Saturday, April 24, 2010

Closing Gaps and Introducing New Ones

Things kinda got a bit nuts around here lately -- started talking about one thing and then life got in the way before I could finish, so I never finished stories that have started. So, I'm going to try to bring things more up to date.

Let's start with the dog. I mentioned earlier that we had filled out paperwork to bring home "Minnie". Well, she came home on April 11 and has been renamed Domino (as in the game since she's black with splashes of white, mainly on her underside). It's been nearly 2 weeks now, and the adjustment is still ongoing. She's a nearly year-old black lab/pitt mix, but her temperment is nearly all adult lab, with some minor exceptions. She is great with me and Kevin. She's doing better and better with Daniel, as we are having Daniel give her more of her food now that he's starting to get more comfortable (but she does jump on him occasionally). We are still working on introducing Domino to both Rachel and Simon. Thus far, she's a little too rough for them. They both seem to enjoy seeing her, but when she's out of her crate, she's a bit too jumpy for them and they both get a bit frightened. She also reacts poorly to them screaming, and being autistic, their screaming is a common occurrence. I also think that Domino is trying to make sure she's higher in the "pecking order" than either of the twins. We are sending a message that her assumption is false. Whenever the twins are around, Domino is either in her crate or on a very short leash. Things are starting to get a bit better now. Also, Domino seems to dislike other dogs. We are going through puppy training to get her socialized so that she won't have these problems over time. We've only had one session thus far, and it went all right (for the most part). Our next one is tomorrow. I've been practicing with her, so hopefully things tomorrow will be smoother than the first week.

Simon and school is a much more complicated situation. I did send an email to both MCITP to try to remind myself why CAPP was not felt a good option for him at the time of his initial IEP meeting and to MPAC asking for some general advice. I have a meeting next week with the administrator to discuss how Simon is really doing and then I can try to bring up my specific concerns. I'm not really sure whether I'm going to bring up CAPP or not -- I probably should to get her take on things since she used to administer the CAPP program as well. But I'll have to see how things are going during that meeting. I know I'm going to bring up the flux of teachers (specifically losing the teacher who he bonded with, even though all the notes to date say that he's not missing her) and how, despite seeming to take so well to the program at first, is backsliding. We saw this at MCITP as well and things really didn't get better until he transferred to MPAC after his birthday. I don't know what we should do about it this time and what we can do to fix the situation.

I hope there aren't other unfinished situations on here. If I notice any, I'll try to close them out as well.

1 comment:

  1. You guys have been on my mind a lot lately. I was wondering how the doggy adjustment was going. Christian is terrified of dogs right now after being pinned (she was only playing) by an 80 pound German Shepherd last fall. I hope the twins start adjusting to the dog...she will get used to the screaming though...lol...she won't have a choice. I am glad you have a meeting about Simon, you are amazing for pushing through with that and always asking questions to make sure he is getting all he should be getting out of therapy. Hang in there and keep us posted.

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