Saturday, August 20, 2011

Avery School update

So as you all have read the first day of school for Avery couldn’t of went any better..it was after she got a little braver that things started to go sour fast!!! The next day I pick Avery up from school and ask how it went and the teacher just tells me that she will call me in a little bit…”Oh no what went wrong??  Is all Im thinking…” So after a little bit she calls me and tells me that today was a 100% different from the first day..she had a hard time staying on task…didn’t want to listen and just kind of wanted to do what she wanted to do…so she then tells me that she feels we need to have a team meeting with mostly everyone on Thursday morning to discuss what is best for Avery…
So I start thinking the worst and that they are going to put her in the DD (development delayed) classroom right away..and I’m thinking that they didn’t really give this a fair shot at all…You see when we met for our IEP meeting at the end of last year we were all going to try this (being in a regular classroom) on a short term basis like the first nine weeks or something..so I kind of feel like they have this other classroom just hanging over my head that at any second they can just pull the rug right out from under our feet and she will be in the other classroom..We are dealing with a school/teachers that aren't very familiar with having very many special needs children at all. You see by law she needs to be in a LRE (least restrictive environment as much as possible no matter what!!!  SO the next couple of days I was a huge stress case…
This is such a roller coaster ride….let me repeat that one more time…This is such a roller coaster ride!!!!!  WE go from having an awesome day and the next day you are right there at the bottom again!!!!  urghh!!!
So the next day it is the same as the other day..she is doing the same thing…Over the summer we all kind of wondered how we were going to get her to pay attention/stay on task for any long amount of time bc she has a hard time doing it in therapy…anyone have any suggestions PLEASE share with me what you all do!!!  There are certain things that she really knows and understands and just don’t want to to do it..like for instance…When it is time to go upstairs to take a nap..she knows what I am talking about and I tell her ot go upstairs and get in her bed… she says no..so then I go over there to take her hand and she INSTANTLY melts down to the ground so stinkin fast sometimes before you even have a chance to get her hand.
So I go to the team meeting not really knowing what to expect at this point bc they really haven't given me any clues as to what to think..They tell me all the positives that she is doing..like she only had that one accident the first day of school..ever since then she will sign potty and take off running to the bathroom..lol!! They have a bathroom in there classroom so that is easy..the teacher said u never know how she is going to come out of the bathroom though..she is one of them that like to take it all off when she goes to the bathroom and don’t know front from back yet so you can only imagine some daysWinking smile  but the teacher will watch her and help her switch it if she needs to…also she is really good about walking in the hallways in a line..which they said is something to be said about a little 4 yr old…they have lots of problems with other kids but not Avery..she does awesome..she doesn’t like to be in the front or the middle she likes to be at the back by her self..not holding the teachers hand!!! haha!!!   She loves lunch time.but then I knew she would she likes to eat..they don’t ever really have a problem with her staying on the carpet in the spot that she is supposed to be sitting in…she does well with that…she will lay down at nap time willing and quietly..she will take her shoes off and she takes her socks of too..one day she was playing puppets with her socks but the teacher didn’t mind she said bc she was quiet and didn’t move just her hands every now and again would pop over her covers..hehe!!!
Things though start to go down hill really fast in the afternoon..They think mainly bc she is so tired..which is true I think too..bc she has been coming home from school to take a two hour nap..There are many times the teacher knows that Avery knows what she is supposed to be doing but doesn’t want to to do it…( so I told her if she does that …put her in time out..she is testing her boundaries right now and she needs to be treated the same way…they call it a watching chair but it’s the same thing as time out…maybe not as long as you would the other kids but enough for her to know that she has to listen to the teacher and its not a game!!) The teacher kind of explained it like we kind of threw her right into the deep end with out a life line…which is true..she went from not used to leaving me at all for any amount of time to..going to school for all day everyday!!  They have a lot of center time in the afternoon and right now  I think it is too much for Avery..she has no idea what's going on and we all feel like it overwhelms her too much..When we met last year for her IEP meeting I originally had only wanted Avery to go to the half day k4…not the whole day k4..I thought it would be too much for her..but we thought since she was getting pulled out for all of her therapies and resource that it would be better for her to go all day..and  the spots fill of very quickly for all day so we thought we better put her in all day first then pull her out if she needed to later..So the teacher suggested that we leave her with the same teacher and same class that she is used to but have her dismiss at 10:45am when the other k4 class leaves. Then we can eventually maybe add more time to it..so maybe by the end of the year she will be back up to being at school all day.. The resource teacher would be with Avery from 730-800 every morning.. and she will still be pulled out for her therapy…so I said that we would try this and see if it would work better….
So we started it right away on Friday and the teacher said that it went really good in the morning…so we will see next week how she does!! 
She woke up this morning bright and early and came into my room with her clothes on and even her socks…she had a skirt on..a had a good laugh..she was ready to go to school!!!!  But I told her to go back to bed and she kind of looked at me funny….but went back to her bed for awhile…hehe!!!!
Ill let you know next week how this new arrangement is going!!!  I think this will be best for Avery right now..She LOVES school and is catching on so quickly with so many things..She never ceases to amaze me!!!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

You have a lot to be proud of... Avery is amazing!

Glad to hear the half days went well and hope they continue to! Its good she loves to go to school too!!