And He's Off!

Drew happily ran to the bus on Wednesday, off for his first day of his last year of preschool. I can't believe that this little boy will turn five years old in just under one months time.

Drew loves his bus driver, Mr. Joe. We came to love Mr. Joe as a family last year. He is so kind to both of the kids and really takes care of Drew as if he is his own child. Mr. Joe was out on a medical leave at the end of the school year last year, and Drew was really missing him. The first day of school meant that Drew would finally see Mr. Joe! Drew could hardly contain his excitement to see his bus driver, and bound on the the bus faster than any child I've ever seen. Drew gave Mr. Joe a huge hug, and promptly said, "I can jump off the diving board!"

We're looking forward to a really fun year of preschool, as we prepare Drew to enter the mainstream next year in Kindergarten. It's going to be a great year!

Year End Report

We recently had a meeting with Drew's teacher to discuss his performance this year. Overall, we were really pleased with his evaluation.

Strengths:
Drew has strong parental support.
He is a bright chlid who learns quickly and easily.
He has good pre-reading skills.

Weaknesses:
Although he does not qualify for OT services, Drew tends to have fine motor weakness.
Drew needs extra time to search for vocabulary that he wishes to use in conversation.
Drew can be impulsive at times.

Overall, Drew has had an outstanding year of preschool. Drew achieved all of his IEP speech objectives at or above the state criteria level. Drew has made good progress on his auditory skills, and can discriminate between nasal and non-nasal consonants in the beginning position of the word. He can follow directions through audition only using four critical elements. Drew can recognize and name all of the letters of the alphabet. He can now write 24 letters (he has difficulty with K and Y - his teacher felt that his capital Y looked more like a lower case y). Drew can answer 'where', 'when' and 'what' questions after listening to a story.

I think the thing I most notice about Drew is his interest in doing things that are 'school' related. Last year, the boy only wanted to run around with a basketball in his hands, dribbling and shooting hoops. This year, he actually enjoys writing, reading and drawing pictures. On more than one occasion I have found him coloring, on his own, where he actually had to get the supplies out of the closet by himself and started making a picture himself. Drew can write his first and last name quite well now, and he is doing much better with drawing pictures that actually resemble a story or person.

Due to his age, Drew will have one more year of preschool before beginning Kindergarten in 2012.

Drew Update

There are so many times throughout my day where I stop and think, hey, that would make a great blog post! Then, when I actually have a spare moment at the end of my day to actually sit and write, I can't remember a single thing that happened throughout the day. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm losing my mind and should seek help from a therapist immediately.

Drew is nearly four and a half years old. Where is the time going? His most favorite things right now are sports (especially basketball and boxing, for which we can thank the Wii) and dress up. He loves his alter-egos, either Batman or Woody from Toy Story. Depending on the day he is a crime fighting super hero or your best friend.

Drew's vocabulary continues to expand. Some of the sentences he comes up with now are quite amazing. (Insert that bad Mommy brain - I can not remember half of them!) The other day he told me, "I like Robin more than Batman because Robin can fly and Batman can not. Actually, Batman could fly if you strapped a jet pack to him and blasted him off into the air. But I think I like Robin more because he can just fly on his own, without all that work." His imagination is really starting to take off. The other day I found him in his room quietly playing with his "road rug" and he had airplanes landing at the airport and cars parked at the zoo. He knew what each one was doing, an had a story to go along with each vehicle with which he was playing. It's really amazing to see him growing and developing each day.

We had our parent/teacher conference at the end of February, and learned that Drew is doing quite well in school. He knows all of his letters, both upper and lower case, knows the sounds associated with the letters and can even spell and write some of his site words! We are so proud of him. At the beginning of this year he couldn't write his name. Now look at him!

This spring Drew will be playing tee-ball. He is so excited! He loves sports, and is finally old enough to partake in an area baseball league. We're headed to the sporting goods store this weekend to purchase him a glove, bat and batting helmet! Drew's Dad can hardly contain his excitement!

Exhausted!

Drew's first week back to school after the holiday has been exhausting for the little guy! Come Friday morning, he asked to stay in bed and then he wasn't able to do anything without crying. Get his coat on? Nope. Brush his teeth? Nope, that brought on tears too. It really showed us just how exhausting it is for the little guy to be at school for a full day, every day of the week.

