Category: Schools

Not A Swimmer!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Tuesday Morning.

After dropping William off at the day care; I decided to check out the pool and see the new coach Ken. (I did not know the school hired a new coach until I talked to Ms. Angela last week; all the time I thought it was still coach Daniel like last year).

Eating croissant with cheese in the car before going in the daycare.
He loved to play with this pot even though I said “no, it’s dirty”

There was only 3 students and the middle-age coach in the pool at the time. I was just standing there and watching because I did not want to interrupt but the coach said Hi first and the conversation started to roll. In fact, it was 30 minutes conversation!

He asked, “Which William was it?” I told him he’s 5 and short. “There’s 2 William, one with Autism and the other one does not.” – “The one with Autism”, I said.

Then the coach went on talking about his background working as a case manager at RCOC; he said he knows most of the case workers at the RCOC in Tustin. He also worked as a teacher, as the “Violence Restrainer” (He’d come to the house of the violent people and if there’s sign of violence, he’d restraint that person to protect the other members of the family. He said but if there’s Behavior therapist is there, by law he is not allowed to do anything, he has to let the BT does the work, even if the violent person attacks and hurts the BT, he cannot interfere. ); and he’s willing to work for RESPITE hours during days or nights. And that he does NOT believe in ABA; he does not believe in the method of “give a coin” for the “good behaviors”.

But there’s only 1 thing he said that really sticks on my mind: William is not a swimmer! My husband Tim keeps telling me to stop sending William to Australian Swim school with lots of different reasons: itchy eyes, skin, it’s been a year and his skill is not improved, etc. I felt sad that he does not support me on this decision.

My argument is simple: William loves water, he’d stay in the pool forever and never wants to get out. Even if he’s not a fast learner in the pool, or maybe he doesn’t learn anything, who cares? he has fun, that’s what matters! I know it costs money and time, but if money can buy my son some joy, then why not? Plus, swimming is 1 of the valuable skills that a parent can give their children.

The coach Ken is the one on the right.

William started at Australian Swim school since Aug 2018 so it’s been a year now and he still does not how to swim yet. It’s only 30 minutes sessions with other 2 or 3 kids (max 4 in a class); and it’s only once a week (Sunday at 9:30 AM). So during the session, he can only have about 3 or 4 times with the instructor: 1 time to do star fish, 1 time to do back float, 1 or 2 times with the noodle; then the last 3 minutes is Play time, where they can pick the toys from the basket and play. So the fact that he does not have much time to practice and lack of concentration (he has ADHD) contribute to the slow learning process, I believe. What If I sign him up for One-on-One class, would he learn faster?

I believe one day William will be able to swim, but not only that, he’ll be a great swimmer. That certainly answers the question “Will I stop sending William to swimming school?”!

Another Day …

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Another day at the day care. As soon as he went thru the little door, he sat down on the floor and scratched his legs! So I went in, pulled out the chair and told him to sit on the chair, not the floor.

I remember when he first started here, he’d lie down on the same spot. So nothing has improved. He has no awareness that people would get in /out that little door and might step on him.

I’ll try to remind him not to sit on the floor or ground; hopefully one time he’ll stop doing that.

I took this picture thru the shelve, the little door is on the right.

Lonely Boy

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Tuesday 8:30 AM

Dropped William off at the daycare today, while I was sign up, he sat right next to the kid entrance door with the lunch bag next to him. So I came in, put his lunch back away and asked him to go outside to play. He said his belly hurt and wanted me to rub. So I told him to wait because I needed to replace his swim suit with the new set I bought from home. He followed me outside to the wooden shelve where they put the children’s swimming stuffs.

So I rubbed his belly; then he wanted to go to the restroom. He sat on the toilet for quite a bit. Then when he was done, I asked him to go outside but he refused. He sat down on the floor in the corner next to the restroom. I told him to go outside several times, finally he did but as soon as he got out of the door, he sat down on the ground! I told him to go sit on any chair because the ground is dirty. He refused to stand up; until I told him I’d rub his belly if he sits on the chair. That’s when he followed me to sit on the bench in the playground. I rubbed his belly a little bit more; but I needed to leave for work so I told him to continue sit there.

As soon as I stood up and turned my back about to leave, he went back inside and sat in that same corner! I came in to ask him again to go out and sit on the chair. “I want mama to go to work!” – he said.

I guess he wanted to be left alone.

