At approximately 8:13, a miracle occurred. The school bus came - early! - to pick up Sayer for his first day of school. He had his back pack at the ready with his new Dark Knight lunch box (yes, he chose it; no, he hasn't seen the movie.)After a disastrous open house, the details of which I'll spare all, Sayer is ready and excited to be going back at school. Sadly, he keeps asking for "Miss W", a para-professional (teaching assistant) that I know won't be in his room this year. I didn't know he felt so strongly about her until he started asking for her as school approached. Oh wait - kids with autism don't form bonds - NOT!!
Out in the blogosphere, school has already started for kids in other parts of the country. Read about how blogger Brilliant Spectrum Child is dealing with the dreaded Picture Day. Barb over at Awalkabout's weblog is struggling to find social opportunities for her "Apsie" son who just started middle school - she could use some ideas. And the bloggers at Mid-Century Modern Moms have a number of back-to-school posts, including those on getting "typical" high school and college students going on their school year.
So, how are you spending the first day of school (which is actually tomorrow for some)? Are you doing the happy dance? Me, I'm taking care of a bit of business and then watching my TiVo episode of either Swingtown or Mad Men or - gasp - both!!!
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8 comments:
Hi, My son is in high school so it starts early..........bus is scheduled for 6:55 am. pick-up. We have a tradition of past few years where for the very first day of school, we get up when ready, eat breakfast taking our time. and show up when all is set to go. No rushing, no stress. A mom induced late start. His teacher does not mind a bit.
And to answer your question, when I get both kids out of the house tomorrow, our first day, I will breathe.............Pam
Life is so far, pretty (knock on wood) good. Brian was excited to go to school today (his second day). What's up with that? I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Katie
P.S.Other boys were happy to go to school...
We've had a chaotic back-to-school week ourselves, it's good to read about yours too.
My son's madly in love with one of his teachers and his special-needs assistant: I've begged them both to never go! Last year one was on sick leave for a few weeks and I thought I'd never survive the constant questions about her.
Well, here's to a great school year...
Luckily, Sayer gets to see his beloved "Mis W" twice a day as she greets the bus and helps board the bus for the class she is working in now. I told her that Sayer missed her and I think it really tickled her.
Carol...Brian loves "Ms W", too (he gets to see her when they go to your school and drop off kids...he won't look at her, though (that's how he deals with it, if he can't see her, then she isn't there).
Katie
My son's counselor is, so far, much better than the last one, and has proposed meeting with him weekly just to see how things are going. He's started with good intentions and good results so far, but we'll see how long it lasts. But the idea of a weekly "check-in" fills me with hope more than any other step we've taken so far. The meds are also helping a lot; thank heavens he finally agreed to that. Somebody once analogized parenting to "pushing wet spaghetti along a counter." And that was in reference to a kid without any developmental issues. Still, it's a good image....
Sylvie,
Sometimes, success for our kids really is boosted by having a caring caring individual within schools and other institutions.
I hope your son has a great year.
What made him decide to try medication?
It was at the very end of last year. He was having an upsurge of tics and started back up on medications he used to take for that, but it wasn't working as well as it did a couple of years ago, and it just didn't agree with him.
I think, though, that that experience opened up to him the possibility of finding a medication that would help him "focus" -- setting aside the tics for the moment. (I still cannot use the letters "ADD" in front of him -- he feels it stigmatizes him, so we just call them "focus" tablets). He immediately noticed a difference but it was literally the last two weeks of school.
This summer he took the meds on the days he wanted to do schoolwork to prepare for Fall, and he was emphatic about how much they helped him. So he began the year off with them, and so far, all is going well. He still has pronounced facial tics, but those wax and wane of their own accord, and on balance, unless the tics get a lot worse, treating the ADD is much better for him.
Meds are only part of it though; he feels his teachers are more organized this year, he is responding well to the weekly meetings with the counselor, and he's motivated to do well (after one a half weeks, that's actually pretty good.. usually the motivation has gone by day 5). So we're hopeful....
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