Drew really loves his teacher. On Wednesday, as we were driving home, he told me how pretty his teacher looked. I thought it was so sweet, and who doesn't want to hear that they look pretty?! So, I told him that his teacher might enjoy hearing him say that, so off he went to school on Thursday to tell his teacher how pretty she looked.

We're back into the swing of things around here following the wonderful time we all had together during the holidays. In some ways, I'd love to have another full week of having us all off work and school, but it others, it is nice to return to our routine. Bring on week 2 of 2011!

Get on the Bus!

This year, Drew will be riding a school bus to his school each day. After a paperwork nightmare, and a first-day-of-school issue, Drew's busing is now running smoothly. And he is really enjoying his new ride to school!

He's growing up so quickly.

First Day of Preschool 2

Drew enjoyed his first day of preschool this week! He's in the four-year-old classroom this year, with the same teacher his sister had last year. We're all very excited to see what this year brings for our little man.

Drew will receive auditory and speech therapy at school. His teacher will evaluate him over the first month of school, and we will revise his IEP goals as necessary at that time.

Summer Therapy

I've struggled quite a bit with what to do for Drew this summer in terms of therapy. What does he need? Who can provide it? What is he eligible for?

The unfortunate thing is that now that he is on an IEP he is not eligible for Extended School Year services. In order for our school district to provide summer services, we would have to demonstrate that Drew would have a significant reduction in his current performance level by not having services in the summer. That obviously isn't the case, so he isn't entitled to any school based services. (The reason being that all kids regress some during the summer months, and special needs kids should not be subject to services that peer students are not, unless the special need student would regress more than a peer. Basically, the summer months are not a time to "catch up" because it isn't fair to peers. Blah. Blah. Blah.)

So, we're left in this little area of doing well, but trying not to let the summer months lead to a large reduction in speech and language. So, what is right? Luckily we were informed about a grant that is provided through Drew's Preschool specifically for deaf and hard of hearing children. Drew was accepted to the grant program and will receive six hours of auditory therapy this summer. We're really excited about this formal therapy.

Other than the six hours of formal therapy, Drew's Dad and I signed Drew up for the preschool summer reading program through our local library, which guides us through reading specific books designed for Drew's age group. Some are pre-readers, some are letter and number books, and others are stories. Some come with questions for discussion to work on understanding of key concepts in the stories.

Other than that, what are we doing? We're having fun. We're going to relax. We're going to enjoy the summer months. This is the first summer where we've felt like we can just relax and that everything is going to be fine. That's a first for us. The past summers have been filled with CI activation - and all the appointments that go with it, therapy and IEP battles. We're looking forward to just being a normal family this summer!

School's Out

Then end of this school year has come. While I'm extremely excited for the warmer weather and all the things that come with it - the beach, pool, park, outdoors - I am very sad that Drew is moving on up to Preschool Two.

Drew is getting so big. Growing each day. Learning new things. Talking like crazy. And I'm sad that we won't be able to share this next year with Ms. L. She was Drew's teach this year. A wonderful woman, patient and kind. Drew grew and learned so much in her class. We are really going to miss her!

I know that next year with bring another outstanding teacher, and another wonderful year of growth - in many, many ways - for Drew. But it's hard not to feel sad about leaving a teacher - and a year of school - behind. Each year with Drew is more and more amazing - his progress more and more amazing. And it's hard to move on from those that are such a large part of his success.

The Fishy Song

Each week at school, Drew's class has a specific focus. It could be shapes (he made the cutest little book!) or colors or, like this week, counting. And each week the class has a special song they work on that goes along with the weeks theme.

Throughout the year I've known about the songs, and Drew's Dad and I have worked with him at home, singing the class song. Well, this week, Drew learned his song at school all by himself! (And I really like how he finishes his consonant sounds - a big piece on our IEP!)

Enjoy "The Fishy Song".




Lyrics:

One, two, three, four, five
Once I caught a fish alive!
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Then I let him go again!
Why did you let him go?
'Cause he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
This little finger on the right!