Left is the restroom, right is the door to the play yard. He leaned on the door that leads to Yellow Bird Classroom.

I don’t mind if he sits by himself but the fact that he sat on the floor near the restroom really sadden me. Plus, he leaned on the door; what if someone opens the door then he’d get hurt! After 4 years at the same daycare, I thought he’d be better at this place but obviously nothing has changed. He acts the same way as did the first few months when he started going here.

I looked around, Ms. Rose Mary and Jennifer and the new teacher were busy outside with other kids; no one really paid attention to him.

I left the daycare with broken heart and tears on my eyes. What kind of a mom I am that I left my only son there feeling lonely and unhappy. But there’s really nothing I can do; unless I quit my job and stay home to take care of him. Finally, I can’t do that.

Closer look. He has been itchy a lot lately.

Special Treament

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Dropped William off to the day care in the morning as he still on the summer break. I went in to take his swim suit home and put in the new set for this week. I turned around and looked for him in the playground but could not find him. Turned out he was sitting on Mr. Gary’s laps in the office. Whenever Mr. Gary is in the office, William always comes there and hangs around. It’s nice of Mr. Gary that he lets William plays there instead of asking him to go to the playground.

As I saw William scratching his armpit, I walked in the office and tried to put some itchy cream on him. Mr. Gary asked “Eczema?”. Yes, I replied. Then he said if I’ve tried Coconut oil yet. To respond to my surprised look, he stood up and went to the counter near the restroom and took out 1 big Coconut Oil container; he put his hand in and took out some; rubbed both hands together and messaged it on William’s back. Then he put some on his neck too. It’s no question that Mr. Gary loves and is very good around children. And the children love him too; and so does our William.

Mr. Gary messaged Coconut Oil on William’s back.
Lunch menu for this week.

He told me to bring a jar and get some home to try it on William to see if it works for him before buying it. He said he knew about this Coconut Oil for about 7 months; and that it works on other children. Hopefully it’ll work on William too.

Occupational Therapy Evaluation

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Recommended by William’s speech therapist, we scheduled for an OT evaluation from the same place, Providence Hearing and Speech center.

I took a day off to take William there, but first we stopped by at Dunkin Donuts: William loves chocolate donut.

The whole evaluation session lasted about 30 minutes; they asked me to fill out some questions: make a check mark next to the item that William can do or a cross mark if William cannot do. While I’m working on that, the lady worked with William: asked him to cut a circle, trace and color shapes and some other activities. And she took notes while doing so.

At the end, she recommended that we should have 1 hour / week for OT. Give it about 2 weeks for her to complete the report and then we should call in to schedule the sessions.

She asked what’s our concerns are. It’s that William is almost 6 years old but he still cannot button/un-button shirts/pants or tie his shoe laces. His skill of using utensils is very poor: he changes to left or right hand very often; it looks as if his fingers/hands get tired easily.

Questionare I need to fill out
The OT Evaluator

Last Day of Summer School 2019

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Wednesday 7/3, right before the holiday 4th of July, was William’s last day of summer school at Martin Elementary school. Nothing specially happened on this day, but I took a few pictures of him anyway.

We bought the teachers some sweet treats (fruit tarts from 85 Degree Bakery) on Tuesday as a thank you for their hard work.

William loves to touch the bus.
William loves to touch the bus.
He loves to touch the Collins sign of the white bus
He loves to touch the Collins sign of the white bus
  • Ready for 4th of July
    Ready for 4th of July

I Want To Scratch!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

“I want to scratch!” is the phrase that William has been using every day for a few months now. He loves to be massaged/scratched on his back. In the morning, in order to get him out of bed, i have to scratch on his back; and few more times before heading to school; and then few more times at night too. I’d count from 1 to 3; and often time he would ask “I want scratch so many times!”, which simply means he wants more.

Why do you want to scratch? – Because it hurts!

But it’s not really because he’s hurt, he just feels itchy.

We always apply lotion all over his face & body after shower; in the morning after washing his face, I’d put more lotion on the itchy areas but he still scratches here and there. Some day is better than the other days. Like today, the teacher said he was scratching all over his body so she took him to the nurse to put on some hydrocortisone cream.

“He’s Been Very Good”

Posted on by MICHELLE N

12:10 PM. Picked William at Martin school and while we were sitting in the car as usual; Ms. Birdie saw us and waved to us, then she came up to our car.

I rolled down the window, she said “He’s been very good!”. I was so happy to hear that.

