We've come a long way, baby!!!

It's been awhile since I updated, but the last week has helped me realize just how far Nick has come. Nick only had school one day this week, so he has been running wild for the last few days. Allen and I met with his teacher on Wednesday for Parent/Teacher conferences and were very pleased with his progress. He has met every single one of his IEP goals for December!!! He was late in meeting one of them, but his teacher thinks he should be on track to meet his March and May goals as well! We got a "brag sheet" from his paras that said how proud they were of Nick, how fun he is to work with and what a little character he is. (I'm pretty sure that last one is code for ornery, mischievous and/or rambunctious.)

Anyway, we were sitting in the meeting with his teacher and she was telling us about how Nick has the "routine" down. He knows what he is supposed to do and when he's supposed to do it and if he isn't sure, he just watches the other kid's leads! While she was talking about this, I had a sudden flashback from Nick's first year in Preschool. We went to his first ever IEP meeting and chatted with his future teacher, therapists, principal and everyone else. This occurred a couple weeks before he was to actually start attending Preschool in November 2008. After the meeting, his Preschool teacher offered to show us the classroom. We were very excited to see it and got to the room just as the afternoon class was arriving.

I watched the kids all hang up their backpacks, wash their hands, go to the restroom if needed and sit down at a little table. At this point the teacher explained that they were "signing in" for the day. The kids all pulled out pieces of paper and practiced writing their names several times and turned them in when they were done. The teacher explained that Nick would just practice scribbling until he was able to actually write his name. We only stayed for about 10 minutes and as soon as I hit the hallway, I burst into tears. My mom and Allen were both with me and I explained that there was NO WAY Nick would ever be able to do that stuff. I simply could not ever imagine that Nick would write his name or follow any type of routine. My mom is a retired elementary school principal with a background in special education, so apparently she is used to this kind of reaction. She chuckled a little, gave me a hug and told me that Nick would be just fine. She said she knew that he'd be able to do it and that you can't expect it to happen on the first day. I remained doubtful and cried the entire way home. Nick did start school eventually and I guess he mostly figured out the routine. He never did write his name.....I saved all the papers they sent home with his scribbles from signing in at the beginning of the day. He rarely talked during that time and didn't seem to come very far by the time the year was over. He had also failed to meet almost all of his IEP goals by the end of the year. So....we fought (and won) to have him placed in the "Communications" (Autism) Preschool class. Nick began in his new class in June 2009 and has continued in the same classroom ever since.

So.....back to the Parent/Teacher conference discussion. I got teary eyed just thinking about how much Nick has accomplished since he began with this new class. Imagine that Nick knows the routine now!!!!! He met his IEP goals AND I am proud to say that he can write and verbally spell his NAME. Nick walks around labeling things and learns new words just about every day. In fact, at Parent/Teacher conferences, his teacher mentioned that he has his colors all figured out, so they are working on concepts like "big and small." Literally three days after this meeting, we were in the car and I was getting Nick out of his car seat. He was very insistent about something and kept saying the same thing over and over, although I had no idea what he was saying. I finally stop what I'm doing, look where he's pointing and listen very carefully to what he's saying. He points at a tree and says, "BIG TREE." OMG....I am so shocked that all I can do is smile ear to ear and tell him, "you're right....that IS a big tree!!!" He gets a self satisfied grin and looks very pleased that I have understood what he's trying to tell me. All I can think is, "We've come a long way, baby!"