New School
Zoë will be attending a new school in a few weeks. This is through her current school, which, as I've mentioned, is a specialty school for autistic spectrum disorder kids. This is an integration program, which is why the new school. Three of the children from her class are going to participate, though others may join later. Two of the teachers from her class will be in attendance all the time, even on the playground, so none of the kids from Zoë's school will ever be unsupervised on the playground or anywhere else.
I went to visit the school yesterday and it's pretty remarkable. They're a bilingual school, and all the signs are actually in German. This is good, because Andrew did four years of German (he went to Lutheran school!), I lived in Germany for three years (my German isn't very good, but I'm at least familiar with the language), and Miranda's school has German as their second language.
You might think that kids who have trouble learning language at all would have even more trouble learning a second language, but there are other autistic kids at this school (mainstreamed, rather than on an integrated program) and apparently they do catch on without too much trouble. One of the kids even says that German is his favourite class.
The school also has free range chickens! There's a nice, open air chicken coop big enough to walk into easily, and the chickens can get out and go in as they wish. The chickens, I'm told, all come out at break times to look for food. Smart chickens.
In the science room, they have all kinds of reptiles, including lizards and a long-necked turtle. There's also a garden patch that the kids are cultivating, and they'll use the produce in the science lab for various projects and possibly to feed the reptiles.
And this won't bother Zoë at all, but the school has a ton of stairs. Ugh. The school is built into a hillside, and has lots of different buildings that go right up the hill, with stairs to connect them in various places. If you're able-bodied, I'm sure it's not a big deal at all, but I've got bad knees (one more than the other, but they're both pretty much shot), and I found the stairs quite exhausting. There's absolutely no way that a physically disabled child could attend that school, and I suspect that a blind child would also have a lot of problems, which is probably why they have provisions for autistic kids. (Most schools can take some kinds of special needs kids; the one where Zoë's Nanna taught had a program for the deaf, for example, and Miranda's school is ramped and mostly on one level and can take kids with physical handicaps easily.)
So, this will be a big change for Zoë. I don't know how long she'll take to adjust to it. I think in the long run it will be really good for her, and I'm sad that her best friend isn't going to the new school (yet, anyway), but one of the other kids who is going has been in her class since the start of school. She'll also be able to continue with the "Girls Friendship Group" which has five little girls in it (including Zoë's best friend) and which is run by the speech therapist. Not sure about the logistics of that yet, but the two schools are pretty close an they have a small fleet of buses so it's not hard to transport kids back and forth.
Being a person who doesn't really like change much, I'm still a little bit apprehensive about this, but it is my genuine belief that after the initial adjustment period, this will be really good for Zoë's development. One of her biggest challenges, now that her speech is on track (she's still behind and needs speech therapy, but she can now speak in full sentences and tell lies and answer and ask questions and demand to be taken to McDonald's and lots of other good stuff), she really needs to get some of the social interaction going. She does well enough in an environment with just specialty teachers and other auties, but around neurotypical kids with age-appropriate social skills, she still sticks out like a sticky outy thing.
All in all, I think this is a good step forward. I'm in no hurry to see her mainstreamed, and we can take her out of this program if it seems to be too much for her or it's just not working out. Now all we need to do is buy a bunch of new school uniforms. The new school has completely different school colours...
Hooray, school is here!
It's been a long summer/Christmas break. We didn't go away on holiday, and while we did have a number of crafty type activities and a bunch of new DVDs, the kids were understandably bored and frequently fighting with each other, presumably to alleviate the boredom and drive me up the wall (also good for a laugh, ha ha, let's drive our mother insane with our incessant, pointless bickering, it's so funny when her eyes pop out of her head and the top of her head blows off and steam comes out of her ears, ha ha).
We had a lot of the usual physical stuff like sitting on each other and taking things away from each other, and a couple incidents of kicking, hitting, pushing down, and so forth. We also had a spate of spitting (ugh), this from Zoë. At one point she climbed up into Miranda's bed (Miranda has the top bunk) and spat on her arm for no apparent reason. Another time, I gave them each a drink of juice and Zoë leaned over and spat right in Miranda's drink! (I made them switch drinks.) Some days I wondered if there were any circuses around that had need of a fat, nearsighted, formerly American geekwoman with bad joints and a missing gallbladder, so that I could run away (I couldn't think of any act I could do, other than writing mildly amusing blog entries, and I didn't think the circus would hire me to do that, so I gave up on that idea).
