We Did It!

We made it through our first year of school. The kids just finished the summer term on Friday! Boy were we ready, too. The school demands here are no joke and neither is the schedule. We now have 6 weeks as a family to get in as much adventure and travel as possible before we start the cycle all over again. But before we do, I would love to give a brief recap of a few things the kids did this year that I may not have shared in previous posts. 

Last Day of School!!!!!!!!!

Football Y'all

Yes, Paisley found herself a cozy spot on a soccer team in Oxford. She came in as a full-blown rookie, not knowing a soccer ball from a tennis ball, but managed to make a name for herself right off the bat... "the American". Was it her cheeky disposition or perhaps it was the first point she ever scored was by picking up the football and tossing it through the basketball hoop? We can't fully say. However, it was obvious she needed a little extra tutelage on the game. 

She quickly picked up the rules of the sport and thoroughly enjoyed doing drills and mastering some of the footwork. Her favorite things, however, were the sweet new threads and "boots" she got in order to play. "The pinker the better, mom," was her only request. So pink it was, from head to toe. 

After several rounds of scrimmaging with other mates, she discovered her affinity to play the goalie. I'm not completely convinced it was due to her undying love to keep the soccer balls out of the goal, but perhaps from her desire to not move! 😜 She saw no point in chasing a ball all over the pitch to only have it kicked off in another direction as soon as she arrived. "Rubbish!" she claims. 😂

I may have picked up on some other hidden talents of hers, in other words, the gift of persuasion. Any child that attempted to play the goal keeper was swiftly talked out of their position or physically removed by Paisley in order to claim her territory. To be fair, she was actually quite good at it. She never feared the ball coming at her and would stop it on many occasions! But, fair is fair, so we came up with other rules to entice Paisley out of the net and back on to the pitch. 

The first season ended and Paisley walked away with three trophies. She won a participation trophy and certificate, a medal for her team winning the tournament, and then an MVP trophy for most skill points acquired during the season. Only 3 players get these awards in the whole group of 30. She was really excited about her accomplishments and signed on for another season. 

In the last 12 weeks, I have seen her game come up to a whole new level. She no longer had to be inside the goalie to be comfortable. This time she was the only girl on the team and she dug right in with the boys. We gave her some new incentives to be aggressive and she was very receptive. 

Towards the end of the season she had three break aways down the field with obvious dribbling. She tackled several players and cleared the ball many times. She even managed to score her first goal! Sure it was for the other team, but a celebration was still had by all. 

She won another trophy and medal for her accomplishments, but she is now ready to hang up her boots in pursuit of her true love...swimming!

Swim School

Paisley was enrolled in a special beginner swimming program every Saturday for 12 weeks. She absolutely loved it. She is a real-life fish. Her face is in the pool every chance she gets. 

She is swimming several feet at a time and uses a pool noodle for support. Her kick is strong and she dives into the water with a new found confidence. 

We hope to keep this up at the beginning of the new school year. 

You may be wondering where AJ fits into all of this? Well AJ wasn't allowed into the swim school due to his disabilities. He was referred to a special coach for private lessons. Her list of applicants was as long as my arm, and despite our efforts we weren't admitted into swim lessons. 

I just found out though that AJ's school does swimming as a class next year and the school is going to pay a private tutor to work with AJ during class to ensure he is provided the same opportunities to learn as the other children. Every time I am dazed at how hard and difficult life can be, God throws me a lifeline. When am I going to learn to just trust Him? When He sent us here, there was a distinct promise to me that AJ would be taken care of if we came. His promise continues to hold true. Thanks be to God!

Paisley Visits the Farm

Paisley Jane went on her first field trip to Farmer Gow's and met lots of animals. It was nice to be back in farm country. It reminded me of home and all the wild life surrounding me growing up in Montana! 

Here are a few pics of our day spent on the farm meeting and feeding baby animals and collecting eggs from the chicken coop. 

AJ really wanted to go to the farm, too. 

Reception Comes to a Close

Paisley has definitely sprouted this year. She has loads of friends and gained several close relationships with 'the girls' at school. She is a natural leader and digs everything there is about school. She loves to read and write. She barely turned five last month and devours books left and right. 

