We’re about three weeks away from the winter break here, and we’re trying to figure out what to do with the Monster.
Normally, winter break would be a time for him to just kind of chill at home – at least, that’s what I used to do when I was his age. A nice two weeks away from the classroom and from homework (well, maybe not wholly away from homework) and time to recharge the batteries. And if I was lucky, perhaps to play in the snow as well.
The Monster, though, does best on a schedule. He can accommodate some changes to things, but downtime is something he has never really handled well. There’s a limit to how much playtime he can tolerate with his brother before he starts getting a little wound up, and since we live in an area that doesn’t get much snow, there’s not a lot of hope for the chance to send him outside to burn some of the energy off.
The JCC does have a gap program, though I admit that I myself don’t remember how we handled it in past years. (The wife asserts that they’ve gotten a shadow for him and let him into the mainstream program – she may well be right, but I don’t myself remember.) His Sunday Funday program has a gap program for the last week of the summer, but not for these kinds of vacation breaks. If they can find a shadow for him, I’m sure he’ll do fine, since he’s usually good about listening to directions from others, even adults he’s unfamiliar with, so long as it’s a familiar setting.
To me, though, I wonder if the ideal program wouldn’t involve a bit of reinforcement of what he’s been learning in school. I’m not asking for anyone to try to implement his IEP or jump into those kinds of activities in a week’s time, but… the idea of a little supplemental OT and SLP would be nice. Activities that would continue to push him in the direction he should already be going, not to mention perhaps affording some of the local students in the special-needs education programs at the local universities some valuable teaching time.
It would be nice if they had more organized activities in general for the week in question for children with developmental disabilities, or for any significant vacation break during the calendar. It’s probably asking a lot though, on a staffing level, and I don’t know how in-demand it is beyond my own little cubby-hole. Something for me to organize, though, when and if I win the lottery.