The last 3 Tuesdays Joseph has been in tears when we get into therapy at Beaumont. He has been acting nervous and shy about being there, which is very unusual. Once he gets going he is fine but has been very slow to warm up there. On the contrary, he closes the door on me when he gets to the Kaufman Center with Jenny. He calls her "my Denny." We are still working on many articulation issues as well as increasing spontaneous speech. He has started being able to make the "w" sound during word drills but when he uses it in combination with another word or sentence he drops it. He does the same thing with the "y" sound. We are trying to get those mastered before we work on too many other ones. Jojo has started to get very upset if after saying something twice we still don't know what it is.

He is getting more and more confident around adults, but he is still hesitant to talk much around other children. I am still working and working on trying to sing songs with him, which he still has never been able to do, though he knows the words. It is just too fast and takes too much motor planning to get there yet. He gets very upset if you even ask him to sing with you because he knows he can't.

Since turning 3, he has been growing very much more independent (as he should!) He wants to do everything himself and tells me he can do it because he is a big boy! It is great that he has such a wonderful older brother as an example! The only trouble with having the older brother is that, of course, he wants to only play what Dominic does....Star wars, Bakugan, etc...

Time for school

Well it seems we have come to a decision what to do with Jojo in the fall. His therapist at MIPP went and checked out a program in Utica Schools designed for kids just like him, with apraxia or other expressive language disorders. The kids are all right on track cognitively and with their receptive language skills. It is is an ECSE (Early childhood special education) class however, the only kids in it are kids just like him. It is offered at one school and the teacher is actually a speech pathologist. She decides what kids would fit in it, there is a max of 12. It is called an AAC program (alternative augmentive communication). It is a class that will focus on speech and literacy. I have been told by many that kids with speech issues have a lot of difficulty with reading and writing. All of his therapists were in agreement that regular special education was not where he belonged, so until we found this program we had no idea what to do. We were thinking that we would just continue with his private therapy another year.

This program is not at our home school, however it isn't too far away. It is at Havel. (for anyone who knows Utica's schools) It kinda stinks that both my kids won't be at the same school.

Last week I had the IEP (Individual education plan) for Jojo. That was very exciting to find out more about the AAC program and meet teachers/staff, however it was also very emotional for me.

This has been an extremely emotional decision for me. After all he JUST turned 3, and in a few months will be gone every day for half the day. Quite different from when Dominic went to nursery school at age 3 for 2 hours 2 days a week. I am tremendously nervous about the adjustment for both of us. I am not ready to let him go yet. (I thought I had until Kindergarten to do that!) He will also be bussed to and from school, which is also hard to think about for Mommy!

When making any of these tough decisions, the thing I keep in mind is that I need to do what's best for Joseph and not make decisions based on how it makes me feel. I know how important this time is for his future and he needs to be in the best spot for his needs.

I am crying now just thinking about it, but part of me (very small part as of now!) is excited to see him thrive and take off in a new setting. It will definitely be a whole new world for both of us. Who knows maybe I will even eventually put my nursing degree to use. Maybe.