Yes, I have mentioned this in a previous post and yes I am going to cover it today. Change to the environment is one thing that all parents on the spectrum dread. Dread it with a passion. It the difference between continuing to progress or the start of regression.
For Doodle she has already had a regression. I blame the school on that one. She wasn't taught a thing. Couldn't read couldn't write and I had been trying for years to get her to read. But all that school would do was basically babysit her. I'm guessing that they really weren't capable of teaching special needs children because any special needs child that went there all had the same thing going for them. Nothing, no hope and no chance. And because Doodle wasn't in an environment where she was being taught I ended up with a child that used to love seeing me at school. A happy smile and hug for her mommy. That's what every parent wants from their child in grade school. She became a child who never wanted to see me. I began to feel awkward when I would travel with the school to field trips. And every time I came to the school Doodle had a note book in her hand and all she would do was doodle. Her art was suffering all the therapy she had done in the past years were out the window and her speech was gone. One day Doodle got off the school bus and she smelled awful. Literally like butt and she was wearing someone else's clothes and underwear. That was the straw that broke the camels back. IF she had had an accident at school why wasn't her wet clothes sent home? Well, that was the first time Doodle got a bath the moment she got home from school. The smell was unbearable. But that's what you get with the school that you're zoned for. I'll admit it. I cried and I prayed. My child wasn't being given her true potential.
That night a storm rolled through and with it tornado's. Our area was the hardest hit. The school was wiped off the map. Now I used to refer to Doodle as the wild child. This was a time in her life she was the worst in behavior and it's was the worst of the wild child phase, if you want to call it a phase. But there was another issue that was a factor. Storm debris. For a child on the spectrum it could seem like no big deal. We were basically living in conditions that were equivalent to a war zone. And for a child with asthma it just compounded the issue. Under those circumstances they let us transfer Doodle to a school 45 minutes from our home.
At the new school she excelled. She learned to read, to do math, to write. It was a dream come true for me. She had potential and the teachers at her new school saw and new it. I was truly blessed.
When Doodle and I moved over the summer this year. And it wasn't a move I condoned on my part it caused another regression. A regression I was not going to take. I refused. She developed PICA. And that's the gross one. I stood firm. It was the only time that I had refused to roll over and let the world take a dump on me. I held 5 IEP meetings in the first month of school. I started turning our bedroom into a sensory room.
Implementing rewards during the week helped. A slushy on Wednesdays, yogurt on Friday's and if she was really really well behaved at home and school I would take my car through the car wash. This is the equivalent of seeing going to Disney Land to her. Nothing will make the child happier than a car wash. And in all honesty this is what helped to start the progression again stopping the regression in its tracks. Is it worth it? HECK yeah!
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