Saturday, June 11, 2011

Summer fun and summer learning!


Summer is here! I'm planning a lot of fun for DS including the beach, playground, fairs and festivals, grilling outside, a visit to Grandma in Nevada that is going to include the pool, playing Wii, sleeping in late and later in the summer he will be going to summer camp.

But for DS, it will not just be fun and games, he will also have a lot of "work" to do before entering 1st grade. Of course it will not be grueling work, and we will keep it as fun as we can, but he is behind in his therapy.

I won't go into a long story, but when he was 3, we enrolled him in at ABA center, that we trusted (they had been around for a long time, they had a PhD on staff) but they really did not perform at all; they did nothing and whenever they did do something, it seemed borderline shady. We complained throughout the 1.5 years he was there and had plenty of meetings but finally decided to pull him out. Since then a lot of people have made similar complaints and now they really aren't doing well. But for us, we regret having him there, we just weren't aware of many other options. We now are just trying to move past it all and forgive ourselves as parents.

Over the past year, we've been picking up their slack. But that means, a lot of parent involvement and a lot of extra work.

DS is doing very well despite the past decisions, and ready to mainstream but we really need to help him out in the following areas this summer to make sure he transitions well: 1st grade math concepts, more language concepts, peer play, behavior modification and also trying to help DS regulate his body, he is extremely hyper. I did a quick eval/assessment and mapped out goals for him.

I have some great materials that I will post another time that have proved extremely helpful, if any parents out there are interested.

I'm ready for a great summer, DS is already started having a great summer: his dad lives right on the coast and on the beach, so he gets to play on the beach all the time. I live 25 minutes inland from the coast.

PS: Heard back from the school district; they sent the IEP to me for my review and revisions. I did have some revisions and sent it back, so now the ball is back in their court... aye caramba!

2 comments:

  1. Good for you for being so proactive about your son's education. Keep us in touch re: what the district says. Hugs!

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  2. Hey sms... thanks for stopping by. I will deifnitely keep you posted on the district. School is out, so hopefully they will have something for me this week!

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