She performed in her first school production of "Noah's Ark" and did a fantastic job. She opened the scene with a warm welcome to the audience and set the tone for other children to come forward and say their lines. It was great to see so many youngsters with such confidence and pride in their work. 

Her last day of school she came home and asked if we could do workbooks? I was completely exasperated at her request and required clarification. She explained in complete disgust that all they did was play all day and she never learned a thing! Haha. Is that my kid or is that my kid? I believe I am in for a LONG summer break. 

AJ's Beginnings

When AJ was admitted to his school, his transcripts put him in the year below his age group. America's curriculum is staged differently than Britain. AJ wouldn't be allowed to pick-up where he left off in the States, but would be required to attend the class ahead of him while supplementing his education with assistance 1:1 from a teaching aid. 

A moment of honesty...I was petrified. I didn't think this was at all possible for him and literally bawled during our interview at the school. I couldn't imagine enrolling AJ into school under these terms and saw only failure and heartache in our future. The administration assured me that they had AJ's best interest at heart and that they could absolutely tend to his demands. I had no other option but to trust them. 

After two months went by, I was cleaning out AJ's papers from his backpack in order to prepare him for the next school day. A paper full of double digit multiplication and long division slipped out completely empty of answers, but full of silly drawings AJ had colored. Two thoughts collided in my mind, A) AJ was being shoved in a corner and asked to draw pictures as to not make a scene, and B) THEY WERE DOING LONG DIVISION AT AGE 6! 

I pulled myself together enough to approach the teacher and ask for a meeting to see how AJ was getting along. They explained to me that when AJ started school, he had significant delays in his speech. Therefore, he would need additional services per the school's request to special programs. His reading abilities were very basic and that of a reception aged child (4-5 year old), and he had no understanding of simple math skills (addition and subtraction). Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that where most Kindergarteners fall? Needless to say, AJ started off significantly behind his peers and we had lots of groundwork to make-up. 

Then they brought out his I.E.P. books to let me see what AJ had been working on the last half term. I couldn't believe my eyes! My son was writing not just sentences, paragraphs! He was doing double digit addition and subtraction. I knew his reading was off to a slow start, but was gradually picking up speed at home. 

AJ's workbooks were impressive and brought me to tears upon seeing. The best part was the teacher's expressions of absolute joy working with AJ. They loved his tender heart and his strong work ethic. They applauded his behavior and his emotional management in regards to abrupt changes in routine and his ability to dig in to any assignment given to him without a peep of complaint. They said in many cases AJ is the hardest working pupil in the class because he first has to learn the requirements of year 1 and then presses on to learn his year 2 assignment. I could already see that AJ was in the best place he could be, in the hands of these talented teachers. 

That still left me puzzled about the worksheets I found, so I had to ask. They all laughed and said AJ's drawings were a reward for his hard work. They give him breaks throughout the day to just zone out and be a kid. The paper is scratch paper and comes from any place in the school. This sheet came from a much higher classroom! Thank goodness. This mom could sleep again!

ABA

Most of you know I am a die hard fan of ABA therapy. (Applied Behavioral Analysis) It is and will always be my go to and saving grace for my success with AJ's development. Most of what the teachers had applauded and praised AJ for was a direct result of two years of hard work and diligent application of AJ's ABA practices. 

Around January, we had acquired an ABA therapist to start working with our family in a parent-based model. She would come and train me for two hours a week and then I would effectively have daily therapy sessions with AJ as his live-in therapist. That was a lot to take on as a parent of three, but I knew that ABA would continue to be the main ingredient to our success, so I lifted my chin and pressed onward. 

Before our treatment could resume, we had to have an initial assessment to gain a baseline of where AJ fell in all of his domains. i.e. socially, verbally, daily living skills, motor function and so on. These are never easy for me to get the results for because it illuminates just how delayed my son is across the board. Just to give you an idea, when we got his initial diagnosis at 3.5 years, AJ scored that of a 12-15 month old developmentally. 

Our results showed that most of the progress and gains we had made in the last 2 years had been maintained during transition with a minor regression in speech and reading. All-in-all most of his assessments landed him in the age range of 2-3 years old. AJ was almost 7 at this point. Let's be real; that's a blow to any mom. 