Speech Therapy

Since Drew began school in September, I haven't had an opportunity to see any of his therapy sessions. It's funny how I went from being so involved in every little thing in his CI/therapy life to really having little involvement. Sure, I get weekly notes, and am given "homework" to do with him in the evenings or on the weekends, but it really is different from our life the previous three years!

I decided that I wanted to see how Drew was doing in his therapy sessions. Drew's teacher and SLP are fabulous (seriously, we are so lucky to have such wonderful people working with Drew) and they are so willing to let parents observe their classroom and small group sessions. Here is Drew, in action, at one of his most recent therapy sessions:



I can't believe how big my little boy is getting! He just amazing.

Apple Farm

Drew enjoyed his first field trip today! His class went to a local apple farm. They learned all about how apple trees grow, how bees help apples grow, and, most importantly, they learned how to pick apples. "Twist, twist, twist! Pull!" Drew was quite happy that he was able to pick apples all by himself!

Enjoy the pictures of Drew. He had so much fun on the apple picking trip. He is getting so big!

Yesterday's Gone

The stress in our home has been greatly relieved, as Drew was finally placed through the IEP process at the school we knew he needed. With the meeting that finally went our way came a complete elimination of stress. Sure, we are still beyond angry, upset, disappointed, etc. with how our entire IDEA Part C to Part B transition was handled by our school district, and we are working on improving that process, but ultimately, Drew is now receiving the services he needed, regardless of how we had to go about getting them. Thank God that yesterday's gone. I don't know how much more I really could have handled.

In just two weeks since Drew began preschool, we have noticed a dramatic change. His speech is clearer. He talks in complete sentences. Yes, he did talk in completed sentences before he began school, but this is different. Before he began school, an answer to a question like, "What is your favorite sport?," would be, "Basketball!" Now? "My favorite sport is basketball!" Drew is being taught to respond in complete sentences, and unless he does, his requests or answers are not accepted.

Drew has also become fascinated with letters. We have a set of letters in our bathtub, which Drew has never, in three years of life, played with. Now, he pulls the letters out each and every night and puts them all over the bathtub walls. He can even name a couple of letters, and has learned how to spell his name. This is all in two weeks. The focus on literacy in this program is just amazing. We can really see the focus shining through in our daughter, who is a hearing peer in the program. She is beginning to sound out letters in words. It's just amazing.

Each and everyday, our decision to send Drew to this particular hearing impaired program is confirmed. I am just so happy with how everything turned out.

I have been so bad about blogging through this whole situation. It really was very, very stressful, and weighed on me heavily. I'm so glad that I now spend my evenings looking toward tomorrow, instead of dwelling on a process that was vastly out of my control. I will get back into the habit of blogging now. And, as promised, I will share with you all of our documents and materials that we used throughout the process. But honestly, I've just needed a break from the whole thing. Evenings spent relaxing and enjoying my children, instead of looking through legal policies and procedures, education law and for a new school district.

Transition

I have spent much of the last week researching IDEA, IEP's and LRE's. A lot of acronyms for this Mom to handle! We completed our transition meeting last week, and have determined that we have one more preschool tour to complete, that of our districts cross-categorical program.

In the meantime, we have spent much time researching the policies and procedures for this impending transition, and I thought I would share some helpful sites we have found when determining the appropriate placement for a child with hearing loss:

• Excellent information from the State Department of Health on appropriate education for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Special Education Laws and Operating Procedures
• LRE Clarifications
• Forms

It is our hope that, after the completion of this tour, we will be able to select the most appropriate program for Drew, and that with the cooperation of our school district, we can move froward with the necessary evaluations and placement.

120 Meeting

We are having our 120 Meeting with our school district today, to discuss the transition from Part C to Part B of the IDEA. All children must transition at the age of three, which for Drew is in September. Today we will be requesting a preschool placement for Drew in Preschool Option C.

We find Option A to be an inappropriate environment for Drew, as he does not need a full time aid to interpret for him. This is not the environment we want Drew to be involved in, as we have no plans on requesting an interpreter when he mainstreams into Kindergarten in a few years. We also have serious concerns about the level of education being provided in the classroom, since there is no circle time, discussion of days of the week, weather, etc. Quite honestly, I would not send my hearing child to this program.

