School's almost over
I cannot believe that this school year is almost over. I remember a year ago when I was so stressed that the district was moving EK to a new school. I had grown to love her 3 teachers at PGE and was sad to take her somewhere new. I'm so glad that God is sovereign and in control of all the details that I can't be in control of. When I found out who her teacher would be at ERE, I was elated. I already knew Ms. Sharla from church and I knew she was an incredible teacher. One of her teachers from PGE moved to ERE b/c it's the school her daughter attends. I felt such a peace going into this school year. I knew it'd be hard for EK because anything new is difficult, but I truly felt like the Lord's hand was on all of it.
It has been a great year! Sometimes it doesn't seem like much was accomplished. I have learned that ANY accomplishment, no matter how small it seems, is an accomplishment. EK's learning scale will probably always be different from AC, but it doesn't mean she's not learning. At the beginning of the year, EK's anxiety totally got in the way of her learning. She was focusing on getting through the 3 hours and cried for a good portion of it. She had no energy left to focus on learning. It's a completely different child now. When I get her out of the car, she runs off with Ms. Colleen eager to find her scooter and go for a ride. She participates during group time (doing everything but verbals). She works during teacher time without protest. She's recently taken a liking to the listening center where she has to wear headphones. EK is the type that flinches when you bring anything near her head: sunglasses, earbuds for my ipod, hats, etc. She won't allow you to put it on her or if you do get it on, it's off 2 seconds later. For some reason, she's tolerating the headphones for 10-15 minutes at a time. CRAZY!!!
I am constantly amazed with the new things Ms. Sharla tries to motivate my daughter to learn. She is a wealth of information and I'm blessed to have her as EK's teacher. She's an encouragement to me! Ms. Colleen and Ms. Cecilia are awesome too. They all have such a heart for our sweet kids and they have all had a part in EK's success this year!!
EK will have school (ESY)this summer for several weeks, but it will be at a different campus and different teachers. I do think it'll help to have her friends with her. Even though they don't interact much, her classmates make her happy. One of her classmates attends the same speech therapy center. The first time she saw him there, her face lit up! It was precious! He was just as excited to see her! :) A new classmate is at her ABA therapy center and seeing him helps calm her down. I'm not as stressed about ESY this year since she attended last summer. It's really laid back. The main purpose is to keep the kids in the routine of going to school...even if it's a different campus, a different teacher, a different routine, etc. EK will have a hard time adjusting, but it'll be ok. We'll plow through.
In the coming weeks, you can pray that EK adjusts to our summer schedule. I don't want her to regress too much this summer. I think ABA will help with consistency in some skills. We are also going to add occupational therapy to our speech afternoons. I'm going to attempt potty training as well. (Something I really dread!) I am hoping it'll click this time! Also keep praying for her speech to return! Somedays she babbles a ton, but we're still waiting for real words!
It has been a great year! Sometimes it doesn't seem like much was accomplished. I have learned that ANY accomplishment, no matter how small it seems, is an accomplishment. EK's learning scale will probably always be different from AC, but it doesn't mean she's not learning. At the beginning of the year, EK's anxiety totally got in the way of her learning. She was focusing on getting through the 3 hours and cried for a good portion of it. She had no energy left to focus on learning. It's a completely different child now. When I get her out of the car, she runs off with Ms. Colleen eager to find her scooter and go for a ride. She participates during group time (doing everything but verbals). She works during teacher time without protest. She's recently taken a liking to the listening center where she has to wear headphones. EK is the type that flinches when you bring anything near her head: sunglasses, earbuds for my ipod, hats, etc. She won't allow you to put it on her or if you do get it on, it's off 2 seconds later. For some reason, she's tolerating the headphones for 10-15 minutes at a time. CRAZY!!!
I am constantly amazed with the new things Ms. Sharla tries to motivate my daughter to learn. She is a wealth of information and I'm blessed to have her as EK's teacher. She's an encouragement to me! Ms. Colleen and Ms. Cecilia are awesome too. They all have such a heart for our sweet kids and they have all had a part in EK's success this year!!
EK will have school (ESY)this summer for several weeks, but it will be at a different campus and different teachers. I do think it'll help to have her friends with her. Even though they don't interact much, her classmates make her happy. One of her classmates attends the same speech therapy center. The first time she saw him there, her face lit up! It was precious! He was just as excited to see her! :) A new classmate is at her ABA therapy center and seeing him helps calm her down. I'm not as stressed about ESY this year since she attended last summer. It's really laid back. The main purpose is to keep the kids in the routine of going to school...even if it's a different campus, a different teacher, a different routine, etc. EK will have a hard time adjusting, but it'll be ok. We'll plow through.
In the coming weeks, you can pray that EK adjusts to our summer schedule. I don't want her to regress too much this summer. I think ABA will help with consistency in some skills. We are also going to add occupational therapy to our speech afternoons. I'm going to attempt potty training as well. (Something I really dread!) I am hoping it'll click this time! Also keep praying for her speech to return! Somedays she babbles a ton, but we're still waiting for real words!
I don't know if you know me, although I guess we went to college together. I just wanted to say that reading your blog has meant a lot to me as a mom of a special needs child. Our mutual friend Amanda suggested that I friend you on Facebook, and I found a link to this blog through that friend request. Your About Me really sums up my life right now with my deaf-blind son: "Now a lot of my free time is spent reading/researching ways to help her and working one-on-one with her. It's not how I pictured our life a couple years ago, but I trust that God's plan is good."
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