"Only 2-3? But we've worked so hard and we've come so far? 2-3?"

Time to Dig In

It's been 6 months under this current model and AJ was up for re-evaluation last week. Time to see how we measure up. Not only did we knock our treatment plan out of the water, but we are well into his 18-month treatment plan, putting us a year ahead of schedule. Our doctor had significantly underestimated AJ's keenness of learning. He falls under the category of someone who "learns how to learn". AJ harnesses his skills he has mastered in other areas of his life and uses them to support his current demands. In other words, the kid is a BOSS!

We just received the analysis of the data and AJ has jumped two year groups in his development in just 6 months. He is now tracking that of a 5-6 year old! His skill set is consistent with that of his younger sister and as someone that just completed year 1 of school. 

We couldn't be happier. All of AJ's hard work and mine have paid off exponentially. To put it simply and less clinically for you that are reading this:

AJ talks! Boy does he talk. IN FULL SENTENCES! He talks all day long! And not just scripting (although he still does that, too), but he has conversations, real input into our daily lives. He tells us when we are annoying him. He tells us what he is thinking or what he is feeling. He is very expressive and affectionate with his family. 

He has matured on many levels and has taken over many of his life skills himself. I call it "taking his life back". The kid manages himself most of the day with minimal prompting and happily goes about his life. 

He has made friends and shows the desire to be around and play with others. He is more aware of his oddities and chooses his friends wisely that will offer him support for his special needs. 

He is charming and funny, sweet and thoughtful. He loves his baby sister fiercely and shows much potential for working with others. 

He loves to read to his sisters and I have caught him on many occasions trying to help Channing learn to talk. Get that! He is trying to help her communicate more functionally! Oh the irony!

Miracles Come in Small Packages

Just as Paisley had an end of term assembly, so did AJ. His class did a program on the story of "The Rainbow Fish". The teachers didn't think that AJ would be able to participate in the play just due to the nature of the Christmas Program fiasco. I don't blame them! 

Side story: AJ played the mouse in the inn and went into full character mode. They tried to restrain him in the back, but he wasn't having it. He was a mouse by golly and had to act like a mouse during all their songs!

However, after introducing the play and script, AJ quickly piped up and said, "I'm the Octopus!" They asked him if he was sure because the lines were quite long. He explained, "I already know the words. I am the Octopus." They tentatively obliged and AJ produced the lines beautifully and perfectly. That, my friends, is the beauty of Autism. Scripting! He can hear or read something one time and reproduce it with perfect pitch, tone, and inflection. 

The teachers said the class erupted with applause and cheered for AJ each time he did his part. They were told not to do that for the final performance, but I can swear to you that I heard whispers when I walked into the assembly room, "There's AJ's mom." Nervous, as usual, that he would be able to perform without a hitch, AJ made us all weep with his eloquent performance of the Octopus. As I glanced away from filming, all his peers were staring at me with massive smiles on their faces and all the teachers, including the headmistress, were in tears. AJ had moved us all. 

End of Year

In our kids' school, there is an end of year talent show. The entire school, administration, and parents of the acts are invited. I'm told the room is packed with people! 

You have to tryout to be a participant and 14 acts are selected. At the end of the program, AJ got up and said, "My turn!" His teachers hesitantly asked him what he wanted to do and he stated, "I'm going to sing." They agreed to let him do it. He grabbed the mic and took the stage. He called out to the teacher, "Press the button." 

AJ sang out his heart to Katy Perry's "Roar". The school began to clap along and cheer, "AJ! AJ! AJ! AJ!" After they joined in to sing with him, AJ started to dance along to his singing. I got to see a small clip of his performance that a teacher grabbed on her iPad. It was outstanding. He was an absolute star! 

For those of you that don't know, "Roar" has been our family's anthem for AJ for many years. We always felt like it's lyrics described AJ to a 'T'. We play it for him all the time and sing and dance together in celebration of him and all that he is and will be someday! 

Friday, AJ showed the world that he has a voice and one day we are all going to hear him ROAR!

Please enjoy a clip of our kids' school year to our favorite song, "Roar":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp3nBVyAbyY

Cheers,
~K