9/8/2011

Let's just say that the transition to Kindergarten has not gone as smoothly as we would have liked. We've had significant problems in the transportation department for Tyler. Bus info was never sent to us, after calling dispatch it was because the preschool gave them teh wrong addresses even though the form I filled out in the spring clearly had the correct addresses listed. Pick up our house, drop off at Annies. So Ty gets picked up at hour house at 8:13 and Ben gets picked up at a stop on a different bus at 8:25, they go to different schools. The plan is for Steve to get them on the bus so that I can get to work by 8 so I can get out in time to pick them up. We pay to have Ben in extended day kindergarten and there is no bussing for that as it's considered day care. So we have TYler sent to Annie's so that in case I couldn't get home in time (we didn't know bus times util 2 sdays before school) that Tyler was in good hands or in the case that I was out of town or Ben and I coulnd't get home in time, etc. TYler had somewhere to go. Impossible for me to pick up both boys at the same time at different schools. So anyway, firs tday, no bus show for Ty. Steve dropped Ty at school and I met Ben's bus at his school to take him to class and get him adjusted on the first day. After school, this is where my nightmare began... picked up Ben on time. We went to Annies to pick meet bus for Ty. About 10 minutes after his drop off time, I got a call from Ty's teacher telling me he'd be late. The bus had just picked them up and they didn't have any informatioh for Tyler. She gave them our home address... at that point I thought it was our current address. I freak saying I'm not at home, I'm at his drop off location, which I had just confirmed again with dispatch that mronign after calling them with my concerns that the bus never showed. She said, oh, well let me call transportation. I said ok, I'll head home if that's where they are going. Stressed at this point trying to figure out where Ty is and when he'll be home, the teacher calls me back. She says that she can't get a hold of transportation (rings busy) but that they have my address and he's on bus 15 ande he'll be home at some point. That's when we realize, she gave them the address faxed over on the form from preschool, not the one I filled out, but the one they kept getting wrong back in January on for all his forms.. Um, it wasn' t Annie's or our house. So now I'm freaking because I don't khnow where TY is, where he's goijg or how to get him. She said oh, let me call transportation. Just keeps ringing busy. She calls me back (awesome teacher) and says she snagged another bus and used their radio to make sure Ty's bus had his proper address. She said there was a lot of radio traffic but the bus driver didnt' know where that address was and other drivers were trying to assist and that's all she knew. So at this point, Mama loses her composure..not on the teacher of course she's great, but at the situation. I was royally pissed off that I had talked to transportatiohn 3 or 4 times prior to school start and even that mroning to make sure it was right and at this moment, I had no way to go get my son or even know where he was and the driver didn't know where he lived. Steve as on his way home and knew of my worry, he somehow flagged down a busy near our house that happend to be Ty's and said I'm Tyler sdad, do you have him? The bus driver said yes, relieved to find a parent. Next morning... no bus. Mind you Ben's bus is going great! I was not at all comfortable with Tyler riding the bus home so I pulled him out of school early so I could pick up Ben on time too. So with both boys happy and safe with Mama, I get a call from the director at Annie's at 5 p.m. She said she just wanted me to know that the bus had just came to Annie's and tried to drop off a kid claiming it was Tyler. Luckily she knew Tyler very well and said, that's not Tyler. The driver insisted it was Tyler and she said, no it's not, and you aren't leaving here until you tell me where Tyler is. Driver called transportation and confirmed that Tyler was picked up by a parent. (Driver knew this because the Teacher had previously told them). So she said ok, who is this kid. The driver didn't know. He was a non-verbal child with autism. She said you need to open his backpack and figure it out. he said he coulnd' t open personal belongins. She said, ok I will. She found out who it was. She gave me the childs name and I told her I knew the child and needed to get a hold of his parents. I called a friend who called the teacher who called the parent. I called Annie's back to see if the driver had told her where he was taking teh child. She remembered the street name so I called the teacher to tell her what I knew and at that time I found out the child made it home safetly. ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE that a nonverbal child with autism was almost dropped off at the new location. And the director at Annie's told me that she just hired new people, had one of htem got "tyler" off the bus,other than name, they would not have a clue how to reach his parents or where he belonged. Furthermore, imagine of one of these kids, who can be somewhat difficult at times, were left in teh wrong hands. Just frightening. So anyway, that' s what we've been dealing with this week.

From the kids perspective, Kindergarten is going great. Ben knows a couple kids in his class. I asked him today if there is anytihng he doesn't like about K and he said no. Yesterday when I picked him up he was cryihng. Teacher said he got frustrated with teh sleeves of his coat but worked through it. Good, toughen up kid. Sometimes he is overly emotional about the smallest things, she's gonna be good for him!

Ty's teacher and speech therapist are both really excited to be working with Ty. Day 2 notes said that when speech was working with him, he pointed to a bus, then went to a # chart and pointed to #15 and then pointed to the bus's outside. Um yeah kid, that was the number of the bus that you were stranded on yesterday, so smart! She aid she knows she wasn't telling us anything but they were so surprised at how smart he was. Very impressed! Today she told me that speech programmed a bunch of new info into Ty's dynavox and she only needed to show TYler once and he got it all. She said he was even using it to joke around with speech. She asked himhow many cookies he wanted, he waid 8, she said you can't have 8, 1 orr 2. He pushed 8 again and giggled, she said, no one or two and he chose 2. We are so lucky, she was a big advocate for us last year to get him some Assistive technology but she didn't khnow him or work with hij then, just took parent and teacher testimonial. Now she's his actual speech therapist and just super excited at his potential... me too :)

Other than that we are just adjusting to the new schedule and me trying to get in my full timework hours and pickinmg up the boys each day from school. Never realized how many errands and stuff I could get accmoplished until now that I'm not getting a lunch hour.

Oh, we got an email from teh Judson Center about an ABA scholarship... we are going to apply, I thinhkh we'd only have to pay around $400 but there are 15 hours a week of home programming. We hope if we get it, to use it towards TY's independencec skills. Potty traihihng has been a struggle for 2 years, dressing, teeth brushing, hand washing, etc. The skills Ty really needs to move forward in his education. Wish us luck.

xoxo
Sorry for spelling errors, in a hurry and didn't have time to correct