Considering School Registration for Ryan . . . !

First of all, I just noticed that it's been almost 2 months since my last post. Wow.  I guess life at home has been busier than I imagined it would be! I can't even fathom being at work right now! Overall, it's been a great experience so far. I am so much more happy, healthy, relaxed, and focused on the needs of myself and my family.

But anyways, on to the main reason for this post.

Plans to Register Ryan for Junior Kindergarten

So, on Thursday afternoon, Ryan's senior therapist from Summit Centre, Tara, asked if I had a few moments to chat.  (Thursdays are now therapy-at-home-days, so of course I was available.)  She then proceeded to ask what my thoughts/plans were about enrolling Ryan in school.  I told her quite honestly that I'd been thinking about it a lot, was generally uncertain as to the best course, and had been planning to ask her advice at our monthly parent-therapist meeting. 

Now, in my thoughts, I did not see Ryan as being anywhere near ready to be enrolled in school.  I fully expected him to be full-time at Summit Centre for another year, skip JK, and enter his SK year (which would be September 2015).  You see, my concern is how much assistance he needs for even the most basic skills.  He is just learning to feed himself with a spoon, just beginning programs to learn drinking from a cup, has no real functional mode of communicating his needs/wants/thoughts, we haven't even begun potty training, and we have no clear idea of where he is cognitively.  We just know he has moderate-to-severe autism with global developmental delays. How could he possibly survive in the barely structured chaos of a JK/SK classroom?

But Tara (and other senior staff at Summit Centre) believe we should get ready to enrol Ryan for JK classes this coming year (Fall 2014).  Here's why, and I think once I saw her reasoning, I'm pretty convinced now:

• Ryan will be over four and a half by the Fall. Chronological age-wise, he'll be at a good age to enter JK.
• Ryan is making steady gains at Summit Centre. His progress is in small steps, but continually moving forward, and at a rate that has surprised them.
• They suggest we enrol him part-time for the first year (JK). We're not sure what this will look like yet. It might involve starting in October or November, when school routines have settled more; it may be for only a few days a week; it may be only mornings or only afternoons. The key reason they want to start him in 2014, and do it part-time, is so that he can still get the intensive therapy and support from Summit Centre. It also gives them a year-long transition period for everyone (Summit Centre, the school, and us) to figure out what needs to be done to best meet Ryan's needs.  It will give everyone plenty of time to ease into the situation and plan together for Ryan's future.

Looking at it from that perspective, then, I agree that part-time enrolment for Fall 2014 is the way to go.  Otherwise, if we wait till 2015, Ryan will age out of Summit Centre's program within about 3 months of starting school, and we'd lose that support.  Doing it the way we're planning now, he'll get this full year of full-time at Summit, a full-year of part-time Summit and school next year, and then a few months of Summit support as he moves into SK in 2015.

So, why are we talking about this now? Well, if you have little ones, then you know school registration for the next year is in February.  That's only 3 months away, and with the holidays in between, it will be here before we know it! 

In fact, I am glad I went with my gut instincts and attended or signed up for some school-related information sessions this year.  About a month ago, I went to one about IPRC and IEPs.  I had wanted to understand why they haven't done these for Kevin (I do now--it was very informative), and to prepare for when the times comes for Ryan. He will definitely be needing these. I also recently signed up for a school-entry information session, specifically for parents of children with special needs, which is taking place in January. 

I am going in informed this time! Unfortunately, we didn't get Kevin's formal diagnosis until he was 4 and a half, and already a month into school.  This means I've been struggling to understand how to get the services he needs and the best ways to approach any issues that arise.  I am learning now.  I will be ready and armed with knowledge to ensure that Ryan gets everything he needs in his school experience! I will also have Summit Centre's transition support behind us for over a year, which is awesome.

Like I said, I do have fears and concerns.  My main concern is how much one-on-one care Ryan will need. With all the cutbacks to EAs (Educational Assistants) and how they are generally one to a group of children in a classroom, how well will Ryan's extensive needs be met? Tara agrees with me, there is no question: Ryan must have one-on-one support. 

So, when the time for paperwork arrives in February, I'm going to be very explicit and contacting the school immediately to discuss planning.  I know they will do a formal meeting in May (that's the time of year they do all the special-needs meetings for next year, including Kevin's).  However, I'm going to be in their ear constantly until I get things set up the way I want them! I need to learn to be more assertive and proactive. 