Option B was solid, but we were concerned about the teachers' lack of special education qualifications. In addition, we did not like the limited week schedule and the shuffling of kids from one program to another though out the day. Drew is a little boy that craves schedule, and I fear that a program where he is constantly moving around, not knowing what is coming next, could be difficult for him.

So today, we will meet with the school district and request Option C. It is absolutely perfect for our little boy. Our hope is that it will be approved today and that the Multi-Factored Evaluation be completed before the end of the 2008-09 school year.

Preschool Options

We have completed tours of each of our preschool options, and would like to share a brief description of each. Please feel free to leave a comment on your observations. We certainly have formed our opinions, and have made a selection, but I am curious what you think of each of these programs.

Preschool A:

Five day a week, 9 am - 1 pm mainstream classroom setting with 14 hearing peers. Hearing impaired children are an addition to the preschool program and are supported in the room with one teacher of the deaf. (If three hearing impaired children enroll there are 17 children in the class; if six enroll there are 20, and so on.) The class is for three year old's, so regardless of the HI child's actual age, they will be in a classroom with three year old's.

The classroom itself is large, with multiple carpet and tile surfaces, making acoustics rather loud. There are multiple stations to engage the child in dramatic play, arts & crafts, building blocks, etc.

There is no clear classroom schedule, with the focus of the school being more of a "Montessori" type, where the children select the activity they wish to do whenever they wish to do it. The day begins with one hour of open play followed by thirty minutes of play in the large muscle room. Snack time is not conducted as a group, but at the child's leisure. There is only one circle time, which is conducted at the end of the day for ten minutes of music or story. The hearing impaired children, however, are pulled to the side of the classroom individually for calendar, weather and an opening story before they can begin playing in the classroom.

The program does provide audiological support through Ohio State University, and can offer physical or occupational therapy if needed.

The hearing impaired children stay after the typical day ends, which is at 11:30 am, for a focused group exercise with the TOD and lunch with the hearing impaired children together.

Preschool B:

This preschool is unique in the fact that it brings together a mainstream preschool setting and an deaf oral education program in one building. So, the hearing impaired children are in self contained classrooms in the morning, where they receive their primary education and speech and language services. In the afternoon, the hearing impaired children move the the mainstream preschool classrooms.

The oral school is open on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, (from 9:15 am to 2:15 pm) and have their mainstream preschool on Tuesday afternoons (12:45 pm to 3:15 pm). The schedule of where the child will be each day is a bit confusing, and seems to be frequently changed based on enrollment. The daily routine includes circle time, with calendar and weather, as well as story time. Each child also has his/her own notebook that travels between home and school with the current lesson plans, homework, and happenings in the child's life that can be discussed at school.

The children range in age from three to five years old in the oral classrooms. There is no clear progression in the program. At the discretion of the director, the placement for the child is determined based on language and social skills. There are two oral classrooms at the school. The oral preschool program has between 2 and 3 students in each classroom, with no hearing peers. The teachers have a general education degree, but without a concentration or focus on deaf education. The speech and auditory therapy is provided for 90 minutes weekly as a pull out of the classroom, and is individual. There is no nap time in the program.

There is a clear daily schedule for this program, including table talk, circle time, themed project surrounding holidays, stories and authors, etc. The teachers create individual activities for the children to help with fine and gross motor skills, even though on-site occupational or physical therapy is not offered. Both oral classrooms have lunch together daily, providing an environment of about six hearing impaired children for language enrichment.

The oral preschool classrooms are small, carpeted, well lit and have sound field in them. The mainstream classrooms are larger, but carpeted, or there are tennis balls on the chairs to reduce noise in the areas where there is tile flooring. There is a clear indication that the mainstream preschool has made significant improvement to the acoustics of a typical preschool in order to help the hearing impaired children.

Preschool C:

This oral preschool program is offered five days a week, from 8:53 am to 3:00 pm. The program has between six and eight hearing impaired children in each classroom, with the addition of two hearing peers to the "Preschool 2" classrooms. The teachers in all of the classrooms have a concentration in deaf education.

There is a clear schedule and routine for the day, including speech therapy, daily auditory training using the DASL curriculum. There is also on-site occupational or physical therapy, if that would be needed, as well as an on-site audiologist and testing booth. The day begins with circle time, including calendar, weather and a morning message, where the basic principles of literacy are presented. Snack times are conducted as a classroom, providing a rich opportunity for language. They also do a daily math activity, story time, and have an afternoon nap.

