My baby is going to school!

Last year, when Oksana was in first grade, Anya often made trips to school with me for various things.  Towards the end of the year those visits became for her as they evaluated her for various therapies, etc. to see how to best serve her in her kindergarten year.  Anya was NOT  happy about that.  She would scream and yell "NO!" at anyone who came near her.  Once she settled in she would cooperate for them but she was definitely on edge.  Because of that I dreaded this orientation.  In our orientation the parents take the kids to their class, introduce them to the teacher, and get them settled before leaving.  The parents then go to another room to hear about policies, procedures, etc. while the kids visit with their teacher, get a tour of the building, and get a chance to go through the cafeteria line to get a snack.  I was prepared for this to be a royal disaster.

When we got there Anya was definitely apprehensive.  She had a furrowed brow for quite awhile and didn't really want anyone talking to her.  I took her over to the carpet where all of the kids would sit with the teacher when the parents left.  Luckily that carpet had the alphabet on it and Anya LOVES to sign the alphabet so that got her interested in something.  The paras and teacher from her special ed class came in to see her and she came over and got very close to me because I think she sensed I was going to be leaving.  She cried for a minute when I left but got over it quickly and did AMAZING!!!  She got to help the teacher pass out name tags and they said when she got hers she was SO excited!  She stayed with the para the whole time and participated in everything the kids did.  She rocked kindergarten orientation!  At the end she ran up to me and jumped into my arms...which is pretty huge and totally warmed my heart!  Everyone was amazed by her and the change in her since they all met her last school year.  This girl is blowing us all away!  Of course they'll get to see her true colors in time ;).  Anya still has a fair number of behaviors but I think with the great staff they have, the great structure they provide, and the many activities that will challenge her, she will do great.

Many people ask me if Anya will be fully mainstreamed.  The answer is no.  Of course she will have a regular classroom teacher and will be in there for a small portion of her day and any special events.  Anya has very poor receptive language and still has many areas to catch up in considering she has only been home 9 months.  Thankfully she has the MOST INCREDIBLE special ed teacher.  There will be 7 kids in her class and the majority of them have Down Syndrome.  Her teacher knows DS very well and the kids in her class absolutely thrive.  I honestly could not be more thrilled about Anya's placement.  She is going to grow so much in this setting!  School starts on Wednesday!  I didn't take a ton of pictures but here are a few:

Her special ed room has a sensory bin and this was in it. It is a Ziploc bag filled with a smooshy gel.  She played with it the whole time we were in there.

This is in her regular classroom.

This is in her special ed room.  They had to find her a teeny tiny desk :).  She is easily the smallest kid in the class.

I'll do another blog later on Oksana's placement and new teachers soon.  Before I go I just want to touch on my last blog.  Oksana had to be taken off of Risperdal because of some side effects and we transitioned her to Seroquel.  I never could have imagined what a transition like that would do to her.  We saw things in her that quite frankly made us scared for her.  These are things that are one thing at 8 and a whole other at 16 or even 13.  We have had to make some significant decisions about how to build supports around our family so that we are prepared if some very hard decisions need to be made regarding her mental health in the future.  Let's just say it was eye opening but it was good in the sense that we avoided a catastrophe and will be prepared for anything like this in the future.  I will not delve deep into this publicly but I will say that Oksana is doing much better now and she is as ready as she can be for school.  I have many positive things to say about the year she has ahead of her......