Kalia has transitioned out of First Steps and is now receiving her therapy through the school system.
Monday was her transition meeting, where we wrote up her new IEP and got her squared away to attend classes & receive therapy though the Special Learning Center. They are an amazing team, and miracles always seem to happen when they treat these kids. I’m optimistic Kalia will catch up very soon.
She will be receiving physical therapy & occupational therapy once a week, for 30 minutes each. She will be receiving speech therapy for 30 minutes a day, three times per week. She will remain with the same physical therapist she’s been seeing since last November, but her occupational therapist & speech therapist are new to her. I’ve heard rave reviews of the learning center and can’t wait to see what they can do for her.
Monday was hard, as she knew immediately that something was off. As soon as we arrived at the learning center (instead of daycare where she assumed we were going), she started to pull me back outside. We found her physical therapist, a familiar face to her, and she did better. While I had the meeting, her PT kept her occupied with toys & games. After a tour of the building, I took her to her classroom. The good thing about getting her into a half day program with the learning center is that they follow her IEP, so whatever her therapists are working on her with, the teachers will reinforce that….along with teaching various “preschool” activities (tracing lines, cutting, shape sorting, matching, etc…) So, while she’s only getting 2.5 hours of combined one-on-one time with the therapists, she’s getting an additional 9.5 hours of classroom therapy. I was a nervous wreck leaving her with a teacher she’d never seen before, but she did really well. I snuck out while she was distracted, then came back 10 minutes later to check on her (without her knowing I was there). She was playing with the other kids at the time. Her teacher later told me she had a few moments of going to the door & wondering where I was, but nothing too bad. Her time at the learning center ends at 11:20, then she takes a van (fully equipped with child safety seats with 5 point harnesses….believe me…I checked!) to her regular daycare. She was VERY happy to see me when we picked her up that afternoon, but we had none of the negative effects that we used to see when we left her alone somewhere new (excessive clingy-ness, hitting, pulling hair, tantrums) . I was so proud of her, as I knew this was hard on her.
The rest of the week went just as good. I get a note from her teacher daily letting us know what fine/gross/sensory activities they worked on that day.
I can’t wait to look back in a couple months & see how far she’s come. She has a long way to go, but has come so very far since last May when we brought her home.
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