I didn't write much in September. September was a hard month. Bambam had a tough time adjusting to the transition to school. I was both surprised and a little disappointed by this. I know I shouldn't be. But I'm human, and disappointment is a natural human emotion.
You see, Bambam had such a stellar summer. I mean he was a rock star. He went to day camp, he fully potty trained, he made significant gains in language, his imaginative play exploded. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. It was a great summer. The best he's ever had.
So when we got ready to transition into school, and he was so excited for school to start, we naturally assumed he would continue to be that rock star. Contributing to our confidence was the fact that his school does a 1-2 loop, meaning he would be in the same classroom with the same teacher and the same kids as last year. No changes. And he would have the same 1 to 1 aid. It was a recipe for success. Or so we thought.
What we failed to recognize was that the little adjustments (at least we thought they were little) we made to his daily schedule would really throw him off, causing major anxiety and frustration. The first of which was lengthening his day to the full school day.
Last year, he left school an hour early every day. This year he stays until 2:45. But every day at 1:45 he looks at his aid, the amazing "E", and says "home time now". His internal clock is incredible. He cannot tell time. At least, I don't think he can. He can just now recognize and name numbers 1-9. But he's had an amazing internal clock since the day he was born. As an infant, you could set your watch by his sleeping and feeding times. He was always spot on. So now, every day at 1:45 he thinks its time to go home. And "E" is struggling to convince him that its still school time. He is staying, but he's done with working for the day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they have PE at the end of the day, those days go OK. My athletic little guy shines at PE. Its the one place where he really fits in, where he actually outshines many of his peers. He LOVES PE.
But on Mondays and Wednesdays they have Music and Art respectively at the end of the day. And these are not going so well. With very (and I can't stress very enough) delayed fine motor skills, Art is a huge frustration for him under the best of circumstances. These are not the best of circumstances. He has ripped a project, thrown a project, painted his aid (and himself), and generally been wreaking havoc all over the art room. He's had to leave the art room. I've been called to the school. More than once.
In addition, more is being asked of Bambam. He is having more structured schoolwork time, we call it table time. He HATES table time. Sitting for more than 30 seconds is a challenge for him. But, we decided it was time to do just that, challenge him a little more. He must complete 3 academic tasks, then gets a reward of his choice. Did I mention Bambam hates table time? At one point his frustration escalated to a chair being thrown into the smart board. And me being called to the school yet again.
This was not the start to school that I had envisioned.
And there it is. This was not what I had anticipated, what I thought was going to happen. It was not meeting my expectations. Who said I get to choose how things are going to go? I need to learn to let go of my expectations. Lesson learned.
Update, September 2014
I wrote this last year and never published it. I'm not sure why. But I am now. Because we are having the same sort of start to this school year. Transitions are so very hard on our spectrum kiddos. And this year he does have a new classroom and a new teacher and new classmates. My boy who every day this summer has asked to go to school is now asking every morning to go to camp. Its going to be a long September. Sigh.
