Life, it's going to settle down...please

To say that the last several weeks have been busy would be, well, putting it mildly. Since I last blogged, on May 25, we had Kid Jedi's IEP meeting, I've been subbing a lot, we had this nasty sore throat/cold that never leaves come into the house, a great Memorial day gathering at the little sis's (also known as the favorite aunt) house, my parents came back to NJ from FL (I'd say home, but there real house is in FL), I took my Praxis II exam for K-5 to get my CE to start my Alternate Route teaching (also known as I'll soon be an unemployed teacher instead of a Substitute Teacher), and we've been trying to prepare for the end of the school year...and my nephew's graduation.

So, I'll start with the IEP meeting, we got to keep Kid Jedi's aide for next year, and he got a fidget to play with to keep him focused on lessons. They will also be keeping up on the OT consultations which involve the school's OT talking to the teacher to see what Kid Jedi needs...we'll see how it works out next year.

I do understand that I picked a really bad time to decide to work on my Alternate Route Teacher's Certificate in NJ, but I did it anyway, and I'll be looking for a job in about a month, figuring I passed the test. I will still be subbing next year, hopefully I'll find a maternity position which will get me a Standard cert and let me start on my Special Ed cert so I can get closer to working with Autistic kids.

And, my nephew...well, I can't believe he's graduating High School, it seems like just yesterday he was born, but in October, he got his Eagle Scout award and next Thursday, he'll be a High School graduate. He'll be going to York College next year to study Mechanical Engineering. I am very proud of my nephew. He's an amazing young man and I'm sure he'll do wonderfully at college.

Kid Jedi will be done school on Thursday, the same day my nephew graduates. He's so looking forward to the end of school. I'm not sure why it seems like they go so much later than we used to go to school, but it does. I know this year is longer because of all the snow we had here in NJ, but I still remember being done earlier than the 18th when he was originally scheduled to be done.

Hopefully things will settle down over the next week or so and then...

We have a plan!

Sorry I haven't updated sooner, with Kid Jedi getting tutoring, and, well him just being home all day, things for me are taking much longer to get done than normal.

There is an IEP in place, the doctor's recommendations were not included right now, they felt that they would go under the behavior plan that will be included when they get the behavioral therapist in, but, his wonderful teacher asked for a copy of the doctor's recommendations and I know she'll let his 1:1 know about it, I'll let the 1:1 know about it.

So what is included: Kid Jedi will have a 1:1 shadow every day all day at school starting Tuesday; his tutoring lesson on Friday as well as this coming Monday will be in his classroom to start transitioning him; the school OT will consult with him as needed once per week for 30 minutes (increasing to intervention or decreasing as needed); the behavioral therapist will be in to put a behavior plan in place and to work with Kid Jedi's teacher, 1:1 and us (and I will make sure that the doctor's recommendations are included); he will be removed from the classroom daily (like they do other children who need to work on reading, etc.) to work on following directions and focus (compliance is what they call it). Other than the doctor's recommendations not being directly included, I'm ok with the plan but I will keep on them especially since the doctor's recommendations include higher leveled work as needed.

All that being said, Kid Jedi will return to the classroom on Tuesday. His 1:1 will hopefully stop by during his tutoring session on Monday to meet him. He's excited, and scared. I'm nervous. The school is expecting him to get worse before he gets better.

As far as treatment, we haven't decided about medication, but, when we can get an appointment (they have a wait because of them being booked with appointments), we will be consulting with CHOP on that to make that decision (if we go, they do a full workup on him including an EKG before putting him on medication). We will be making an appointment this week to go back to the psychologist who diagnosed Kid Jedi for counseling...they are doing a research trial on a new therapy, but we'd have to either wait for the trial or wait for the meds (if we decide to do that) and we don't think that's in Kid Jedi's best interest.

On Friday during his tutoring, he did run out into the hallway once. This is a great improvement from his first week of school when he was in the classroom for 3 hours and ran out of the room, or tried to, 3 times; the tutoring session was 2 hours and he only left the room, or tried to once.

I picked up a notebook to send Kid Jedi back with which will be for us and his 1:1 to communicate in. I'm really nervous about letting him go, but I do know that this will be good for him.