Now, however, thankfully, school is back on, and things are better. The routine is back, they're asleep by 8:30, they're not perpetually bored, they're starting to seem like happy children again, and they're not beating each other up or spitting or making my eyes pop out of my head as the steam shoots out of my ears. They are still being pests to each other, arguing over whose turn it is to play on the computer or (this is worse) standing behind the other who is on the computer and telling her what to do and how to do it (don't you love it when someone tells you how to play your game of Solitaire?), but overall, they're much happier now, and so am I.
School is good. It exercises your brain and you're tired when you come home so you haven't got the energy to torment your sister. Very much.
I hurt my finger, too
Miranda found out firsthand that roses have thorns, while having a look at our neighbor's garden (politely, of course, not tramping through or anything). So at dinner, she announced, "I hurt my finger today!" Zoë piped up with, "I hurt my finger, too."
So we asked Zoë how she hurt her finger and she said a rainbow parrot bit it. We found this somewhat unusual, so we asked more questions... Getting a story out of Zoë can be an interesting proposition. She usually doesn't volunteer information in any way that resembles a story, and you kind of have to ask a lot of questions and piece it all together.
Which is just what we did. Apparently, a badly injured or very ill rainbow lorikeet was on the ground in the playground, and Zoë spotted it. She went over to the bird and tried to pick it up, and it bit her on the finger (poor thing was probably terrified). A teacher got a box and put the bird in it and took it to the vet, and Zoë got a bandage on her finger.
I did actually confirm this story with one of the teachers, just to make sure, and we had it right. Zoë knew exactly what happened. She just told us the most important parts first (that she hurt her finger, and that it was a "parrot" that bit her). You just have to ask the right questions!
School is good
Zoë started back to school on Wednesday. New teachers, mostly new kids in her class, although she knows most of them from the playground, it seems. One of the little boys from last year's class is in this one with her, too.
She's thrilled, to say the least. She's not quite back in the "gotta go to bed" routine, but she's so very happy to be going back to school. She practically runs to get on the bus, and when she comes home she's always tired but seems very happy and content.
We haven't yet met with teachers to work out a plan for Zoë's goals for this term. Last year, she met pretty much all of her goals and then some, so it'll be interesting to set some new ones and see how that goes.
She's speaking in complete sentences now, often without prompting, and using phrases quite creatively at times. For example, the other day, her dad asked her to tell him about her day at school and she was quiet for a bit and then said, "She lost her voice." Now this is from The Little Mermaid, but Zoë was using it to describe her feeling that she just couldn't talk (too tired, pretty much).
She's also asking for things ("Can I have this?") and telling us about things she sees or does (after seeing a particular commercial, she informed me, "We could get KFC Meal Deal and eat it outside"). She comments on a lot of things "Is a shower, not a bath"). Her pronunciation is still quite poor, and when people hear her speak, they know she's not up to speed in the speech department, but that's okay. She can answer questions and ask for things and describe things (sometimes), and the pronunciation and diction will come later. Just getting her to speak at all has been quite exhausting.
I'll leave you with something she said to me last night. Miranda was in the other room practicing the piano and I asked Zoë (who, by the way, has an excellent sense of rhythm), "Would you like to learn the piano?" Zoë shook her head. I persisted, "Wouldn't you like to learn to play the piano like Nanna and Daddy and Miranda?" Zoë informed me, "No play a piano. Play a toys!"
So there you go.
Upset Morning
Zoë didn't have a good morning. She got up, but was sleepy and grumpy, and then she spent a very long time on the potty. Her dad kept checking on her and she kept saying she wasn't done. Eventually, he had to tell her to finish up, but by that time it was getting late, and she didn't get to eat her breakfast before the bus came (she was given it, but the art of eating quickly is totally lost on Zoë at this point). She kept saying that she'd go in the car, that she didn't have to get the bus, but her dad wanted to make her undestand that this isn't going to be something she can be in the habit of doing, so he sent her out the door with a breakfast bar, which, it turns out, she wasn't allowed to eat on the bus for safety reasons.
She was crying when she got on the bus, and she apprently cried most of the way to school, and then for the first ten minutes or so of school. She kept saying, "I need to go home! I need to go home!" The teacher offered her the breakfast bar but Zoë was too distressed to eat it, and she had a cuddle with the teacher for a while and then decided that there were interesting things to do, so she got up to start doing them.
