Wow it’s been a minute. Sorry it has been so long, so much has been happening at home and I feel like my feet haven’t touched the ground. I hope you are all well. So what’s been happening and where are we at? We’ll grab a cuppa and I’ll fill you in.
What’s been going on?
So a new school year has started and I’m not sure who was more anxious, C or me. Towards the end of last school year C had started to let her mask down and show her teacher some of her more vulnerable traits. I think I was anxious that as she goes into a new class with a new teacher that the mask would go back up and we would be back at square one again. I couldn’t be more wrong. As fabulous as the last teacher was, C seems to be really close to her new one and the teacher seems to be bringing C out a lot. She seems to just get C and that’s a rare find. Even though we have the whole of the year to get through, I already don’t want her to leave for a new teacher next year. We will cross that bridge when it comes. C still has the interventions in school that help her manage the day and week in class. I think at the moment we are ok. I went in the other day to see her school work and she’s doing well. The school use a system of green and orange to mark their work. Orange means “needs a little more work” and green mean that they got to right. C’s book is full of greens with the odd orange. As lovely as this is to see, I do question her understanding of what she is doing. How much help and support has she had to get to the answers and would she be able to do it if she just had to get on with it? I guess as the year goes on and the children are encouraged to be more independent in their work we will see if there are cracks and if she can keep up academically.
C’s hyper empathy has seen her walking a mile every day in the month to raise money for charity and donations to the food bank. She’s had done terrifically and has managed to get two car boots full of food and essentials to the local food bank. She has been so proud of herself for doing this and it’s been so lovely to see her getting her teeth into something, having the passion to see it through. I will say this about C, when she has a plan, she’ll see it through to the best of her ability. We are so proud of her for doing this and as a result she’s received recognition from her school, beavers and the owner of the food bank she donated too.
Where are we at?
There’s not much progress at the moment but there are things in the pipeline. We have received the paperwork for the Autism assessment, that’s due to go back with a lot of written supporting evidence from myself and friends/family. It’s been hard to get this questionnaire filled out, the way the questions are written are making C present as neuro-typical but everyone know that she’s not. Because of this we have hired a private ASD consultancy to go to the school and home to “pluck out” the ASD traits that C presents and write a report about them so that can go off as supportive evidence too. While we don’t mind paying this, because let’s face it we will benefit in the long run, we really shouldn’t have to. I understand that there needs to be a screening process for the NHS services otherwise they will be even more over worked with cases that are potentially externally managed. But it’s hard to tick box a child who presents so differently than the “textbook cases” these questionnaires are designed for.
We also have a OT going into school to assess C for her sensory needs. At the moment there’s not much to report there expect we have noticed lots more traits coming out since we have been more vigilant and knowledgeable about sensory needs and traits. We have managed to accommodate some of these needs but some are environmental, likes outdoor smells that make her gag, smells that most people would maybe not even acknowledge.
I hope that everyone is Okay and I'll update you soon as to the outcome with our assessments.
Take care all
x
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