Meeting Went Great

Yesterday was Taylor's BIG meeting about getting everything set and in place now for when he goes to school in September. The lady that will be teaching him was there and the Special Needs Coordinator was there too. I know them briefly through Dana so i wasn't too nervous about meeting them for the first time. His speech therapist Vicky was there and she was a great help. Sue (nursery manager) Louise (Taylor's key worker) and Linda Kennish (EYSEN Teacher) where there too.

We all talked about Taylor's good points and bad points and what he can and can't do very well. Mostly his difficulties so that they can work on strategies to help him get better. They have suggested a 'quiet time' table or corner he can go to to 'get away' when he thinks it is getting too noisy or getting to be too much, to help him calm down without the aid of a tantrum. I am all for that as he uses his bedroom at home as his 'quiet time' area. He will ask at say 2pm to go to bed when i know he isn't tired, he will go up and play with his trains or just lie down watching a DVD then shout to come down about an hour later (or when the DVD has finished) They have also just introduced a 'quiet time' table at Nursery too so he has somewhere to go, i don't know to be honest how he's getting on with it though as it was only introduced the other day and he is still going to bed in the afternoon's to get away. That's his 'quiet time' routine at Nursery at the moment. I hope they can get him using the table before he does start school as it will be something familiar to him and he may take to it very well. I have a table at home which I'd thought of using for him at home but I'm not convinced he'd use it. I shall give it a try though. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as my mum would say lol.

The teacher's from school asked loads of questions and i gave them some pointers to control his moods, like when he starts to get frustrated, wound up or has broke out into a full blown tantrum take him to 'wash' his hands. Let him run water over his hands and fingers or put some water in the sink and let him play for a few minutes, he will calm down almost immediately and forget what the problem was in the first place. They were really pleased when i told them that as they said they would never have thought to do something as simple and quick as that. I also told them that he is very clumsy (he will fall over his own shadow) and he can get very tired, very quickly. I don't know if it's the fact that what he's doing physically drains him or whether emotions get the better of him or what!! Every situation is different though and they will pick up within a few weeks on what does what and how he will react to this and that. He tends to be very predictable and you can almost guess what he's going to do before he does it a lot of the time (especially when having a tantrum) I don't think it will take them long to figure him out!!!

I just can't wait now for the July holiday's to go out and buy his new school uniform!!! He has gone back to his Thomas wellies obsession and both the teachers yesterday asked about his feet so we told them about his fixation on his wellies and they said that it was perfectly fine and wouldn't be a problem. I'm just waiting now to hear about his Statement then i know what to do next about asking for additional support at break and dinner times, other than that I'm very pleased with the way thing's went and am now looking forward to September and that first day of school. He will be introduced into school gradually, starting off in the mornings then afternoons then full days. They usually do it over a 3 day period but for Taylor it could take slightly longer.

Nothing much has happened since last time i blogged so not really much to report. Dana finishes school today for a week, Donovan started his GCSE Exams last week and Taylor, well he's still Taylor. An endless bundle of energy and keeping me on my toes, how I'm not stick thin by now i do not know, i hardly find time to bloody eat and I'm constantly running around after him (saves me money going to the gym lol) He has Monday off school as it's a bank holiday then he's in Wed & Fri and back to normal the week after.

Anyways, enjoy your weekend whatever it is you've got planned. xXx