So next week marks the last week for my son at his current school.
Monday his new resource teacher spent the day with him at his current school. He started out having a rough morning, which I was kinda glad to hear. Sounds horrible eh? But I more so wanted her to see him in action. To see what his melt downs and anxiety looks like. To see what she was in for. All in all I heard really good things from both his current resource teacher, his new resource teacher and from him.
Tuesday my son and I met his current resource teacher at his new school. We popped into the office, said hello to the secretary and principal again, and then went on a little tour of the school. He seemed to be right in his element. Happy, go lucky - taking everything in. We toured the classroom's and we popped in to say hi to the kids we already knew. He took a peek around the library, drank in his surroundings and is excited to check out his first Star Wars book! He ran a few laps around the gym and showed off his *speed*! LOL
We ended by checking out his new classroom and scooping out some of his new classmates. I think it will be easier for him knowing one of my daycare kids will be in his class. His new teacher seems nice. Asked alot of questions, which is great. I'm also wayyy beyond grateful that his current resource teacher is keeping the lines of communication with the new school team open with herself.
It's such a beautiful thing to watch my son and his current resource teacher in action. You can see the bond they share. She is amazing with him and know's him so well. He is beyond comfortable with her and responds so well to her. I'm really going to miss having her interacting with him on a daily basis.
All in all he seems to be right in his element in his new school. He can't wait to get there and as sad as I am to be loosing his current support staff, I'm thrilled to know that he is moving into a community with a great team as well. A place where he feels comfortable.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Tips for Parents
I am on a page on facebook called Asperger's Syndrome awareness worldwide and came across this info. It is far too good not to share!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aspergers-Syndrome-awareness-worldwide/197331763678219
When your child has autism:
Tips for parents
Learn about autism. The more you know about autism spectrum disorders, the better equipped you’ll be to make informed decisions for your child. Educate yourself about the treatment options, ask questions, and participate in all treatment decisions.
Become an expert on your child. Figure out what triggers your kid’s “bad” or disruptive behaviors and what elicits a positive response. What does your autistic child find stressful? Calming? Uncomfortable? Enjoyable? If you understand what affects your child, you’ll be better at troubleshooting problems and preventing situations that cause difficulties.
Accept your child, quirks and all. Rather than focusing on how your autistic child is different from other children and what he or she is “missing,” practice acceptance. Enjoy your kid’s special quirks, celebrate small successes, and stop comparing your child to others. Feeling unconditionally loved and accepted will help your child more than anything else.
Don’t give up. It’s impossible to predict the course of an autism spectrum disorder. Don’t jump to conclusions about what life is going to be like for your child. Like everyone else, people with autism have an entire lifetime to grow and develop their abilities.
Another great tid bit:
The Difference Between Classic Autism and Mild Autism
The difference between classic autism and mild autism is that those with a milder form usually have normal language and intellectual development. Some even have above average language and intellect.
The other difference is that people with classic autism refrain from engaging in social situations, but mildly autistic people will seek social activities and want make friends with others. The challenge is that they just may not know how to do it.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aspergers-Syndrome-awareness-worldwide/197331763678219
When your child has autism:
Tips for parents
Learn about autism. The more you know about autism spectrum disorders, the better equipped you’ll be to make informed decisions for your child. Educate yourself about the treatment options, ask questions, and participate in all treatment decisions.
Become an expert on your child. Figure out what triggers your kid’s “bad” or disruptive behaviors and what elicits a positive response. What does your autistic child find stressful? Calming? Uncomfortable? Enjoyable? If you understand what affects your child, you’ll be better at troubleshooting problems and preventing situations that cause difficulties.
Accept your child, quirks and all. Rather than focusing on how your autistic child is different from other children and what he or she is “missing,” practice acceptance. Enjoy your kid’s special quirks, celebrate small successes, and stop comparing your child to others. Feeling unconditionally loved and accepted will help your child more than anything else.
Don’t give up. It’s impossible to predict the course of an autism spectrum disorder. Don’t jump to conclusions about what life is going to be like for your child. Like everyone else, people with autism have an entire lifetime to grow and develop their abilities.
Another great tid bit:
The Difference Between Classic Autism and Mild Autism
The difference between classic autism and mild autism is that those with a milder form usually have normal language and intellectual development. Some even have above average language and intellect.
The other difference is that people with classic autism refrain from engaging in social situations, but mildly autistic people will seek social activities and want make friends with others. The challenge is that they just may not know how to do it.
