Today was the second day of first grade for the Monster.
Day one started out inauspiciously – we got him going on time (and this was even after I got up and went for my walk!), and I got him to the bus stop in theoretical time for the bus to get him. Unfortunately, though, there was no bus… and so I ended up having to drive him to school, which itself was probably a good thing. (Okay, in fairness, the bus did come. The driver didn’t have the proper list of stops, didn’t realize we were waiting on the corner for him, and only seeing one dad and one kid, thought we weren’t a stop and continued on.) I ended up meeting the vice-principal of the lower school and handing the Monster off directly to his teacher, and then headed off to the office.
His first homework assignment also came home last night, and… it was an assignment to bring in two or three items that talk about who he is and things he likes. First, this says to me it’s not adapted to him really, as he’s not terribly verbal and his IEP says as much in stating that he needs prompting for these kinds of things. Second, it’s really hard to have him do that kind of assignment, since we can’t really explain to him what’s expected of him… but we muddled through as best as we could. We sent along his microphone (he likes to sing), a swim suit (he likes to swim) and an Autism awareness bracelet from Pathfinders for Autism (because, duh).
In the meantime, the wife contacted the school several times and got the bus straightened out, though it meant she had to go down to the school to pick him up at the end of the day.
Today, I didn’t manage to get up before it was time to get him ready, but I blame the melatonin I took last night from having had so much trouble falling asleep the night before. We still got him going and ready to head out on time… and after a minor snafu with my deciding where to position ourselves to find the bus, I did manage to notice it in time to get back to the right spot and get him aboard. And off to school he went!
His OT called today to ask a few questions about details on the IEP, but after failing to reach me at work, she got the wife on the phone from home. There’s a few little discussions to be had about what a ‘sensory diet’ for him should include, and when it should be implemented, but there’s a general agreement that those parts are going to be abided by. We’ve not yet heard from the SLP, and… well, my one interaction with the IEP chair over email has been thoroughly unsatisfying, as she’s ignored my major question. I’ve, therefore, mailed the person at the citywide special ed office to ask my question about policies regarding IEP distribution to teachers, and we’ll see what happens.
On the other hand, the wife had to go pick the Monster up from school again this afternoon, since his teacher, Ms. H, got herself confused as to whether he was being bussed or picked up, and didn’t put him on the bus. We’ll get that part straightened out very soon…