Happy Mum and Super snails

Peanut went back to his new school today for 2 hours so they can do more evaluations/ assessment to apply for school funding and see if they will put him in the program.  He was so excited to go so I was really pleased. When they opened the door all the EA's and the teacher let out a big good morning Peanut !!  I picked him up 2 hours later and he was really happy. the Teacher told me he did much better and went from 30% to 60-80% on performance and compliance. She said she knows he can do so much better and can show them alot more of what he is capable of.  I don't actually know what fully goes on in there  behind closed doors but he is happy, Backpacker thinks he is being trained for the secret service.  

Teacher mentioned she wanted to ease Peanut into school so he will be back next Tuesday and still go to his language school thursday friday. (my secret dream has always been for him to do monday tuesday ESC and thursday friday LDC)Im hoping they ease him into the same class he has been going to so he will know the kids and that way we might be able to get away with the shared schooling lol). 
After last week I was worried they wouldn't take him now I know they will (even though they didn't exactly say it) the teacher seemed a bit smitten with him. As we left I asked peanut if he had a good time to which he replied "Had very good time"  when we got to the car I asked him if he had had fun at school he answered "Had fun loves school". 

So this Mumma is really happy.

Peanuts language seems to be blossoming. 

he has said things like. 

"Look at my foot"
" he hurt my hand" Shrimples was not impressed big bro can now dob on him! LOL 
" I hurt my leg"
and he is requesting using 4 words now constantly "I want peanut butter toast" 
 "I want more wheels"

 The scripting seems less and the jargon is still there but we are slowly taking over with more meaningful communication and I have this amazing feeling that by 7 year old  ( 2.5 years from now)  his language will only have some minor flaws  Thats the dream.  I know he might still struggle following conversations and answering certain questions. But thats my quirky kid. 

In other news Shrimples wants to be a super snail when he grows up ! AMAZING! he is amazing Im in awe of both my boys every day. 

Shrimples the teacher

Shrimples and Peanut are on the couch counting lego characters in a book. 
Shrimples: "Peanut how many lightning mc queens" 
Peanut: "one.. two " 
Shrimples: "Good job you did it , now how many fin mc missiles" 
Peanut: "one , two"
Shrimples: "good job Peanut you did it again"

This goes on for a while ( pointing and counting and lots of praise)

Shrimples: "Peanut what about sarge?, Where is sarge? Get sarge"
Peanut: Gets up goes and gets sarge (the toy) and brings it to 
Shrimples.
Shrimples: "Ohh yah he did it, (laughs) he went and got him, I mean point to sarge"
Peanut: points to sarge on the paper
Shrimples: laughs "I need to be more pacific don't I Peanut OHH more pacific ( laughs) sorry"


We have had a hiccup with Peanuts new school suggesting he maybe have to many compliance issues. Of corse he does he has Autism and it was a brand new place with new people and he was not 100% well. Im considering pulling him out of school and getting Shrimples to home school him. LOL just kidding. 

siting down to be told your son has compliance issues is not a surprise to me, hearing that he may not be eligible for the program because he has these issues is a huge surprise.
 I thought it was the point of the program thats why I wanted him to go to that early intervention school, They are firm and will work with Peanut on his compliance so by the time he hits year one in 18 months time he will be able to comply in a mainstream school. 

Peanut complies great at home and out with us  he does well at therapies now  ( not great but huge growth)  and has improved greatly at his language school.  Its not a case of can't comply its a case of wont and I know once he gets used to the new setting he will be more than compliant. If he complied at school  he would be in mainstream already. ARGH  frustrating. 


I really dislike that word really comply, compliance, complying  sounds they are talking about a computer program or a robot! YUCK ! 

The golden ticket arrived

Just as promised by Awks the paediatrician, Peanuts golden ticket came in the post today! 
Diagnoses of Autism with Specific Language impairment. So now I feel the doors have opened up  the funding can be applied for and Peanut can start at his new school. 



I never thought my life could be
Anything but catastrophe
But suddenly I begin to see
A bit of good luck for me

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden twinkle in my eye

I never had a chance to shine
Never a happy song to sing
But suddenly half the world is mine
What an amazing thing

'Cause I've got a golden ticket

I've got a golden sun up in the sky

I never thought I'd see the day
When I would face the world and say
Good morning, look at the sun
I never thought that I would be
Slap in the lap of luxury
'Cause I'd have said:

It couldn't be done

But it can be done

I never dreamed that I would climb
Over the moon in ecstasy
But nevertheless, it's there that I'm
Shortly about to be


'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden chance to make my way
And with a golden ticket, it's a golden day

Good morning, look at the sun!