Monday, 18 February 2013
Kerry's Place - finally seeing some light
So, last Thursday we had our appointement at Kerry's Place. For those of you that aren't familiar, Kerry's place is a autism center that provides ABA, resources and many other outlets for children and families of ASD children.
http://www.kerrysplace.org/Public/Home.aspx
For me, it was just so awesome to sit down and chat with someone who gets it. Someone who also has a child on the spectrum. Someone who knew how to interact with my son, and how to be able get the info needed in a manner my son could totally relate to.
After conversation with our son and us it was recognized that he could benefit with more social skills classes. Of course, there is a huge waiting list at the moment but it's refreshing to know he is now on the list and to also hear of other children who are involved with Kerry's place that are exactally the same as our son. Kids my son can relate to.
So, again we are left waiting until there is room for him in the class but I'm feeling so much more positive we are headed in the right direction.
Now, we had a public health nurse in the following morning to observe my daughter. I'm pleased to say that went well. We almost seemed relieved as well to hear/see that she seems to be right on target with her milestones and abilities. It was recognized that she struggles somewhat with cutting and her fine motor skills do seem to be lacking. The end result is that we are being referred to Kidsability ( http://www.kidsability.ca/) where a OT will work with her on her fine motor and we are hoping she will also observe her for any sensory concern's that have been addressed.
It feels good to be getting things in motion. Now we just need to cross our fingers that it all happens sooner rather then later.
http://www.kerrysplace.org/Public/Home.aspx
For me, it was just so awesome to sit down and chat with someone who gets it. Someone who also has a child on the spectrum. Someone who knew how to interact with my son, and how to be able get the info needed in a manner my son could totally relate to.
After conversation with our son and us it was recognized that he could benefit with more social skills classes. Of course, there is a huge waiting list at the moment but it's refreshing to know he is now on the list and to also hear of other children who are involved with Kerry's place that are exactally the same as our son. Kids my son can relate to.
So, again we are left waiting until there is room for him in the class but I'm feeling so much more positive we are headed in the right direction.
Now, we had a public health nurse in the following morning to observe my daughter. I'm pleased to say that went well. We almost seemed relieved as well to hear/see that she seems to be right on target with her milestones and abilities. It was recognized that she struggles somewhat with cutting and her fine motor skills do seem to be lacking. The end result is that we are being referred to Kidsability ( http://www.kidsability.ca/) where a OT will work with her on her fine motor and we are hoping she will also observe her for any sensory concern's that have been addressed.
It feels good to be getting things in motion. Now we just need to cross our fingers that it all happens sooner rather then later.
Friday, 15 February 2013
Education is key!!!
I just came across this and had to share! There is no better way to learn, then to ask!
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Writing up Valentine's - what a task!
So, being the last minute mom I am sometimes I of course had my son sit down last night to write up his Valentine's to his classmates. Knowing that there were 20 some odd to do, I really should have known better then to think this would be a easy task.
It started out with him getting worked up because he couldn't tear them apart. So, I took one off and showed him then how to fold them, peel the heart off the sticker sheet and use it to seal up the Valentine's. That of course spiraled because he couldn't fold the cards, couldn't get the stickers off etc etc.
So we made the deal that I would tear them, fold them, take the sticker off and seal them. All is good. While making dinner I hear the familiar signs of frustration coming from him.
What's wrong? I ask him.
I don't have a pen.
Ok, get one.
Problem solved? No.
Now, we didn't have a hard spot to write on. I sent him off to the diningroom table.
Think i'm now good to continue on with dinner, I of course should have known.
He had started his first Valentine, only have written the receipiant in the From portion, and his name in the to section. As we all know, because it's not perfect it was the start of a melt down.
I quickly agreed to write his Valentine's to his class, while he agreed to write the one's for his teachers. I let him know (again) that it's ok to make mistakes and I'm sure the recepiant wouldn't even notice.
As he is writing his Valentine's, his 3 year old sister is running around with the Valentine's heart's trying to place them on every surface of her and the home. Of course, this leads to more frustration. This means there might not be enough hearts, and of course again - they won't be perfect!
An hour and half later - 25 Valentine's were written and ready to head to school today.
Mom - while once the kids were tucked away in bed, enjoy'd a nice quiet glass of wine! ;)
It started out with him getting worked up because he couldn't tear them apart. So, I took one off and showed him then how to fold them, peel the heart off the sticker sheet and use it to seal up the Valentine's. That of course spiraled because he couldn't fold the cards, couldn't get the stickers off etc etc.
So we made the deal that I would tear them, fold them, take the sticker off and seal them. All is good. While making dinner I hear the familiar signs of frustration coming from him.
What's wrong? I ask him.
I don't have a pen.
Ok, get one.
