It is time to get back into the blogging routine. Both teen sons are now in high school. Matthew turned 15 this past June and Nicholas turns 17 in March. Since Dec 1st of 2010 Matthew has been funded by the State of California through the Regional Center for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which was for the behavior of putting holes in the walls (last count it was 21) with his pounding on the wall as he walked by.
Life skills are also part of the therapy - teach tooth brushing and toilet training. We have four nights a week for 2.5 hrs. One therapist for three nights and another therapist for one night. I will post another blog on the revolving door of therapists and supervisors we have had in less than one year. Another blog post will be on how Matthew went from being a poor picky eater to now consuming everything in sight, similar to a typical teenager. Toilet training is a slow process but will be covered in a blog as well.
Matthew's teacher has an adult son in a group home - this was the selling point for me for this high school and class - which is a CBI - Community Based Instruction with MRS students - Mental Retardation Severe. His two elective classes are JROTC - his uniform is sharp and I am waiting for the day he has to wear it to school so I can take a picture. His class is after lunch so might have him change his shirt with his aide prior to lunch.
The other elective class is drawing. I met the teacher at back to school night, where he mentioned his son has PDD. The bus that takes Matt and his aide to school also goes to another High school. On the bus are two students that Matthew went to elementary school with and they were all in the same Kindergarten. One of the aides was also in the First grade class Nicholas attended.
The good news is that LAUSD starts school three weeks earlier next year. They get out still at the end of June. There was one incident with Matthew getting out of the house via the backdoor when I was at the gym one Saturday and their Father was here watching them. A neighbor spotted Matthew coming out of the gate and dashing around the corner. She knocked on the door and had the Dad drive his car down the hill to catch up to Matthew - who was running in his socks down the middle of the street.
After learning of this escape and the first of its kind, I stopped going out on weekends and the Dad just comes for a quick visit on Sundays. I am not sure where Matthew was going - but he was on pure adrenaline. The neighbor ran all the way down to find him until the car got to him.
The lake that we used to walk laps around is being drained and under construction for two years so we found a park that is closer and Matthew enjoys walking at a fast pace around and it is filled with trees and shade.
Nicholas is still doing online schooling - taking Biology, Spanish, Modern World Studies, Literature and some other courses. There are some online clubs he is enjoying. I think I will send him to a camp next summer to work on social, life and community skills.
Showing posts with label life skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life skills. Show all posts
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Drive Home from School
Today I received a phone call from Matthew's teacher at almost 1PM. He said there was a bit of a problem with Matthew. I thought something really awful must have happened and he was hurt or hurt someone. But no the teacher said the aide had to leave school to take his son to the Doctor and since the aide needs to ride with Matthew on the bus and this year the bus route has no other aides on the bus - so I had to go pick him up.
The teacher should have just said I need to pick up Matthew instead of mentioning some sort of problem with my son that did not exist. He needs to use his words better and not cause panic for the parent!
There are four students, two personal aides and one classroom aide along with the teacher, so basically it is 4 adults and 4 students. I asked how the aide was able to get to his car since he parks near my house to ride the bus. The other personal aide drove him during their break, which left just one aide with the teacher for that duration. He seemed quite frazzled on the phone because the other two aides leave earlier than the time school gets out. The same thing took place at the Elementary school where the other aides shift ended earlier so that left Matt's aide to help all the other kids instead of mine. This resulted in leaving his jacket or communication device at school with the aide being distracted with other students.
Matthew is the only boy in his class this year - this is Middle School - 6-8th grades in a MRS class - Mental Retardation Severe. I chose the school because they follow the traditional school calendar where other schools are year round with months off at various times of the year and not summer.
This other girl was at the same Elementary school as Matt in another classroom and is a classmate of his. The Mom takes public transportation to take the girl to school as she does not want to put her on the bus. Matt's aide and I have told her it is not a problem.
I gave her and the girl a ride home. The girl kept saying Hello in the car and likes to kiss hands and wave - she was fine back there next to Matthew who was chowing down on some fries from Mc Donalds. The Mom was constantly telling the girl to be quiet. I mentioned I would not mind if Matthew would say Hello and be so cheerful.
I felt bad for the girl who has such a sweet disposition and likes Matthew. H seemed fine with them being in the car for the drive home. I went to Target earlier today to look for a jacket for Matt since the weather here in Los Angeles is getting colder and rain is in the forecast. All Matt has to wear is a fleece jacket.
Matthew is not the type of kid that will try on clothes for me to see if they fit, so when I buy clothing I try to leave the pricetag on until he has tried the item on. I picked out this great looking orange four in one jacket, with a fleece/polyester reversible inside jacket, the outer jacket has the hood. I showed him the jacket and he wanted to put it on. Later he tried the fleece side of the other jacket and wanted to practice zippering on the orange jacket. He knew I was surprised he wanted to take part in this since he was smiling and quite happy with himself.
Sometimes it is the little things that brighten your day. Now if only I could hear him repeatedly say Hello.
The teacher should have just said I need to pick up Matthew instead of mentioning some sort of problem with my son that did not exist. He needs to use his words better and not cause panic for the parent!
There are four students, two personal aides and one classroom aide along with the teacher, so basically it is 4 adults and 4 students. I asked how the aide was able to get to his car since he parks near my house to ride the bus. The other personal aide drove him during their break, which left just one aide with the teacher for that duration. He seemed quite frazzled on the phone because the other two aides leave earlier than the time school gets out. The same thing took place at the Elementary school where the other aides shift ended earlier so that left Matt's aide to help all the other kids instead of mine. This resulted in leaving his jacket or communication device at school with the aide being distracted with other students.
Matthew is the only boy in his class this year - this is Middle School - 6-8th grades in a MRS class - Mental Retardation Severe. I chose the school because they follow the traditional school calendar where other schools are year round with months off at various times of the year and not summer.
This other girl was at the same Elementary school as Matt in another classroom and is a classmate of his. The Mom takes public transportation to take the girl to school as she does not want to put her on the bus. Matt's aide and I have told her it is not a problem.
I gave her and the girl a ride home. The girl kept saying Hello in the car and likes to kiss hands and wave - she was fine back there next to Matthew who was chowing down on some fries from Mc Donalds. The Mom was constantly telling the girl to be quiet. I mentioned I would not mind if Matthew would say Hello and be so cheerful.
I felt bad for the girl who has such a sweet disposition and likes Matthew. H seemed fine with them being in the car for the drive home. I went to Target earlier today to look for a jacket for Matt since the weather here in Los Angeles is getting colder and rain is in the forecast. All Matt has to wear is a fleece jacket.
Matthew is not the type of kid that will try on clothes for me to see if they fit, so when I buy clothing I try to leave the pricetag on until he has tried the item on. I picked out this great looking orange four in one jacket, with a fleece/polyester reversible inside jacket, the outer jacket has the hood. I showed him the jacket and he wanted to put it on. Later he tried the fleece side of the other jacket and wanted to practice zippering on the orange jacket. He knew I was surprised he wanted to take part in this since he was smiling and quite happy with himself.
Sometimes it is the little things that brighten your day. Now if only I could hear him repeatedly say Hello.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
