swimming

the twins have started the school swim programme this week. It means that kindy go swimming every day for 2 weeks. They go first thing in the morning. Unfortunately the weather has been wet and miserable but they have been going and having fun. They also go on a Tues afternoon - with me - and this week I thought they may not want to go twice in the one day. I had reconciled myself to a nice lazy time at home for a change - but no - they were both keen to go again...

On Monday when the kindy kids lined up in their swimmers and towels there was lots of excitement and anticipation. One little fellow wore snorkelling goggles. He said to me "DOn't worry, if Hannah is drowning I'll save her. I am going to swim in these goggles - I can see everything!". I loved that he was looking out for Hannah - he isn't even one of her regular friends as far as I am aware.

Then today one of the Mum's came up and was chatting. Her son had reported to her "Mum, you know that Hannah is very good at swimming"! So there you have it - gorgeous boys and a pretty special little girl who is opening their eyes to the fact that she may not be able to do lots of the things that they can - but she can do lots of things that they don't expect her to be able to!!

At swimming on the Tues afternoon - my heart was in my mouth pretty much the whole time. She was so confident in the water - and silly in that tired way that some kids get. I was sure she was going to drown! I warned her teacher - joking that while she brought out the best int he naughty boys - they brought out the worst in her! ALthough I suspect that it was actually a whole bunch of kindy kids that had her jumping and diving and splashing about in such a crazy way! ANyways at the end of the session the instructor commented on how great she had been. There you have - two people watching the same event but with very different stories to report about what happened!

Have I mentioned how proud I am of little brat? The pool is outside and I am sure it is freezing but today Kit tells me he and his group of swimmers got to go into the inside pool where it was warm to try their hand at diving. So he is having fun too.

Lunch boxes

Yesterday Hannah came home with her supermarket sandwich storer broken in half. Dh and I wondered how on earth this may have happened - she isn't strong enough to have torn the two halves apart - maybe in play with one of her 'rowdy boyfriends'? we laughed and moved on - there is only 2 weeks left of the school year anyhow.
Today we had the Transition to Year One meeting. In passing it was mentioned that Hannah is making great progress - and they are seeing her 'cheeky side'. Like yesterday - when to make the crowd laugh she threw her lunchbox over the edge of the stairs - and the principal happened to be the one who saw - and she was caught and missed out on 5 minutes playtime as her punishment... Yep - she's had a great year at that school....and yes the other kids did laugh with her.. and they probably thought that she shouldn't be punished so harshly either....but I don't!

Meeting

Hannah starts an intensive swimming programme next week. Yesterday she was so tired that her eyes were rolling to the back of the head in the water - I kept a very close eye on her! I thought about pulling her out of the lesson early but she loves it so much I didn't have the heart.
Meeting for next year went really well. The new teacher seems great. THe present teacher and principal are pleased with how the year has gone and so are we. NO FUNDING next year - isn't that appalling? There was enough for about an hour of aid time a day this year. The principal is going to see if she can get some additional funding from the CEO (Catholic Education Office - as the twins go to their local parish school) but still - it just seems so unfair. Imagine how well she might do with just a bit more targeted support. Funding at the moment is largely based on IQ assessment. A diagnosis of Down Syndrome isn't enough on its own - such a disparity exists in how the funding pie is divided - a diagnosis of autism for example is sufficient to receive targeted funding (don't get me wrong I'm not saying that kids with ASD get enough either but at least the mere diagnosis is sufficient to mean that they get something. Hannah's diagnosis of DS affects EVERY aspect of her ability to cope at school that I can think of - but is not enough by itself - which means that basically all the speech issues, OT issues and Fine motor skills weaknesses are not really recognised - and really not the associated learning issues either. I can only agree with the principal - it's disgusting.

But as ever - what can't be changed (yet anyway!) must be coped with. It does of course mean that when the principal says how valuable it is to have me volunteer (with heaps of other Mums too) to help in the classroom - it would be difficult for me to refuse unless I was really unable to do so.

Toileting issues were raised however I am hoping (fingers crossed!) that that has been dealt with and luckily her new teacher seemed unfazed - merely asked if there were a spare pair of undies in her bag. Maybe having a 2 year old of her own makes a difference?

Her kindy teacher has said how she has really matured and so in particular in this term she is following the class routine a lot more easily, being more compliant etc. In the afternoon she comes and sits in the group circle for religion where previously she went off to a quiet corner of the room by herself. She also initiated 'news' last week by going up to the teacher, really close and saying "Hannah, news" so presented her 'dolly' to the class. Sounds like she mostly just said 'bubby' to any question asked but the teacher was able to get her to identify the colours on her doll and when the group listening got restless she asked Hannah to get them to be quiet - and Hannah signed and asked them to 'wait' which they apparently loved. SHe also called on some of the students by name. Have I mentioned that my daughter is a gorgeous girl? Well so are a whole bunch of kindy kids out there too. I am actually looking forward to Year 1 - bring it on! I say....

