Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Her Name Is Penny

Meet the teacher went great. I know My daughter is going to have a wonderful year. How do I know? Because she was so excited about a friend. For weeks leading up to school she was nervous because this year we decided to hold her back, so she wouldn't be following her class of kids that she grew to love last year. We decided to do this because my daughter has a summer birthday, and we wanted to give her more opportunities to bloom by being the oldest in her class.

On the way to Meet the Teacher. I told her that I was sure she would find a friend. I knew God would have the perfect little friend for her there. My daughter was very hesitant. But she walked in, met her teachers, and started looking around.

The next thing I knew, a little girl ran up to her. She said, "Hi! My name is Penny. That is P-E-N-N-Y. " My daughter  just looked at her. The little girl went on, "I like bunnies. Can I play with you?" My daughter still stared. The little girl went on, "I want my bunny to go in the cage. Look he fits."

Then the greatest thing happened. My daughter said," My puppy fits too." And my shy little one Who is hesitant to engage with others started playing. I wanted to cry and shout for joy all at the same time.

Coming home all my daughter talked about her new friend Penny. I was so worried about this year, but I fear no more. She found a friend. Thanks Penny!

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Left

It has been two weeks into school ( 10 days), and I honestly am dreading this year. The year started out awesome. For the first time ever, my son walked through the doors like a boss. No meltdown! pure confidence. He looked back and blew me a kiss to tell me , "I got this, mom."

Then 5 days into school (two Fridays ago) something changed when he came home. He was upset and scared. I asked him about his day. He told me that he had to go #2 today. It took him extra long in the bathroom because the toilet paper is so thin. Then, he had to figure out the button and zipper on his pants, and wash his hands. He said when he was done, his class was gone. He went back to the classroom. No one was there. He started walking the halls looking for everyone when a hall monitor found him and took him to the office. His teacher was paged and she came to take him to his class which was in PE. By the time he got there, his class was finishing the mile and the coach told him to just run one lap.  He was sad that his class left him, sad that he got in trouble for taking too long, and sad that he missed his favorite class PE.

I told him that I was so proud of him for wiping all by himself. He hates to wipe. He has a huge problem with textures of toilet paper and I am sure the school's thin paper drove him crazy. I also told him that I would talk to his teacher about what happened so he wouldn't get left again.

Monday rolled around and I sent the teacher an email. It had a brief history of my child. I told her that due to his fine motor skills, he may take longer than other children in the bathroom and putting on clothing. I suggested that she let him go first so the class wouldn't wait on him.

She replied and called the whole situation misfortunate and said she would do her best to accommodate his needs.

That day my son came home from school upset again. He told me that he was once again left (however this time with two other students) when changing for PE. His teacher told him he was taking too long and needed to go faster, She couldn't let the whole class be late, so they left and told the other kids to catch up when they were done.

My son told me that he was trying his hardest to go super fast but he wasn't fast enough. He was upset that he was late for PE again. He said that this year is just super hard.

My heart broke. Last year we didn't have these problems. He had an aide in his class that helped him and another little boy. His IEP is up for review this month so I started making calls to the doctor and private therapy place to get my papers lined up to make his days this year better.

Then this last Friday, I get a phone call. The nurse told me that my son walked into the door pole (the one that is in-between the two opening doors) when in line with his class coming in from recess. She was checking him for a concussion and he had a deep gash across his face (not requiring stitches).

I was extremely upset. I still am. I don't know what I am going to do to make this year easier on him. All I know is that I need to figure something out.