Problem solved? No.
Now, we didn't have a hard spot to write on. I sent him off to the diningroom table.
Think i'm now good to continue on with dinner, I of course should have known.
He had started his first Valentine, only have written the receipiant in the From portion, and his name in the to section. As we all know, because it's not perfect it was the start of a melt down.
I quickly agreed to write his Valentine's to his class, while he agreed to write the one's for his teachers. I let him know (again) that it's ok to make mistakes and I'm sure the recepiant wouldn't even notice.
As he is writing his Valentine's, his 3 year old sister is running around with the Valentine's heart's trying to place them on every surface of her and the home. Of course, this leads to more frustration. This means there might not be enough hearts, and of course again - they won't be perfect!
An hour and half later - 25 Valentine's were written and ready to head to school today.
Mom - while once the kids were tucked away in bed, enjoy'd a nice quiet glass of wine! ;)
Monday, 11 February 2013
Here we go again.....
So, I'm not going to lie. Going through this process with one child is tough. It's taxing, and some day's can be both emotionally and physcially draining.
Now, imagine if you were doing it X 2.
Yup, you read that correctly. Now, we are facing the potential of having two children who fall under the autism spectrum.
We've noticed the odd quirk about our 3 year old daughter, but never really knew if it was my daughter feeding off my son, mimicking him or if it was just her natural reaction. We've noticed her covering her ears when she is startled, not liking tags from the clothing that are located on the side and more recently walking on her tip toes. She is also currently in a pre school program, and her teacher's had mentioned to us that her fine motor skills appear to be behind the other children in the program. The red flag for me was when the teacher added on the sentence, it wouldn't concern us if she wasn't so smart.
I can almost recall those same words being said about my son when he was younger.
So while in the midst of having one child diagnosed, I started asking questions and making phone calls. There didn't really seem to be a fine line saying yes persue this, or no - see what happens. Alot of it just boiled down to her being so young still.
One of the questions during my son's assessment was if he had any siblings on the spectrum. Having just had the conversation about my daughter the week before, we answered honestly. We didn't know. We proceeded to fill in the psychologist (who also has a background in autism) as to the signs we were seeing and made aware of.
At the same time I received the phone call about considering our son switch schools, my son's resource teacher also had said that they discussed Shelby during the team meeting and we were strongly urged to consider having her tested given my son's diagnoses.
At the peditrician's appointment my son had last week I also mentioned my daughter and some of the concern's. She quickly added my daughter as her patient and made a referal for us to talk with Trellis. Trellis called last Thursday and I spent a good chunk of time that morning, recounting her infant years and answering questions. The end result, there is someone who will be coming out to observe her on Friday morning and see if this needs to be taken further.
Meeting at the autism center with my son Thursday, and having a professional observing my daughter Friday morning.
Wish us luck, this is shaping up to be quite the week!
Now, imagine if you were doing it X 2.
Yup, you read that correctly. Now, we are facing the potential of having two children who fall under the autism spectrum.
We've noticed the odd quirk about our 3 year old daughter, but never really knew if it was my daughter feeding off my son, mimicking him or if it was just her natural reaction. We've noticed her covering her ears when she is startled, not liking tags from the clothing that are located on the side and more recently walking on her tip toes. She is also currently in a pre school program, and her teacher's had mentioned to us that her fine motor skills appear to be behind the other children in the program. The red flag for me was when the teacher added on the sentence, it wouldn't concern us if she wasn't so smart.
I can almost recall those same words being said about my son when he was younger.
So while in the midst of having one child diagnosed, I started asking questions and making phone calls. There didn't really seem to be a fine line saying yes persue this, or no - see what happens. Alot of it just boiled down to her being so young still.
One of the questions during my son's assessment was if he had any siblings on the spectrum. Having just had the conversation about my daughter the week before, we answered honestly. We didn't know. We proceeded to fill in the psychologist (who also has a background in autism) as to the signs we were seeing and made aware of.
At the same time I received the phone call about considering our son switch schools, my son's resource teacher also had said that they discussed Shelby during the team meeting and we were strongly urged to consider having her tested given my son's diagnoses.
At the peditrician's appointment my son had last week I also mentioned my daughter and some of the concern's. She quickly added my daughter as her patient and made a referal for us to talk with Trellis. Trellis called last Thursday and I spent a good chunk of time that morning, recounting her infant years and answering questions. The end result, there is someone who will be coming out to observe her on Friday morning and see if this needs to be taken further.
Meeting at the autism center with my son Thursday, and having a professional observing my daughter Friday morning.
Wish us luck, this is shaping up to be quite the week!
