For those of you who haven't given up on us yet, here is a loooooooong overdue update....
Thanks to those of you who have written with your interest in Alex's progress and concerns for us. Since my last post, Alex has continued therapy both privately and through his preschool program. During Christmas break, Alex had the flu and spent a lot of time out of his therapy routine due to illness, as well as being out of preschool due to holiday break. I began seeing quite a bit of regression, something we haven't seen in quite a while, and questioned our recent decision to go from two sessions of private therapy to just one. After we got back into routine after the new year, Alex got back on track quickly and has continued making great progress. We have continued private therapy once a week, with his preschool program being three half-days per week. We are in the hands of a wonderful speech therapist and have enjoyed working with her these past months. She is about to become a mother herself, through adoption, and we are so thrilled for her family. She's going to be a terrific mom. She's wonderful with children, and Alex just loves her! (She lets him win the games all the time, and play by HIS rules - so long as he participates cooperatively in his therapy!)
We have recently moved, although in the same hometown and school district, and my husband has taken a new job, both of which have brought many changes to our lives. We are in the process of getting everything taken care of with our new insurance. Hopefully we will not have to worry about Alex's speech therapy continuing to be covered through the new insurance. Although with our old insurance we were allowed unlimited speech therapy visits, and with the new insurance we are allowed only 45 visits per year, which is less than once a week. Looks like this will work out for us as long as Alex continues on his once a week therapy session schedule, between time away due to holidays, vacation, etc.
I've been having some concerns recently about Alex going into Kindergarten in the Fall of this year, just FIVE more months! He turned 5 last month and is going to be discharged from his preschool program upon completion of this school year. My concerns are if he is ready for full-day Kindergarten, as full-day is our only public school option. At this time, I don't think financially a private school is an option. Alex is a really smart boy, and I hate to admit that so many times I've underestimated just how smart he truly is. However, he still has significant signs of a speech disorder among other issues that would affect his ability to be successful in a mainstream school setting, with a big part of it being his extremly limited attention span. I realize he's a five year old kid, and a boy, and it's so hard not to compare him to where my daughter was at this age, but with her, there was no question about whether or not she was ready for school. She WAS. I truly want to do what is best for my boy, even if that means holding him back another year before starting Kindergarten. But, I strongly believe he needs SOME form of schooling, even if he waits a year to attend Kindergarten. At this time, I don't think I can handle the huge responsibility of relying solely on home-schooling him. I'm praying for God's guidance and wisdom. He made this sweet boy and He knows the plans He has for Alex. I trust Him with this little boy, even when I don't understand. I just want to feel certain that I'm making the best possible choices for Alex.
Anyway, it's one thing for me, as his mom, to have concerns about his Kindergarten readiness, but when others start mentioning their concerns for him as well, it really opens my eyes that maybe I'm not overreacting. Alex's speech therapist and I discussed this issue just today at Alex's therapy session. He had a really hard time sitting still and paying attention, and wound up just completely shutting down after about 30-40 minutes. I couldn't imagine at this point having him attending full-day Kindergarten, for 8 straight hours. She also mentioned that it would probably be a good idea to have him reevaluated for Occupational Therapy. He qualified for OT when he was originally evaluated at 3 years old, however, we wanted to concentrate more on the speech therapy at that time, so we passed up the opportunity to get OT at that time. He has been able to spell his name since he turned 3, although he struggles to write it, as his hands shake anytime he does anything fine-motor, such as cutting with scissors, writing, etc. Maybe the OT can help with this, as well as other things. He still deals with some sensory issues, although not to the degree he use to.
With life having been such a whirlwind for quite some time, I apologize for the lack of updates. Thanks for checking in on us! I hope to post an update again soon, or at least hopefully before Alex graduates from college! LOL Thank you all for all of your love and support, and your prayers!
We have recently moved, although in the same hometown and school district, and my husband has taken a new job, both of which have brought many changes to our lives. We are in the process of getting everything taken care of with our new insurance. Hopefully we will not have to worry about Alex's speech therapy continuing to be covered through the new insurance. Although with our old insurance we were allowed unlimited speech therapy visits, and with the new insurance we are allowed only 45 visits per year, which is less than once a week. Looks like this will work out for us as long as Alex continues on his once a week therapy session schedule, between time away due to holidays, vacation, etc.
I've been having some concerns recently about Alex going into Kindergarten in the Fall of this year, just FIVE more months! He turned 5 last month and is going to be discharged from his preschool program upon completion of this school year. My concerns are if he is ready for full-day Kindergarten, as full-day is our only public school option. At this time, I don't think financially a private school is an option. Alex is a really smart boy, and I hate to admit that so many times I've underestimated just how smart he truly is. However, he still has significant signs of a speech disorder among other issues that would affect his ability to be successful in a mainstream school setting, with a big part of it being his extremly limited attention span. I realize he's a five year old kid, and a boy, and it's so hard not to compare him to where my daughter was at this age, but with her, there was no question about whether or not she was ready for school. She WAS. I truly want to do what is best for my boy, even if that means holding him back another year before starting Kindergarten. But, I strongly believe he needs SOME form of schooling, even if he waits a year to attend Kindergarten. At this time, I don't think I can handle the huge responsibility of relying solely on home-schooling him. I'm praying for God's guidance and wisdom. He made this sweet boy and He knows the plans He has for Alex. I trust Him with this little boy, even when I don't understand. I just want to feel certain that I'm making the best possible choices for Alex.
Anyway, it's one thing for me, as his mom, to have concerns about his Kindergarten readiness, but when others start mentioning their concerns for him as well, it really opens my eyes that maybe I'm not overreacting. Alex's speech therapist and I discussed this issue just today at Alex's therapy session. He had a really hard time sitting still and paying attention, and wound up just completely shutting down after about 30-40 minutes. I couldn't imagine at this point having him attending full-day Kindergarten, for 8 straight hours. She also mentioned that it would probably be a good idea to have him reevaluated for Occupational Therapy. He qualified for OT when he was originally evaluated at 3 years old, however, we wanted to concentrate more on the speech therapy at that time, so we passed up the opportunity to get OT at that time. He has been able to spell his name since he turned 3, although he struggles to write it, as his hands shake anytime he does anything fine-motor, such as cutting with scissors, writing, etc. Maybe the OT can help with this, as well as other things. He still deals with some sensory issues, although not to the degree he use to.
With life having been such a whirlwind for quite some time, I apologize for the lack of updates. Thanks for checking in on us! I hope to post an update again soon, or at least hopefully before Alex graduates from college! LOL Thank you all for all of your love and support, and your prayers!