From my observation, Ms. Birdie is a tough teacher, who enforces the rules very good. William has to say “No, thank you!” not “Uh uh” or has to ask nicely instead of just taking the things from my hands.

She’s exactly the teacher that I want William to be with!

Thanks Ms. Birdie for your hard work.

First Day Of Summer School 2019

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Thursday 8:00 AM.

We only had 3 days of break before the Summer School starts at Martin Elementary School. The summer hour is 8:00 AM – 12:15 PM, about 45 minutes shorter than the Spring session at Lincoln school. This Martin school is about 10 minutes driving from our home.

William woke up around 2:30 AM this morning because he peed in his diaper and wanted me to take off his diaper. I gave him another bottle of him but it took awhile for him to get back to sleep. “I want to scratch”, his usual request to massage/scratch his back every day. I put some oil on the bottom of his feet, on his belly and back and then message his back. I think the mild hot feeling from the oil helped to put him back to sleep faster.

Oil – very mild hot that is good for children

Then I cut his finger nails. He’s 5 years old but still refuses to let me cut his nails so I have to wait until he sleeps to do so.

Then I cut his finger nails. He’s 5 years old but still refuses to let me cut his nails so I have to wait until he sleeps to do so.

Both of us did not have a good straight sleep so we both were very sleepy to wake up to go to school. But as soon as I washed his face, he was so ready to go to school.

His room is 11, with Mrs. Chavez, Ms. Birdie and Ms. Anna.

Ms. Birdie and Anna. Ms. Birdie asked William to say “No” nicely to Ms. Anna when she asked if he wanted the crackers.

We were late, 8:15 AM. I dropped him off at the gate with 1 of the teachers from the special ed classes; then I walked to the office to drop off William’s medicine with the nurse. She said the forms are expired so I need to get the doctor signs the form again. “The forms are expired after 1 year”; she checked the date that the doctor signed on the forms that I gave her. “This was signed on 6/2/2018 so it’s expired already!”. His Epi-pen will expire on 7/2019 so I would need to get the doctor’s prescription to get the new one. So a trip to doctor’s office a a must!

  • Teacher Chavez
  • Classroom 11
  • Cafeteria – children is picking up breakfast
  • This way is to the cafeteria
  • The road next to school is beautiful with the purple flowers

Parents’ Worse Nightmare

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Tuesday Noon.

Picked up William from Lincoln school at 1:00 PM as normal. Ms. Newman said “He threw chairs today!”. Last week I was told William hit his friend. In the Teacher/Parent Communication book, the teacher wrote down that William threw sand on his classmate’s face while in the playground; and also kicked his classmate when he did not get what he wanted.

Whenever I heard complains like that, I felt really bad. At home I always remind him that it’s not nice to hit, to fight; he seems to understand!

William is physically the smallest boy in the class but he’s always the one to cause trouble.

William was racing with Jason toward me after class.
Taking him to the class in the morning. Today was the first time that he actually look straight, even though his eyes were not looking directly at the camera or me. It’s so hard to take picture of him because he’d never stay still and his face never looks forward.

William is 5 and 1/2 years old now but I still have to use stroller to take him to school every day. I still need to brush his teeth every morning and night. We still have to give him shower every evening; and feed him spoon by spoon at dinner time. And I think worse of all is that he still prefers to drink milk from the bottle while lying on the bed at nites. And top all that is that he stays up really late: he’d never fall asleep before 12:00 AM. If he doesn’t take a nap at the day care then he’d sleep early around 10:00 AM but usually he’d take a nap at the day care from the moment I drop him off around 1:20 PM. Ms. Angelina would wake him up around 3:00 PM.

Whenever we go out, to shopping malls or park, he’d just run off to see what he’s interested in without asking me so we’d have a hard time to run after him. He’s very fast, that little boy! This is not good because we’d loose sight of him; and if in the parking lot, cars might hit him.

His favorite food now is Spaghetti, Macaroni & cheese and Pop Eye crispy chicken. Occasionally I feed him Vietnamese Noodle Soup called Phở, he’d eat it but not much. Hot dogs and Pizza are next in the line.

He’s 43 lbls now and healthy. His dry skin make him feel itchy though so he always asked “My back is hurt, i want to scratch!”. What he meant is itchy, not hurt, and he wants us to message and scratch his back. I have to scratch his back every morning to get him out of bed to get ready for school in the morning.