Every year is a surprise, at least with our kids, how the year turns out. Sean struggled at the beginning of the school year, but he worked like a responsible 4th grader and even scored 7th grade level in math after all. His friends wrote a little note about him in a booklet the teacher copied that Sean is smart, funny and even has a neat handwriting! I smiled looking at the page because when he was first diagnosed as having autism, I was very much hoping for him to be exactly what his friends described! I wonder if some of my readers have children with autism and have recently gotten the diagnosis - it seems it's never that bad as they say. The neurologist told me he will most likely not make best friends, but he has a few best friends. He likes sports and he is in a circle of friends during recess playing football. I know some things in life isn't going to be as easy for him, but at least for now he is on the right path. He is starting to show care and compassion for his younger brother Noah who has more severe form of autism. He watches him to be safe whenever we are out together and tries to engage him to play. It makes me very happy to see him being more responsible and acting like a big brother.
Aly proved she is a free spirit this year. She practically did minimal work during the class hour. We cleaned out her desk and we found loads of cartoon drawings, stories she wrote and blank worksheets she was supposed to turn in! I spoke with her many times about importance of completing work, but she couldn't get a hold of herself. Her reason, the classroom was too noisy. That I must agree. Aly gets distracted easily and with that kind of noise level, I can imagine it was very hard for her. Keeping the big picture in mind, we let it be. At least I know she is a great writer and artist. Actually, quite hilarious, too. On her teacher's Instagram account, there was a picture of him with a paper cut out of a talking bubble with "I am a totally huge and big butt. I am serious." The caption of the post says "taken from one of my quietest and well-behaved students. she was holding it over the heads of other students." I immediately knew that was Aly. When I confronted her, she blushed.
Noah became a talking boy this year. The change has been coming along slowly, but it reached a point where he is now talking to us to tell us what he wants. "I want hug please," he would say and he gets one. I think the iPad talking program made a huge difference. He is gradually expressing his emotions like "I am scared," and I am glad he can say it now. He still has meltdowns, that is a given in kids with autism. He would just scream and cry like a toddler except he is bigger and louder. I can only guess what he may be feeling, but sometimes it's a mystery. Like last night, he wouldn't sleep and kept whining. I noticed that his legs twitched a lot, so I thought maybe he has a restless leg syndrome. I quickly researched on my phone while I held him and it said it's genetic. Mike suffers from it, so I will talk to the doctor about it next time. He still touches his fecal matters when he goes in his room at night. It happened last night and it was aweful. I had to shampoo the carpet and wash everything late at night. I know he is a smart kid, he can read and decode words, so it doesn't make sense to us that he would do such thing... Autism is just so deep. We made an appointment with Sean's psychiatrist for Noah, so I am hoping he can prescribe medications to help him be more balanced chemically. I sure hope it works.
Miss Saya was a rock star this year. She was one of the best students in the class without even trying (well I suppose she did work for it) and she did well in all subjects. She struggled a bit with making friends after a girl whom she befriended first made another friend and didn't want to hang out with Saya anymore. She was hurt and upset about that for quite a while (boy, she doesn't forget!) After a while though she made new friends and she enjoyed school again. She was quiet at school and the teacher was surprised when I told her Saya is loud at home. I volunteered at her class every Friday and was able to observe how she is at school. She was very focused, sort of opposite from certain someone with the name that starts with A.
Things are going to be very different next school year - it being Sean's last year at the elementary school. Aly is going to start taking standardized tests and Saya is going to be challenged with more independent and harder tasks coming her way. We are looking at enrolling Noah in a private school which specializes in children with autism. The district's special education program has been wonderful and we are happy with it, but we want to see if he improves more with other programs. I hear only good things about this school in Seattle and the tuition is covered by insurance, so I intend to at least go for a tour of the school and learn more about it.
So, the summer break is here! (from 6/21) Every summer, I almost lose my mind around mid August, so we shall see how I fare this time.
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