Changes Part I: Michael

We are about to have some BIG! NEW! CHANGES! in our life. We have decided to cut back on Michael's therapy and enroll him in a regular preschool. I really agonized over this decision as the ABA preschool is fantastic and he's made so much progress there. But, it is a 45 minute drive each way, which means Laurel is in the car for 1.5 hours to drop him off, home for an hour or so, and then is back in the car for 1.5 hours to pick him up. And if that weren't bad enough, it is scheduled in a way that keeps Laurel from taking a nap on the days we have to go, which means loads of HIGH INTENSITY TANTRUMS in the afternoon.

Hence the IV drip of tequila I've got running 24/7.

I spent forever debating the preschool issue with Michael's various therapists. Some were for it, others felt it might be too big of a leap. There was the option of combining the choices and having him attend preschool with a personal therapist (paid for by us) to help him, but wouldn't you know it, money doesn't grow on trees! I know...I was surprised to learn this too.

I spoke with my Fairy Godmother (the woman who has helped me navigate through the therapy world) and she strongly recommended the preschool her son used to attend. They don't have the "prerequisites" other preschools have for admission, namely that the child be potty trained and have solid communication skills. In fact, when I talked to the director about putting Michael in their program, she wasn't fazed at all that Michael is 100% NOT potty trained, or that he has just recently in the past week or two started saying the word "yes." They accept all kids regardless of where they are developmentally and work with them to achieve the class goals at their own pace. They even accept newly immigrated kids who don't speak any English.

And because my friend's autistic son attended there (as well as a couple other kids from Michael's ABA group) the preschool teachers understand the need to prompt kids to talk and participate. Michael's issue won't be obvious like aggression or tantruming, more that he's likely to quietly disappear into a corner for an hour with a toy. I told the director the teacher will need to make an extra effort to keep him engaged, and she said they would have no problem doing that.

WHOO HOO!!!

So he is now going to be attending the private preschool M/W/F afternoons from 11:30-3pm. He will also attend the special ed preschool on T/Th from 1:30-3:30. So every afternoon he will have school. I can't even begin to express how excited I am about this as after almost a year of isolation due to his therapy schedule, the boy REALLY needs to be around other kids. This will give him ample opportunity to not only get exposure to everything preschool provides, but the other kids will model language skills Michael will hopefully imitate. A little peer pressure to get potty trained wouldn't hurt either.

As for his 1x1 therapy, we are keeping the Wednesday morning OT session as is, however we are cutting back on ABA. We'll now have a therapist come to the house Monday and Tuesday mornings, and we'll go to Portland every other Thursday morning so Beth can evaluate him and adjust his curriculum as needed.

Yes, this sounds busy. Our week is basically full except for Friday mornings (which are actually no longer free as I just joined a playgroup). But the devil is in the details and the specifics of how it is set up will make the schedule a lot easier than it sounds. After ten months of heavy therapy, I'm finally figuring out how to make it work...for everyone.