Blessed

School Walkathon - there is no way I can expect Hannah to participate fully in it (I can see her 'drop and squat' or worse - tap her shoulders expecting her very slight teacher to carry her up there!!). I also did not want to not have her there - in some way. So thank God for Hannah's grandmother - a wonderful woman. It is no wonder we love her so much. She is going to go to the school (she already helps with reading there one morning a week) and walk with Hannah for as far as Hannah goes - then ring Han's grandfather to pick them up - and go with her to the picnic area where all the kids will be meeting up afterwards. Yay. That is the best outcome (short of my skipping work for a day and doing it myself!). The school were great at exploring options too - but this one - it's the plan. I know the twins will have a ball - and then the athletics carnival is on a day when I don't work - so I will look forward to that one.

Hannah and I survived our first 'all girls' party - to be honest - we both had a lot of fun. We have only been to mixed kids parties - these little girls were all so lovely. Hannah joined in happily, followed them when she felt like it and did her own thing when she needed. Definitely a success. Thanks Miss S for being a good friend to Hannah...

Holidays are over

Well the holiday is over. It has been grand. Hannah clearly thinks that she should always stay home with Mummy (she obviously hasn't heard her father's opinion about my homeschooling her!!). At the same time she is also excited to be returning to school. She had a really successful playdate with a little girl from kindy during the holidays and was very happy to run into another girl from kindy when we were out shopping - and then that same little girl when we were watching Kit play soccer.

DH took Kit to see How to tame a Dragon today at the movies today and Hannah stayed with me. We did various things - but at one stage when I was online she came out with some paper and one of her favourite books Bananas in Pajamas Holiday Book (which she has just LOVED fo rthe past 2 years). She asked me to staple the blank paper she had with her - and then she communicated (in her mix of gesture, sign and words) that she wanted me to write the title - that she wanted to make a book about Hannah's holidays. And so Hannah's Holiday Book was born. Funny cos just that morning I had been thinking of putting together a social story about her holiday for her to share at school tomorrow.

While I tapped online she drew. I then got her to tell me about the pics on the different pages - I'll post some once I have photographed them. - Then cos some of the pics might seem a bit abstract I have just printed off a few photoes to include on the blank side of the booklet to help her teacher.

I also got an email tonight - from Maree's mum* inviting Hannah to a birthday party next week. Maree* is in Hannah's class at kindy. I accepted the invite on Han's behalf and this is part of the reply I got:
"That's great to hear. Maree* is really happy. Hannah was the first name on Maree's list. See you at school."
Maree* is a nondeplume!

Kit then came home from the movie and by late afternoon was writing a book of his own - the Last day of my Holiday. He got his father to photgraph various activities and I did some writing for him. Lovely.
PS - In the bed are: Kit, Hannah, Mummy, Daddy, Granpa and above Gra - our poodle - Stella!
Term 2 - here we come...

Holiday groove

Boy they need haircuts - that will have to go on the 'to do' list for next week.
Well I started the holidays with all sorts of good intentions. I was going to do a little work with hannah each day. Hmmmn ... that hasn't eventuated however I did make a numbers book 1-3 with her today and she has been swimming for the last 3 mornings so she hasn't been missing out too much. I brought out the little lego yesterday to encourage her and Kit to play with it together - and that worked a charm. I also bought some moulding clay yesterday and hannah helped me make a snowman and she also made a couple of houses. All going well we will paint them this afternoon. When we were out yesterday we ran into a little girl fromt eh twins kindy - Hannah was so excited to see her. I am glad that we are catching up with another little girl from kindy nexxt week - I think hannah will be very happy about that.

One day to go...

The school meeting went well - Hannah's teacher (and the school principal) are absolutely fantastic - professional, dedicated, genuine - what more could we ask for? Hannah has exceeded their expectations in many ways. Her communication goals are the key area where further development and thinking is required - but (aside from her being sick with croup and ear infections - which dramatically affected her talking)she is using her words at school. Her writing skills are improving. Her ability to attend to tasks is also improving. As I have said many times - I am so impressed with the care and careful management of resources that they have managed. It is never easy and funding seems to continue moving backwards. As a teacher I know that this is a difficult balance to achieve.

