Saturday, February 28, 2009

Busy Days....

We have had some busy days here at our house. Last week was mostly a blur. Nick had his usual ABA therapy on Tuesday afternoon, and then that evening we were meeting with a potential home therapist. Nick seemed to like her. He was playing his usual game of chase and being a little bugger. He managed to throw one of our phones in the toilet as well. Still not quite sure if it works or not. Don't fear, we still have another phone. He also managed to pull off one of those decorative type kitchen drawers. You know, the ones that look like drawers, but don't move. Yeah, he pulled it off. Not sure how the heck he did it as it was fairly tough to put back on. One of those things where he does not know his own strength. Anyway, the home therapist will start on Tuesday barring any complications. We also had Nick's IEP meeting on Wednesday. I went in and observed him in his classroom on Tuesday afternoon before we went to ABA. I really got to talk with his teachers and was able to find out how he is doing. The main area of concern was his increase in meltdowns. I suggested that they try and give him stickers or some tape for him to feel with his fingers. He likes the sticky feel to it, and that calms him down a lot at home too-although we rarely have to resort to that because he will go to his room and escape the chaos. But in school, he can't do that-so it led to some pretty decent meltdowns. Just as we were talking about stickers, Nick was starting to get revved up at the door. One of his teachers asked "Nick, do you want a sticker?" He turned right around, regained some composure on his way to the teacher, and said quietly "I want sticker". They were completely shocked! It worked like a charm. I was able to walk him away from the door, and get him to sit at the table with the other kids-with no meltdown. After that, they were completely on board with the sticker thing. His IEP meeting was the next day, and it went fairly well. The school is really trying to suit him and his needs. I asked if he would have an aide for kindergarten next year and they said that would be determined at a later date. We should also find out if he can qualify for year-round school at the end of the school year. That would be wonderful if he does. Other than that, things have calmed down a little this weekend. So far. That could change though!

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