At our very first therapy appointment and assessment with our 2-year-old son, before he ever had an actual diagnosis for anything, the therapist handed me a phone number and told me to call and put Deeds on the waiting list for a local autism preschool that ran for kids from the ages 3-5 years old.
I was confused, my son had JUST turned two but I did what she said and put him on the waiting list only to be told that even getting on the list that early there was a very good chance that he would never make it to the top before turning 5.
Flash forward almost two years to this past week. We got a call letting us know that a child was moving and an opening was available. They asked if we could come in for an assessment on the following Monday…today. This school takes only 36 students at a time, separated into 3 classrooms based on goals and needs.
After Jeremy, Deeds and I met with the teachers and staff at the GIANT Steps program for a few hours we found out that Deeds would indeed be a good fit and starts in their middle class next Tuesday!
What does this mean for our little man? He will be going to school 4 days a week for full days instead of the 2 afternoons that he attends now. The bus ride will be a bit longer than he is used to but I am very excited for the opportunity for him to be in this program and grow with the aid of such amazing people.
The treatment methods GIANT Steps use include discrete trial, ABA, TEACH, and Greenspan’s Floor-time, Kinder-Music along with pre-school activities and even more including parent classes (I’m excited about those!) Not only are we encouraged to volunteer in the classroom it is required for at least one hour a week. I am thrilled and cant wait to see how this helps Deeds.
We are sad to say goodbye to one of the autism programs we were in. We hope to stay going to their monthly parent classes when we can and maybe get him in to some classes with them this next summer. The teachers and staff there have helped Deeds so much and touched our hearts forever. I am sad we won’t even be able to go to his social class “one last time” with them since it is a holiday week. I called today to let them know Deeds got into GIANT Steps and they were so happy for him. Made it even harder to say goodbye after all they have done for us. We love you Kids on the Move and Bridges! You will ALWAYS be in our hearts and we’ll be back as often as we can!!!
Where does Magpie fit into all this. Sadly the class Deeds is going to be in has a child with a terrible dog allergy. She did go to the assessment with us and was fantastic but unless the other child ever moves into another class Magpie won’t even be able to come when I go volunteer. It is once again going to be a large adjustment for us all but we have to hope that it be a good choice for our boy and Magpie will continue to bond with him and do her amazing work with him when he is not in school.
