A Very Special Playdate!

We had an amazing opportunity this week to have a playdate with another child with SM who also goes to the Smart Center.  It was such a neat experience to see how the two of them interacted with each other.  It was also soooo wonderful to talk with another mom who understood what we were going through and understood how playdates work best with an SM child.  I had talked to Thomas about them visiting ahead of time and he knew that she also went to Dr. E and had trouble using her words sometimes.  A strategy we have learned is that having a planned activity can help with their anxiety and it also gives good opportunities for hand over/take over and choice questions, so we had them make cupcakes together.  The little girl also brought over some of her trains, so they had something to discuss.  Thomas wanted to come to the door to greet them when they arrived, which he never wants to do .  Both of them did great with choice questions and I was really impressed with how willing Thomas was to talk about many different things.  When they left he waved and said bye and said “Thanks for coming.”  He said he wanted to have another playdate with her.   What a wonderful experience for all of us.

Egg hunts and Easter party

We had a really great few days leading up to Easter.  Usually Thomas does not enjoy doing things that involve a large amount of children and especially does not enjoy this when it is mixed with movement, but egg hunts are one of those special activities that involves all of this, but is also for the most part a solo event.  They don't involve talking and no direct attention is falling on them.  Thomas's school had an egg hunt on Monday, where parents come and watch the egg hunt and take pictures.  I was a little nervous for him, as it was one of those potentially overwhelming events.  We talked a lot about it beforehand, as knowing what to expect helps him a lot!  He was paraded around to the start of the egg hunt passing tons of overexcited parents trying to get the perfect picture.  I know having a big crowd around him scares him, but he did very well.  He held the teachers hand and wanted no part of the group preschool picture, but once the hunt started he was pretty excited to find his eggs.  Each child was allowed to pick 12 and he ran around getting his eggs faster than most.  He was very relaxed and was talking a lot to me and his baby brother once the hunt was over.  We sat amongst lots of children and opened his eggs.  He even waved bye to two of his classmates on our way out.  Mommy lost her keys during the egg hunt, so he even had the chance to wave bye to his teacher when we left the second time!

Thomas also had his school Easter party today.  We were in charge of bringing the a book for the teacher to read during the party.  We went to the library and picked out The Great Easter Egg Hunt- a Veggie Tales book that has a musical button to push at the end.  We also brought in Duck! Rabbit! an optical illusion book where you have to guess which animal you think it is.  I read these a few times with Thomas leading up to the day of the party.  I asked him if he would want to push the musical button at the end of the story when the teacher read it.  He has trouble sitting with the group for circle time, so I am always looking for ways to get him involved with the group during this time.  He said yes and was very excited about this, so I informed the teacher of this when I dropped him off.  He had a great time at his party and when I picked him up he said "Mom, I pushed the button!"  It's those little things that add up and build his confidence.  So proud of him.

A preschool that can accomodate Thomas's needs

This year Thomas is at a private church preschool, where they are very caring, but really don't have the resources, experience, or staff to give him what he really needs. This is the main reason why we knew getting in with our school district's preschool this fall was so key! I am amazed by how knowledgeable, caring and proactive this team is about helping Thomas and providing him with what he needs. A supportive school environment in so key to SM success and it is such a breath of fresh air to be working with people who understand and are so committed to doing what is best for Thomas.  That truly is half the battle. As much as you can help your son or daughter outside of school, you really need people in the school who understand how to communicate and work with them.  This understanding comes from an open line of communication between the parent and school.  Sometimes it is overwhelming being my child's advocate, knowing how much responsibility rests on my shoulders to make sure everyone is on the same page and truly understands how to work with him so that he has a successful school year.  At the same time though, it is truly motivating, because I know if I don't do it, no one else will and that's just not an option in my book.

Breath of fresh air!

I had an amazing meeting with our school district's child study team today.  I was very nervous going in, because I knew how much I wanted to relay to them and have them understand Thomas's struggles.  Very rarely does something/someone exceed my expectations, but they certainly did.  They are amazing and so proactive! What a breath of fresh air!!!!  After fighting so much for my son over the past two years and struggling for people to understand, it is wonderful to feel understood.  They want to read and find out as much as they can about SM and want me to send them all my literature, etc.  

The preschool teacher is very open to helping Thomas through the summer too, so I really feel that he will do very well in his new school next year and future years there as he gets into grade school. I will be meeting with the social worker for a review in the next month and the school psychologist will be going to observe Thomas in his preschool setting. He will not know she is there to observe him, as he has never met her, so we thought that would work to everyone’s benefit. Also the speech therapist and school psychologist were open to coming to our house to do some other evaluations, so this will be happening in the next month as well.