Hannah has been working so hard. All the kindy's are tired - but she is exhausted. She loves going but it requires so much effort on her part - for pretty much the whole time she is there. Getting her working better in small groups is clearly the next overall goal as is increasing her intitiation of communication. Academic goals - she's slowly progressing - so more of the same althought he number goals have been a little reduced to focus on all aspects of 0-3. She can rote count but they are also considering writing and manipulatives.

I am keen to do a 'retrospective' "What I have learnt post" - amybe after I have my uni exam tomorrow. It is 'hanging over my head like a spider!' at the moment. Fancy having an assessment on the last day of term - it is too cruel for words - only in numeracy!

Fast and Furious

The term is drawing to a close - only 2 days to go. Tomorrow I will be meeting at the school to evaluate how things have gone and what 'challenges' lie ahead.

From our perspective - so much has been positive. Hannah's socialisaitona nd transition to kindy has been very successful. I thought her academic progress might be hindered while she struggled to cope with everthing else - well her writing is noticably improving (very slowly - she has gone from writing wonky capital H to a wonky H and a straggly a, sometimes an n that doesn't look like an o). Her counting is going ok as is number identification - although we are still playing around in the up to 10s area. Her story writing book is empty - but that is no surprise - her maths and patternmaking books are full of fantastic activities.

So I am hoping tomorrows meeting is mostly positive. Here is what i think will need to be discussed further:
social skills - peer reactions - how to facilitate more positive interactions - they have been fantastic in 'mothering' Hannah, she needs some help in how to engage in constructive play with them (I have been reading Amanda's blog for some ideas on that one!). I worry that she 'pushes' (gently but still) at kids who come up to cuddle her - because she doens't know a more effective way to 'play'.
Balance - how to get Hannah working effectively in small groups so that the school resources are not overly stretched with one on one that could be done in small groups.
How to maintain Hannah's motivation and attention. I worry that her 'cranky' voice is getting more of a work out - at home I have started sayoing that if she uses it she has to go to her room for a minute. At the same time I need her to know that it is ok to be angry - that she has that right really - but not to use her 'cranky' voice which is usually a loud gutteral'no!' and very annoying!!!
What to do about her tiredness - I think that as we end the term - we can see that she is starting to get tired - what will it be like next term which is 11 weeks?
Resources haven't really been going to specialist teachers (I don't think) - perhaps that may come up?

From our perspective - I would really just like some feedback from her teacher on exactly how she is going. The communication book is mostly positive but not very specific - so I want to know if Hannah has met the goals we set for her last year - and if new ones are required now (for some I think that is the case). I also want to review communication strategies - are they interested in more signing now? Are the visuals workoing - is there a better way to incorporate these in the classroom - to encourage Hannah to initiate communications.

I also want to give the school a BIG thank you - Hannah loves going to school. She likes being independent. She is widely known and accepted by the school community - which is nice when I have been reading comments in the media about how irresponsible it is of a parent to continue a pregnancy if they know beforehand the child they carry will have a disability (!!).

