We also have a pretty big case of the "MINE"'s going on.. Odd that I truly expected that when Luke first arrived and not now a few months later, but it is here either way. Luke has laid claim to just about every item one can claim in a house and outside the house and is fighting tooth and nail for these items.. only problem is that 98% of what he is claiming isnt his.. We are working on it and know this will go away but it is odd that he has been fine since we arrived home and this surfaces now ( it is also the cause for 90% of the fighting that is going on too)
Lukes signing has taken a turn for the worst and we are frustrated beyond belief. We feel part of it is the program where he goes (there is nothing wrong with the program for it is a good program) it is just that most if, not all of the kids there use their voice along with signing and have hearing aides and or cochlear implants and therefore are more oral then Luke and it is having an impact on Lukes signing. Plus he decided at home this week he is hearing.. sorta making it interesting around the house as he doesnt make any words ...just sounds when he speaks. (plus making his Deaf dad nuts). He has developed or picked up some crazy lazy signing habits here and there and we are working hard to correct them.... but it is making this momma want to rip out her hair. Stuff he signed beautiful when he came home is now replaced with some baby sloppy I dont know what sign....we are working on fixing things but he is continuing to use the wrong or baby sign of what he should be signing..... working on it.. working on it.....
I am soon to enter into a full on battle with my school district over Lukes education for next year. They are wanting to mainstream Luke in the schools 4th-6th grade Resource room (this is initially what I thought we wanted to do... but have since drastically changed our minds) with a teacher of the Deaf for 2 hours a day. Luke would be the only Deaf child there. ( I had originally said that if we kept Luke in my home district it would be with a full time teacher of the Deaf and a full time interpreter, so 2 hours a day teacher of the Deaf and the rest with an interpreter is not making me happy). Plus I decided that he MUST be with Deaf peers and be immeresed in the Deaf language of ASL at school as well as at home. We are pushing for the Delaware school for the Deaf (about 35-40 min away) but it is out of state and we are not getting a good response from that. I was told on Friday that them providing Luke with a 2 hour a day one on one teacher is them providing the Least Restrictive Environment and I should be happy with it as there are no other choices. Placing Luke with all hearing children in a 4th-6th grade school with his social, emotional and language immaturities (oftening showing at way younger then is soon to be 5 year old sister) is the MOST restrtictive environment at this moment in time... I told them I wont sign an IEP that places him in my home district and that we will file for Due Process... problem is I have no evaluations on Luke yet and that is going to make this fight very hard. ( I have been begging for our specialized CST for Deaf and hard of hearing to evaluate him but my district has drug their feet so bad and would not contact them until just this last week even though I have been asking for that since the beginning of February)
Enough of the negative stuff!!!!
I am getting ready for Summer and praying we get to head to the beach alot, Luke cannot wait to "go play in the mud" hahah. He is excited and cant wait to get in our pool. We are gonna get some good work in teaching him to swim. I am excited for the summer and all the firsts we are going to have.
This is a busy week for us as Paige turns 5 at 9:09 tomorrow morning hahah. She is so excited she cant wait! Next Sunday Aaron turns 19.. Wow where have all those years gone? It seems crazy. My babies are getting old.. there momma is too!
Yesterday Luke met his first police officer as he stopped next door to talk to my neighbor ( my neighbor is an Police explorer and this was one of the officers he works with) and I am so glad he was such a nice officer and that he stayed and took his time to let Luke ask him a ton of questions and even took him for a short ride with lights and sirens. Luke loved it, he checked out all of his "officer tools" too. Luke is finally now not horrified of police officers. Since the day we met Luke he freaks out every time he sees a police officer and I hate that he is afraid of those that live to protect us. I am grateful for Officer Adam for taking his time to ease the fears of a little boy!! Thank you!
Dont take this post the wrong way, we are having plenty of good times it is just that the tides have shifted within the last 2 weeks and our bed of roses has grown a few weeds hahah. I am 100% confident we will be able to pull the weeds and life will gain some sense of normallcy (I must tell you I am laughing as I type that word as my house is always far from normal hahah) at least we will develop a new normal around here anyway. Summer is a coming and there is MUCH fun to be had!!! Bring on the summer and the good times!
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5 comments:
Tracy, I am glad that Luke is learning, I pray that things get better with the school district. With Erin we have been lucky with having the deaf school in our city, so it was easy for us, but I know of another family that struggled with the district. During our diffucult stage after the honeymoon, We were reassured that it was them testing you to see if you keep them no matter what and that deep down they are starting to allow them to feel more safe even if on the outside they act like they know they are safe and loved.
PRAYING! WEll atleast he feels comfortable enough to be challenging. A kid at my school does the mainstream thing and I don't feel he is getting all that he needs. Just my 2 cents worth. Hopefully they will get this battling thing over before school gets out for the summer. HANG IN THERE! Been there and it really does get better. :) :) :)
Morning Tracy - great update! I get the 'good with the bad' thing - it's called life!! But looking for a little support for the 'bad' doesn't hurt - and it's a part of blogging!
I love the idea of sending them to the room together to 'work it out' - kind of like a 'civilzed cage match'!! The 'mine' thing too - our 3 YO son (China sn program 18 months ago) is big in that right now too - along with a 'sense of entitlement' like no one I've ever seen! He'll get thru it in time - promise!
Lazy signing - I'm bad like that too - maybe me and Luke aren't too far apart on that. We've used ASL with our youngers to help avoid some of the frustration over communications when they were 2 and 3 YOA. It helped a lot - but we developed a 'slang' that would drive you batty too! Ah well....
Happy for you guys - bumps and all - well - it's called living life!
hugs - aus and co.
I am a sped teacher and although I haven't worked with students that are deaf/HH, but I think that immersion in his deaf culture would be the best. Breath the word ADVOCATE and hopefully they will be more receptive.
Also you have a right to call a IEP team meeting and once you request an eval the clock should start ticking. We only have 60 school days to complete an eval.
Tracy - how are things progressing with the school plans? We know about that as well as the struggles with rough times. Glad they're improving. If you want to e-mail me, I'd be happy to try to help if I could! My e-mail is: bergeron.family at gmail.com
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