Monday, 4 February 2013
A hard decision and a big change.
So as we all know the story never just ends there.....
I knew the psych team, as well as my son's support staff and teacher were meeting a week ago Thursday to discuss the diagnoses and figure what where to go from there. The prospect of switching him from the FI (French Immersion) program into a single language program. My husband and I decided at the time to leave him in the program as we hadn't had a diagnoses and weren't sure it was the right thing to do.
So, the day they meet I get a text from his resource teacher letting me know they just had the meeting and asking if I had a min to talk. I knew that was not good. She called within a few mins and explained that it was strongly recommended we switch my son from the FI program into the English one again. Although he know's french, can speak it, write it, absorb it etc etc he simply won't communicate in the language. If he is asked a question in french he would always answer in English.
My husband and I spent alot of time discussing and weighing our pro's and con's. Now, not only do we have our son to decide on, but we also have our daughter starting school in September as well. We had to consider if it was fair to remove the opportunity from her so that we didn't have two kids in two different schools, or if it was more beneficial to keep her in the same school as her brother.
In the end and after consulting my son, we decided to take make the change. The email I sent to his resource teacher asking her to prepare the transistion package were some of the hardest words I ever typed. My son wanted to go the *English* school. He is excited about the prospect of going to school with my daycare kids and doing work in one language. Knowing it wasn't about me and what I wanted for him, but what is best for him the decision was clear.
My heart is so sad. He has such a strong support system behind him that we've grown so very close to that it's hard to know we are leaving them all behind. Alas, again - it's not about me!
So, the week after March break - he will settle into his new school and today I register my daughter for JK at the same school.
Now, after all of this you would think things would calm down. Wrong..........
I knew the psych team, as well as my son's support staff and teacher were meeting a week ago Thursday to discuss the diagnoses and figure what where to go from there. The prospect of switching him from the FI (French Immersion) program into a single language program. My husband and I decided at the time to leave him in the program as we hadn't had a diagnoses and weren't sure it was the right thing to do.
So, the day they meet I get a text from his resource teacher letting me know they just had the meeting and asking if I had a min to talk. I knew that was not good. She called within a few mins and explained that it was strongly recommended we switch my son from the FI program into the English one again. Although he know's french, can speak it, write it, absorb it etc etc he simply won't communicate in the language. If he is asked a question in french he would always answer in English.
My husband and I spent alot of time discussing and weighing our pro's and con's. Now, not only do we have our son to decide on, but we also have our daughter starting school in September as well. We had to consider if it was fair to remove the opportunity from her so that we didn't have two kids in two different schools, or if it was more beneficial to keep her in the same school as her brother.
In the end and after consulting my son, we decided to take make the change. The email I sent to his resource teacher asking her to prepare the transistion package were some of the hardest words I ever typed. My son wanted to go the *English* school. He is excited about the prospect of going to school with my daycare kids and doing work in one language. Knowing it wasn't about me and what I wanted for him, but what is best for him the decision was clear.
My heart is so sad. He has such a strong support system behind him that we've grown so very close to that it's hard to know we are leaving them all behind. Alas, again - it's not about me!
So, the week after March break - he will settle into his new school and today I register my daughter for JK at the same school.
Now, after all of this you would think things would calm down. Wrong..........
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Time to catch up
Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated as to what's been happening with our progress. Let me get you up to speed as I have a feeling I will be keeping up with those blog a little more now!
So, the summer came and went. My son seem to do well. He enjoy'd the freedom of the lazy days and being able to spend his days playing with my daycare kids. September came and he started at his new school. Due to a boundary review with the French Immersion program in our area he was sent to a newly built school.
His new resource teacher was his teacher from last year at his old school, and his classroom teacher was also a teacher from his old school. Things seem to be going well, until I got a phone call from his resource teacher informing me that his behaviour has progressed and not in a good way.
The meltdown's were becoming more frequent and the intensity had become worse. I made arrangements with his teacher to go in and see what it was they were seeing. Me, being as ignorant as I was figured all would be well since I was there and there would be no issues.
Boy, was I wrong. He was asked to do some work he didn't want to do with his English teacher (the VP of the school) and it was a downward spiral from there. I removed him from the classroom, and took what seemed to be an enternity before I was able to bring him back. Only to have him go off again because his friend was further in his work then my son was with his. His classroom teacher returned and they then got into an activity that my son was interested in doing, and along with me doing some of the writing for him all seemed to be well.
This lead to a big push. Seeing this behaviour, I contacted our family doctor as I knew there was something more we had to do for his anxiety.