Frogs and Swordfish

If you go into the history of Shamptons you'll no doubt find some posts about Hannah and Kit's swimming lessons. When I was on maternity leave - I enrolled with Kit in a babyswim class - it was my way of making sure that i spent some time with him just for him (to balance all the theraoy time that Hannah was getting). My MIL did the same class - with hannah.
When I went back to work it had to stop until one afternoon 2 years ago for some reason I got it into my head that they just HAD to do swimming (maybe I'd seen some other child with DS benefit from it - maybe it was about the time that I realised PT for Hannah was pretty much over - and I needed to find alternative ways of helping her develop her physical tone) anyways I enrolled them - after a brief chat with the swim coordinator they were enrolled in the same 'mainstram' class - tadpoles. 2/3 terms later Kit became a Frog. Hannah stayed in tadpoles - she absolutely loved it - but her legs were often akimbo and her arms - she'd smile that big grin and cling to the the instructor's neck - not from fear but because she was having so much fun playing with them!! 2/3 terms later Kit became moved up another grade, Hannah was still in tadpoles.
In her time there she has had some great instructors but in the latter part she tended to think that she could just continue to 'play'. I decided once she started school this year that it was time for me to push for a more appropriate class for her. She would be getting plenty of socialisation at school and at Rainbow CLub (swimming classes for kids with disabbilities). She was there for exercise and her future health - she was there to LEARN!! I discussed her needs with the supervisor - who'd also been her teacher in the past - yes it was worth trying to get her into the 1-1 spec needs program. I spoke to the coord - nope - waiting lists for that are ginormous so our compromise was a capped class and a fantastic instructor. I was more than happy with that arrangement. Unfortunately she has missed a lot of this term due to illness (sigh!). Nevertheless she has been making progress.
In the summer holidays just before term began I was able to get her in for 3 days with the special needs teacher - in just those days she made so much progress - and she absolutely loved it!! The smile of pride on her face when she 'swam' 3-5 metres was glorious to see.
So here we are at the end of Term 1 and she still hasn't quite mastered some of the tadpole stuff although she can do heaps. The supervisor is in fact her very first teacher (who was great!). We discuss what to do with her - he is keen for her to go to go up a grade - he can see that she has progressed - he can also see that she is still doing the same sort of things that she bagan with 2 years ago God Bless Him! So there we have it - Hannah is going up a grade because the supervisor is perceptive enough to know this about her character - she LOVES a challenge. The class will be capped.
Kit is also doing very well. He really enjoys it too - I wouldn't know if he's doing really well or not necessarily - but he too has gone up a grade - he too will enjoy the 'challenge'.
Oh - and i have managed to get Hannah into the special needs holiday class again - she's going to LOVE that.

Lucky

Han and Kit attend after school care a couple of times a week - they love it. One of the workers there was chatting to me about Hannah a couple of weeks ago - at the end of our conversation she said "You are so lucky". She meant to have Hannah - I liked her perceptiveness because that is of course how I feel about both my chilldren - but it is the first time I can recall someone saying that to me about Hannah. It isn't that usual for someone to say it about having a child witha disability - where they are actually referring to the whole child (disability and all) as part of my good fortune. You know - it was strange but her words really made me smile - because I think she 'gets it' and that is great.

Over the weekend we encouraged Hannah to rest up for school and I desparately tried to catch up on schoolwork (our marking reporting regime is in full swing) and a little uni work too. I was just feeling that things were slowly coming back under control when Kit starts vomiting everywhere!! Poor Darling. He had a restless night and so we kept him home from school yesterday. DH stayed at home and I went to work. I took Hannah to school on the way. I was nervous about how she'd go. She had missed 4 days last week and was going without Kit - for the first time. In the past at her other care centres she would not have wanted to do that. I rang after school care to let them know she'd be there. I was worried she'd be quite tired by the time she got there and also that without Kit she may get confused and not go!

As I walked with her from the car to school it occurred to me that all my apprehension was bout how she would feel today. I had every confidence that the other kids would be happy to see her back (and they were) and that the teachers would take the very best care of her. It was such a good feeling. Later at work one of my students who has a sibling with DS gave an oral presentation about her class research project into the impact of DS on the family. One of her points was stressors on the parents and undder that she metntioned how parents are often reluctant or unable to trust anyone else to look after their child with DS. I smiled as I listened becasue I know that she is right - and I am so glad that that is not how I feel about Hannah's school, quite the opposite. I trust that they will take excellent care of my gorgeous girl.

Still as soon as my last class was done I raced over to get her. The after school workers were keen to tell me what a great day she'd had and how she was fine with them. that same worker who'd told me how lucky I was once again mentioned how great my kids were - she commented on how bright Kit was - and also said something like "and so is this little one...' nodding at Hannah. I couldn't agree more - she is bright and beautiful - on the inside (and outside) - intelligence like beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in the eyes of those who love us is the best sort. It is not a narrow box of IQ assessments for any child, their beauty and intelligence is innate - we just need to be open enough and have the opportunity to appreciate it.