School Field Trip

Myles' preschool went on a field trip last week to watch the play, No Dogs Allowed, at a local theater. When the announcement came home a couple months ago that they were going, my first reaction was dread.

Myles has historically not done well at these types of events. We tried Sesame Street Live and had to leave after 15 minutes because he was so scared, last year I went on the school field trip to another play and ended up spending the whole time in the lobby with Myles while his speech therapist sat with Sydney, who loved the play, and this last summer my mom and I tried to take him to his first movie. That didn't go well.

I first thought I actually might keep him home on the field trip day and just avoid it altogether. But that's not fair, so then I thought I would again go along, but by the time I had decided this, all the parent spots were filled. Next I decided to physically be at the theater, just not at the play, so that I could swoop in and take him home if need be, but the time conflicted with a little class that Sydney takes, and I didn't want her to miss it. I was distraught one day about what to do when Gilby suggested we just let him go and see what happens. Duh. It seemed so obvious when he said it out loud, but I had worked myself up to thinking it would be this big disaster that I didn't even consider just letting him try it out without some big Plan B.

I did make a social story book to walk Myles through each step of the field trip, and we rehearsed with the book the week leading up to it.

When I went to pick Myles up, four adults stopped me to tell me what an awesome job he did before I even got down to his classroom (guess I had made my concerns known!)! First a classmate's mom, then the preschool director, his classroom teacher, and lastly his speech therapist. I was so thrilled, and so were they, which is a testament to how much he is cared for at school. These seemingly small events are huge to us. They show us that Myles is maturing, he can and often does rise to the occasion, and inclusion works.