Katie is now 14, and has had quite a few health challenges this year. She went from a straight A student that we never had to worry about, to failing classes. She had her appendix out in September, and her body did not like surgery. She has had chronic pain since. She is on several meds, only attends school half-time, and now has a 504 at school (basically a medical IEP). She will probably end up in summer school, and there is still question as to whether she will have enough credits to pass 8th grade :(
Wilson will be 11 in August. He is in the 5th grade and doing well. He continues to love skating and has been sporting more of a skater hairdo. I didn't like it, but decided that it was just not a hill I was willing to die on. In other words, I had to choose my battles, and this was not one that I decided was worth taking a stand. It is just hair. I still cut it, so I do have some control ;)
Jared is ... Jared. He is in 2nd grade now. We have made HUGE strides in many areas. We have an awesome team that works with him now. As I talk more about this, you will understand a little better why life has been so busy. Jared is in a regular classroom in school with an awesome teacher! Her name is Joy Song. She works so hard to help Jared. She regularly emails me and lets me know if there is any concerns. Jared also goes to Special Ed for reading. He was going there for math also. He started falling behind when they introduced word problems. One of Jared's weaknesses is reading. On the flip side, one of his strengths is math. He has a wonderful SpecEd teacher named Janine Jetson. The combination of these two teachers has given Jared so much success! Jared has finally started reading this year.
We also have a wonderful Occupational Therapist. We have been through a couple others before we found this one. His name is Michael Sparrow. He truly understands kids like Jared. He has helped us through shoe tying, bike riding, and now with baseball. That's right, Jared is playing baseball this year! One of his coaches has a child with Autism. John and I still have to be at the practice to make sure Jared doesn't take someone out with a bat, but it makes it so much easier to have the coach understand.
We have a counselor that we see weekly. His name is Joel Lampert. He has helped us so much. We are able to talk to him about any issues that come up and he helps us figure out a way to handle it. Parenting a child with Autism is much different. You have to approach things so differently.
Jared also has a therapist that comes to our house twice a week. It is for PSR (PsycoSocial Rehabilitation). Her name is Nekolla. Basically, she and Joel identify areas that need work and then they both work on them. Joel is in a clinical setting, and Nekolla is in the community. She has worked with him on personal safety (ie crossing the street and being street smart), how to act in public, asking us before going somewhere, etc. These are things that are not difficult to teach a "typical" child, but at least in Jared's case, it was not easily learned. It was so dangerous to take him places. We became prisoners in our own home.
His schedule is:
Mon-School and then Nekolla
Tues-School
Wed-School and then Nekolla
Thurs-School and then Chiropractor
Fri-School in morning, pick-up at 12:30, OT at 1, snack on the road, Joel at 3pm
Jared also has problems sleeping. Apparently, his body can survive with 4 hours of sleep. Mine cannot. John and I were taking shifts to try to get some sleep. We have had to turn to medication to help with this. He sleeps about 6-8 hours a night now, but he doesn't have to be watched every moment now, like he used to be. He no longer tries to escape the house, get into the knives, or many of the other things he used to do. If he wakes up during the night, he will turn on the TV and find something on Netflix. He is even courteous enough to turn down the volume so that he doesn't wake others up. Like I said, we have made huge strides in many things.
Max is now 6 and in Kindergarten. We chose to do afternoon, as he is not a morning person. He is doing well. He is still in speech therapy. He is doing much better, but still has issues. He really wanted to play baseball this year, but I knew that I couldn't handle 3 kids in baseball this year. He is learning to ride a bike and has discovered friends!
Emma is almost 2! She has the entire family wrapped around her little finger. She has the Grammer blue eyes and knows how to use them! She has the best temperament. She sleeps through the night, and has since she was 6 weeks old. She is very much a "go with the flow" child. She handles all the appts, time in the car, and everything that our life brings without any problems.
She still can't handle much dairy or soy, but that has improved. The hardest part about this is that she wants whatever we are eating. She will get into stuff if it gets left out. Hopefully this is something she continues to outgrow.
Phew. That was the shortened version.
No comments:
Post a Comment