Kindy orientation at our preferred school went better than I had hoped. It was great. We were greeted by some students. Teachers came up and chatted to us. There was a welcoming feel and I don't think any parent could have felt 'lost' in the corwd - it was very well organised and although catholic schools do tend to have larger class sizes - they had split the new kindys into 2 groups over 2 days so the children could bbe individually observed more effectively.

The principal spoke to the new parents about school stuff - everyday organisational issues as well as providing an overview of the various programs available and the curriculum followed. As she spoke mentioning withdrawing kids for different things - I though of Hannah and her private ST sessions.

Last visit our ST gave us a standard letter - just getting us to think about what we may need from her as Hannah prepares for school and then next year - as starting kindy is very tiring. I don't know that she is that keen on withdrawing kids but given han's speech needs I think that it might just be a great way to continue the intensive sort of therapy that Han needs until she settles in and has greater energy for the arduous school day. I mentioned it to both the kindy teacher and the principal and both were keen for me to organise that - so I'll certainly discuss it with our ST at her next session. I also hope that just as I learn by observing Han in speech - so might her school teachers informally gain a little professional training - not that I am expecting them to do a lot of specific follow up on speech therapy - but they might be able to adapt some of the strategies in the classroom.

I showed them the homemade folder of pics we use (pecs) and they were keen to have a copy - I stil want them to let me know of ones that are particuarly useful to them - but I loved the enthusiasm evident. I gave them a copy of our current ISFP goals, a hannah's profile - which detialed her strengths, supports I thought she'd need, my concerns, info about others who work with her, Contact agencies for help and Resources. I also gave a revamped letter - which is basically pitching how to explain DS to her peers plus some simple DS Myth/fact material.

There were a million different forms to fill in. I hate forms!! and with twins - it is the one aspect that is definitely 'double trouble'.

I liked the fact that at the end of the teachers observations 2 teachers aids and one of the kindy teachers approached me to talk about how Han had gone - and I really liked the fact that the kindy teacher mentioned how Kit had gone too - cos although I angst a lot more over Hannah in formal education - he is my baby and I want to know how he is too. he is a very bright little boy - quite advanced emotionally, verbally and socially amongst his peers. He already enjoys working out simple multiplication and division. He prepares powerpoints to help Han with ehr talking using clipart correctly. He's going to love school - I want him to be challenged appropriately.

Before we left we handed in our wad of forms and bought - the school bag and hat. Hannah was so excited she put hers on straight away.

Nuffield

Have been doing a lot more drill type speech activities - often with hannah. She is amazing - so tired but still complying as she yawns through just '2 more' sheets. I think it is already helping a bit. Drill and practise - seems to be the key strategy that works for her -as well as using as many visuals/cues as I can.

So she is doing great on the drillsheets - bee/bow and boy/bow. She has almost mastered pea/bee/me. Still working on two/tea/tie and bee/knee/dee. With Ants in the Apple I have been getting her to 'slow down' so that she is being drilled in 'possums peeping' and 'apple' rather than getting away with 'po, pee' and 'pple' which she has been doing a lot of the time. Her use of the individual sounds in Ants is pretty good on the ones we have been doing - a, b, l, k, h, o, u, d, n etc.

We ready Maisy Big, Maisy Small - and I have been clapping out 'Mai/sy' so that she pronounces both parts of the name. Then trying to get her to say all parts of the describing words - like 'Maisy spots' and 'Maisy wet'

Her ST has done some powerpoints - one of action words where I have been emphasising (using cued articulation) the 'ing' sound at the end of the word - trying to help it sound more rhythymic for Hannah. There is also an 'f' word one which she is doing better on and a end sounds one which she has really improved on some of them - to the point where she doens't need to 'fix it up' after a couple of them - like 'be-d' and 'ba-g' or slee-p etc. I also made up a presentation story for her - took photoes of Hannah with an apple - for I am: getting, holding, washing, cutting, eating which she really enjoys doing.

On the weekend she was playing with lego - which she loves - and I worked out that she was telling me that she'd made a robot - although her approximation was more like 'obo' which is very hard to work out without context!! Today she came in carrying a box of made up lego - to show me what she'd made and much more clearly she said 'ro-bot' Yay!! so it seems (fingers crossed) that this is the way to go with her. It is a pot pourri of strategies - I use signed english, cued articulation, signs, pecs and anything else I can think of - but it is working.

She has also been practising her piano - just her right hand but she understands what to do - and needs to just practise so that she can get more fluent. Adding in the left hand was just too much for her - next year.

On the health front - T and A surgery happens on the second day of kindy - a bugger but hopefully it will help maximise her potential at school so worth it in the long term.

Dyspraxia

We haven't had an assessment done - as this diagnosis brings no funding I don't see the point of one - but the ST thinks that is what we are dealing with - she mentioned that we are already doing lots of strategies that are appropriate. I have been reading up on it. From what I have gathered I think we are talking about verbal dyspraxia. DSANSW has mentioned a workshop being held nearby next week - I wonder if I could convince DH to go to it? I can't cos I have to take a day off work as it is for kindy orientation.

