Back to school

My daughter, Elizabeth, returned back to school today. Although she only attends Kindy once a week, I still looked toward this day with a deep sense of apprehension. I was especially worried about the composition of her classroom. Last year she was blessed to be in a class with four other little girls. Would she be so lucky this year? Some of the boys at the school are quite loud and boisterous and I did not know how would she cope with their outbursts and tantrums. Although Elizabeth is a tomboy in many ways, she is still a very gentle child.

Last night I packed her lunch, laid out a set of clothes, as well as a second set for her bag, washed her hair and trimmed her nails. This morning after an extra big breakfast we were off to school, picking up Nan on the way. When we arrived I was happy to find out that she was in the same classroom as last year with the same Teacher. But the Teacher’s Aide was new and, to my great shock, she was in a classroom of all boys. I thought perhaps that there would be one or two boys in her class, but to be the only girl? I was very disappointed and knew straight away that I did not want Elizabeth in this class. Elizabeth needed social role models and boys are not social at the best of times. None of them even looked Elizabeth’s way. Elizabeth seemed very happy when I left her but there was no way she was going to remain in a classroom of boys for the entire year.

As soon as I got home I rang the head of the EDCP, Bronwyn, to discuss my concerns. She thought Elizabeth would do well in that class as they were at all the same level and they would work on the tasks together, unlike last year where she thought that the other girls babied Elizabeth. Elizabeth really came ahead last year because she was with a group of older girls who proved to be excellent role models. In the end, she agreed to move Elizabeth to another classroom that had a few girls. I certainly don’t want to be one of those nuisance Mum’s but I know what is best for my daughter and I am glad I stood my ground on this issue. Perhaps, if there was one other girl in the class I would have been more contented to let things be. Now, I just have to contact work to see if I can change my roster …

Kicking Up

I just love this photo. After an adventurous day at the beach, Elizabeth kicks up in front of the telly.

Budding Writer

Three years of age, Elizabeth just loves looking through Mum's books. Perhaps another budding writer?

Therapists

It has been four weeks since my daughter’s therapy finished for ‘09’ and Elizabeth seems to be becoming ahead in leaps in bounds. She is much more relaxed and happy and is making much more eye contact which makes me want to completely reassess her therapy program for this year. Last year was quite disappointing. William Stillman once quoted that Autism is a billion dollar industry. I can see his point. At the end of last year I did six weeks of intensive Speech and Occupational Therapy at $300 an hour. Not one thing was achieved in these six weeks. A non-verbal child the therapists had no idea how to hold Elizabeth’s interest and quickly became jaded. They tried to cover this by suggesting Elizabeth should be tested for Rett's, which is ridiculous considering how physically able she is.

My friend said to me that her little boys Speech Therapist was so boring that he used to fall asleep during the sessions. This has become a reoccurring theme with my daughter’s therapists over the last two years (and there has been many). While they are all genuinely enthusiastic at the beginning, none of them seem to know how to interact with an autistic child and the table tasks they set soon become monotonous and boring. There has even been sessions when Mum and I have stepped in whilst the therapists have sat in the background and done nothing and yet still charged us! In fact, Elizabeth got the most benefit out of the services that were actually free, for example the therapists at the Children’s Therapy Ward (Government funded) at the local hospital who got Elizabeth over her anxiety of small rooms, and I can’t say enough good things about the Special School she attends (again Government funded).

This year I’m determined not to repeat the very expensive mistakes of the previous two years. I’ve sat down and wrote a list of things that I want Elizabeth to achieve this year. The top of this list is a system of communication. Turning four in April Elizabeth is increasingly becoming frustrated that she can’t communicate her wants and needs to us. We’ve given up on the idea of Makaton as Elizabeth still doesn’t point and wave (despite our gentle guidance), so I can’t imagine we would get much success out of signing. We have had a little success out of picture exchange but the implementation of this has been higgly piggly as the Speech Therapists kept changing the rules to suit their mood. So this year I’m recruiting a PECS consultant to help with the task and bypassing the Speech Therapists altogether.

The other skills I want Elizabeth to achieve are basic life skills such as toileting, using a spoon and dressing. In the past I’ve employed an Occupational Therapist to help with these tasks, but that just made the situation more stressful. I’ve found that Elizabeth responds far better to gentle coaxing by her Grandparents and I and she is quite happy to sit on the toilet and go when we take her hand. The biggest challenge is to get her to communicate to us that she needs to go and that is when PECS steps in.

Overall, I want this year to be a lot less stressful and concentrate more on having fun with my daughter. I’m also determined to take one day a week out for myself when Elizabeth attends Kindy to just chill out by going to the movies, reading, writing or catching up with friends over a coffee. I guess you could call these are my New Year’s resolutions.