Luke's school update

Hi Blog family! Happy Mon. (I'll explain the pic above in the end!) LOL. Hope your weekend went well. Ours was exhausting. Not that we did anything eventful on Sat/Sun. It's just that me/Jon were really tired this weekend. So, we sat around and did nothing. Much needed R&R for sure.

Ok....Luke's school update! We had his meeting on Friday and wow....it was so cool. They literally had this play assessment room with all sorts of kiddy stations, toys, tables with play doh, crayons, etc.

Jonathan took off work and me/the nurse and Luke were sitting in this room with about 15 people (therapists, diagnosticians, ST, OT and PT people). It was rather intense actually and somewhat stimulating for Luke. Luke definitely showed signs of his sensory stuff. Meaning, he would cover his ears when too many people were talking and interacting with him.

I was personally stressed about this and we did have an 'issue' upfront in the meeting. Long story short, there was this 'young' person that was a therapist and he kept getting in Luke's face and talking, asking him questions, talking in his space. Luke kept holding his ears and crying and I was getting anxious. Finally, after about 5 minutes of this...this PT therapist lady looks at me and says "I'm curious if Luke is bothered by him". (she pointed to the guy that was talking and in his face). YES! She said it. I said "well, I didn't want to say this...but yes, it's you". And, I pointed at the guy. (Awkward moment #1)

At this point, he backed off and all was well. Then, literally about 5 minutes thereafter Luke got stressed over a 'toy noise' and held his ears again. At this point, the same young therapist that was annoying Luke said "oh, that's strange".

Ok...pause here for a second. Note to everyone: Momma doesn't do well when people call her baby 'strange'.

So, of course, I immediately look him straight in the eye and said "it's not strange. It's called sensory integration issues. Nothing is 'strange' about it. The word strange is not valid here, he's sensory driven and you have to recognize that. Again..I repeated to him "nothing is strange".
I verbally bolded the word strange to him several times.

Insert Awkward moment #2 here. The room fell silent the the seasoned and mature therapists picked right back up where we left off.

My point was heard. Young therapist guy got quiet and not a word out of him the rest of the 2 hour meeting! Yes, you heard it. They spent almost 2 hours with Luke in this room.

Finally, after a few meltdowns from Luke I say "you know, Luke does so much better when Jon/I are not in the room with our home therapists. Would you like us to try that here?". They mutually and quickly agreed and guess what?! 5 minutes after leaving the main lady that was heading this thing up came out and said "we have a totally different kid in there". LOL. Yep...we know. Sadly, little Luke's parents cave in and protect him. We know this about ourselves. He literally pushes all of our buttons and boy was it apparent that day.

So...the great news and summary: After 2 hours of with parents present, not present, etc....they really, really got to see Luke perform to his fullest potential. Thank God the school has the foresight to give children 2 hours of play time so that they can see whom they really are. I swear if this had been a 30 minute meeting..they would have never seen Luke the way we see him.

The 2 therapists we talked too thereafter definitely said Luke is not ready for a classroom setting. However....

Here's what we came up with:

• 9 hours of HOME BOUND cognitive teaching from a teacher that will come to our house 9/hours a week.
• 4 hours of "WALK-IN" therapy that will include OT, PT and ST in the school setting! Meaning, we'll take him to school and he will have therapy in a room 4 hours a week.

Now, this is the beautiful part. They will bring 1-2 children in with Luke during his walk-in therapy sessions to get him accustomed to being around other children. The amazing part of this is that they can hand pick "healthy" kids that will not be sick and we can slowly transition Luke into the school system without him feeling so overwhelmed! Isn't that amazing?!!

Our goal is to slowly integrate him with other children and get him comfortable with the school building, the going to therapy and coming home, etc. We will slowly BUILD his school classroom in a way! Isn't that sooo cool. We are just so thrilled with the plan and we hope this will protect him from sickness during the flu season as well. (we are praying!)

This said, that's the skinny! Luke turns 3 in Nov. and this is when the transition from ECI to public school will take place. We hope to start Luke the 2nd week of December! Whoodeeehooo!

Ok blog family, thank you for your prayers for our sweet Luke. We are so proud of him and can't wait for the socialization he's going to get at school.

Personal note about being social: Had to say this real quick. When Luke was in the NICU (yes....2 mths old)...there was a nurse named Elsie. She came up to me early one morning when I arrived and she said "did you know that your son Luke is social?". I about fell over. I said "excuse me? how can you tell that?". She immediately explained to me that he was crying and wanted to face the nurses as they worked. So, they turned his little cribby around so that he could see them walk back and forth and then he was happy!". LOL

So...guess what! The same thing happened during this school meeting. One of the therapists walked out and said "your son is very social". Can you believe it?! I was like "uh huhhhh, just like his momma!". I had a proud mommy moment.

Ok family, I love you desperately.

Ok! Belly Luke shot below. This was taken at Luke's bday party! I'm trying to prepare him for Hannah. I'm not sure he really gets it yet. So funny! Hope you enjoyed. These pics crack me up!