So, what's Ryan been up to?

Where do I begin? I've had the opportunity to observe Ryan at Summit Centre 3 times in October and once so far in November.  Plus, this month we started Thursday home-therapy days, so every Thursday he's doing therapy here at home with the people from Summit.  This has given me plenty of opportunities to observe the work they do with Ryan, and also see how he's progressed in these programs.  Maybe I'll go point-form to get as many of my thoughts down as quickly as I can remember them:

• Music Therapy: Every Monday afternoon, Ryan has music therapy.  Last month, I got an opportunity to go and observe this because I'd been hearing how much Ryan enjoys it. There is a wonderful young man who is a Music Therapy student from the University of Windsor. He comes in and works one-on-one for about 20 minutes with some of the children.  He's made a connection with Ryan in particular, and in fact, even asked if he could do a project based on the work he's doing with Ryan. I agreed, of course! Ryan loves music therapy.  The day I was there, Ryan had a rough afternoon, but he got very excited when the student strummed his guitar and sang.  He signed for "more." He wanted to strum the guitar. He was shaking shakers, tambourines, and bells after someone modeled it and gave him the instructions.  He tapped on a drum when shown and instructed. He even tried some "singing" (imitating vowel and consonant sounds), and they got a few good attempts. And that was on a rough day! 
• Eating:  Some of you may have seen my recent videos on Facebook. Ryan is doing really well using his spoon to feed himself.  Yes, it can get messy. He also needs reminders to put his spoon back in the bowl to get more.  But he's basically feeding himself independently, and enjoying it!  In terms of types of foods, he is starting to enjoy crunchy foods now.  He chows down on the Heinz toddler biscuits.  We also discovered, this week, that he likes Ritz Bitz snacks! Whenever he shows an interest in someone's snack, I've given Summit permission to let him try some.  Thankfully, the Summit Staff is quite glad to share. ;)
• Drinking: One of Ryan's programs this month has been drinking his milk from a cup.  In just a few weeks, he's gone from refusing the cup, to a tiny cup, to letting them put it to his lips, to a bigger cup, and now taking sips from a cup with help. The biggest change is, he wants it!  On Thursday, his therapist was trying to reinforce him between sips, but he kept reaching for the cup! He wanted more milk from the cup! So, I just got the okay to start this program with him at home. Exciting! He is also, occasionally, accepting water from a bottle or cup.
• Homework: Some parts of his homework, he loves. For example, brushing his teeth: a month ago, we could barely put the brush to his teeth. Now, he holds it, chews on it, lets me brush around a bit, and sips water from a cup (with help). Of course, this is because of the natural reinforcement of the running water in the sink. ;) Similarly, we've discovered a natural reinforcement for "walking down stairs."  For this, Ryan puts one hand on the banister, holds another person's hand on the other side, and walks smoothly down the stairs.  He's doing great! The natural reinforcement is that he gets to go downstairs all the time now, and he never used to go down there, so it's new and exciting to him.  Plus, we have the big train table down there and a few glider chairs that he likes.  He also stops at the top of the stairs now (showing safety awareness!) which is a big relief.
• Waving Hello and Bye-Bye:  He's getting good at this. It helps that at pick up and drop off every day, he's waving to me and his therapists. Get his attention and say the words and wave, and he usually gives you a good wave back.  I noticed he's generalized this well with Daddy and his Gram and Papa, too. He often waves hello and bye-bye for them in response to their greetings and farewells.
• Imitations:  A key to Ryan's learning is doing imitations.  And wow, he's doing great. Admittedly, I've seen the most progress in his structured programs when we're doing homework or he's working with his therapists. Just say, "Ryan, do this!" and raise your arms up high, clap, wave, pat the table, etc., and he'll do it.  I had to laugh, though, because the other day, I was clapping a pair of shoes together the dirt off, and he started clapping his hands!
• Pointing to Request: Well, this one continues to be a challenge, but I bring it up because there has been progress (and an unexpected generalization last night!).  The idea is to hold an object Ryan wants close to him, ask, "What do you want?" and he has to point or touch, but not grab.  At school, they just moved from them holding the object and him pointing to it (which he was doing great at) to putting it on the table and having him point to it.  Well, now that he's got free access, he just grabs it most times. As this program expanded only a few days ago, it's not a concern yet.  The good news is, at home, I got a few good points recently. One night, I was blowing bubbles, and after a few grab-corrections, I got about 4 good point requests in a row!  The best was last night though. I got a totally spontaneous point request! It was bedtime, and I was cleaning up toys in the living room. Ryan was sitting on the rocking chair.  I walked by with his ball (to put it in the bin), and he reached out and pointed to it--extended index finger and all! I was so excited, he immediately got that ball and extra playtime! :)
• Reading: I've only seen him do this with the therapists, but he will sit in their lap and listen to them read a book.  Moreover, he will sometimes point to an object when asked, i.e., "Ryan, point to the boy!" Um, at home he likes to pull out books, but chew on them. LOL
• Puzzles/Shape Sorters/Stacking Rings: These are things we did during Unity, but he kind of lost the skills. Now, they're back. :) He's doing a three-piece chunky puzzle, putting shapes into their holes, and removing and replacing stacking rings.  He isn't generalizing yet--it has to be the specific puzzle/sorter/stacker they use for his program, but that's okay. It's all about building those skills.  Generalization comes later.
• Looking/Eye Contact:  Ryan is doing really well responding to his name when we/they call it. He has to make eye contact with the person saying his name.  He is also starting to look at different objects when directed.  The other day when I went to observe, they had a scavenger hunt outside at recess, and I was pleased to see Ryan looking in the direction his therapist was pointing, at trees, cars, flowers, etc.
• Give it to me/Put it in/Clean up: These are some things Ryan is working on in his programs, and I've seen it start to carry over to home.  They will put an object on the table and say, "Ryan, give it to me," and he will pick up the object and hand it to them.  A few times, Ryan's had something he shouldn't, and I've held out my hand and said, "Ryan, give it to me," and he has!  "Put in" is an interesting one.  The therapists have two small bins and a small object on the table.  They tell Ryan to "put in" while pointing specifically to one of the two baskets.  A lot of the times, he puts the object in the correct basket now. My favourite, though, is "clean up" . . . LOL Of course, I like that he's starting to learn to put toys into bins and pieces in their holders/boxes.  We usually have to model a few times and do a little hand-over-hand helping, but he'll start putting pieces away independently after a few tries.  This is a new one at home, though.  I look forward to training another child to clean up after himself. 2 out of 3 is not bad. (I've given up hope on Kevin . . . just kidding. But getting him to clean up is painful!)

