evals from the past year) before he attends. We have the OT & speech, have to get the PT but we would have to get them all over again next year if he doesn't go this year and if we didn't have them they would do their own.
I want to see the environment because frankly they have a lot to live up to to be anywhere close to where he goes now. I can tell they are not going to make it easy for us to do this. The psychologist told the EI that we should call her ourselves, I do not think she will be any more flexible with us. You may think just do what they ask but you don't know Joshua very well. He will fight the hearing & vision screenings, we've done it before but not in the past year (it was early last summer). It will not be a pleasant experience for any of us and why do I want to put him through that when we may not even need to? I knew and I told my husband when we left the meeting that they would not make this easy for us. That we have to do things their way, just the way they said. We have to do all the evaluations and then we could see the classroom. If I didn't have a choice then I would probably do it all but I do have a choice so why do I need to change that right now?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Five Things You Should Know About a Special Needs Family
Five Things You Should Know About a Special Needs Family
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