Well, on blance, that sounds real good, Akita. I'm, too, beginning to relax a bit with the regular kindergarten placement - things are going pretty well here, too. There's been a few bumps along the way, but no catastrophes. Sounds like the case there, too!
Oh, Evie's had some accidents, too - not the potty kind, but she's already had to be changed at school three times for spilling drinks or food on herself. She even dumped her whole tray on the floor the other week! The first week of school, she came home with two 'injury reports' due to falls and scrapes. Poor kid, trips over her own feet!
Hi Everyone,
I haven't been online for awhile, I've been pretty busy with work, family, etc. I also felt I needed a mental break from the blog.
I just wanted to post on how my twins (1 dx - pdd nos, 1 nt) are doing in kindergarden as well as find out how everyone else kids are doing.
The plus side
Well my son who is dx loves school, from what we hear he is socializing with the other kids alot.
The academic part of kindergarden he is doing fine, most of it he knew already.
He is transitioning well from each learning center and is using his speech more and more.
Negative Side
He does need to be directed often and be reminded to keep on task. Part of the problem is that he has a focus issue the other he likes to socialize. His socialiozation skills have been getting better since we put him in Kid Esteem which is a social therapy group after school I send him and his brother to. He also gets 1 social class a week at school which is also helping.
He had 2 accidents (number 1) but from what I hear that is common, so for a month an half thats not bad.
His speech still needs to improve alot but thats been the casse all along.
I'm not fretting about the focus issue just yet, its only been a month and half but I am going to start researching on how we can attack this issue, so if anyone has any ideas. That would be great
Good thing is that his non - focus is not disruptive and it was great we had a shared aide for him. From what I hear she is good and she is not all over him, she helps all the children. Currently he does not stand out in the crowd.
My other son (NT) is doing good as well but had some separation anxiety, he cried in the morning and at school sometimes, saying he missed mommy. This is the first week he hasn't cried. So for him all is well.
I hope this last for both of my sons. I'll find out more at the 1st parent teacher conference in Nov 16th.
Thanks
Hi there.
My son Migs is being mainstreamed in a Nursery class. He was diagnosed PDD NOS at age 2 1/2. Like your son he has difficulty focusing, but is at times disruptive, and his attention is often called. He has extremely excellent memory, so his shadow teacher finds it hard to berate him, when he knows everything that's going on, but acts like he doesn't pay attention. He is verbal , but at age 4 1/2 his speech was evaluated to be at 2 years of age. He reads at Grade 1 level, but comprehension is not up to par. He is obsessed with numbers and can add, tell time, and discuss his schedule for the month or on a day to day basis. He is not social and has difficulty having friends and acting appropriately.
Right now, we're working on improving his poor eye contact with gummi bear rewards for long eye contact. We've been teaching him to look at the nose if he is afraid to look at the person's eyes. We've been looking at strategies to get him to stop his verbal stims of asking repetitive questions, by redirecting them to other kinds of topics.
On improving focus and short attention span, we get him to practice writing each afternoon to improve his handwriting. We've been doing auditory therapy (this has helped desensitize him to some sounds already and improve his listening skills). and we are currently looking at placing him in a gymnastics class for 3 to 5 year olds so he can channel all that energy into sports. Hopefully, it will help him develop the focus and discipline that he needs to do well.
Hope this helps. Good luck to you!
Hi ,It sound like things are going well with your boys ,My son just started kindergarten as well,so far so good,he has a 1-1 aid but really I think he is doing ok and she is able to help others as well.
The only thing he is having problems with is being a little hyper, and leaving the class to go to the fountain without asking,but were working on this.
Movement breaks help my son focus better,I just have to convince the TA of this,I have an appointment on Monday with the school.
Good luck,Linda
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all your replies.
Just to answer a few questions that was brought up before.
Well the focusing issue has always been there. The teachers have not said it was a problem at this point or even said it was out of the ordinary, but I know my son and I know this will be a problem in the future. The only reason why we bring this up is because we have written 2 notes to his teacher/speach teacher and spe teacher separately and they all say the same thing, so its a trend we see developing.
Currently I don't think they are addressing it besides just re-directing him but what I want is for him to start to get conditioned regarding knowing when he needs to stay on task.
One reason why they said he needs to be redirected is because he is starting to be more vocal and alot more social which is good. We worked on his speech, socialization and academics so much that focusing may not have been top on the list as well as its seems to be the hardest thing for him now, with the exception of speech.
To answer someones question we do have him in extra curriculur activities, such as a social play group and soccer. Soccor is a new one and so far it has been shall we say alittle dificult for him and his brother, one doesn't focus and the other is scared.
I use to have them in swimming and karate I think I will put them back into that in November, Karate is expensive so I have to find a new place. I think for my sons individual sports are better compared to team sports, their seems to be to much stimuli for him as well as my other nt son, he gets stage fright shall we say.
I will check about given him breaks to stretch and so forth but I am not sure at this point if he needs it. So far we have not seen any melt downs.
Does anyone use meds to help with their childs focus, I think he maybe to young (5 yrs old) but am I researching it.
For me with the exception of speech and some quirks its hard to tell him from a nt chikd but as he gets older it maybe painfully obvious, so for us we are trying to plan on how we can better deal with that. We may also try to start sending my nt son to sibling counseling so he better deals with his brother. I can see he is starting to pick up his brother is different than the other kids. Does anyone have any expericience with this.
Thanks all
Hi Fred,
Its nice to hear from you. I'm glad everything is going well for daughters.
I guess for me we have to start to address my son's focusing issues.
That is gonna be a tough one, I haven't started to contact the teachers yet because I wanted to get a plan of action I wanted to take. At this point I am just going to talk to some professionals prior to meeting them and evaluating what they are currenty doing.
Its times like this I get tired of the whole thing. It never ends.:-(
Anyway good luck
How about getting him some motor breaks? At my ds' school, ALL of the kids go to a room each morning for stretches and exercises (he is mainstreamed). The teachers report that on the rare occasion that they don't do the exercises (because of a change in schedule for something like a pep rally) that they notice a HUGE difference in all the kids. My ds' teacher still does a few exercises in the classroom even if they can't do the 20 minute routine and she said that helps.
If ds gets fidgety (which hasn't happened often), the teacher knows to send him to the office (all the way across the building, which is big) to "deliver" something. The ladies in the office know then to give him something else to "deliver". A para will go along (way behind) and shadow him to make sure he doesn't get lost, I believe. But, this gets him out of the classroom and gets him some time to stretch his legs and get a break. Or, you could ask for him to go to the resource room for 10 minutes to jump on a trampoline (assuming they have a resource room and/or a trampoline that is!).
Also, giving him something to chew on (you might have to get that put in his IEP as most teacher won't allow chewing gum or eating in the classroom). That can help with focus as well. My ds is allowed to chew gum in the resource room for about 1/2 hour after lunch.
Just some thoughts. It sounds like it's going good though so far!
Akita, are they indicating that the focusing issues are atypical? From what I hear, there're lots of kids who, in school for the first time, tend to lose their focus frequently and it's not considered abnormal, really. The teachers know how to get them back on task. Have they indicated that it's a problem that needs specific intervention, or just mentioned it in passing?