I told Russ I would post his art so the whole world could see it. He insisted that we also scan the 4 smiley faces on the back side so everyone could see it that too : )
Thursday, November 01, 2007
ADHD & an IEP, such a BFD, is it TGIF???
Acronyms, you gotta love them!
Well, to report on Russ, again, we've been on the med for almost 2 weeks. We are seeing improvements at school. He is finishing his work almost every day and the days he is not finishing his teacher thinks that he is learning to re-pace himself during the day. The other big difference is that he is taking more time to pay attention to details in his work. Especially coloring. He has always hated coloring, but he does need the practice to stay in the lines, work those fine motor skills and concentrate. Now, he really gets into coloring and is so extremely proud of himself. Yesterday he brought home some paper in he colored at school and he was thrilled b/c his teacher gave him 4 smiley face stamps (she is just a 1 stamp kind of gal) on it and announced in class what a beautiful job he had done on his paper and how proud she was of him for working so hard. So, he is regaining confidence at school and that is such a relief. Before he would not want to go to school, he'd want to be done with 1st grade and now he doesn't complain about school or wanting to be done with 1st grade.
At home he isn't as forgetful when asked to do something and once he's awake in the morning he can self start - no reminders to brush teeth, etc. He'll even make his bed without being told. The side effects we are seeing are decrease in appetite and going to bed later. The sleep issue is the most concerning, he's getting about 2 hours less per day. So, we have been trying to let him sleep in as late as possible on the weekends. And we are trying to make sure he gets better calories during the day when he eats. We see the psychiatrist next week, we'll see what she suggests to help with those.
And if that weren't enough going on with Russ - I had yet another IEP meeting about him and I have one more coming before Xmas. They tested Russ to see where he is with all his disabilities. He tested in speech and language. He did a fantastic job on speech and scores at a 7yr old level (he's 6 1/2) so he will be released from Speech Therapy! That is exciting!! His language score was a 92 which is the lowest 'normal' score for his age, so he could technically be done with language therapy too. His syntax scores are still very low, so we are choosing not releasing him language therapy, but will cut down from 2x per week to just once. He'll still see the OT for his fine motor skills, Russ has terrible writing and still has some issues forming letters correctly, but he is improving and hopefully with his new attention to detail, that will start to progress more also. We still have him in private therapy for speech and language, but she mostly works on his language issues. The private therapist also works for the district, so she is a wonderful resource when all this is happening and gives us great advice and guidance. I felt like his test scores were a good reflection of where he is at. We are so proud of him for all of his hard work!!!
I am glad to get a lot of this done before Rowan is born. It has been stressful and emotional. I typically don't miss having a drink when I am pregnant, but there have been a few days when dealing with all of this, I could have really used a good vodka tonic. I settled for some sparkling mineral water with lime instead and indulged in some chocolate! It is encouraging to see this all coming together for the moment. Hopefully the moment won't be a brief one!
Well, to report on Russ, again, we've been on the med for almost 2 weeks. We are seeing improvements at school. He is finishing his work almost every day and the days he is not finishing his teacher thinks that he is learning to re-pace himself during the day. The other big difference is that he is taking more time to pay attention to details in his work. Especially coloring. He has always hated coloring, but he does need the practice to stay in the lines, work those fine motor skills and concentrate. Now, he really gets into coloring and is so extremely proud of himself. Yesterday he brought home some paper in he colored at school and he was thrilled b/c his teacher gave him 4 smiley face stamps (she is just a 1 stamp kind of gal) on it and announced in class what a beautiful job he had done on his paper and how proud she was of him for working so hard. So, he is regaining confidence at school and that is such a relief. Before he would not want to go to school, he'd want to be done with 1st grade and now he doesn't complain about school or wanting to be done with 1st grade.
At home he isn't as forgetful when asked to do something and once he's awake in the morning he can self start - no reminders to brush teeth, etc. He'll even make his bed without being told. The side effects we are seeing are decrease in appetite and going to bed later. The sleep issue is the most concerning, he's getting about 2 hours less per day. So, we have been trying to let him sleep in as late as possible on the weekends. And we are trying to make sure he gets better calories during the day when he eats. We see the psychiatrist next week, we'll see what she suggests to help with those.
And if that weren't enough going on with Russ - I had yet another IEP meeting about him and I have one more coming before Xmas. They tested Russ to see where he is with all his disabilities. He tested in speech and language. He did a fantastic job on speech and scores at a 7yr old level (he's 6 1/2) so he will be released from Speech Therapy! That is exciting!! His language score was a 92 which is the lowest 'normal' score for his age, so he could technically be done with language therapy too. His syntax scores are still very low, so we are choosing not releasing him language therapy, but will cut down from 2x per week to just once. He'll still see the OT for his fine motor skills, Russ has terrible writing and still has some issues forming letters correctly, but he is improving and hopefully with his new attention to detail, that will start to progress more also. We still have him in private therapy for speech and language, but she mostly works on his language issues. The private therapist also works for the district, so she is a wonderful resource when all this is happening and gives us great advice and guidance. I felt like his test scores were a good reflection of where he is at. We are so proud of him for all of his hard work!!!
I am glad to get a lot of this done before Rowan is born. It has been stressful and emotional. I typically don't miss having a drink when I am pregnant, but there have been a few days when dealing with all of this, I could have really used a good vodka tonic. I settled for some sparkling mineral water with lime instead and indulged in some chocolate! It is encouraging to see this all coming together for the moment. Hopefully the moment won't be a brief one!
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