Friday, January 29, 2010

I think we finally have a fully happy transition...

...the one wrinkle we've been facing was the bus situation. Well, Rachel didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday while the staff underwent training, so we weren't going to see the effects of the many conversations with the transportation department until Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, (in theory) the supervisor was also on the bus. That day, the bus arrived just before 8 (maybe 7:57) and arrived at school at 8:45. Also, there was a note in her notebook that one child (from Rachel's class) wasn't going to be on her bus any longer and so it was expected that Rachel would be arriving even earlier. Sure enough, on Thursday, she was picked up at 8:00 (on the nose) and arrived at school at 8:35. That means that her bus ride time had been cut in HALF. We'll just say that I'm really happy about it and my faith in being a royal pain in the you-know-what can pay off sometimes. I'm told that she's doing really well in school as well. I'll be going to observe her next week which will be (hopefully) fun for me, allowing me to see how well she is really doing with everything.

The rest of the family has also been doing really well. Simon came home with a note from his teachers stating how well he's labeling things and how much he is participating in circle time and other activities. It's so nice to hear how well he has made the adjustment to this new school. This is especially true for Simon who, even though I haven't talked about it quite as much, I had a lot of concerns about because, unlike with Rachel, whom we've learned responds so well to the ABA techniques, we really hadn't seen how Simon learns. MPAC seems to be a good place for kids who just don't fit in the CAPP model or any of the PEP models. This worries me though, if MPAC is no longer going to be supported by MCPS. I really don't think he's ready for PEP, I know that CAPP is a BAD choice for him and I'm not sure what else there really is. I know.....MPAC is not TRULY going away (according to people who are within MCPS) but will be "incorporated" into the public school setting (by creating another program). I didn't see this process for CAPP (although I know this is what happened) -- but I may be in that situation for MPAC, and I'm not sure what to think of it all. I just hope it doesn't happen any time soon, or Simon may suffer for the change.

Even Daniel had a good week this week. It was a short one for him as well (4 days instead of 5) and he had a playdate earlier this week. And it was a chance for me to actually just LET the kids play, without 100% supervision. Overall, it went well and both boys seemed to have a good time. I hope that he wants to come over again soon and that others will follow his lead.

So, it may have taken a few weeks, but I think we're finally there and going on with our new lives. Simon will be going back to KKI for a Speech and Language consult late next week and perhaps we'll learn some new ideas to help him. Rachel's visit was quite informative for me (mainly because she was so cooperative) and I hope we'll have that again this time. And, as I mentioned earlier, I'll be going to observe Rachel in her class on Friday, so I can see how well she is really doing with everything and how well she is fitting in with her new surroundings.

I'd call this a good week!

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