This program includes "specials" each week, including art, music, cooking, library, and for Preschool 2, gym.

Preschool

As we prepare for the transition from an IFSP to an IEP, which will happen as Drew turns three years old, we are consumed with all things preschool. We have toured and evaluated all oral deaf education preschool options in our immediate area. With Drew having a September birthday, our goal is to complete all steps of the transition before the end of the 2008-2009 school year, so that Drew will begin preschool on day one of the 2009-2010 school year.

We have been strongly considering several options, both in a mainstream and oral deaf education preschool setting, and have decided that the best placement for Drew is in an oral deaf education program. While the primary principle of the Auditory Verbal Therapy philosophy that we have followed tends to push a mainstream setting, even in preschool, we do not feel this is the best option for Drew.

The primary factors we considered when coming to this decision were:

• Oral Deaf Ed programs hire teachers with degrees in the field of Deaf Education, who understand how Drew hears and the difficulties he might have with hearing in certain settings. These teachers have also learned how to talk to and educate a child with hearing loss.
• The oral deaf education programs are structured, and are completed programs. They include various learning experiences, including music, library, kitchen, classroom and outside activities, that many mainstream preschools can not provide.
• The oral deaf education programs focus vigorously on literacy, an area that deaf kids often struggle with. The program we have selected will likely allow Drew to enter mainstream kindergarten with better literacy and pre-reading/reading skills than his hearing peers. (Seriously, we were blown away by the focus on literacy - we saw three year olds that know all of the phenoms of the English language! My hearing, almost-four-year-old can't do that!)
• Auditory training and on-site speech therapy is included in the daily class routine.
• Daily and weekly lesson plans are provided to families for continued work at home.
• The classroom settings are ideal for a child with hearing loss, including carpeted floors and acoustic ceiling tiles to cut down on noise; sound field systems are installed in many classrooms. These accommodations are hard to find in mainstream classrooms, and can be expensive to install.
• Five day a week, six hour a day program. Many mainstream programs are only half day, and are a maximum of four days a week.

Overall, the selection we are making, which we are hopeful that it will be approved by our school district, will likely allow Drew to enter mainstream Kindergarten with skills in all areas at or above those of his hearing peers. By providing this type of head start, we are likely to save our school district from having to provide costly services to Drew throughout his entire education. Certainly we will ask for accommodations throughout Drew's school years, but our hope is that we are providing our son with the foundation needed to be successful with minimal services and accommodations for grades K-12.

Note: We are not saying that this can not be achieved through a mainstream preschool setting, but we are making the best decision for Drew and our family. We will share with you the information we learned on the three oral deaf ed program tours we took, and will highlight the deciding factors we came to. But I will tell you, we are very, very excited about the curriculum this program offers. We are so excited about it, in fact, that we have decided to send Drew's Sister to the program as a hearing peer in the "Preschool 2" classroom. She will benefit significantly from the literacy foundation this program provides.

We couldn't be happier. Now, on to working with our school district for placement.

All Is Well

I have been a bad blogger! But I guess everything is just so normal around here that I don't have much to say. I can only say that cochlear implants are truly a miracle so many times. The number of words Drew uses on a daily basis is in the hundreds, if not thousands, at this point, so keeping a running list for you is impossible. I just can't put into words how normal life is, how wonderfully lucky we are that Drew is able to hear and how rewarding it is to see our hard work pay off on a daily basis.

Our most recent efforts have been centered on our upcoming Preschool tours and the impending IEP process. We find great value in sending Drew to a hearing impaired preschool program (which I will blog on the "why" in a seperate post), and we are very fortunate that there are three programs in our area that specialize in teaching the hearing impaired. We have preschool visits scheduled for the first two weeks of February, and we will share with you our analysis of each program and our final decision. I have also been educating myself on the IEP process, and have much to share. There are many of us going through this at the same time, so I am hopeful that we can learn from each other how to secure the services best suited for our child and our families.

