Month: November 2019

Primary 3 Review

Everyone was worried when he started primary 3. Would he be ok going in the bus? Would he be ok in the new class? Would he cry for mummy? But I knew he would be fine.

He is now 7 and his uniform is aged 10-11 and his shoes are a size 3.5 – he is a big boy!

The bus arrived and the driver flashed his lights as he was coming towards us which made us smile. It was a different chaperone on the bus, but one that has been on the bus before and works in school so she wasn’t a stranger. As I knew he would, he jumped on the bus and didn’t look back!

The school messaged later to say he was settling really well and having a good day.

We are now a couple of months into primary 3 and time for the first review meeting. This goes over his objectives and encourages home to work on these along with school. Our main objective is focus. We need to get him to focus more on things. His attention span is very poor and he either is bored easy, or just can’t sit still. I can’t figure out which! We are also to work on building his sentences. If he says “want iPad” we are to say “I want to have the iPad please” to try and get him to expand his speech.

He has the same teachers this year as he did in primary one so they know him well. He has one teacher Monday and Tuesday and another Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I asked if they saw a difference in him, and they said a MASSIVE difference ♥️ They said his speech is better, his focus is improving and he sits better doing tasks.

There are 6 in his class, 3 are more chatty which he is one which was great to hear as we have struggled with his speech for years. The teacher said they sit together chatting and showing each other things which is adorable.

They asked what he played with at home that they could incorporate at school. For a while now he has been playing with nesting toys and a wooden bear game and school ordered them for the class which was great. Here they are:

He actually has a marvel superhero nesting set, and I’ve bought him a star wars one, well, santa has! But school went for the animals. I would highly recommend them.

3 Year Anniversary

It’s been 3 years since we had the diagnosis. 3 years since our lives changed forever.

We were very shocked to get the diagnosis as our son wasn’t showing any typical autistic signs as far as we were concerned. If we were to go for assessment now, we would not be shocked. He has autism, there is no denying it.

He turned 7 a couple of months ago, and although his speech is improving, he still talks like a 3 year old.

He flaps alot more than he ever did. At the time of diagnosis, I don’t think I had even seen him flap!

His understanding is still very poor. He will answer yes no matter what we ask him; Did you paint at school today? Yes. Did you play on the scooter at playtime? Yes. Then I ask the teacher and he didn’t do either things!

The school use an app called Seesaw to communicate with us. They update it everyday with photos and messages about the day which is fantastic, and allows us to talk about what happened that day.

He is getting better at going into busy places. He was at a birthday party last week, and he went into the hall when there were people already there which is a big improvement.

It is definitely more obvious to others that he has autism. On the plus though, I am seeing more awareness when we are out. We still get stares but on the whole, people are generally ok.

To say the last 3 years have been a learning curve for us is an understatement! But we are in the best position now to handle it all. We are more aware of what we can and can’t do. We know when to push him and when not to. And most importantly, we have learned the signs of when he is ok and when he is not. But it’s taken 3 years of hard work and lots of tears to get here.

I’m still not able to talk about it, but I’m slowly coming off my anxiety medication and I’m feeling better able to cope with it all.

It’s a long road ahead, but we are getting there, and the journey is getting a bit more manageable.