Guess what? In two weeks this little guy will be starting Kindergarten!! Oh how I'm excited for Asher! He will be going to our neighborhood school in a regular kindergarten classroom and will have an aid with him. The team and I were in unanimous agreement that giving him fluent language models is crucial to him learning to understand and speak English, and he would not get that in a special ed. classroom.
There is no special ed. class in his building so the only time he'll be pulled out of the room is for speech and OT which will hopefully be happening in the classroom much of the time.
Asher will only be going three three days per week because the other two he has private therapies. He's only doing 1/2 days because he is still very much a toddler and takes a 2-3 hour nap every day!
His new teacher is very excited that he'll be joining the class, and has asked that I come in sometime this week to talk to the other kids about Asher, and maybe teach them a few signs. I'm not sure how much I want to tell the kids. I've done lots of talks in classrooms about DS in general, but Asher's issues aren't DS related. His delays and quirks have everything to do with having spent is first 7 years without a family. Of course the KIDS don't know that. The biggest question they're going to have is why he's so small and why he doesn't talk. Oh, and why he's still wearing diapers! I'm going to try to dress him with long t-shirts, etc so his diaper isn't always peeking out of his pants so the kids will forget about that part. Anyway, I'm thinking a lot about this right now, and have a couple of ideas.
Thursday we'll be meeting to put together a kind of temporary IEP since all of his testing isn't quite done.
I can't wait for Asher to learn what school is all about! He's going to LOVE IT! On the other hand, I'm going to have a hard time putting my little 38 lb baby on that big bus in two weeks.
4 comments:
When I have to explain to my kindergarten class (every year) about why Milo looks different, I go straight to the "he was born in a different country."
If I were explaining Asher's situation to my class, I'd keep it simple ...he was born in a different country. Before he became part of our family he lived in a orphanage with lots of other kids and many of them didn't talk much, so he didn't to practice....And then put so responsibility into the class...he's going to come to kindergarten and would like to be your friend. Can you help him practice his English and teach him some of the fun games you know how to play?...give them lots of suggestions on things they can do that they don't need language but can still be friends....looking at books, playing with blocks, etc. and show them some simple signs.
I think he's gonna do great....and have a blast in kindergarten.
Oh and for the diaper peeking out, I had a kid in my preschool class that wore diapers for medical reasons. His mom bought him boxers a size or so too big, put those over the diaper and nobody even noticed. Cuz in preschool and kindgarten, everyone's underwear sticks out of their pants on a regular basis. :)
Abby, that's pretty much what I did when Angela was little and I was talking to her class. For the diaper, if I put long tshirts on him it's rarely seen. Speaking of which, he "gets" potty training, but apparently he needs some more urological work done because there are issues, one of which I think was created for the surgery he already had. :-(
Awww, they are going to love him.:) I read the comment above and I like the idea of boxers over the diaper. I didn't even think of that and will definitely do that in the fall for Liam. He's already been going to school now for a month. Praying at least Elijah will be potty trained before Fall or I will be using that boxer trick for him too. I'm so glad you blog Leah, I'm learning so much from you!:)
Looking forward to reading how school goes!!!
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