We are almost at an end of The Captain’s first day of school, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Has it been seamless? No. Has it been better than I ever dreamed? Yes, definitely.
The first day he came home with a note that said, “I had a great first day.” It looked like a form note so I didn’t attach too much importance to it. That evening, however, I got a note from his advocate at the school saying she had checked on him twice and all seemed well. Since then, I have run into the music teacher, heard twice from his kindergarten teacher, and had a call from the art teacher. All are thrilled with his progress and think things are going great. I have a couple of unanswered questions about his service plan, but hopefully I can get those cleared up today.
Looking back, we were so scared to leave our old school and the amazing Mrs. Rose. I wasn’t sure if the whole school district offered amazing Special Ed or if it was all Mrs. Rose. She was an amazing advocate and all-round sweetheart, so she set our standards high. And let’s face it– the jump from two hours a day in the cocoon of an expressive language program to seven hours in a regular Kindergarten was a big leap.
There are some wrinkles. Every day upon arriving home, we need to blow off some steam. Sometimes I am able to facilitate that in a healthy, socially acceptable way, but most days he pushes, pushes, pushes until he can get me to say something for which he feels justified in having a giant fit. He just seems to need the fit. Yesterday, we avoided it, but only because he spent his hour of therapy yelling loudly and jumping around the room like a monkey. But whatever, works, right?
It has been a great start to “real” school. Now cross your fingers for us!