Kael successfully completed Preschool and has impresses both his teachers and his parents. There were some bumps along the road, which made us nervous, however he pulled through and is ready for next year.
Lets review some of his accomplishments and some of his epic failures which will be retold for years to come.
First, we are all proud that he was able to break out of his shell and become a sociable kid. And when I say that, I mean he is able to play with other kids. He doesn't yet initiate play, but he is able to join in and continue playing with the kids in his class. He still has trouble talking, so play is limited to actions like building blocks or playing cars. His teachers say his favorite social game is to play chase, where he gets to chase and be chased by his classmates. When I spent some time in his classroom, I was surprised to see him in the gym interacting with other kids who found it fun for him to pull them across the gym floor using a hoola-hoop. It really brings me joy to see him having fun with other kids, I have heard of many stories of Autistic children who are anti-social.
Second is the fact that he is now potty trained! Such a big relief not having to put him on the toilet, hoping he will go. It started as a routine of sitting him on the toilet between activities until he produced something, even the smallest tinkle would do. Often this was a major chore to break him from his focus and pull him away to the bathroom. Once he grasped that concept, he would go to the toilet after being asked if he had to go. And now, he goes all by himself without being prompted or bribed. Now we need to teach him how to wipe.
Third success is his ability to communicate more effectively. Kael has broken out of his speaking shyness and is able to use multiple words in a complete sentence. Albeit, the sentence may be hard to understand and may be filled with "filler" sounds, (he may not know the proper word so he will fill it in with taht tee toe sounds) we are still able to understand his point and complete his request. He still has issues with a full back and forth conversation, but for right now, we are considering it a complete improvement from before he started school.
The fourth success story is his ability to sound out all of his letters. From the help of Leap Frog's Letter Factory and Leap Frog's Talking Words, that my sister Cheri bought for him. He picked up the sounds quickly because each letter has an action with the sound. For example the letter W shows the letter dressed as a rapper saying " whuh whuh whuh" like a rapper would. Or the letter T making the "teh teh teh" sound as it tap dances around. This program seemed to work more effective than the ZooPhonics that the preschool taught.
And the fifth success story of his preschool year would be his newly acquired skill of writing his name. He would, each and every day write his name in his Name Log which would show his progression from simple squiggly lines to actual letters. His teachers would also tell stories of Kael writing his name with his eyes closed. Of course this made him upset because it never looked as what he envisioned it to be when he opened his eyes. Probably because he hasn't mastered the grip of the pencil quite yet. Still, we will mark it as a victory, because he can recognize his name and write it down (somewhat) legibly.