At morning snacktime she ate the breakfast bar, and she had a good time in the indoor recreation room and in the art room, and they had computers today, which she always likes. They also cooked pikelets (little pancakes for those of you not familiar with Australian dialect) in the classroom and Zoë was very excited about that, and she ate a pikelet with jam on it (which she won't do at home) and one with Vegemite on it (ditto).
I know all this because I went to the school after I dropped off Miranda to see how Zoë was doing, and I had a talk with the teacher about how it was going. I was prepared to take Zoë home if necessary, but she seemed to be doing well. When I saw her she was outside playing and about to come in, and she saw me and said, "It's a Mom!" and ran over to get a nice hug and a cuddle. She said, "Awww, it's a beautiful mom," and then she said, "I love you."
I asked her how she was and she said, "Okay," and I asked her if she was going to go back to school and she said, "Zoë school. Bye Mom!" and they headed off to the classroom.
I think the "it's a beautiful mom" line is because I often call her "my beautiful girl", but wherever she got it, it was lovely to hear.
Well, I guess this has been a lesson for all of us. For Zoë, it's a lesson in dawdling and eating when it's offered, for Andrew, it's a lesson in NOT letting the kid sit on the toilet indefinitely, and for me it's a lesson in Zoë's resiliancy and ability to recover from an upset.
Bus!
Zoë rode the bus to school and she was absolutely thrilled about it. She waited outside with her dad and when the bus came she shot onto it and leapt into a seat. The teacher who was supervising had to move her, as it wasn't her assigned seat, but she very happily put on her seatbelt once she got in the right seat, and beaming a huge grin, waved goodbye as the bus took her away.
According to her communication book, she had a fairly settled day, and they went on a walking trip to the local shops, which she enjoyed. She also came home with green hands. Apparently, they did finger painting, and it seems the color didn't entirely wash off of her hands!
She seems very tired and she's quite calm when she gets home. I think having a full day with lots of activities and outdoor play is doing her a lot of good.
Tonight Nanna was talking to her about what she'd done at school and at the end of the conversation Zoë said, "Whatever." (That's a completely new thing, I've never heard her say it before!)
Later, she was on the potty and she was making odd squealing noises and so I went in to see what was wrong. I opened the door and said, "Are you okay?" and she looked up at me, gave a little grin, and said, "I'm noisy."
She did give us a bit of trouble at bedtime. She didn't want to go. She wanted to lie down on the couch with a pillow and a blanket, and we would have allowed that, except that she wasn't lying down, she was playing, making noises, etc. Once I put her to bed, she fell asleep pretty quickly, probably because she was quite tired!
So, I'd say she's doing well in school. She certainly seems to be enjoying herself. She always enjoyed pre-school, as well, so I'm not surprised that she's enjoying school now. They go for walks, play outside, have lunch, they'll be going swimming every other week (she doesn't know about that yet), they have computer time and a nice full curriculum (today was mathematics and number recognition, among other things). I can't imagine that she wouldn't enjoy such a varied and interesting schedule!
Hooray! School!
Zoë had her first day of "big school" today. She wore navy blue "skorts" (shorts that look like a skirt) and a burgundy polo shirt that was rather too long (I got a size six because that's normally a pretty good fit, but these must run big, or long, because it nearly reached the bottom of her skorts!).
I made her a picture schedule that began with eating dinner, and included all the steps following (getting supplements, brushing teeth, having a bath, etc.), and she did her best to follow it, including actually saying good night and going to bed. She didn't sleep right away (too excited) but she did go to bed, which is a big thing with her.
When it was time to get up, her dad went in and said, "Zoë, time to get up for school!" and she sat bolt upright, fished around in the sheets, found her picture schedule, and said, "Morning!" because that was on the schedule, too (along with going to the potty, washing hands, eating breakfast, etc.). Andrew drove her to school (he was home from work on a personal day) and the whole way there she was saying, "School! Hooray!" and "Big school!"
When they got there, she stood in a bit of awe outside and then when Andrew started up the path, she realized she could go inside, and she was off like a shot. He took her to her room and introduced himself to the teachers and Zoë made a beeline for the Thomas the Tank Engine toy she spotted, and she shouted over her shoulder, "Bye, Dad!" although he stayed just a bit to talk to the teachers a little.