'Cause I'd have said,
It couldn't be done

But it can be done

I never dreamed that I would climb
Over the moon in ecstasy
But nevertheless, it's there that I'm
Shortly about to be

'Cause I've got a golden ticket

'Cause I've got a golden ticket
I've got a golden chance to make my way
And with a golden ticket, it's a golden day

I find out my kid has Autism and I??

Immediately: I am relieved, then feel validated and then look at the speechy and see her eyes watering up and then I grab a tissue let out a little cry, laugh, ask how many points he got  and high five Backpacker cause we made a bet in the car and I won, thank them and ask what’s next?

Over the next few days: I will ring schools, Ring Autism advisers, Hug my son a lot, talk to friends and try and work out what route you want to take. Its great there is Funding and I’m super excited about it. Financially we can finally do what we want for Peanut without crippling the family, but there is a pressure of not wasting it on the wrong thing. Lucky Peanut is a pretty laid back guy so we have been told as long as we focus on speech the rest will be fine and okay no matter what we decide.  So we are just going to take it slow get this operation out the way and then start him at the education support centre  (yep I made my decision). 

Please note this is just how I felt when I found out I know other people have different journeys and emotions over these sort of things 

 The assessment process :

 We got there and I was about to upchuck  when I get nervous my tummy goes crazy  not butterfly’s but  teacup piglets running around squashing all my vital organs.

DR Huge eyes was there smiling, and the Speechy whom Id like to name wellington (as account on her eyes welling up a lot)  and a pead whom to be honest looks awkward and uncomfortable so her name will be Awks.

Awks told us she would be waiting behind the one way mirror watching and then come in afterwards to chat and would we mind is Peanut was observed by two student Doctors (at Peanuts birth  we said yes to that and by the time he came out there were an extra 8 people in the room at least!), Whom I later found out were Big bang and Smith (there is a reason to these names but I can’t really say it without revealing their real names). So we sat down and Wellington asked Peanut to sit down which he did and they played some games with shapes and puzzles and balloons and bubbles she gave him food and he seemed pretty comfortable with the whole thing you could tell peanut had been in rooms like this  since he was 2 (which actually makes me a little sad) he packed away after each activity and sat nicely he made no eye contact and had no interest in what or who wellington was (PERFECT).

After a good hour and a bit of “play” with Dr big eyes and Wellington writing everything down, Awks walked in and Wellington walked out Awks asked us questions about genetics and such and took us down for Peanut to be measured and weighed and have his reflexes tested this was when we met Big bang and Smith (two quite handsome looking Asian men I liked Big bang best he was nice had a nice smile and a nice jaw line).

They got Peanuts height and weight without a fuss thank god as I was not going to step on the scales with Big bang and Smith present. He was 18 kilos and 105 cms on a flat foot then they needed to check his breathing and heart which all went great (much to my surprise and typical that he has now gotten used to and okay with doctors just in time for his Op next week which is most likely traumatise him and make him scared of Dr's again). Awks went to do his reflexes which was hard as he wouldn’t relax his legs he did the arms fine but kept saying “Excuse me, Excuse me, all done, excuse me” which I thought was very polite and Big bang thought was funny.  

We then went back to the room and Awks kept pointing out Peanuts walking to Big Bang and Smith. We got given some coffee and sat in wait. Backpacker mentioned he thought Peanut nailed it he nailed being autistic! We let Peanut eat, I played with a remote controlled car and Peanut played the ipad doing math, that’s when they came back in. I sat peanut at another table with his ipad. 

They shuffled around us and you could tell they all hated this part Wellingtons eyes welled up so I knew the news and then Awks said it “from what we have found, Peanut meets the criteria  for Autism (those were probably not the exact words but close enough it was a blur to be honest she could have said BLAH BLAH AUTISM BLAH BLAH BLAH and I wouldn't have known). They asked if we expected it, to which we said yep we sure did, there were a few tears (from Wellington and I) and they went on to list all of Peanuts great qualities and how well we had done as parents. He has a good IQ, is great with change and adapts well to new people and places and there is no reason mainstream with an aide would not work for him. But agreed an ESC would be a good boost.  Mummy's instincts are always on the money. That was it really we spoke about who to contact and what speechys would be good for him. We thanked them and walked out.

 I had a lot of adrenaline in me and I was so proud of him and bursting with love for this little man. I rang the schools and talked to principles and got him all booked in to start in 2 weeks. 