Prepping Up

Our meeting with the Year 1 Teacher who gets Hannah - is - tomorrow! I have seen this teacher around but unlike a few of the others I don't really know her. Anyhow today was my last day to help in the kindy room - and guess what - Mrs D was there - she was spending the day there to observe the students she will be getting next year - and of course Hannah in particular (and no doubt others of whom I am not privy to information about although I can guess!). She introduced herself - and boy - fantastic! I am SO impressed. Let's hope she wasn't having second thoughts by the end of the day...lol!
When she introduced herself she came across as down to earth, vivacious and accepting. Happy to make adjustments to accommodate Hannah. She mentioned all the good things she'd heard and observed about Hannah through the year. Reiterated what a great school it was for a student like Hannah and in particular how caring the other kids were towards her...yep - I think she is on my wavelength. I certainly agree with her on all of the above points anyhow.
Tomorrow's meeting includes the principal. Now don't get me wrong - I love that principal. She is a dedicated and insightful educator. But boy - she considers all the possible problems - so I know it won't necessarily be a 'positive' meeting - but it should be realistic and all about scaffolding and adjusting for Hannah in the context of her classroom. I'm looking forward to it actually.
I was chatting with the divine Ms L (her kindy teacher) and said how I didn't want Ms D to feel daunted about having Han - "you know what it's like" I said. And yes she agreed - she sure did. She then went on to say how it hadn't been that big a deal at all and how many of the things she learned and used with Hannah actually helped other kids int eh class...etc Yes Ms L is a hard act to follow - I think she is a fantastic teacher - and not just for Han but for Kit too.

Which reminds me - A mum from Han's dance class said that her daughter is going to the same school next year - in kindy - she noticed Hannah - right up the front in the song the kindys performed for the new kindy kids and their parents at orientation. We chatted a bit and of course I raved about the school as I do. Later in the conversation she mentioned how the principal in their interview had said that there were 4 'gifted' kids in the kindy group this year - and that this was more than they had expected... with a smile I thought to myself - wow - that includes my Kit - he is one of those 4. And yet in all the talk of how good the school was - a lot of it was about how well they were at meeting Hannah's needs - rather than in 'marketing'. I wonder if she mentioned Hannah and if so what was said? It was lovely to think that - boy that was me last year - anxiously listening for any opinion about the school I was choosing - and worrying about how on earth I was to manage nutritious lunches 5 days a week!

Transition to Year 1

We had our meeting last week. No surprises - in fact some fo the tenor was pretty much what we got last eyar - you know how the other kids 'just take off' in kindy and how the gap between Hannah and her peers will get wider yada yada yada - but you know upon reflection it occurred to me that with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions there isn't a bigger gap between Hannah and any other of her peers than there is between her and Kit - so yes we live with it, we see it - and we can also see that for now - it is not a 'problem'.

The meeting itself was positive. The twins have had a great year and we are very pleased with the school. The principal hadn't confirmed who would be teaching Hannah next year so we will have a follow up meeting later in the term. I will take photoes etc of the Year 1 classroom to prepare a social story for her and we'll try and get the spec ed teacher to take ehr into the Year 1 room for an occassional visit (her resource room is nexxt to it) so that Hannah gets abetter idea of just what we mean by Year 1.

She knows something about it because after the last school holidays when I was talking with her about going back to school - she said "Yes, Hannah Year 1" and i had to break it to her that she didn't go into Year 1 untl after the long holidays of Christmas.
She loves the ipod touch she got for her brithday but I haven't loaded any communication software yet - am hoping we will be successful in our funding application for an ipad and the proloquo2go - then we can start including it in her IEP goals.

The twins had a fantastic birthday - the gymnastics party went really well. Hannah has started referring to one little girl as 'my best friend' which is of course just fantastic. She is also getting more tired at school in the afternoons because she is more actively engaged in play with the other children at recess and lunch.

A New Term

Ten weeks left of kindy. Wow. October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month which means that lots of resources and links have been flying around fb. One was a short video based ont eh story of My Friend Isabelle. It can be found by clicking on the title - if this copy and paste doesn't work.... http://www.ndss.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=232:everyone-counts-my-friend-isabelle-video&catid=74:video&Itemid=120

Anyhow if that doesn't work - google Everyone Counts My Friend Isabelle and it will come up on the ndss website.

I mentioned it to Hannah's teacher in the communication book today - and she showed it to the kindy kids today.

It would have been great at the start of the year - but is no doubt a timely reminder for them. This morning when we got to school you wouldn't know that they need reminding though - one gorgeous little girl came running over to take Hannah by the arm - to show her her zhuzhu pet, another came over to say hello and our young friend (who visited in the break to make pasta at our house) came over and immediately lifter her up off the ground in his joy. Then one of the girls held her hand and away they went to the other side of the playground. Lovely. When it works, it works... I hope it works for a looong time...

Progress

This photo was taken at Kit's keyboard concert. We videoed his performance - and Hannah was so cute. You can hear her as she excitedly says 'Kit! Kit!" over and over again - she was thrilled to see her twin up on stage performing.
I have to say just how happy I am with the twins school - AGAIN. I called in at the kindy room this morning after helping some of the older kids with a literacy programme. There is such a great atmosphere there. I spoke briefly with Han's teacher. Our area consultant had been around - she saw Han do some work - and could see just how well she is doing there. The teacher gave me a copy of the ntoes from the meeting - general discussion mostly mentioned the positives of strategies taht are already in place. She gave advice on structuring expressive language goals and a couple of ideas that I could use to reinforce Hannah's familiarity with the alphabet at home. Then some points on transitioning her to Year 1. I am meeting with the teachers and principal about htis next term. We are considering the possibility of Hannah joining kindy for reading/maths groups (for Term 1 at least) and everything else with Year 1. The importance of her friendships and of educating the Year 1 teacher were discussed. Me - I'd LOVE to see Hannah's current teacher take her through to Year 1. I think that would work very well for little brat - then a different teacher could have her in Year 2 or later on. I will let the principal know that that is my preferred option but of course she has the whole school and staff interests to consider - and the teachers have already given her their preferences - not sure what Hannah's teacher's preferences were - I'm hoping it was Year 1! Regardless I know that the principal will do her very best to ensure that an appropriate teacher for Hannah gets her next year - and I don't think we can demand more than that.