Back to school

I survived the summer!  It was a serious question whether I would. ;-)  Back to school encompasses a different set of challenges and we will be busy the next few weeks settling into our new schedule. 

This year Liam will be going to TWO different preschools.  In the afternoons, he will go to the public special education preschool where he went last year.  The program is 5 days a week, for 2 hours a day.  In order to accomodate his crazy therapy schedule, he will miss class one afternoon a week so we can drive downtown for his private OT and speech therapies.  He started the special education preschool this week, and was so excited to be back.

Today is his 2nd day back and so far, so good.  I am adjusting to the new bus schedule as he gets picked up right when Ben goes down for a nap.  Liam is adjusting as well as his class this year is a totally new set of friends.  In addition, his teacher had surgery so he is starting off the year with a long-term substitute.  On top of that, the school's SLP retired, so he has a new speech teacher at school.

Today we met with his morning preschool which is at a local church.  This preschool will meet 3 mornings a week for 2 hours and 45 minutes.  The class will be quite larger than anything he has ever been in before.  When he attended Mother's Day Out in Alabama, his class was never larger than 6-8.  His special education class has always been 6 or fewer children.  This new preschool will be 15 kids and only 2 teachers.  The meeting today was with the director, the teacher, teacher's aide, Liam's BCBA (ABA program manager), Liam's ABA tutor, me, Dave, and the boys.  The plan is to have his ABA tutor there the whole time class is going on, unless she is sick.  She will manage any meltdowns and will help Liam navigate any social situations.  This school has a Montessori feel to it.  The classroom will have various stations and the play/work is child-initiated.  I think this set up will be perfect for my stubborn strong willed preschooler.

In addition to two preschools, Liam will be returning to his Tumbling class, have individual ABA, private speech and OT, and hopefully have time left over to just be a 4 year old.

Ben is not in school, but will also have a school based schedule.  Starting in September, Ben will be doing a social skills group that is sponsored by Early Intervention and held at the center where Liam does therapy.  The class will have 4 parts: tumbling (gross motor), creative movement (music), circle time (social skills), and snack (feeding/social skills).  Half of the class will be receiving services from Early Intervention and have some sort of delay and half the class will be typical developing toddlers.  I know Ben will love the tumbling and creative movement portions as it will be the same stuff Liam does during his class (which Ben imitates).  I know Ben will struggle in the circle time as I have not been able to get him to sit in any type of group circle, much less participate.  The instructors will be prepared for that though, so I am not too worried....I just know it will be challenging for him.

In addition, Ben will continue his OT through Early Intervention.  I talked with his therapist today and sometime in October, we will start discussing a transition plan.  Ben will either graduate from Early Intervention or transition to the school district as Liam did at age 3.  If he transitions to the school district, he might have a teacher work with him at the house, much like Early Intervention now or he could qualify for special education preschool like Liam.  They do not evaluate until 2 years 10 months, so we won't know placement until next year. 

I spoke with the developmental pediatrician's office and it was decided that Ben needs to be seen and it sounds like he will get in before the end of the calendar year.  Lately, Ben has been toe walking more and he seems to be shutting down a lot more.  He has recently become afraid of baths and just sits in the tub, staring down, scratching his legs until they bleed, and screaming if we present him with any toys.  When he isn't shut down due to overstimulation, he is delightful.  His tantrums are decreasing and he has started using deep breathing to control his emotions.  He is trying to communicate more every day.  He is not at all interested in children, but seeks out Liam to play with at every opportunity.  I have alot of anxiety and fears over his development.  We only recently began to see his sweet smiles and I want to make sure they don't disappear again.