Signs of Participation

Eating muffin for breakfast

On the way to his classroom, we saw a class doing some exercise and stretch outside, William stopped and imitated some of the moves; I was so surprised that he was willing to participate in the group activities even though he’s not aware that it’s not his class.

Then when we got to his classroom, and it was breakfast time; he sat down on the chair, picked up the muffin and ate without the teacher to repeatedly remind him to eat.  Seeing William sat and ate his muffin along with his peers made me happy.

Our son is starting to learn to participate in group activities!

First Day at Summer School

William looked so sad in the new classroom that is full of toys.

Monday morning 8:00 AM.  It’s first day of back to Mitchell school after 2 week break.  Mrs. Hana is not teaching in the summer so William and his friends are transferred to Mrs. Heusser class which is next door, room 310.   When we passed by his old classroom 309, William ran back to it and refused to go the the new room.  And when we got to the new classroom he lied on the floor near by the door and refused to get in.  I held him up to take him to the rug area and sat with him until Mrs. Susan took him to change diaper.

At first he just sat there without touching any toys at all.  Luckily I found the foam blocks that he has been playing during the session with Ms. Diana from ABEST; he held on them for quite some time.  Then finally he stood up and looked around the room.

Mrs. Heusser said there’s 15 children in the class, which is too many; and I only saw 3 teacher aids, including Mrs. Susan from Mrs. Hana class.

Summer school starts from 8:00 – 12:15 PM, which means it starts 15 minutes earlier and ends about 1 hour earlier; from July 1 – July 28.  No day off on Fridays.

A Day with ABEST Staff

William ate a whole plate of lasagna!

Thursday Noon, another hot summer day.

No Mitchell school until beginning of July so William stays at the daycare full day.

Ms. Nhu from AExceLearning Behavorial Services (short for ABEST) sent me a report of this morning session with Ms. Han and Nhi at the Children’s World Preschool via email, including a few pictures.  Needless to say I’m very impressed with how they’re guiding William.  Below is the whole email from Ms. Nhu.

Hi Chi Michelle and Anh Tim!

Session at daycare today went great! William played with peers in the playground and ate snacks (crackers), was able to participate in circle time on and off (for now, we are ok with him sitting from afar since he doesn’t like to sit with peers, but will slowly work to ease him in), and he participated in art project (tracing shapes and letters). During lunch, Ms. Cheryl said that William usually does not eat or he will take a bite and then stop eating altogether. However, we were able to work with him and got him to eat the whole plate of lasagna and carrots (he spoon fed himself), drank his milk, and had jello for dessert. He did a great job today! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
William and Ms. Han

Is the day care good for William?

On Fri June 16, Ms. Nhu from AExceLearning called me right after she went to the Children’s World Preschool to see how William is doing there.  She told me that she’s concern about 2 safety issues:

One  is that William’s bed is right under the hanger; if that falls then it’ll be on top of William.  I drop William off at school every day and watch him running to his bed but didn’t notice that.  I knew his bed is right next to a table but didn’t notice the hanger is hanging above his bed from the other side of the bed.  So the next day after that conversation, instead of just watching him running to his bed from the door, I followed him and sat by his bed, now it’s very clearly to me that the hanger is really over his bed!  I felt really bad that I didn’t notice this before.  So I told Ms. Cheryl who was in the room at the time to move his bed up away from the hangar.

Second issue is that, about 5:0 PM everyday the children will be in the big room waiting for parents to pickup.  William just sits in the corner staring at his classroom door.  The bathroom is between the big room and his classroom; which means he sits right next to the bathroom; it’d not be too much of an issue if the teachers don’t clean the bathroom at that time.  But they do, they use Clorox to clean the bathroom everyday about 5:00 PM so William has been breathing that stuff everyday!  Ms. Nhu said that is not good for William so she asked if it’s ok for her to take William back to his classroom so that he doesn’t have to breath that stuff.  Mr. Gary said it’s ok as long as she tells the teachers that she’s watching William.

Today when I dropped William off at the daycare and had a little chat with Ms. Jennifer.  She told me how nice the ladies from AExceLearning  agency are, “she’s really nice that she took William to the back room (means William’s classroom)  and spend 30 minutes with him there”, “William loves to sit at this corner to stare at his classroom”.   Now that I know the exact location where my boy sits, I felt so sad just to imagine William sits there everyday and no one cares to pull him away from the corner that’s full of toxic smell!

I don’t blame the teachers at the daycare, they have to watch quite a few children and have to clean up at the end of the day; they already have their hands full so they don’t have time to care for an Autism boy.

For the first time, I really appreciate the presence  of the AExceLearning staffs at the day care to watch over William!

 

William is Happy as Usual at School

Tuesday. Cloudy Day.

The class is over but the door is still lock so I waited outside the metal fence while William and Mrs. Hana waited inside the fence.  While waiting I took a few pics of William jumping up and down all happy holding Mrs. Hana’s hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William’s Work

A Usual Morning: School Time

William loves this Pokemon jacket (so does Max, his classmate)

Tuesday morning, a cloudy day with light drizzling but not cold.

William woke up early today around 8:00 AM (usually I have to wake him up around 8:15 AM) so I dressed him up and took him to school a little bit early.  The Mitchell school is under construction so now we have to walk a bit from the car to the classroom.  Mrs. Hana said the construction will be done in the Fall.

Once got to his classroom, William ran directly to this play area after put down his backpack in his designated slot.
Mitchell school is under construction, metal fences are everywhere
Mitchell school playground where William spends his time once a day.