New school.

Hi all! So A LOT has been going on with Gregory at school. I've been a little too overwhelmed to do a post . . . and new things keep happening. I will try and give you the readers digest version. 

Its been a little over a month now . . . Gregory has always struggled with some behavioral issues at school . . . they have just really escalated. After several meetings with his teachers and thearpists . . . trying new things . . . changing his IEP . . . a couple more meetings . . . we have decided he needs a more self contained classroom. His current school does not have something like this. Only 2 other schools in the district offer something like this for Gregory. One just happens to be right down the street from my house and its actually where I went to school K-6th grade. :) 

He will be in a classroom with one teacher and two aids. There will only be 10 other kids. It seems like a very contained, positive, strict, structured, fun classroom. They can deal with and accommodate all the things Gregory struggles with. The whole goal is to get them back into a main stream classroom. They get the behaviors under control first and when they are ready they let them back into a mainstream classroom little bits at a time. They also join another kindergarten class to go to specials and lunch with. One of his neighborhood friends is in this classroom. So, he already has a friend. :)

I think it will be really great. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for listening!

Kindergarten Update

All in all the school year has been going good . . . until last week that is. It was just an overall rough week. 

I need to think of a name for when Gregory acts "crazy". I often refer to it as "crazy" Gregory but thats not nice. I dunno . . . its his alter ego  . . . maybe instead of Gregory he is being, "Senor Loco"???? I'm game for any suggestions. 

Anways, what does "Senor Loco" look like? I can't even describe it . . . its just off, weird, intense, agressive, sensitive, snotty, disrespectful, not obedient, hard, difficult, cranky. 

Sounds fun, huh? 

Whats going on? 

I"m not really sure .  . . . mommy brain of mine cannot figure it out. I think its one or many of the following . . . daddy being out of town, school being hard, not having OT, friends not being nice at school, the heat, his lack of vocabulary . . . 

I don't know. 

I do know at school (so at home too) they are working on the following goals for Gregory:

~Write his name

~Hold a pencil the right way

~Respond appropriately to situations

~Two way conversations

~Articulation

~Colors

~Count to 20 (he can now do 25)

~Shapes

~Identify 15 of the 26 letters

~Self awareness

~Math language

Yeah!!!

We just found out today Gregory was accepted to Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center Elementary School in the Scottsdale school district for Kindergarten!!!!!

This is an answer to prayer as we felt this school would be the best fit for Gregory! They have a more hands approach to learning (in a nut shell). 

As you know . . . I have to know the plan . . . and to know where Gregory is going the beginning of the summer is just so awesome! So glad I don't have to wait! 

Summer Time!

Gregory is officially done with preschool! You did it bug! Here comes kindergarten!!!!

We have a fun summer planned with learning to swim, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Physcial Therapy, bike ridding, Big Surf, The Arizona Science center, Summer Movie fun, books, family, The Zoo, bowling, church, learning, improving self help skils . . . 

Whew, I'm tired already! I really want to soak up this summer with Gregory before he starts school full time. Tear. :(  

You're making leaps and bounds bug! I'm so proud of you! 

This mama needs to brag for a moment . . . Gregory is doing so well in some areas that we have waited a long time for . . . and this mama is so proud! 

1. (TMI) He is finally going #2 on the potty all the time!!!!!!! For those of you who know us well, we have been we have been waiting on this a long time!!!! No more poopy pants!!!!!!! 

2. He can get dressed all by himself!!!! Thanks to his daddy and his step mom working with him he can now do it!!!! Wahoo!!!! Saves mama time in the morning. :) 

3.  He is getting much more comfortable in the pool! To those of you who know us well, this has been a huge struggle summer after hot hellish summer of him not wanting to go in the pool. He has taken swim lessons every summer since he was born. Well, I'm committed to taking him in the pool every day on the days I have him and its paying off. By the end of the summer he will be swimming! He has to! Its Arizona! And it doesn't cost anything!! Well, most of the time. 

IEP

Gregory had his IEP meeting a few weeks ago. All in all it went really well. Kind of big one since this is the one that will carry him into Kindergarten!!! Cannot believe my little boy is going to be in Kindergarten!!!! 

I'll try and give you just a general idea of how it went. Although Gregory has made progress, he is still delayed cognitively, in speech articulation, and motor skills. 

We all worked together to come up with goals that will best help Gregory in all these areas. The IEP was very detailed so his new teacher will know exactly how to best help Gregory. He will benefit from the use of a part time aid. He will receive speech therapy and Occupational therapy. I'll keep you posted on any new information!

We made it this far.

So, at 2:00 today I got the first call of the school year to come pick up Gregory . . . won't calm down . . . won't comply . . . being too physical . . . ect. Thats improvement right? I mean, last year the first call was in August and this is December! Go Gregory! (sense the slight sarcasm)

You know, this year, Gregory is in a "special" preschool class. You would think all the problems would go away. They don't. Don't get me wrong. For the most part, yes, its been a walk in the park compared to last year's school experience. Even on top of some changes that have been going on in our personal life, Gregory all in all has been thriving. Thank you Lord! 

But I still have "the talk with the teacher" . . . most Fridays . . . when I pick him up . . . we talk about behavior issues and such. 

Will he be ready for kindergarten?

He wants to touch others but does not want to be touched. 

Attention seeking behavior. Ignore or not ignore? 

Need more of his rice milk because he doesn't drink cow milk like the other kids. 

You need to get him evaluated to see if we can rule out autism. 

When will we know if he is ready for kindergarten? 

If he is ready, will he be in a mainstream classroom with strongly urged use of his own aid? Or a special needs classroom?

Where will he go to school? 

He needs to master certain things for Kindergarten like colors, letters, cutting, pasting, ect. 

He does know how to spell "Greg" right now. Makes mommy happy. 

And randomly on Saturday he just belted out his A,B,C's!!!! He'll be 5 in February and I have never been able to teach him this. I almost started crying! So exciting!

All in all he's doing much better this year than last year. This time of year I'm remind that this time last year, his teacher had the talk with me saying she can't keep him there any more. Ugh. So glad to not be there again.

Week one

So for each week of summer I have planned for Gregory a letter, color, shape, and number to concentrate on. Last week was the first week. 

Letter: Aa

Number: 10

Color: Red

Shape: Circle

We did activities like eating apples . . . they are red . . . draw red circles . . . counting 10 red circles . . . red ice cubes. 

At the end of the week he knows what the color red is. Already could count to 10. Still working on circle and the letter A.