Splat Goes Life.

Jack was approved for the Level One waiver by the county. Not because he is so high functioning, as we barely qualified for another couple of years of services, but because he's such a pain in the butt. (You think I jest.. but it was a list of every horrible, no-good thing he did in 3rd grade that got him re-qualified). One of the things the Level One waiver could potentially help Jack with is sensory equipment- things like a weighted blanket. Up to the day we got approval and filled out the required million forms, etc, all we had to do was get a therapist at school to fill out a request form for a certain item Jack could benefit from at home, and then wait for the county service coordinator to pass it on. The school OT feels Jack needs a weighted blanket. He gets a lot of use out of the one at school, and he seems to like it- that's pretty much what they're looking for. A reason to pay for it. So I got the required form from the OT, and then passed it along to the s...

A month has nearly come and gone, and for the most part, it's been a relatively good month. Jack has gotten a lot of kudos from his Intervention Specialist regarding his general attitude (which we've also seen an improvement in here at home). He has not had any real physical aggression (til this last Friday), and has even made an effort to restrain himself from acting out. He still argues about school work, and is missing several assignments (and never brings home everything he needs for homework, or studying for tests), but his teacher has been very motivating. So there have been some negatives, but nothing serious, and there have been a lot more in the way of good behaviors. Then Friday hit. That morning, Jack was anxious because he couldn't find his 2DS, which he had just bought with birthday money. He likes to take his game system to school with him, so that he has something to do on the bus. He is allowed to have it as far as his teacher is concerned, but can on...

Sometimes I really hate when my kids say that. In this case, I just jinxed myself. Yesterday, I was thinking to myself while cleaning that maybe this is the school year when my kiddo is going to make a real turn-around. He has had his really rough moments- locking his teacher out of her classroom, slamming the door in her face, calling her an "Onion Head"... the usual things we've grown accustomed to. :( But then there have been really great moments, like him being a real leader in a group of students. There have been instances of other boys (some of them new friends) coming up to him to ask about a particular game that is popular among their age group. Moments when the teacher pulled Jack out of class to tell him just how impressed she is with him. Jack made up with the boy he didn't like, he has had a better experience (so far) with the bus driver.. his number one enemy here is himself. Yesterday, he left his classroom because he was getting upset. This is t...

So, our summer was.. decent, for the most part. We kept Jack on the same medication and dosage that he'd been on since before school started. As expected, there wasn't any reason to change it. In fact, I wanted to lower it, but whatever.. There were only a few incidents that I would consider "blow ups", one of them having to do with a discussion on behavior this coming school year. I think another had to do with a problem at a neighbor's house, and then another probably was just an off week for him I half expected our summer to be taken up with boys running in and out of my house all day long. First off, thank God that's not what happened. Second, I feel bad for Jack because I imagine that's how he expected it to go, too. One boy apparently told the others "let's get Jack to make fun of himself". Of course Jack didn't want to play with him after that. Another boy was just too damn bossy, and Jack told him as much. He never came ba...

I wasn't sure how things would end up by summer vacation.. they weren't good, but at least we got through it. Jack ended the year with 1's on all "characteristics of a successful learner". (A 3 is the best). I think he may have gotten a 2 for organization, but that's probably a stretch. The teacher didn't actually see much of him this last "quarter", because Jack spent most of his time in the Intervention room. We're due to go back to the University clinic on the 20th, and Jack's dad and I are pretty certain this Elavil is worthless. We have zero interest in him continuing on it, given the fact that his behavior is ALWAYS (95%+ of the time) worse at school. He doesn't care to learn, doesn't care to make friends, doesn't care to be nice. He would rather live in a dream world, where his stuffed friend Pika is actually alive and his bestest buddy. The fact that we're seeing a specialist (that we're thankfully not payi...

Like when you go to a Summer Resources night for parents of kids with Special Needs, and have a moment with the Special Ed director- who seems to have different information than I do. She mentioned that Jack had a really challenging time when a male Sub came in for the Intervention Specialist. Now, the IS doesn't tell me about every little thing that happens (unlike last year, when the teacher actually counted every single time Jack said a rude phrase to her- whatever it was, it was like 26 times). I get bits and pieces some days, more details other days.. then the behavior chart at the end of the week. (Which isn't nearly as interesting as the actual detailed account of every little thing he's doing, every day- I've seen that once, and boy was it enlightening!!). So I didn't know that Jack said something rude about the sub never coming back. In front of every one. In fact, my understanding was that Jack liked not having the usual IS there, and the IS herself ...

Not really.. but my mom would have if she were me, and I were my son. One of the neighborhood moms came by the other day to basically say she was glad I finally "let Jack out". She says half-jokingly that I should have done that 4 years ago, so the boys could get to know each other. The trouble is (partly) that I don't necessarily care for how boys play these day. I'm not into the roughhousing, the toy guns, etc. "Boys will be boys", but maybe I don't want my boy to be just like everyone else? In any case, he's out and quite enjoying himself. Pretty much. She did say that there was an incident one day, where he got tired of them playing the song "Happy" over and over again. He took off his watch, threw it (can't remember if he threw it at them or down to the ground), called them a bunch of losers and said they were all going to "burn in hell". Needless to say, I'm not overly thrilled. She did tell him that he was mor...