Up to Date... Here We Are Now

For anyone who may be following this blog, I apologize for the length of time to update it. It is after all - "sick season" around here, when any virus going around seems to strike every school child. They, of course bring it home. We all got it... But are finally on the mend, so here goes.

On August 1, Anthony started ABA services. We had to have the same assessment, and meeting to determine his status as we had with Daniel almost 2 years before. Later that month he started PALS with Daniel. The best thing for me, and I think for them as well, was that the same teacher who had been our "in home" teacher for Daniel a couple of years before was now the teacher running the PALS program. She already knew what the boys could do when they were 18 months old until they were almost 3.

Picture by Chrissy Kelly (A wonderful photographer who's son is in our class)

The PALS program has brought the boys forward in a great way. They are meeting some of the goals they had not previously reached. It is great because the teacher and the IA's (Instructional Assistants) work to make a program to help the children flourish. There is generally one IA to one student, when the class size allows. The classes are also kept to a minimum size. They use Daily Schedules to guide each student to where they are to be. They have individual programs, group stations, social interaction time, recess with a typical kindergarten class twice a day, story time, and eye contact. They generally do each part of there schedule once or twice a day. Also, the children are taught to interact with each other with the social graces (i.e., learning to say Hi and Bye to each other). The wonderful thing is that our PALS program (and I hope others too) work with the parents and the current ABA instruction the kiddos are receiving.

I hope these programs - ABA and PALS like classes -  if not available everywhere would soon become available. Having the school, ABA program and the families doing the same things is wonderful for the kiddos. It helps them to learn a little bit quicker (sort of), because unlike typical children who can remember simple tasks and say, the alphabet,or numbers after so many times of repeating it, it takes an autistic child so much longer.

We have also found that going certain place with our boys will allow them to "open up". It's different for each child, however, the more stimulation that a child enjoys without "shutting down" seems to allow them to express themselves in certain ways. Not necessarily like a typical child, but we have found that we can see our boys - beyond the autism. I'll write more about that later.