Exciting news, Nash was accepted into the Early Education Preschool through our school district. He will start in a week and we are very happy about this, while nervous and its going to be a BIG change its going to be so great for Nash. We have had our fair share of criticism from friends and family. (Mostly support THANK YOU to everyone for that, but there has been some comments of criticism) and I think I just want to take a moment and say, everyone's different and whats best for one child (or family) is not what might be best for another. I too am guilty of overreaching my opinion into criticism. But if this past year has taught me anything its that things are not always how they seam and who am I to judge. I have opinions yes, I am human but I try to make sure I really draw the line between my opinions and judgment. Until I started this blog, I kept a lot of things to myself. I wasn't hiding anything I was just being private. Its not like I would walk around and say "Hi my names Kristen, nice to meet you. Have you heard of SPD? because my kids have it" its the same for my cancer history "Hi I had cancer!" you just dont do it. Then again for the longest time we didn't even know about SPD and didn't know why the boys did what they did. So for that reason to we just had nothing to share. So in the future before you judge or criticize that Mom (or another adult) in the store whos child is throwing a tantrum, or make a comment about a choice a mother has made or is trying to make, try hard to put yourself in that persons shoes. We are all not perfect, and what works for some might not work for others. We each (for the most part, excluding some reality Tv stars ;) hardy har har) do the best we can with what we have be it financially, resources, location, I could go on and on you get the idea :)
So we are in transition.....oh I loath that word and its meaning all together when it comes to our lives right now. Another word we could say is "Change" change for Nash and transitioning from one thing to another (even the small things like leaving the house) is so hard for him. We use Transition Strategies and another word is Warnings but that can sounds harsh in a way. Lots of "ok, we have 3 more minutes until we....." is heard in our house. I have also called (or in our case emailed ;) Nash's current team, Speech, Occupational and current Preschool Class teachers asking for advice and information on how to make this our biggest Transition yet go as smooth as possible.
I went and printed photos today of Nash's new school the "Blue School" and 1 of his new teachers Miss B I'll call her for privacy reasons. This is a tool we used when Nash started speech. His Speech teacher suggested we take a photo of her and use it as a visual aid to SEE who was coming over. So now we have one to SEE were he is going to go and SEE his new teacher. Seams to be working already he has taken ownership of the school showing Wyatt when we picked him up today from his school "See my Blue school!" and this is "Teacher B" it was pretty cute. A small transition step.
As I thought and also pointed out by his current teachers and therapists I need to be careful to not talk about it to much so he dwells on it. Also on the flip side, not talk about it to little so he is not prepared and ready for the transition. So I have to find a happy medium and use times to incorporate the *idea* into our every day things like playing or coloring, "You are going to color fun things at your new school next week too" or singing a song "Oh I wonder what kind of fun songs you will sing at your blue school" you get the idea.
Nash and I stopped by the school today to drop off all the paperwork (and there is a lot) the teacher told us to come in and see the class. We snuck in and quietly watched from the back the kids in circle time. I know it can be a huge distraction to have visitors so we just hung back. We go back Friday to meet with the teachers including Miss B. To let him get to know them a little, get the basics and go over any questions I have. Then Monday morning he will start. He will be in class for 2 hours and 40 minutes. But I am not counting ;) I am expecting him to love the class, love the teachers and the students once he gets to know them. I am expecting a little push back on the fact I DO NOT stay with him. His current class I do stay with him. He has put this together already and said "No drop off (thats the word I used) you stay" so I think that will be hard. Only natural for both of us, he has been with me 24/7 for 3 years now. He is my "baby" and I know, I know he will be fine. Still hard ;)
I will post updated to this post if we use and have any other transition techniques to share. Going to be a busy week getting our new schedule in place slowly so its not such a shock next week, and the transitions we are using to get him ready or as ready as we can to start.
~ Kristen
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