Today our sweet, cute Buddy is 6. I will have to post more about his actual birthday celebrations later. Today, he's home sick with the stomach flu, so everything is on hold until he's better. He actually started getting sick in the middle of the night last night, so we're all a little tired - kind of like the day he was born.
The Buddy has had a great school year so far. We LOVE being able to walk to school each day, rain or shine. He goes happily into class & gets ready for the day. He has an amazing teacher, known to the class as Miss H. and an amazing team of classroom assistants. They work so hard with him and he mentions them each night in his prayers. Last week, we had our IEP Meeting (individual education plan). It was one of the least-stressful IEP meetings we've had - and a far cry from the high-stress ones we had last year. We have a great IEP team at the school, made up of an occupational therapist, speech therapist, school principal, his teacher, and a behaviorist that works for the school district. We were encouraged by the progress everyone reported on as well as the direction everyone wants to move in to continue to help him. We also talked about the Buddy spending a small part of the day in regualr kindergarten, probably during their language arts lesson - a big step for him!
He is equally happy to come home and get on with the afternoon activities. One afternoon a week, he take swim lessons. He has a private lesson and LOVES being in the water. The Buddy gets so excited if I tell him he's going "Swimming with Jason". Jason has been the most amazing teacher for the Buddy. During the day, he works at a school for kids with autism and he understands the Buddy in a way no other swim teacher has. The Buddy has made a lot of progress since Jason became his teacher and I knoe Jason is always thinking of new ways he can get the Buddy to listen and improve. The other weekdays, we have therapists in the house working with the Buddy on social skills - they work on answering social questions, turn taking, listening, following directions, and we even take little trips to the grocery store, and soon to the library.
The Buddy still has his own teacher at Church, a great girl named Katie. She is very patient! In the fall, the Buddy had a chance to read a scripture and say the opening prayer in Primary. It was a short scripture and I wrote it out for him. I went up with him and he read it just like we had practiced - and then he gave a great prayer. We are hopeful that this year, he will be able to interact more with his regular class.
His prayers have really changed recently as well. For a long time, he said the exact same prayer, even repeating certain phrases, every time he prayed. Since school started in September, he has gotten more creative with is prayers; removing the repeated phrases, and changing it depending on what he ate, who he saw, or what we did that day. It's been really sweet to listen to what he picks out from the day. He still loves the Primary songs. An all-time favorite is, "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". It is so sweet to listen to him sing - and he's usually right on key!
He is still a sure shot at the basketball hoop and we even had to upgrade to a bigger hoop at home. He loves blocks and gears. He has learned how to read and has recently discovered Dr. Seuss. And, the Buddy has been growing - adding 2 inches since last year - now he's 3'10"! I'm sure before too long, he'll be as tall as me!
Happy Birthday to the Buddy!
I haven't sent any kind of update recently about how the Buddy is doing in school & everything else, so I thought his birthday would be a good time to send one out.
The Buddy has had a great school year so far. We LOVE being able to walk to school each day, rain or shine. He goes happily into class & gets ready for the day. He has an amazing teacher, known to the class as Miss H. and an amazing team of classroom assistants. They work so hard with him and he mentions them each night in his prayers. Last week, we had our IEP Meeting (individual education plan). It was one of the least-stressful IEP meetings we've had - and a far cry from the high-stress ones we had last year. We have a great IEP team at the school, made up of an occupational therapist, speech therapist, school principal, his teacher, and a behaviorist that works for the school district. We were encouraged by the progress everyone reported on as well as the direction everyone wants to move in to continue to help him. We also talked about the Buddy spending a small part of the day in regualr kindergarten, probably during their language arts lesson - a big step for him!
He is equally happy to come home and get on with the afternoon activities. One afternoon a week, he take swim lessons. He has a private lesson and LOVES being in the water. The Buddy gets so excited if I tell him he's going "Swimming with Jason". Jason has been the most amazing teacher for the Buddy. During the day, he works at a school for kids with autism and he understands the Buddy in a way no other swim teacher has. The Buddy has made a lot of progress since Jason became his teacher and I knoe Jason is always thinking of new ways he can get the Buddy to listen and improve. The other weekdays, we have therapists in the house working with the Buddy on social skills - they work on answering social questions, turn taking, listening, following directions, and we even take little trips to the grocery store, and soon to the library.
The Buddy still has his own teacher at Church, a great girl named Katie. She is very patient! In the fall, the Buddy had a chance to read a scripture and say the opening prayer in Primary. It was a short scripture and I wrote it out for him. I went up with him and he read it just like we had practiced - and then he gave a great prayer. We are hopeful that this year, he will be able to interact more with his regular class.
His prayers have really changed recently as well. For a long time, he said the exact same prayer, even repeating certain phrases, every time he prayed. Since school started in September, he has gotten more creative with is prayers; removing the repeated phrases, and changing it depending on what he ate, who he saw, or what we did that day. It's been really sweet to listen to what he picks out from the day. He still loves the Primary songs. An all-time favorite is, "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". It is so sweet to listen to him sing - and he's usually right on key!
He is still a sure shot at the basketball hoop and we even had to upgrade to a bigger hoop at home. He loves blocks and gears. He has learned how to read and has recently discovered Dr. Seuss. And, the Buddy has been growing - adding 2 inches since last year - now he's 3'10"! I'm sure before too long, he'll be as tall as me!
Happy Birthday to the Buddy!
6 comments:
Happy Birthday Spencer...way to go on all your big accomplishments since last year!
Hard to believe he's already 6...where does the time go?
Happy Birthday to your sweet one!
Thanks for the update! It was so interesting and fun to read about the Buddy's progress. Happy birthday!
Yay for Spencer! He's accomplished so much this past year! we are so glad to hear that he is progressing and doing well. We look forward to seeing him (and the rest of your family) in Missouri. I love that picture of Spencer - he is getting so big! It sounds like he's built just like his daddy - lucky kid!
Thanks for the update on Spencer. Sounds like it was a great year of progress, not only for him, but the whole family. Thanks for opening up and sharing with all of us. Happy Birthday Spencer!
Way to go Spencer! It sounds like his an awesome support team helping him out. That's wonderful. Happy birthday too.
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