Education decision making and wine

 WARNING :  more than one bottle of wine has been consumed solely by me immediately before writing this post. Spelling and content may be erratic and insane : 

So with Peanuts ASD assessment approaching very very very fast ! 2 days actually.  I thought I was dealing with it but Im not sure if Im ready...... having a little freak out here! crying on and off and Im not sure why. WHY am I doing this he is the same kid he is  PEANUT  magical peanut, amazing and wonderful, any way .....  

Its nearly 1 am here and we are torn, Peanut attends a language development centre (LDC) for kindy every Thursday and Friday. He is doing really well, we have Therapy focus (a not for profit)  come in every 2 weeks and work with the school and peanut and he is doing well, better that any one expected. 

beginning of the year the teacher put peanut in what seemed like the "WAY TO HARD basket" but since has fallen in love with him  (like everyone does.. its the huge blue eyes and heart of gold that does it ) He is doing much better and initiating social interaction with peers (after 6 months) he is by far the (this is a hard word)  worst .....  no no the most in need in the class (Im pretty sure he is smarter than most of them). He needs one on one help and so we have looked into a local education support centre, early intervention centre, where he would attend with 5 other kids with varying degrees of ASD on thursday and friday. It seems like a wonderful place but peanut is happy where he is so why fix something that does not needing fixing right ????!!!!???? well  Im not sure! 

Peanut if and when he gets his ASD DX is no longer eligible for the LDC so he will have two options mainstream 25 - 30 kids with an aide 0.5% of the time or education support centre (ESC) with 6 kids 1 teacher and 4 SNEA ( special needs education assistants) and alot of visual aides, with part ABA. 
So question is do we let Peanut finish the year at LDC or move him on asap to ESC? Ive asked teachers, daycare workers, colleagues that used to be ESC teachers and EAs, therapists, family and friends and "most" say leave him where he is. But if he is going to change schools why not now?? if he changed now he would be in the same class and with the same teacher that he would be when he goes next year for preprimary (which would be 2 days ESC and 3 days Mainstream with EA). So why is it less unsettling starting him now as apposed to in feb next year he has no idea how the Australia school year works. Will he just think LDC is over and move on to the next thing, of corse its not that simple he will HATE it to start with (but he might grow to love it - he does well with 1:1 help). He will refuse his uniform and wet his bed for the first few weeks. Im ready for that, thats okay thats change.   

What do I do??? what would you do ?

 Ive always had a positive feeling someone is guiding and looking after me and mine ( I know HIPPY ALERT). But at the moment Im a bit lost. 

 So options are 

1. Finish the school year in LDC with 9 other kids EA and assistant. (Socially good environment)
2. Moved to ESC with 5 other kids and work with 1 teacher and 4 EA. ( Educationally great option for therapy and learning, and he would attend this school part time next year any way).
3. Move him to mainstream kindy with 25 - 30 kids with little assistance.. or 
4. Win massive amounts of money on lotto and move to the an isolated tropical island where none of this matters and coconut run is on tap ! 

Im pulling towards pulling him out of LDC and starting him as soon as possible in the ESC. I think he would love it  but the lack of social interaction bothers me. 

Thanks for reading ( if you did)  I feel better now and can go to sleep I think

Brothers and Best friends

So in the room next door there is a train table set up with mountains and dinosaurs and tunnels and bridges and Peanut and Shrimples are playing all sorts of amazing games, racing, rescuing, train stations, ticket booths, washing machines, boats carrying cars and trains.  They are playing together and it is the nicest sound in the world (even with peanuts high pitched squeals) they are role playing Peanut is role playing, pretend playing he is using scripts and songs but the interaction is great. 
Peanut gets stuck on one bit of the game and it becomes repetitive and Shrimples plays along and then together they mix it up and play a new sort of game. Its music to my ears no fighting, great sharing, lovely interaction and Im so so thankful. Thankful I have two healthy and amazing boys that have hearts of gold, thankful Shrimples came along and surprised us all when he did and blew all our plans out of the water and thankful that together they are saving me hundreds in speech and behavioral therapy. 
They can get irritating, like really irritating, each in there own separate ways but sometimes together its like GOLD its simple, its love and its real friendship.
  I know there will be days, weeks and maybe even years when they hate each other, they will fight, ignore each other, call each other nasty nasty NASTY names (probably alot of words that are yet to be thought up) and shoot evil glares at each other over the dinner table. So for now Im just going to enjoy the sounds of scripts, car noises, tooting trains, crashes, screeching brakes, stomping dinosaurs, washing machines, ticket booths and light and happy flapping. 


P.S  they look different in the picture cause they both had haircuts  xxx 

Peanut reads Normans silly shell

ENJOY!! 

All I can do it laugh at my appalling Animation