Back to School

So I got a call from the team leader of Liam's grade (who we had met with towards the end of last year). She set up a meeting with me to meet with his teacher and his science teacher (He only switches teachers for science and electives).

I went to the meeting yesterday. Much to my delight, Liam's older sister (who can do things specifically designed to terrorize her brother, as all older sisters only can) was very nice about Liam's luck of the draw this year. I told her who Liam's teacher was and the response was "Oh, she's really nice, EVERYONE loves her." I was very happy to hear that. Liam thrives with the kinds of teachers that kids love- which isn't neccessarily the same as the kind of teachers parents love, though often they're one in the same. I was a little nervous at first because the team leader is so friendly and nurturing and I thought she would have been a perfect fit for Liam, but the teacher he got seems just as wonderful.

I got to the school and we went to his new classroom to check it out. I was happy to see that his teacher had it arranged with the desks in small groups of 4 (which will remind Liam of how his 4th grade class was set up and put him at ease).

We sat and talked about all of the things that were on the list from the last meeting. All three of the teachers had Special Ed. degrees in addition to their regular teaching degrees and started out in Special Ed. which is fantastic. I was also thrilled that they really seemed to understand that the tics are not the primary issue with Liam, that that can be a problem, but it's also the impulisivity, anxiety and OCD issues that can be really tough with him when it comes to school. They also seemed to understand that handwriting and neatness should not be the be all and end all of how a student is graded (thank goodness!). When I mentioned that before he was diagnosed in third grade his teacher sent him home with hours of recopying every night because it wasn't neat enough and his letters were not formed properly, they all winced. (YAY!) We worked on a plan for sensory breaks that include a yoga ball in a room close to his room that's supervised and where he's accounted for. We also discussed ensuring that others in the building know about his TS so that he is not punished for making noises or fidgeting. His teacher was beyond thrilled to learn that he's very open about talking about it and willing to do a presentation for the other kids.

We set up a time for Liam to go in next week for him to meet his teachers,get his schedule, walk around the building, check out where his locker is and where the room he will be taking sensory breaks is going to be. His orientation is tonight, which he'll be away for, but I'll be here.

Overall I have a very good feeling about going into this school year. I'm really happy with our new therapist and think that will be a great match as well in terms of getting him adjusted to his new school.

Popular

WHEN I SEE DEPRESSING CREATURES
WITH UNPREPOSSESSING FEATURES
I REMIND THEM ON THEIR OWN BEHALF
TO THINK OF
CELEBRATED HEADS OF STATE OR
SPECIALLY GREAT COMMUNICATORS
DID THEY HAVE BRAINS OR KNOWLEDGE?
DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!

THEY WERE POPULAR! PLEASE--
IT'S ALL ABOUT POPULAR!
IT'S NOT ABOUT APTITUDE
IT'S THE WAY YOU'RE VIEWED
SO IT'S VERY SHREWD TO BE
VERY VERY POPULAR
LIKE ME!

Nothing quite as flattering as the veiled threat of a law suit. New name, same content. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but the changing the name of my blog won't hurt me ;)

Too much togetherness?

People keep asking how our trip to Quebec was, and overall it was a wonderful trip. It was jam packed with tons of sightseeing.Unfortunately, this made for some snippy parents and very tired little boys. Not to mention that sleeping on an air mattress (many times with one or two boys in our sleeping bag) did not help. There were other contributing factors to the lack of sleep- many nights it was our resident skunk. One night it was raccoons who thoroughly enjoyed the container of nuts that somehow missed the evening cleanup. One night it was Liam having a nightmare about being stuck in a straightjacket (he was really stuck in the foot end of his sleeping bag). He almost stood up and ran through the wall of the tent. Luckily, I made it to the zipper of his sleeping bag before that happened.
One thing that on reflection has been really tough for me is that being with Liam when he's not ticcing very much but having a TON of other TS related issues is really really tough as a mom. Much tougher than the tics. We seem to be getting a really good handle on our HRT and we even came up with a response for a new tic. Liam started shouting "SUCKER" at completely inappropriate times to his brother and sister. At first I didn't realize what was going on, having not heard any vocal tics for awhile and just ignored it at first but started asking him to knock it off when it got annoying. Luckily, Brian shot me a nasty look at one point when I said in a not so nice voice to cut it out. So I sat down with Liam during a quiet moment and asked him if it felt like a tic. We worked through it and were able to come up with a response. He's done an amazing job at working through it and I'm so proud of him.
What was much tougher on me, and on all of us, was the impulsivity and Liam's growing need for independence. It was unbelievably tough in two cities (especially the old parts of the cities with tiny sidewalks and streets that would suddenly change from pedestrian walkways to streets with cars zooming through them) to try to make him understand that racing away from us to play in a really cool looking fountain was not ok. I think because of the lack of tics lately, it's been much harder for me to remember that he can't control this and that it's part of the whole picture. We had a lot of discussions about trust and responsibility and explained to him that until we can get his impulsivity under control, it's really tough to give him the independence that he's craving.
Before we went on vacation, we talked with his therapist about setting some goals of things to work on that aren't tic related since his tics are pretty calm right now. I talked to him about working with his therapist on the impulsivity and seeing if that's something that we can work on together. He agreed, but did not seem very happy about the idea even though he knows that this is what he needs to do to be given more independence.