There is so much more, but I can't think of it all right now!

Speaking of "more," I'll add that sign is firmly established now.  It's his go-to when he wants anything.  We see spontaneous "more" consistently now. He uses more for food, for toys, for interactions, for playing . . . He signs "more" to Andrea and Kevin when they're running around being silly, and he thinks it's funny, and he wants them to keep going!

The only other sign I've seen him use a few times at home is "milk," and it's always when the bottle is already in sight. They say he uses it a lot more at Summit. Still, it's neat to see him spontaneously (and correctly!) generalizing a sign.

Looking Ahead

What's next for Ryan? Well, like I mentioned earlier, we are starting the drink-from-a-cup program at home.  We've also discussed beginning some skill-building eventually leading to potty training, like him beginning to help with removing his clothes, and showing indications his diaper's uncomfortable, or seeing how long he can "hold it" (for an hour, at least?). 

We're still not sure where we're going with communication.  In Music Therapy and Play Therapy, they are trying to get him to imitate some vowel and consonant sounds.  There haven't been any amazing breakthroughs, but we do see he's trying. You can see him moving his lips, playing with breath sounds, etc. Also, having him point to and pick up objects, those programs can eventually lead to some kind of augmentative communication system, whether electronic or a picture exchange systems (PECS). It's still early in the year, but he's making steady progress, so who knows what he'll do next? :)

One thing that I think is kind of fun is that the Summit Centre is having their first ever Christmas Concert this year! It will only be about 20 minutes long, but they are planning to do some songs and skits, have music and props, and costumes.  I caught a glimpse of some of the things they're practicing when I was in for observation the other day.  I'm not sure how well they'll tolerate costumes and use props, and my non-verbal guy won't be singing, but it doesn't matter.  They deserve to have a concert like other preschool kids, and most of them enjoy music like Ryan does. It should be cute! :)