Life has gotten very busy in the past year and I have been neglected my wonderful blog which was a great outlet for me when I was struggling with life.
In the past year, we survived Kindergarten (more later), survived the first year of college and HS for my two older ones and got pregnant:) Baby girl coming in 8 weeks!
As Kindergarten started last year I was a nervous wreck. Here was my little preschooler leaving a nice integrated class and entering a class of 20 typical peers. As the year progressed we watched Dom learn, make friends and have a good year but not a great one. His anxieties that we saw in preschool were still apparent in Kindergarten. It took Dom 5 months to have the courage to even say "hi" to his kindergarten teacher. Keep in mind that his teacher was the sweetest, nicest looking person that I have met and could relate to but to Dom he felt very nervous about talking to her and it took about 8 months for him to have a back and forth communication with him. Dom also struggled in groups while talking to other children. As a concerned mother I had Dom evaluated to see if he qualified for additional services for 1st grade, which he did. When we finally got the results back and were able to have a meeting in July it was determined that his services were doubled, added special ed again which was taken away in Kindergarten and added his one one to one aide.
As our first summer began without a 6 week integrated program (21 hours a week) as we were used to in preschool I developed a crazy therapy schedule for Dom. He received speech and social work through the school district 2x a week for 6 weeks and then i also signed him up for social work through a friendship group which met once a week for an hour for 9 weeks, a social work camp through a local college which met 15 hrs for a week and then signed him up for an astronaut camp for 2 weeks. This schedule might sound nutty but it worked for Dom and gave him a great start for a new year of school after along 10 week break.
As 1st grade began this year we were very optimistic that this would be a great year for Dom. And so far it has been, Dom comes home 100% less anxious and very happy. I know it is early to see how he is doing but he is actually talking to his teacher and communicating to his other therapists which include speech, ot, social work and special ed.
Socially typical Aspergers children dont have many friends or just have 1. This year Dom only feel comfortable playing with one child at recess and sits with him on the bus. This is great for Dom, but I always worry"what if" this boy is sick and not at school then what does Dom do. I asked Dom what do you do when the boy is not there "i just play with myself". My heart breaks hearing these things from Dom but he doesnt have the skills or confidence to make new friends yet or go and ask different kids to play with him. Hopefully with all of the services this year Dom will gain more confidence in himself and be able to approach other kids and play with them, be happy and make new relationships.
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