Drew continues to amaze us all with his progress. As I was putting him to bed the other night, he looked at me and said, "Mama, I wanna go to golf (golp) store and hit the ball in hole." 12 whole words in one sentence, and it's not surprising that his first 12 word sentence would involve something related to sports! The boy loves sports, probably more than anything else in the whole world.

This is just so, so, so much fun!

Preschool Placement

It's hard to believe that Drew will soon be 2 1/2 years old! With that comes a whole new area of hearing loss to navigate: the transition from Early Intervention to Individualized Education Plan (IEP). We are very fortunate that we know Drew will be on an IEP, as his hearing loss is profound enough to automatically qualify him. We do, however, need to decide on an appropriate preschool placement for him.

I came across this Preschool Placement Checklist for Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It seems like an excellent, objective way to evaluate all of you preschool placement options for your deaf or hard of hearing child.

We have scheduled three preschool tours in January, and look to make a decision on the placement we would like for Drew by our 180 day out meeting in March. I'm thankful that so many of our virtual friends will be going through this IEP process at the same time. I am hoping that we can all learn from each other!

Learning Our Alphabet

After attending the conference on literacy, Drew's Dad and I have been trying to work with both Drew and his sister on not only learning their alphabet, but learning the sound(s) that goes with each of the letters when reading. We have been working on the alphabet for quite some time with our older daughter, but it never occurred to us to teach her the letter sound while learning the alphabet! Duh!

Drew's Dad came up with "Letter of the Day," where each morning we put a letter of the alphabet on an object inside our home. We talk about the letter being a big letter "D", vs. a little letter "d", and then we discuss the sound(s) the letter makes and discuss different words that start with that letter. (Since taking this picture we have added the lower case letters as well; it is important for children to learn all of the ways a letter can look.)

We now have a "T" on the television, "W" on the window, "R" on the refrigerator, "L" on the lamp, "D" on the door, "F" on the fireplace, etc. Drew enjoys taking us all on a walk around the house pointing out each of the letters and naming the object they are on. He remembers them quite well, and can say the sound of each letter when asked.

This just might work.

First Day of School

Drew started preschool today! Drew's Dad and I decided to enroll Drew in a mainstream preschool program one day a week at a local church. It is the same program that Drew's Sister has been attending for the previous two years. Drew has two teachers and there are five other children in the classroom.

Our main reason for starting Drew in preschool this year, instead of waiting until next year when he will transition to an IEP and attend a preschool for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, is to socialize him with other children his own age and hopefully reduce his separation anxiety. Drew is very attached to his Mommy and Grandma, and we fear another year of no outside program could make for a difficult transition!

Drew's teachers reported a fun-filled first day, and they actually think that Drew is one of their more verbal students! Go figure!

This is the first time Drew's preschool has had a hearing impaired child in their classroom. They have been wonderful about learning about hearing loss, Drew's cochlear implants and setting up their classroom as a listening environment. Here are some things we have found helpful when working with a mainstream preschool:

• In-service Day: Schedule a meeting with the Preschool Director and Teachers to review information on hearing loss and hearing aids/cochlear implants. We had our teacher through Early Intervention meet with Drew's teachers to discuss his hearing loss, how his cochlear implants work and things that can be done in the classroom to facilitate an excellent listening environment. We also discussed ways they can help with Drew's learning, like providing lesson plans for the month ahead and sending home all musical lessons so we can practice at home.
• Classroom Setting: When looking at mainstream preschools, look for classrooms with carpeting and ceiling tiles (to reduce noise). Locate the heating/cooling systems and make sure they don't provide too much background noise.
• The Other Students: Drew's teachers had all of the students sit in circle time this morning, and they talked about Drew's CI's and how they help him hear. They took one of them off and let the other children touch it, hoping to cut down on their curiosity. They also set the rule that no one is to touch Drew's ears.
• Which Ear is Which?: In the picture above you may notice that Drew is wearing a red microphone cover on his processor. Because Drew has such a variance in map intensity, we wanted the teachers to be able to clearly tell the right ear versus his left. So, going with "red is right", we put a red mic cover on his right processor.

We're really excited to see what this year will bring for Drew. I certainly think it will help us understand exactly how well Drew can hear, primarily in a classroom environment. Drew's Early Intervention teacher is curious, as well, and we are planning on observing to see how Drew performs in this setting.

Knowing him, he'll do great!