IEP Madness

For some of you that annual IEP meeting creeps up on you and you have to take a deep breath and prepare your mind for all the information the will be given you in a short amount of time. Luckily we get a copy after all is said and done. However, this year was Connor's three year re-evaluation to see if he needs to continue in special needs services. I was really worried about how this meeting was going to go and what was going to happen. Would we be left hanging with no answers? Will he continue in IART? What will happen to support him the classroom if he does continue in IART? Can I just say how relieved I felt leaving this IEP meeting!? There is so much work and worrying and so many different teacher's data we have to go through. His IART (Autism teacher)had so much data. She was fantastic! She and the psychologist understand these kiddos and know what sets them off and what works. I am so excited for the new aids that will be implemented! I know it will be a long road determining what will solve some of the problems Connor is having the General ED classroom, but at least we are starting some where. I feel like the School Psychologist and the IART are on Connor's side and willing to help. They understand what helps and what does not help these kids. It took a couple hours to go through each person's data on Connor but I think we are going in the right direction so far! I feel at peace for now with all my worrying with his troubles. It really helps a mom be to be at peace with her special needs child's education. Thank you so much 5th grade Team and Special Ed for eliminating the madness that can come with an IEP Meeting!

Summer Blues

It is so hard for our son during the summer. It throws off his schedule that he has during the school year. He does not like summer vacation one bit. I try to keep a schedule since school is out so he knows what to expect but its so hard!! Luckily he has found an old show called Sailor Moon that cheers him up a bit.

Oh Cleaning....

Oh the joys of cleaning! Our children need to have a really clean place that is totally organized. The only problem is that can't put things back where they go. And when things are not put back and it's really super messy, there are going to be meltdowns something fierce. Right now we are fighting with cleaning, no matter how much they want to kill each other, they are going to clean. I know it's hard for them but in the long run it will be good for them in the future to know that no matter how much it unnerves them or sets them off there are somethings that need to be done!

Independence Day

As a parent with children with Autism, you forget there are things that you just avoid that typical people take for granted. For example:Places with large crowds and over the top noise. In Mesa, there is a sort of festival that they put on every year. It is a wonderful event. They have booths set up every where, usually having to do with American History, and so forth. At the end they do fire works. We had a few people ask if we were going. Well, we did not think twice before we said no, there will be too many people. We always get weird looks when we say that. Our children cannot handle this type of situation. But we really would like our kids to be able to celebrate these wonderful holidays. So needless to say, we took them to the festival. They lasted all about 2 minutes and were done. We had friends and family ask if we were staying for the fireworks and we said no. Again, you get the funny looks. Our kids cannot do fireworks. They get overstimulated,mix that with a large group of people walking all over the place in large packs...equals no fun. For the 4th of July we went to a friend's house to celebrate. They let off their own fireworks. I figured this would be okay because we were with a small group of friends and I could take them inside if needed. There isn't a fight for a seat and you don't have to worry about other people. Well, the loud noise overstimulated my son. He tried so hard to have fun but it was over-doing it for him. My daughter ended up going inside for most of it. She did not like the noise or the smoke. It makes me sad that these things cannot be enjoyed by my children. I think my son liked it for the most part but it affected him. All in all we had a wonderful celebration for the 4th with our friends!

Playing With Others

So one of the hardest things about Autism is that from the outside you can't tell there is anything wrong with the child. So, this leads to misunderstandings with other children while they are trying to play. They don't understand why your kid can't say sorry when he ran into the other child on accident or why one thing made him really mad and he starts to scream, when to a normal kid it was nothing to scream about. Or he seem impolite. The tough part is that parents forget your child has hold ups and a different way of being dealt with. I understand these are misunderstandings and I need to be patient on my part and have some understanding as well. Luckily the older I get the more patient I am or I just ignore the comments or the looks. I swear one of these days I am going to get the shirt for Connor that says, I have Autism, what's your problem. Or the one that says Staring any longer is not going to cure my Autism. Another favorite is Warning:Autism Meltdown Highly Probable. But luckily Connor has an awesome Autism resource teacher and his social skills are improving more than what they were.

A Bunny

So we have been wanting a service dog for Connor for sometime now but they are 15,000 dollars and you have to do all the fundraising yourself. We don't know anyone who would give us money for our cause let alone that much. So, I went to a friend's house today and she had baby bunnies and she was talking about how when she is feeling anxiety come on, she just goes outside and picks up one of her rabbits and pets it. She said it made her feel so much better. I told her that is what the service dog was for but it was too much. And then I was thinking and I was like duh! Ger a bunny instead!!! We could keep it out on the back patio and take it outside occasionally and let them play with it outside. It could also come inside and the kids can hold him. We are so excited for the bunny and it was totally unexpected. Connor fell in love with it instantly and it seemed to like Connor. So we are stuck with the bunny lol. I sure it hope it helps! You can see their adorable bunnies at wwww.mabbsrabbitry.com

Legos ugh!

Today we went to a birthday party for a good friend's son! The boy received nothing but Legos and then a few packs of cars. When Connor saw this he got all worked up because the boy could not come over and build with him since the family had other plans. So for the next four hours Connor cried and melted down over the Legos. He wanted us to buy him more Legos since the boy could not play and when that did not work he cried even more! Oh the joys of Legos....