Tuesday, September 9, 2008

G5 Progress Report

Just wanted to give a brief update on how we are doing three weeks in to our new school/therapy year.

Kaylee has in-home early intervention therapy on Monday's and Thursday's. They work on pre-language, play skills and also reinforces the homework we receive at our OT and PT apppointments. She has Physical Therapy on Tuesday's. They work on strengthening her entire body since she has low tone through out her body. She has Occupational Therapy on Friday's. They work on her fine motor, mostly visual motor, such as feeding and putting toys in and out of buckets and such. 

Our schedule is pretty full, but we do get a break on Wednesday's which works out well. It's right in the middle of the week, so we can do girl things like shopping and playing. We have floor time to reinforce all the things that we have worked on in therapy for at least an hour a day. Many of the things Kaylee works on in therapy, she does on her own. She is a very motivated little girl.

Ethan is doing great! He is really doing well in his new inclusion program. He is in a class of 14 students, including him. There are four girls and ten boys. Ethan knows all the names of his classmates and even made a book about them. Ethan is learning to write his name. He is great at spelling it, we are still working on the correct formation of the letters, but he is really making progress. He has really come along with gripping crayons and pencils and he loves to do art in class. I met with Ms. Danielle last week for a conference and she said she just loves him and he is a pleasure to have in class. Ethan does need a little extra time to process language, so she gives him an opportunity to come to his own conclusions about things, which is a great reinforcement when we begin RDI for the boys.

Ethan is learning phonics at home and is doing quite well. We work on phonics about three times a week and we work on writing almost every day. He and Daddy color together almost every day too. Last night they watched "The Upside Down Show" on Noggin and did "Action Fingers" just like Shane and David. It was pretty cute.

Javi is doing awesome in his new program. We had a rocky start and we were really unsure of placement at first, but he is working things out. He is really getting adjusted to his new routine. He really has a busy schedule at school. He does a lot of work independently and is expected to do many tasks unprompted. He gets off the bus on his own and goes directly to the playground, then lines up with his mainstream class. He does inclusion in the morning for the first 15-20 minutes of school, which means he gets to go to a mainstream third grade class. Then he goes to his NSH class where they have a very busy schedule with a mix of different activities. He plays and eats lunch with kids in his mainstream class. He also does art rotation and will soon do computer and library time with the mainstream classes. 

I was exhausted just hearing about the schedule at Back to School Night, so I can only imagine how he feels doing it. He comes home in a good mood every day, so I take it he is enjoying it. He has made some new friends too, so we are happy everything is working out so well for him now.

We had a sleep over with Noah this weekend, where Javi got ready for bed with out any prompting at all. He went and got his PJ's, kid pull up, and brushed his teeth with out any verbal cues. Typically, Javi will try to get ready on his own, but will typically need refocusing, such as a reminder of where his PJ's are, brushing teeth or where to find his "underjams". Yesterday, he also worked through his homework independently with very little help.  

Javi has behavior modification on Wednesday evenings. This is really therapy for me, since she mostly works with me, making suggestions and tracking progress.  We met with our new behavior specialist last week, and she was great.  We really did not work well with our last consultant, so we are happy to have some fresh ideas with our new consultant.

We are very proud of all the kids and all the progress they have made.  It's really amazing to see them adjusting so well to so many changes.  Mom and Dad are still having trouble adjusting to such a full schedule!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit

Shanna Grimes said...

So true!

JSmith5780 said...

Really exciting to hear how well everyone is doing. Keep at it!

Mama Skates said...

i'm glad to hear that javi is having a better time at school - and also that the other 2 r doing so well! great news all around!

xoxox,
sharon

Shanna Grimes said...

Thanks ladies! We are very proud of them.