I am still trying to grasp what the implications of it might be.

Orientation

Well we had a our practice run yesterday. This sint' the school where I am thinking I'll send the brats - but it is a good one and it is our current back up plan if things go horribly wrong at the other school next month.

Hannah seemed very happy and a bit excited to be in the playground. She wandered around freely and obviously wanted to 'run'. Discovered the bubblers - which she loved and can use easily. Kit found a little bo he knew who started to play hopscotch - so the twins joined in for a bit (They don't really know how to play it - except for an older boy at after school care last term who taught Kit a bit).

The kids were asked to hold hands - Hannah went up to a little girl she didn't know and held her hand - unfortunately the little girl looked at her like a weirdo and so Han looked around for someone else - and then the teacher asked to hold another little boy's hand and off they went - upstairs to the kindy rooms.

I followed the other parents to the hall for a talk and some Q and A. I have to say that I was impressed with the three key selling points that the president of the Pand C gave - we encourage our kids to be independent and courageous/risktakers. We promote acceptance of difference - and she mentioned diffeerent ethnic backgrounds and socio economic circumstances as examples. All good, I like that.

The AP mentioned that they currently had 22 kids in each of hte kindy classes plua her class was a composite - of grade 1 and kindy - 17 kids, 3 with special needs and a teachers aid too. Then she said something that made me thinkt hose kids with special needs would be put in other classes next year - so I asked whether that would continue for next years intake. She looked at me quizzically so I clarified that I was Hannah's Mum. The response I got was that she would be 'fully integrated' so I still don't really know!!! It is a reg school with no special units - one ofhte reasons we applied there - they don't really have any alternative options do they? So I don't know - and I guess as DH said they probably don't yet either - until the meet all the children, do their observations and have a clearer idea of 'real' students - those who will attend there next year.

Anyhow that is one fo the things that I find disconcerting about this place - I think they have started trying to train me to 'let go of the apron strings' and let them get on with it already. And I am not sure I like it - although I am probably crazy not to want to just relinquish her to their lovig care and expertise and be done with it.

At the end Hannah found me in the hall and came running over happily calling my name. When I asked her what she had been doing she told me using words and signs - she'd sung 'incy wincy spider' and yes she had had a good time.

Then in the afternoon she had her private ST session. It looks like we are dealing with dyspraxia when it comes to her speech - and the ST didn't say 'mild' she simply told me that it varies from mild to severe - so I'm guessing that Han might be in the 'moderate' range - otherwise she would have hastened to tell me that Han's was pretty mild wouldn't she??

Pecs

After our interview with the primary school (which included the area school support coordinator and our EI special ed teacher) it was decided to investigate assisting Hannah's communication with a visual system. I spoke with her ST and we are now using pictures from PECS to help increase Hannah's utterance length and to encourage her to attempt more words - using the pictures to assist the listener understand just what word she is saying if her clarity is not adequate.

Today I am home with Kit who is sick -so I got the laminator out and put some thought into next week's kindy orientation. I have met the kindy teachers but haven't actually spoken to them specifically about Hannah. According to the letter - the kindy teachers take the children for 'activities' and the principal takes the parents - no doubt for a good 'talking to!"!!! lol.

So - Hannah has a keychain tag that she can put through the loophole of her jeans - she has it for preschool but I doubt that she uses it much - she can manage the communications on it without using the visuals or for some like 'Can I play' really needs an adult to help her use it with her peers - or it just wouldn't be used. Anyhow I think that it is a good idea and perhaps a new start in a kindy with some aid time might revive it - so I added a few visuals - My name is Hannah, sad, happy, tired, I like and I don't like. I hope it is enough to get her started at orientation.

I also did some more pics that might be useful like toilet routine, assembly, school bag, body bits, shapes, and a few others. They go in a homeade pecs book - I will wait and chat to the teachers though before I give that one to Hannah to use - it is more a tool for them to govern the use of but I must say that the sentence strip idea is really helping.

Time to put up some sightwords around the house too. After that I want to work on a Hannah Profile -a one page summary of just what she can do at the moment and any 'this works...' type of stuff so the teachers have an overview. I also have a letter explaining DS that I gave the preschool teacher with the view that if we felt it necessary it could be given to the parents too - it wasn't necessary - I think cos the kids were all a bit young. Still if she is going to be the only child in the school with DS I might revisit it and have a copy ready for the teachers - to use if need be. Any ideas on how to distribute such a letter if we do decide to use it?? It is basically an "I'm the same as you but learn some things more slowly ' type of letter and on the back were a few 'common myths' Q and A material I got from DSAssociation including what I think is a subtle lesson not to refer to her as a 'downs'. First some afternoon tea though.

Progress

The twins are back for the last term of the year. They were obviously happy to return to their routine. The preschool teacher commented on what a good day Hannah had had. She commented that Han had used a few new words - and that she had been able to understand them as her speech is getting clearer (YAY!!). Also she has put up sight words in the classroom - labels on the furniture. Well one boy noticed them and soon all the kids were looking at them and the teacher was talking to them about first sound and the next sound etc for recognising 'what word'. Hannah got one - House. Then the teacher got her to go and put the word on the dolls house in the room. Good work Hannah!! And good work Mrs S - this teacher has had no extra support in including Han in her class of 20 'regular' kids - except for the visit I arranged with Han's EI teacher. I think she provides a great program and given her lack of resources has done a great job with hannah.

