We received Brycen's report from school today about his progress on his two goals for the year. The year (36 weeks) is divided into 4 quarters, so the second quarter ended in December. We knew how great he was doing, but never guessed it was this much!
The first goal is on communication and is broken down into 3 categories: (A) Makes needs, wants and dislikes known, (B) Demonstrates Comprehension of Classroom language, and (C) Making Choices. Each category has 4 steps he is working on mastering by the end of the year. He has currently mastered the first two steps of A, the first 3 steps of B, and the first step of C. This definitely seems to go along with at home as he is still not cooperating with the use of many pictures and the making choices category is based on using pictures. The B category has to do with following a visual schedule and we all know how much he loves to have a schedule and know what is expected so it makes sense that he has made the most progress in this category.
In addition to these categories, the Communication goal is tracking the signs/words he uses throughout the day with consistency. The teacher notes on 10/20/09, Brycen used 5 words/signs consistently and in December 2009, that jumped to 23! I keep telling everybody how much his language has progressed over the last month, but I think this jump in numbers makes it clear to everybody that we are definitely not imagining it!
The second goal is on following directions and is broken into 6 different areas of a simple oral direction. Brycen has mastered the following areas of following direction be December 2009: Do your work, come here, take hands, put away, wait. He only has one more area (Sit down) to master and he will have accomplished this goal! With "do your work," he needs to put his name/symbol in the basket to show he is there in the morning and his lunch ticket in the tin to take to the lunchroom. I think "come here, take hands, put away, and wait" are pretty self explanatory!
When looking back to where he started in August, we never imagined he would make this much progress in 5 months and now that we see the data from school to show us exactly how much, we continue to agree that school was the best decision we could ever have made for him! Consistency and routine are definitely the best policies for Brycen!
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
Helen Keller
Thursday, January 28, 2010
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Autism and Our Family
"Autism"----It's one word that can change the life of a child and family in so many ways. Autism Spectrum Disorders are being diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 68 children currently. If you do not already know someone that has been diagnosed, the statistics say it won't be long before you do.
Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!
Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.
Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.
Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!
Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.
Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.
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