From summer school to summer camp

Yesterday was Ian's last day of summer school.  Basically, it's ESY or extended school year, where he continues to work on the goals in his IEP.   I had signed him up for summer camp in March, and it actually started on Tuesday so he missed the first 3 days due to the overlap.

This morning he slept in later than usual, which was fine since camp doesn't start until 8:30.   As with any new situation, I was a little concerned with his reaction to it all and whether I had prepared him well enough for the new event.  I needn't have worried.  From the moment we walked in, everyone was professional and organized and happy to see Ian.  Sometimes just getting him INTO a new place is a challenge, but we didn't have one problem with that.  I gave them the forms I had signed, and they gave me a list of names and cell phone numbers in case I had any questions later.  I left with tears in my eyes because I felt so good about the whole thing.

The activity today was going to a bowling alley.  Apparently Ian did quite well with it for awhile, but when he was ready to go he verbalized it by saying "bus."  No problems with transitions or behaviors.  When I went to pick him up he was perfectly happy playing with two pretty young assistants in the room, and when I asked if he had fun the response was an enthusiastic YES!  How awesome is that?

The picture is of the t-shirt for the program.  The campers wear them on their outings, and I love the design.  Just wish they had one in a smaller size for him, but when you start late you take what you can get....

Berry Bribery

I'm going through a phase.  It could be described as "I'm so sick of looking at chicken nuggets I could scream!" phase.  Ian has been in a food rut for years, and I am over it!  Every morning for breakfast he has, depending on his appetite, 1-3 bananas.  I think we've bought enough bananas over the years to seriously finance, well, a banana republic.  And I don't mean the clothing store.  For snack at school, he has grapes and at home he always wants an apple.  While the fruit is all good, the lunches and dinners are not.  Just about every day he has chicken nuggets and french fries.  Seriously, we buy them in bulk at Costco.  If we go to McDonald's, he orders "chickenfries" as he calls it.  Same thing at Wendy's and Burger King.  This is exactly what I swore, in those long ago days when I was expecting this child, that I said I would never do.  Well, never say never.  Especially when you have a child with Fragile X!
So, I've been posting about this on the Fragile X facebook pages and have received lots of advice (including hot sauce!) and commiseration.  These kids seem to make the typically developing picky child look like a gourmet.  Some only eat hot dogs and yogurt.  Some only cheeseburgers.  Some won't touch fruit, or cheese, or other random foods.  There are a few that will eat everything....and more.  Some parents literally have to lock their cabinets.

Anyway, here's my story about the berries.  If strawberries and blueberries were crack, my son would be a crack whore!  He loves them, and I used that to my advantage today.  I had made him a grilled cheese sandwich and he wouldn't eat it.  I brought the berries out and said if he ate a few bites, he could have some.  The little hand reached out and picked up a small piece of the sandwich.  I almost held my breath as he held it to his lips and stopped, then put it in and ate it!  I gave him a small serving of berries.  We repeated this several times until the sandwich was mostly gone.  Hurray!  I know this is not earth-shattering news, but it gives me hope that we can continue to try new things now and then and hopefully move on from the dreaded chicken nuggets.  Wish us luck!

He passed with flying colors!

Today we got the results from Ian's 3rd grade VAAP, which is the Virginia Alternate Assessment Program.  I had kind of forgotten about it since he took it way back in March, so it was a pleasant surprise to open it and find out how well he did.  There are 4 categories:  History and Social Studies, Mathematics, Reading, and Science.  The weakest subject was, not surprisingly, math, where he scored 14 out of a possible 20 points.  But he passed!  In the other subjects, he received perfect scores!  I give his teacher and her staff all the credit because I know they worked so hard with Ian.  Now, two more days of summer school and then fun for the rest of the summer.  You deserve it Fourth Grader!

Okay, here we go!

This is my first post.  I think this will be an interesting way to share family news, pictures and information without being on Facebook.  I'm kind of stumbling around with the layout, etc. but I learn best through trial and error, so I'll keep going until I get the hang of it.