August 31, 2009

Dad's day at school

Jeff went to school with Moe on Friday to observe the class. Parents are encouraged to come and observe/participate once or twice a month, but it has been hard for me to do because of Jelly Belly. The last time I went, Moe was only a couple weeks into the program.

Jeff had a number of interesting observations, but the primary one is that Moe probably doesn't belong there. Moe does great when he is getting one on one attention at the center but as soon as a larger group is required, he shuts down and tunes out, looking out the window or staring at the lights. The student/teacher ration at the school is 2:1, which is fantastic, but may not be enough for Moe right now.

At one point, Moe was in the fine motor skills room and Jeff noticed that he was looking at an alphabet puzzle. Moe put all the pieces back in the puzzle (with a little help), but he could say all of the letters, including ones we hadn't heard him say before, like X and Z. The staff got a kick out of this, but they may not have seen this if Jeff hadn't pointed it out.

That's not to say the program has been detrimental in any way, but it probably isn't right for him. Jeff spent a lot of time talking to the director of the program and she agrees. This has been the most frustrating part so far. It has been hard to know what is the right thing, and it is hard to be patient with trial and error when valuable time is ticking away.

Meanwhile, we start individual OT on Monday and speech on Thursday.

We also meet with Dr. S on Thursday for the first half of the ADOS-1 assessment, which will eventually lead to a diagnosis. With or without an autism diagnosis, we need to get a very clear and specific recommendation from Dr. S so we can go back to SARC and request another change. We need to know what we should be asking for. And if we can't get the amount of one on one services we need, we'll have to go through insurance and/or pay out of pocket. We will do whatever we need to do.

For posterity, here are some of the things Moe has been up to lately:

  • More animal sounds (moo, neigh, woof, elephant, monkey, rooster). Loves the "see and say" toy.
  • Lots of "woof" when he sees dogs, real or in books
  • Saying words like "ball," "pizza," "bubbles" and "turtle."
  • Knows all letters of the alphabet
  • Says bye-bye, blowing kisses (occasional)

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