ARD Meeting Success!

Our ARD meeting with the school officials was a success! It was last week at Freedom Elementary, Sam's school. Present at the meeting were Melissa, myself, a Vice Principal, Miss Kecia (his teacher), his speech therapist, a diagnostician, and a kindergarten teacher.

We talked about Sam's progress in the past year and Kecia and the speech therapist showed their proposed goals for his next school year, which they had previously shared with us to insure that the goals they were formulating were the best for his needs. We are incredibly blessed to have them...they are very good at what they do and very dedicated to our boy.

Then came an awesome surprise... they approved for Sam to be in a kindergarten class once a week! This is a great thing because the more Sam can be in a classroom setting with his peers, the better off he'll be when it comes time to really enter kindergarten and it will positively affect his success there. It also means that he's deemed able enough to sit and learn alongside the other kids without being a distraction. A lot of autistic children are unable to do this...they have so many distracting behaviors that it would make it unfair for the other kids and impede their ability to learn. This is Sam's chance in the 'big leagues', and we pray that he will step up to the challenge!

We're so thankful of the professionals God's entrusted to Sam's educational needs, and for a great meeting.

Things to please pray about:

• THANKFULNESS for a great meeting, the awesome teachers, and stellar reports on Sam's progress
• That God will continue to use the school professionals and give them insight into Sam's needs
• That Sam will be able to sit and learn well in the kindergarten class and not be a distraction to the other kids