Our date for the Cadet testing had been pushed back because there school psychologist serving my son's school.
We saw our family doctor who referred us over to a peditrician. We saw the peditrician, gave her a copy of the previous reports and then had her refer us over to Trellis. Trellis called us and advised us to go to a walk in clinic since we weren't looking for a diagnoses, so much so as resources to help our son cope.
We did the walk in, however by the time we worked everything out with them we were just days from the diagnoses meeting.
While all this was going on, things were on a downward spiral. My son had finally been able to make some friendships, however he made one friend and clung to him. My son was totally dependant on on. Wanting to sit beside him, stand in line beside him, play with him during breaks and counted on him help when he was having a hard time. This new friend, although still a friend asked to be moved from sitting beside my son because it was becoming too much. My son and I had a talk and were able to get through it.
His anxiety was increasing. I firmly believe it was a combo of things. (New school, new teacher, new routine, switch in french/english teaching ratio, our (my husband and I) impending trip to Cuba (where the kids weren't coming), and his friend's moving to France. Poor little guy had a lot on his plate. His resource teacher managed to get him second in line for Cadet testing and we finally got a date in Jan.
So the quick version is, a few weeks ago my husband and I went in and met with the Cadet team. Answered alot of questions about him and about us. One of the Cadet members was observing my son in his classroom while were answering the questions. Once we were finished the team spent a few hours with my son doing some testing and observations. We met again at 2:30 the following day. Reviewed the information and without delaying it any further, my son was diagnosed with ASD. Autism Spectrum. They stated he didn't meet enough of the criteria to be considered Aspergers, but was for sure on the spectrum.
So now, here we sit. We were given a package with a bunch of local resources and now await a meeting with our local autism center in Feb to see where we go from here.
So, the summer came and went. My son seem to do well. He enjoy'd the freedom of the lazy days and being able to spend his days playing with my daycare kids. September came and he started at his new school. Due to a boundary review with the French Immersion program in our area he was sent to a newly built school.
His new resource teacher was his teacher from last year at his old school, and his classroom teacher was also a teacher from his old school. Things seem to be going well, until I got a phone call from his resource teacher informing me that his behaviour has progressed and not in a good way.
The meltdown's were becoming more frequent and the intensity had become worse. I made arrangements with his teacher to go in and see what it was they were seeing. Me, being as ignorant as I was figured all would be well since I was there and there would be no issues.
Boy, was I wrong. He was asked to do some work he didn't want to do with his English teacher (the VP of the school) and it was a downward spiral from there. I removed him from the classroom, and took what seemed to be an enternity before I was able to bring him back. Only to have him go off again because his friend was further in his work then my son was with his. His classroom teacher returned and they then got into an activity that my son was interested in doing, and along with me doing some of the writing for him all seemed to be well.
This lead to a big push. Seeing this behaviour, I contacted our family doctor as I knew there was something more we had to do for his anxiety.
Our date for the Cadet testing had been pushed back because there school psychologist serving my son's school.
We saw our family doctor who referred us over to a peditrician. We saw the peditrician, gave her a copy of the previous reports and then had her refer us over to Trellis. Trellis called us and advised us to go to a walk in clinic since we weren't looking for a diagnoses, so much so as resources to help our son cope.
We did the walk in, however by the time we worked everything out with them we were just days from the diagnoses meeting.
While all this was going on, things were on a downward spiral. My son had finally been able to make some friendships, however he made one friend and clung to him. My son was totally dependant on on. Wanting to sit beside him, stand in line beside him, play with him during breaks and counted on him help when he was having a hard time. This new friend, although still a friend asked to be moved from sitting beside my son because it was becoming too much. My son and I had a talk and were able to get through it.
His anxiety was increasing. I firmly believe it was a combo of things. (New school, new teacher, new routine, switch in french/english teaching ratio, our (my husband and I) impending trip to Cuba (where the kids weren't coming), and his friend's moving to France. Poor little guy had a lot on his plate. His resource teacher managed to get him second in line for Cadet testing and we finally got a date in Jan.
So the quick version is, a few weeks ago my husband and I went in and met with the Cadet team. Answered alot of questions about him and about us. One of the Cadet members was observing my son in his classroom while were answering the questions. Once we were finished the team spent a few hours with my son doing some testing and observations. We met again at 2:30 the following day. Reviewed the information and without delaying it any further, my son was diagnosed with ASD. Autism Spectrum. They stated he didn't meet enough of the criteria to be considered Aspergers, but was for sure on the spectrum.
So now, here we sit. We were given a package with a bunch of local resources and now await a meeting with our local autism center in Feb to see where we go from here.
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