We arrived to pick her up a bit before the end of the day and saw her in the classroom. She looked very happy to be there, although she had the look of someone who isn't sure what she's supposed to do or how things work. Apparently, she'd been telling the teacher to "Go to the kitchen!" when she felt bothered (just as she tells me to "Go sit at your computer!" and tells Miranda to "Go to your room!"), and she was uncooperative at morning snack, but she did well at lunch and had a nice play outside, during which she, "Broke a knee" (she didn't break it, she only scraped it, but she insisted that she broke it). She also informed us, and I'm quoting directly, "I'm ready to go home now".
My jaw about hit the floor, I can tell you.
The teachers are great with the kids, very relaxed, obviously very skilled at working with autistic kids. The teacher even found the "go to the kitchen" command funny! (Zoë is, actually, a very endearing and entertaining little kid, for what it's worth; everyone who has worked with her really comes to love her.)
Tonight, she resisted going to bed because that's what she does, but I gave her the picture sheet and told her she could finish watching Futurama (that's "foo too wama" in Zoëspeak), and by golly, when it was over, she said good night and went to bed! I had to go in and settle her once, but the next time I checked on her she was sound asleep, hooray!
Tomorrow, she's going to ride the bus to school, something she's been looking forward to for weeks. The bus comes at 7:25 (eek), but Andrew is up and leaving around that time, so he's going to get her up, get her dressed, etc. and get her on the bus and then head to work, himself, which will allow Miranda and me to sleep a bit longer (and Tuesday is our "day off" when we have no scheduled classes of any sort, whew).
So, it seems her first day went well, and I've got very good expectations for her this year. I think she can't help but do well in the setting (extremely low child to teacher ratio, very small classrooms, specialized programs for autistic kids, etc.). She's made terrific progress over the past few weeks, and certainly over the past year. This year is going to be a big leap for her, I think.
Good day
Zoë was restless last night. It was hot, and she's never at her best in the heat, a trait she clearly got from her father (I'm the opposite, and hate the cold). She got up several times on flimsy excuses (go potty, need a drink, need a bandaid, etc.). I finally got her to go to sleep by turning off the light at the wall switch (so she couldn't turn it back on), and letting her sleep on the little foam couch that happened to be in their room (normally it's in the family room).
I was expecting her to be grumpy today, because it's an early day for preschool (she has to be there at 8:30), but she was fine. She was disappointed that there were no Cheerios for breakfast, but she had Weet Bix and didn't complain about it too much. She got dressed and got her sunscreen on without complaint, put her own sandals on, accepted a hair combing (although she did say "Ow!" repeatedly, mostly for effect), and was, apparently, perfectly pleasant at preschool all day.
She came home with a hat she made (it's got a wide brim and flowers on it) and in an apparently excellent mood. We'll have to see how well she does later in the day as far as her overall mood (it's going to get hotter, ugh), but she surprised me today already. Perhaps she'll surprise me more.
New school
We went for a meeting with the vice principal and the educational psychologist at Zoë's new school (i.e., the special school she'll be attending next year). It was pretty painless, really, just a formality. We had to sign a few papers and we discussed Zoë a little bit. But we had all our supporting documentation in order (letters and official assessments from all kinds of specialists, including psychologists, her pediatrician, audiologist, the teachers from her early intervention group, and some more that escapes me just at the moment). Everything was in order and there should be no problem at all with it. They're super well-funded there, and so have a very high level of scrutiny as to the children that get accepted, but they told us they've never had a child be turned down (because they do require all that supporting paperwork and do multiple interviews, etc.).
Later on, we'll take Zoë to the school and show her around and let her get a feel for the environment, and also we'll take some photographs to remind her of her "new school". Then, when school starts and she goes there, she'll be comfortable there.
And while I'm sure that she'll adjust to riding the bus (which is supervised by a teacher), I'm not sure how she'll take it at first. She may be totally fine with it and just take it in her stride, or she may get really worried an upset when she leaves me, I really don't know. I haven't yet devised a plan as far as Zoë-on-the-Bus goes. Guess I'll figure out something closer to when it happens.
I'm looking forward to her going to this school. Five days a week, half days for the first week and then full days for the rest of the school year will be a break for me (not that I don't like being with her, but she is pretty "full on" and she can be a real handful) and I'm absolutely sure that she'll benefit hugely from the specialized environment and programs there.
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