Little Man is back in school, and I am really hoping that this year goes so much better than last year. Since we did the testing and got the results at the very end of the year last semester, we are a little unsure exactly what this school year will hold for us.
It was a pretty rough summer for all of us. Between me being typical Emo Marie about our struggle getting pregnant, Little Man being gone for so long for visitation, my aunt passing away, and then the tragedy of Constable Bachmann... Well, let's just say I am totally on board with summer being over.
Surprisingly, Little Man being gone for a whole month for this summer's visitation seemed to work better for him than going back and forth every few weeks. But we have had him off his medicine for most of the summer to let him gain some weight back, and so there have been some struggles.
But we did make an observation. The side effects of the medicine that he was on far outweighed the little benefit that he was getting from it. So, for the time being, he is going to school medicine-free. And I am terrified. I keep waiting for the phone to ring with a call from the teacher about how she is at wit's end with him. He seems to really like her, and I think that is going to be helpful.
We are working on making changes at home, too, in order to make things easier for him. When I redecorated him room while he was gone this summer, I put most of his toys into plastic shoe boxes with lids. Each type of toy has it's own container. This has been a really great tool for helping him to keep his room clean. The Autism specialist told us in May that the reason that his room kept turning into a war zone and looked like a bomb had exploded in it was that there was just too much in there for him to deal with and he was getting overwhelmed. So I decided to try and compartmentalize things for him, because he seems to like it at school when everything has its own container or particular place.
They are going to be using a visual schedule for him at school. I honestly don't know what theirs is going to look like, but I found class schedules at the craft store that are dry erase and are large enough for me to fit his whole day on. Deputy D and I are hoping that by having a visual chart to refer to, it will help him know exactly what he is supposed to be doing at certain times. The down side to this is that if I put that 7:15 is the time for him to brush his teeth, we better be brushing right at 7:15 on the dot. Or there will be mass hysteria.
The other thing I am going to try is to post visual reminders around his room and bathroom about the order in which he is supposed to do things. I am hoping that all of this put together will help home life go much more smoothly this year as well.
We have an appointment with his doctors in a couple of weeks to assess the medication situation. He has filled out and grown so much over the summer, that I am really reluctant to put him back on any medication. But I know that I will do whatever it takes to get him the best quality of life possible and to be as successful as he can be.
Wish us luck, because we have not had homework sent home yet this year, and that was one of the biggest challenges last year. Once we get to that hurdle, I will be better able to predict how the year is going to go.
May the force be with us!
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