Back to school...

I am pleased to announce that after a slight delay (a few days due to his illness) Beau started back to school yesterday and had a great day.  He goes to a special education preschool classroom and started going there in March of this year.  He didn't get much school experience as school was out at the end of May, but in the short time he was there, he seemed to do extremely well.  He has his same teacher, a wonderful young teacher that is eager and excited to work with these kids.  She was a long term sub last semester and at the end of the year beat out a lot of applicants to get the full time position.  Thank goodness for that because she does so good with these kids.  Right now there are 2 aides and Ms. Tyna and there are only 3 children total in the classroom.  There will be 2 more children joining in the next 2 months, but right now he gets the one-on-one he needs, especially for safety reasons with his horrible balance. 

One thing that Ms. Tyna did that I was so happy about was that she modified the traditional PECS (picture exchange communication system) system by taking real photographs of items (i.e. his seat at the breakfast table, the sink, the potty, the different stations in the room, food that they typically eat at school, etc.).  Beau has always responded so well to REAL pictures as opposed to the computerized pictures the PECS system uses.  I know they want these children to learn these because they are very universal - for instance, not all sinks look like the one at school, etc. - BUT I want to use whatever will help Beau to be successful.  If the system doesn't work for everybody, let's modify it so that we can make it work for others.  Therapists and educators used to fight me on this, but now they are starting to come around to my way of thinking when it comes to Beau.  Take the extra time, take real pictures and mix them in with the other computer generated ones if you wish.  Modify your plan to fit the needs of the child.  Beau's teacher took the time to do this for Beau and on his first day of school she said he did GREAT with the picture exchange system.  It was all because she individualized her plan for Beau and took the extra time to help him, making it more possible for him to become successful.  There should be more teachers out there like Ms. Tyna! 

All in all, a great first day for Mr. Beau.  He's still a little wobbly and a little extra tired from the medication increase, but slowly but surely we are getting back to the pre-prolonged seizure Beau.  He's resilient, he's tough, he's charismatic and extremely loving.  Who could ask for anything better?