Sam in School

After a fun and eventful summer, Sam is now back in school. He takes part in the STACC program at Freedom Elementary here in Keller, which is a program specifically for children on the autism spectrum like our boy is. He loves it!

We started him there last October, and he had a different teacher then. His new teachers, like his old one, are very sweet, very dedicated to kids with autism, and love Sam being a part of their class! Their names are Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Kim. They love Sam, and have said as much. They even said they want to take turns taking him home with them! They've set up a fantastic facility that includes a lot of toys, play centers, and a sensory room. The sensory room is really neat because it has things like a pit of corn kernels and a big swinging platform that can help the kids with their sensory needs. These activities help center them and calm them down, providing opportunities for their brains to organize sensory input.

A lot of Sam's classmates are older than he is, but that's easy to forget since Sam is so big for his age. Several of the boys' families have become good friends with our family, taking part in the boys' birthdays and joining together for play dates. Play dates are very good for our kids because of the much needed socialization practice that they get out of it.

At the beginning of the school year the parents, teachers, and other school staff have a meeting called an ARD to form what is called an IEP (Individualized Edication Plan). The purpose of this meeting is to formulate goals for our kids that the staff will work and report on all throughout the year. Since the needs of our kids are different, every plan is different. Sam's includes things like identifying parts on a doll, imitation, matching objects, following verbal requests, and self-help skills. Sam has just about mastered all his objectives from last year and we are about to meet again to discuss further objectives. The ARD meeting can be pretty stressful and intimidating. We've heard horror stories about school staff conspiring against lone moms who, in tears, find themselves in front of a panel of impassive, emotionless administrators telling her that they don't qualify for services but that "their child will be just fine." Our hope and prayer is that God will use the administrators to enact his will for Sam, and that we will qualify for better speech services for him, and that we will conduct ourselves as informed professionals advocating Sam's care rather than a couple of emotional parents.

Sam even gets to ride the bus to school! We decided to go ahead and take advantage of the offered bus services last year when he started school. The very first day was very hard. Imagine putting your three year old (he had just turned three) who you're very protective of on a bus and watching him drive away. I'll never forget that day, it seemed like a significant landmark of some kind. We got him dressed, put his little "Wiggles" backpack on, and with his juice sippy cup in one hand and my hand in his other, he went out the front door to discover a large, strange, yellow vehicle. He approached it easily enough at first, curious, but when he turned and realized that he was getting on and I was not, his little face was stricken with panic. The bus helper sweetly helped him into his seat and buckled him in, and I'll never forget his worried, shocked expression as the bus drove him away. I was smiling and supportive, but some kind of moist substance had gathered in my eyes as I turned back to the house, telling myself that he would be back in just a few hours. And he was! The next day and every day since then, he gets right on the bus with no problem at all, because he knows exactly where he's going and that that place is fun.

In addition to specialized classroom services, Sam also gets speech therapy and an in-home training program. The speech therapy is the one thing that we really wish was better, since that's Sam's most glaring need which separates him from his peers. He gets one hour a week, and that's not even one on one, its a group session! We are thankful for the fact we do get therapy at all, but we wish he got more. The in-home trainer is great, she comes in and works with him on his different goals.

All in all, we're extremely blessed to be able to be in a school district where they provide a place for our boy to learn and grow in an environment that's tailored for his needs. God was leading me years ago before we even had kids to buy a house in Keller, because I heard it was a good school district. Little did I know that the very school he would go to for his program was just a few blocks from our house. (Actually, Freedom Elementary wasn't even built then!)

Please pray for the following things for Sam at school:

• That the upcoming ARD meeting for Sam's IEP goes well, and he gets the services and goals that he needs.
• That he learns how to function and learn in a classroom setting, making him ready for normal kindergarten when the time comes.
• That he will get better speech therapy, the service which he needs the most.
• That he will be an encouragement and a light to those around him.