Preschool has helped prepare Hannah for inclusive kindy - she has had to cope with 19 other 4-5 year olds en masse - not the easiest thing for her - but she has done it. She likes going to preschool. When I showed her a photo of her class and asked which kids she wanted to come to her party - she said very clearly - "everyone!" so even though she can be a isolated (from our perspective) and doesn't have any special friends there - she is accepted by the other children and sees herself as just part of the group.

I am taking her to orientation of the school we probably won't go to next week - just in case. ALso it is probably good practise to give her a few opportunities to see what 'big school' will be like.

Pianorama

When the twins were little I used to walk up to our local shopping centre regularly with them. Ond day a tall woman with long black hair had set up a table in our suburban centre peddling her music school. On a whim I approached her. Now my family LOVE music - always have. I can't sing a note and tried but failed to learn the guitar as a teenager. DH loves music too - and he actually can play guitar and at the moment enjoys writing lyrics and music too. He has a few other friends he plays with for fun and has been in the 'work band'. I didn't know anything about ways of teaching music except what I had read in a book about Ellie - a young girl with DS whose Mum got her lessons in the 'suzuki method' to help her learn the piano. I had by this time learned about the wonderful Sujeet Desai too - so I knew it was very 'doable' but wasn't sure of the 'how' - besides they were very young.

Miss M was lovely. When I asked specifically whether it would be ok for Hannah - she said someting along the lines of "What is DS?" I explained a bit about her low muscle tone and speech delay. "Nevermind I'm sure she'll be fine. We have other kids with special needs like autism. We'll learn as we go." "Yep, she'll be fine." - or at least those snatches of our conversation linger in my memory. She was right on all counts - it was fine and we all learnt as we went along.

Now there was Beeboppers for 2 year olds - with lots of movement and percussion and Jitterbugs for 3 year olds which was more of the same really with the addition of the 'music house' for beginning to read music/rhythm. I still recall the day DH took the brats to music cos I had changed the class to Saturdays for a semester - he came out flabbergasted - I'd told him - but seeing it was quite different. She really was one of the best in the class. She LOVED the movement and the singing and the actions used in the songs. She had a ball.

This year at 4 they started Pianorama - now it is trickier. She isn't the 'best' in the class by a long shot. She still has fun and enjoys it. There is still movement and actions which she manages well. There is percussion too. They are also learning to 'read' music - she can recognise 'doh'. They are learning the keyboard - now Han can play with her right hand (Mrs Treble Clef) adequately - it requires a lot of fine motor skills to isolate each finger to play doh, reh, mi, fa, soh. But she gets it and tries her best. The left hand is harder for her to get the necessary control and strength to play with but she gives that a go with occassional success. Just now at the end of the year they are beginning to use both hands together - she doesn't really get that yet at all. Regularly each child stands in front of the group and says "My name is xxx, and I'm going to play yyy." and then they 'solo' a song they have been learning - Hannah LOVES to solo.

The classes have always had a rapid pace that she has had to work to keep up with but she generally manages that well. She is learning and developing - oral skills, motor skills, concentration, listening, reading and counting to name a few. Still it is sometimes hard to watch her have to 'fit in' all the time to work so hard to 'keep up' with the regualr kids. Recently they had their first 'concert performance'. She and her brother were really excited and did beautifully. DH and I LOVED watching them. I snuck up on stage to kneel beside Hannah to 'help' her with the 'Mr Bass Clef' bits.

The following week I spoke to Miss M about next year. DH and I had been discussing it. We really want her to be able to continue as we can see her learning so much from it - but at the same time we can see that she will keep falling behind her typical peers. We discussed the option of getting her private lessons if necessary - one of their former music teachers has been on mat leave - perhaps she'd be ready to work with Hannah using something like what they already do but modified a bit for her? The drawback of that was she actually benefits from the group stuff - and a lot of the activities are designed for small groups - I decided to discuss it with Miss M.

When I approached her the twins were in the middle of their lesson with Miss A and Miss M was doing paperwork at the front desk that is in the classroom. "I was just thinking about that!" she said when I approached her. Anyways the decision is for the twins to have back to back lessons on a Saturday - Kit to go to level 2 book and Hannah to stay on Level 1 book. Miss M says it will be different songs etc so she won't be just 'repeating' the current book although the skills they teach will be the same.

We'll see what happens from there - but what I am happy about is that we got to that point. From 'what is ds?' to the teacher knowing Hannah, seeing her strengths and weaknesses clearly and coming up with a plan on how to best meet those needs. Fantastic - that is what I hope will happen at school too - cos I do have a wee concern that the princiapl doesn't really beleive Han will 'cope' there for very long - yet I know of other kids who have been able to stay in a mainstream class for all of primary - if the school thinks like Miss M does then that may just be 'doable' too!
Here's the address for our music classes http://www.ismaustralia.com/