November 8
Been an up and down month. Luke still has behavioural issues at KCS and has gone from the screaming to hitting the assistant (argh). This is so unlike him. I'm actually quite defeated. I have completely let go and am now biding time until the end of the semester to allow all the people/resources to work together and resolve this situation. We did have the "meeting" and it was very emotional and difficult for me. Sitting and talking about how stressed out everyone is because of my son. It made me very sad and defensive and frustrated as well. The Executive Director from the Chris Rose Centre kindly went to KCS the following day to observe and give advice. They now have a new separate room where Luke goes and can scream away as much as he wants. It didn't take him long to realize that screaming no longer worked and so now he's on to the hitting. Luke has never hit anyone before, so I'm totally sick about this. The night after the meeting I had a huge emotional breakdown in bed and my husband comforted me as it really dawned on me that the education plan I felt was God's plan may not work. Luke's behaviour improved a bit over the following week, and I have left it as is for now. To their credit, KCS has implemented a "breakdown" visual plan for Luke to help him learn. He had a great day after that, and then a not so great day. There are constantly trying to make something work but while it might one day, it is not consistent so they try something else. I'm certain they are overwhelmed and frustrated, although they do continue to try (so my hat is off to them). He is so much more work than anyone expected. Today, Kim from OCAI went to KCS to observe and give advice and it sounds like it went well; although there were some disagreements about a couple strategies. I no longer am involved (by my choice) as I have no more ideas or solutions and am almost to the point of not caring. If the school does not resolve things with Luke, then we look at other options. I have run out of resources for this integration and at this point can only pray that God takes charge. Now I know it all sounds sad and hopeless and depressing; but apparently he's not a horrible kid all day (one day he received an award for awesome behaviour during calendar time). There are many small moments of success, but we're almost three months into the school year. I'm not really sure what God's plan is for Luke and KCS but I continue to pray for the situation and believe it will resolve one way or another. The other, meaning a different schooling arrangement altogether. We shall wait and see.

Horse-back riding ended for the season and Luke did well during the last lesson. He had to find 6 coloured spiders around the riding ring and as a reward after each he got to allow the horse to trot. He got 6/6 so he was a happy boy and the instructor was impressed as well. It begins again next year in April.

I had Luke's IEP with Chris Rose yesterday and it was very positive. They mentioned Luke's sense of humour and many other positive traits. We will continue to work on things like safety in public, fine motor skills, gross motor cross-body exercises, speech/conversation, reading and writing, eye exercises, etc. It's a great upbeat team and there was a lot of laughing, so that made me feel good.

We bought Luke an IPad. At first he wasn't interested but I found one game he liked, which was basically moving letters across the screen into a garbage can. I'm going to try to find some apps that help him practice his finger control and how to work the IPad with his fingers. He wasn't too interested in the "Green Eggs and Ham" book app, but I think he was just tired and distracted so we'll try again. I'm sure I'll find some apps he'll like. Interestingly enough, he immediately sees the lights in the IPad, and by that I mean the reflection. He sees reflections of lights everywhere that we normally wouldn't (bathtub, water, glass frames on photos/prints).

I also finally introduced myself to Mr. Chris Rose himself at a social event last night. He knew Luke; and I praised the Centre gratefully. He's a very nice man.

Luke has always seemed to have an issue tracking things with his eyes. So I made an appointment with Mrs. Alice Ross, an elderly woman who has been working with special needs kids and teaching them to read for many decades. Our appointment is Thursday, November 17 at 3pm. I am looking forward to the visit and see if she can help Luke.

I've left a couple messages with Dr. Swingle (neurotherapy), and no response yet. The older I get, the more annoyed I am with poor service. I read once that we stand in line to get our money (from the bank) to turn around and stand in line to spend our money (stores). That's a lot of standing in line. A dream world would be where people stand in line by me and compete with their services in order to get my money. Hmmmmmm.... I rant. (1 hour later: I called again and actually got a person on the phone! Woo Hoo! He's not seeing patients until January, so I made an appointment for Thursday March 15 for a full brain mapping - $490.00; and a feedback/follow-up session on Thursday March 30 - $190.00; this is spring break so we'll spend it with family in Abbotsford. I'm really happy to get in at that time as we should ideally/hopefully be able to do any follow-up sessions in July).

We've also made an appointment with Dr. Darren Sass for Luke's annual eye checkup (in Langley). I'm sure he'll need new glasses as he refuses to wear his old ones (too small)... that'll be a fun new battle, lol.

Luke's been fighting a cold the past week or so, so he's not at the top of his game. Lots of sleeping, coughing and he goes downhill fast when he's tired. I've kept him home a couple days and picked him up early from school a few times. I took a break from life on the weekend and relaxed overnight at a private condo at Sun Peaks. Luke's dad joined me the second night, and I caught up on some sleep finally and had some me time. I didn't realize how tired I was.

November 30
Things have turned around at KCS. All the strategies as given by Kim at OCAI were implemented and are effective. They are no longer afraid of him... and are "making great strides". They repeat calendar time three times a day, integrate him into the classroom for short periods of time whenever possible and have incorporated the IPad and the raz-kids.com reading program in the afternoons when he's restless. The other day was "cultural" day and Luke dressed as a Dutch boy. Mrs. E. (his assistant) said "How am I going to say no to him today?" He was THAT cute... with a kerchief and a black Dutch hat and a cable-knit beige sweater.

I am no longer worried about him at KCS. He is thriving and doing well, as I knew he could. The staff at KCS are amazing for hanging in there and finally achieving success with Luke. He even received a report card and on 3 out of 4 categories he was "meeting expectations". His only issue is with Visual Arts... but I hope that will come in time. Yay. Peace is restored and I can relax again. I did go away for a couple nights (one on my own, one with my husband) to take a break from the stress. I am very good at taking care of myself :).

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We visited Mrs. Ross and she's a hoot. She's a wonderful woman probably in her eighties, and she was a little stymied by Luke's lack of tracking ability. But she was keen and eager for this new challenge. She did finally get him to watch his favourite toy as she moved it around in front of him and attempted to get him to grab it. So that's where we start. She also wanted us to help him recognize his own body parts by moving his shoulders up and down, tapping/bending his elbows, wrists, knees and ankles. Very interesting. We go again on Monday December 5. She is preparing a specific program for him. I mentioned these exercise to both KCS and Chris Rose and they are implementing them in his daily schedule, as is our ABA interventionist, Ms. S. The amazing thing is Mrs. Ross will not take money for helping Luke; for the first time in 5 years there's a free alternative therapy... wow!