Aditya has been going to school for over a week now, and although he is still likely not "reaching out" to other kids to play with them, he clearly has been "attending" school with his heart.
Today, he did not tell much about what happened at school.
Until a little later, sister began telling about a book their class had read.
"I want to learn how to pop wheelies" was something she said... on which Aditya spontaneously asked if she was mentioning it from the book "Chester's Way" which they too had read today!
Not only that, he then mentioned 3 other books that their class had read in the past few days, and asked if sister's class had read them too!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
He played with 2 other boys in CHOICE TIME!
Dad went to school with Aditya on Saturday to play "snack time". He seemed a bit overwhelmed with all that he had to do (including picking up his bag when coming back to class). He repeated a similar game with Mom who took him to school on Sunday, where they decided on pretending his baby was in the bag (so he cannot forget him/her).
On Monday, Aditya did great at school. His teacher later wrote to us: "I saw much improvement with his orientation today. He is speaking clearly and completely. I am so happy he is doing so well. I asked him today at the end of the day how he was liking school and he told me, 'I love it.' That speaks for itself. :)"
On Day 4 (Tuesday), he continued to tell us with much enthusiasm the things that happened around him, the story that was read, the birthday that was celebrated, etc.
He was also reportedly "helped" at the play area by a boy older than he. This boy encouraged and even helped Aditya to ride the "zipline" that he was having difficulty with. What a positive experience from being with another child! We are really glad for him.
Today (day 5), he told us that in "choice time" he played the game of "racing" with two other boys. He and one of the boys formed a team. This meant that they could lose to one another, yet win as a team... I think which would mean the third boy was always in his own team... which was such a 6 year old boyish thing to do!
One more amazing thing is he has been telling us the names of various kids in his class (not something he would do at all... until now). The added bonus is he can now look at a boy, and identify who that is! Not something that we could take for granted until now!
Then today he went a step further ahead. While on the playground in the recess, he showed to his sister (who meets him everyday at that time as she gets a break from her 1st grade class) a certain girl, and said: "Look at this girl XYZ. She is in my class!"
We are amazed by how much he is "taking in".
He continues to play for 2 hours in the afternoon with a Son Rise friend. We hope this is helping him find the focus and the control that he needs, which he probably misses in a class full of the most unpredictable beings in his new universe... kids!
Friday, August 19, 2011
He went to SCHOOL
Aditya had his very first day of MAINSTREAM school yesterday. Will he continue? Too soon to tell... but he rocked on his first and second day, and we celebrated him by singing a song specially made for him!
Yesterday, we had been with Aditya through the day. Today (on day#2), we dropped him at his classroom, then walked back with mixed feelings of pride, confidence, as well as the "Really? Is he ready for this?" feeling. I came to work. Mom picked him up from school around noon. I called them a little later. I was amazed as he told me enthusiastically about so many things that had happened today... from the story that was read in the class to the "Back to school" concert he got to watch in the playground! We don't know if he is taking interest in his peers as yet... but he is clearly "taking in" all that's happening around him. He was tired in the process (which he said to Mom when she picked him up)... but he is enjoying... as opposed to running away from... the experience called "school".
That said, we think he is having a challenge following multiple step, composite instructions at the speed of a mainstream kid-- and being surrounded by 30 other kids his age is not helping. We look forward to practicing this in our playroom so he can have more fun doing this!
He also reportedly had a difficulty finding the way back from the play-area to his class. We plan to go there tomorrow and have fun figuring out just that!
So far, Aditya has done amazingly well in trying this hard, and he continues to tell us he is enjoying school. We celebrate him for this! We also know we want to help him figure out the stuff we neuro-typicals assume everyone everywhere somehow knows!
Yesterday, we had been with Aditya through the day. Today (on day#2), we dropped him at his classroom, then walked back with mixed feelings of pride, confidence, as well as the "Really? Is he ready for this?" feeling. I came to work. Mom picked him up from school around noon. I called them a little later. I was amazed as he told me enthusiastically about so many things that had happened today... from the story that was read in the class to the "Back to school" concert he got to watch in the playground! We don't know if he is taking interest in his peers as yet... but he is clearly "taking in" all that's happening around him. He was tired in the process (which he said to Mom when she picked him up)... but he is enjoying... as opposed to running away from... the experience called "school".
