Have you ever seen the show, Hi-5 on Discovery Kids?  My kids love this show, and you know what?  *whispering* So do I.  The songs are great and it is so colorful, and they teach kids about all kinds of things.  Anything from colors, places to visit, and my favorite…Teams.  What’s even cooler, is they do this show all over the world, with different people playing the parts, but they are pretty much the same. Here’s a great video of them singing the opening song, “We’re A Team!”  It takes me back to my cheerleading days.  Love it!

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Technorati Tags: Discovery Kids, Hi-5 We're A Team, Kids Shows, TV Shows for Preschoolers

Being that it is the last day of Autism Awareness Month and as part of Blogging for Autism Awareness, I’ve decided to close it with an amazing update that I’ve received about my son, Christopher, during the IEP meeting I had with his teachers last week. I want people to know that I’m not trying to brag about my son, I am just so happy about the progress he has made, and I feel the need to share it and hopefully Christopher’s story will give hope to those parents out there, that are dealing with a similar situation.

First, these meetings always make me nervous. This time, I had a feeling it would turn out good, because of the wonderful progress reports that were being sent home. There was no doubt in my mind. But at the beginning of the year, things started out quite rough.

Christopher was having trouble adjusting to the schedule and his teacher, and I have to admit, I was very discouraged. You see…when Christopher was first enrolled and evaluated, it was recommended that he be placed in a 4 to 5 year old preschool class, that would allow him to be in a more restrictive environment. Whatever that means, but upon hearing this, my husband and I were not very happy about this placement. I wanted him to be placed into a regular Kindergarten class. Given, my son had issues, but we knew how smart he was, and we strongly felt that this was not the correct placement for him.

So, after discussing this with the SPED department, they agreed to put him in an inclusion Kindergarten class (a mainstream class, consisting of typical children and children with special needs). First day of school wasn’t too bad, but after going one day, Christopher started refusing to go, crying and pleading for me not to leave him. Now remember, this is my first child, on top of that, he has special needs, so I didn’t know what to do, but to just bring him home with me. I immediately called the school and arranged for a meeting to discuss our options. I was feeling like I had made a mistake having him placed in the Kindergarten class. The meeting was held, and although the topic of moving him back to the pre-school class was discussed, it was ultimately decided that he just be switched to the other inclusion class. The teacher in this class had a different teaching technique and her class was not as structured and a little more laid back. And I’ll admit the minute I met this woman, I took one look at her and immediately knew that she would be the perfect teacher for my son.

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Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Awareness, Blogging for Autism, IEP Meeting

And he did great! This video is a little over five minutes long, so I don’t expect anyone to watch it in its entirety, but it will just give you an idea what my son has accomplished over the last year. About this time last year, I posted about an “End of the Year” singing program that his preschool class performed. Christopher had just been diagnosed, and had only been attending his therapies for about 6 months. Although, he had made tons of progress by then, we still couldn’t get him to stand with his class and sing the songs. He would jump right off the stage. Even though we knew he would do this, we still wanted to give him the opportunity.
Well…almost a year later, and Christopher did a wonderful job standing with his class, and although he didn’t do all of the hand movements with them, he did sing the songs, and we were soooo proud of him! He’s the first one on the first row with his hands in his pockets. Oh yeah, and you can’t miss him, because he’s the one that jumps around and claps after each they sing each song.

One of my preemie (but no longer preemie) twins, Emma is finally walking! This has been a long time coming, although, I know some babies take a little bit longer to take their first steps. Emma has been going to physical therapy for the past 9 months or so. She never fully mastered crawling, kind of does her own thing (we call it the “booty scoot” hehe) where that’s concerned. But I know that she might not have made it this far, if she hadn’t been going. Here’s a great video I took this morning. I’m so proud of her, and once again, excuse the “twang” and my messy house! LOL

If anyone is interested in watching this and you don’t have access to HBO, you can view the critically acclaimed documentary “Autism: The Musical” NOW online for a limited time in its entirety. Here’s the link to the streaming video. I, personally, do not have HBO, and plan to watch this online. It is available from March 26 - 30.

Autism: The Musical

Technorati Tags: Autism, autism spectrum disorder, HBO, HBO Autism the Musical