Posts
Our big boy will be starting preschool on Monday! YEAH! He will be attending preschool from 8:35 - 1:45 /5 days per week. The teaching methodology used will be Verbal Behavior. He'll be in a Level 1 classroom to begin which is the most intense out of the 3 levels. The hope would be that he'd gradually move up to Level 2 and Level 3 before joining elementary school. I visited the classroom and met with the teacher yesterday and am really excited for things to come. They are all highly trained and educated on the principles of verbal behavior/ABA instruction. Tyler will be the 7th student in the class and there are 6 adults assigned to the classroom so that most instruction will be one on one even though it's a group environment. Speech and OT are all done in that classroom. They adhere to all of Tylers dietary restrictions and have an entire food program dedicated to sensory issues with food and an order at which they introduce new foods/textures. They make sure to use all Gf/CF food for these items as many kids in the classrooms are on the diet. They also have their own potty training program based upon the principles of Judy Coucovanis, potty training 'expert' at UofM. They have an upcoming training session for school/parents that we are going to try to attend. One of the mothers I spoke with said the school had her child potty trained 6 months prior to him being trained at home. They also have support groups for parents with child care provided on a monthly basis. We could not be more excited about our new endeavor. ABA recommendations are 40 hours per week so we'll still be supplementing at home as we can.
Anyway, Dad took Tyler into the classroom today so he could become familiar with the people and setting before being there for 5 hours on Monday and while having parent support. So the picture above is Tyler at school today:) He's the one in the plaid shirt since it's kind of far away
As for the transition to the classroom, as you can imagine, I am quite anxious. Even though he is in the best possible hands I still get very anxious about other people caring for him. I would have no problem with dropping Ben off at preschool as I know he'd have the time of his life adn would be great. But when you have child that can and will injure himself when frustrated, well that's just nerve wrecking! I'm assured by parents and teachers that they first two weeks will just be a big spoiling session essentially where they make sure Tyler thinks the preschool is the best place on earth. They do a play profile to see what interests him and what they can use as reinforcers later. Luckily on Monday, Dad is the one dropping off Tyler and I'm picking up. Tyler has no trouble at all when Dad drops him off at daycare but when I drop him off, he doesn't ever want to let go of my hand and sometimes he doesn't even want to get out of the car so the first day of school may be tough for him if I"m doing the drop off (and me too!!!). So that's it, our little guy now has his own backpack and lunch pail as he'll be eating breakfast and lunch at school.
