Kindergarten Update

We're halfway through this school year and I can honestly say that Myles is having a really good kindergarten experience. It's not that I'm surprised, but the first few weeks of school were a little rough, so we weren't sure how the year would shape up. By our 9 week conference he was a different kid in school: more confident, had settled into the routine of the classroom, made connections with other students, and was better understood by staff. He has taken off since then and rarely has rough days anymore (attention span, persistence once he's made up his mind, and fatigue can still be challenges).

Myles is in a regular education kindergarten class 100% of the time. He receives push-in support from an occupational therapist, speech therapist, and special ed teacher, and has a one-to-one para all of the time. To communicate he uses the limited speech that he has, his talker, and some sign language (lots of staff there know sign). He is well liked by classmates and kids school wide, and he has a little crush on his kindergarten teacher, sweet Mrs. Babbs. Full inclusion is our goal throughout school (and life) as long as it makes sense for Myles, and we are thrilled to be in a district and school that supports this (why we chose to live where we do). I wish every child with a disability was treated with presumed competence, but in the disability community it's unfortunately still an uphill battle where we have to prove what our kids can do before being given a chance, rather than the other way around.

Academically, Myles is making progress, but we are considering repeating kindergarten as he is just not quite where we'd like him to be to start first grade. With such a late summer birthday he's already one of the youngest in the class, he's definitely the smallest, he has less stamina than his classmates and is really tired in the afternoons, and with such an adjustment the first few weeks of school there was "wasted time" when he was solely focused on figuring out how to "do" kindergarten, and not working much on academics at all. We haven't made a final decision, but there's a good chance we'll do Kindergarten Take 2. With the help of all the private therapies we take him to (5 a week), some focused instruction by us this summer, and maturity, hopefully he'll be ready to make even more progress next year. Plus, we won't have to be stressed about potty training because HE DID IT! A huge deal in our house. We've been working on this since the summer, but he regressed a bit in the fall with the stress of school, so he was wearing pull ups again all first semester. I decided I was DONE, and he was ready, so starting the first day of Christmas break he was in underwear and we haven't looked back since. He won't initiate yet, so we take him on a schedule, but he hasn't had an accident now in 17 days and counting, which we are thrilled about. (Average age for potty training for boys with Down syndrome is somewhere from 4-7.)

We are so proud of Myles, his hard work, his character, and the young boy he is becoming. Amidst our almost daily frustrations with communication and behavior, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture and all the progress he is making. We have such high expectations for him that we don't celebrate new accomplishments too long before raising the bar again - not because we're pushing him to be somebody he's not, but because he is capable.