That said, we think he is having a challenge following multiple step, composite instructions at the speed of a mainstream kid-- and being surrounded by 30 other kids his age is not helping. We look forward to practicing this in our playroom so he can have more fun doing this!
He also reportedly had a difficulty finding the way back from the play-area to his class. We plan to go there tomorrow and have fun figuring out just that!
So far, Aditya has done amazingly well in trying this hard, and he continues to tell us he is enjoying school. We celebrate him for this! We also know we want to help him figure out the stuff we neuro-typicals assume everyone everywhere somehow knows!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
PARTY TIME!
It was Son Rise senior teacher William who, during his outreach 3 weeks ago, suggested we take some time off, get together as a team, and celebrate what we have accomplished in our program in the last 2 years or so.
We did just that on Friday. We had... you guessed it... a PARTY!
Food, drink, music, and games! Our Son Rise program had never looked like this! It was thoroughly refreshing. Aai, Baba, Aditya's sister, and his volunteer friends had pizza and ice cream, while Aditya had his special "almond meal pizza".
Aditya spent the first 20 minutes sitting close to the laptop that was playing his favorite music. Flexible to allow sister to forward to her favorite track. Then we asked him if we could... after the next song... stop the music and move on to play some games with the people at the party... and he said he wanted to!
One of the games we played was "Two truths and a lie" and Aditya detected the lie almost right away when Aai and Baba were talking. With other friends, he paid attention to them talking, took a guess, and was okay to get it wrong, and in the process learn something new about that person! (Although we were not even working on that goal... we were at a party. How cool!) But the best part was when he made up a lie! I immediately realized this is not something he does or could do, and I congratulated him for it:-)
The most beautiful moment of the party for me, was when we took turns talking about:
1. a thing we were not doing with Aditya 2 years ago but now do
2. a thing we would love to do with him a year from now
Speaking on the first topic, Aditya said he used to build with blocks 2 years ago, then blushed, then went on to say he now plays soccer, pretend play games, ungame with his friends! He also said this journey is beautiful, and then he asked if the journey will continue. We said we think each of us will be part of the journey that is unique to our own lives... forever... but we will share our journeys with each other too! How beautiful that we were having this lovely conversation with a boy who once would not engage in any meaningful conversation!
Way to go, Aditya, and his fantastic Son Rise friends!
We did just that on Friday. We had... you guessed it... a PARTY!
Food, drink, music, and games! Our Son Rise program had never looked like this! It was thoroughly refreshing. Aai, Baba, Aditya's sister, and his volunteer friends had pizza and ice cream, while Aditya had his special "almond meal pizza".
Aditya spent the first 20 minutes sitting close to the laptop that was playing his favorite music. Flexible to allow sister to forward to her favorite track. Then we asked him if we could... after the next song... stop the music and move on to play some games with the people at the party... and he said he wanted to!
One of the games we played was "Two truths and a lie" and Aditya detected the lie almost right away when Aai and Baba were talking. With other friends, he paid attention to them talking, took a guess, and was okay to get it wrong, and in the process learn something new about that person! (Although we were not even working on that goal... we were at a party. How cool!) But the best part was when he made up a lie! I immediately realized this is not something he does or could do, and I congratulated him for it:-)
The most beautiful moment of the party for me, was when we took turns talking about:
1. a thing we were not doing with Aditya 2 years ago but now do
2. a thing we would love to do with him a year from now
Speaking on the first topic, Aditya said he used to build with blocks 2 years ago, then blushed, then went on to say he now plays soccer, pretend play games, ungame with his friends! He also said this journey is beautiful, and then he asked if the journey will continue. We said we think each of us will be part of the journey that is unique to our own lives... forever... but we will share our journeys with each other too! How beautiful that we were having this lovely conversation with a boy who once would not engage in any meaningful conversation!
Way to go, Aditya, and his fantastic Son Rise friends!
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