September 21

So we finally met Luke's new school assistant on Tuesday September 4 which was the first day of school. She came to the house with the Coordinator and we enjoyed getting to know each other. After a while I demostrated Luke's latest skills and they were very impressed with all the work we had accomplished in the summer (reading and writing skills). It was nice to be applauded! Anyways, Luke was still not 100% himself having just recovered from a nasty virus for the past week, so we all decided on a gradual entry the same as Joel's kindergarten schedule. Their first "day" was a half-day afternoon on Friday September 7, and it went very well for both of them. I was okay with having Luke home for the extra week because he had been so sick and was stlll a bit behaviourally challenging. By the Monday of the following week Luke was back to his great self. He was very good at school and settled in nicely. He was not integrated into the classroom yet, but enjoyed getting to know his new assistant in his own private classroom (one-on-one with her). He really likes learning in that "private" environment... it seems the classrom can be a bit overhwelming for him with all the children and the noises. They are starting to bring him into different classrooms to help him adjust: kindergarten class for art, Grade 1 class to have snack and lunch with Joel, and the Grade 2 class for music. They are being gentle with him and making sure he's not too anxious or upset while they figure out how to best help and teach Luke. It's awesome. I am pleased to have time to myself after 8 very long (yet rewarding) years of being a stay-at-home mom and mother warrior / advocate for Luke. It's been a real blessing to have a great team at KCS to help Luke and to help me, and to take Luke to the next level.

At church I am also very happy to say the new Pastor of Children has found a young teen girl who is willing to be Luke's assistant in Sunday School. This is a BIG DEAL (thanks J!!!!) as it has been years since Dave and I have sat together to enjoy a church service (we've taken turns sitting in on Sunday School or the nursery with the boys for the last few years). Yay... more Team Luke people!!!

The other bonus is Ms. S., Luke's long time BI assistant is still with us on Friday afternoons for a couple hours. We're implementing a new program together where once a week we expose the boys to cultural events and/or readings (books, poems, plays); as well as have physical therapy, reading, cooking/baking, and music components. It's exciting to plan.

Luke's conversation has been amazing lately. He uses full sentences and is still asking "Why?" questions, as well as many, many "What is that?" questions. The other day he pointed to a word outside the building where daddy works and SAID to my utter amazement... "What does that say?" WOW... that one blew my mind. He really gets it, that words say something and he's SO learning to read more and more. It is SO awesome to witness this awakening. We are indebted to Dr. Swingle for these strides and would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone. Astounding results. I look forward to more sessions, possibly next summer to be in conjunction with the weaning off of seizure medications (as an added security to keep that area of his brain in control and below the seizure threshhold).

In the meantime, because of his leaps and bounds in speech and the fact that I met another autism parent this summer who's child received private speech therapy 3x a week and went from 20 words to full-on conversations in one year; I have contacted a new SLP in town to set up a weekly session. I am using some of our funding for this ($100/hour – yikes!), but am hoping the Interior Health might be able to help. I've got to meet with the pediatrician and see if we can make it happen... keep praying for this please!!! I am certain this is what we need to focus on for Luke this year.

The other success of Luke's has been his biking skills. One day he just "got it" and started really using his legs to pump the pedals. He clued in and now pedals really hard to get up the (albeit tiny) hills. We often bike around MacArthur Park which is a half-hour ride and while we used to have our hand on his back for security or an extra "push", we only need to help out briefly maybe 3 times on the long ride. It's so cool. Joel of course, is a biking madman... showing us his "wheelies" and not afraid of hills or anything else for that matter... he chases squirrels and can go down huge hills and has mastered his brakes (Luke needs to work on this yet... which he will at the Chris Rose Centre; where, btw they also have him learning to rollerblade!!).

Luke's also started horse-back riding sessions again. The first one didn't go so well as he started testing them by throwing a toy on the ground 3x... they kicked him off the horse and sent him home. The next week he was awesome, so he quickly learned his lesson.

Joel has been impressive as he loves to see and hug and help Luke at school ("Luke didn't know how to play grounders with me and the other kids, so I just went and played with Luke whatever he was playing.") Joel's kindergarten class was so big this year, they chose 4 little kids to be bumped up to Grade 1 and Joel is one of them. While he was quite anxious / nervous and "doe-eyed" about it (tears and fears)... he finally had a nice talk and bond with the Grade 1 teacher and now he's settling in fine. It was touch-and-go as he was determined first of all to only go half-days to kindergarten; and second-of-all to only go to kindergarten NOT Grade 1. Fortunately it's all been resolved and I give great kudos to Mrs.P., his Grade 1 teacher, for her gentle spirit and instant addressing of his worries. She's such a blessing!

On the other hand, Joel's been playing a bit of a big brother role by bossing Luke around and playing a bit rough with him. For example... he'll grab Luke by the arm or leg and drag him all over the trampoline. Luke does laugh, but not always "having fun" laugh.. more nervous-like. We're trying to find the fine line between interfering, reprimanding, teaching and leaving them alone to deal with it. Luke has learned to yell "No!" "Stop Joel!" and finally "Mom, Joel's hitting on me! (lol)". Joel doesn't usually listen to Luke so I often have to intervene... but it's typical behaviour so inside I'm kind of okay with it. As long as no one gets hurt. Luke has to learn how to stand up for himself and there's no better place than at home. On the flip side, every once in a blue moon, we find Joel curled up with Luke in his bed. They are truly brothers and they are beautiful... especially when they're sleeping!!

Joel's been doing the whole "Luke has his eyes open during prayer!" stuff, which is SO funny. Luke's more of a fink on Joel... the whole "Joel's playing with toys while eating", "Joel's not sharing the iPad", "Joel's not bringing his dishes to the counter". It's funny to see Luke such a "rules boy"... but it's a big part of the autism and it's what makes him so routine and reliable. He ALWAYS brings his backpack home and hangs it upstairs on the hook without asking, and ALWAYS puts his plate and cup on the counter when he's finished eating without asking... Joel's the one who drags his butt everywhere and needs constant reminding about everything (much like his mom!). One of my autism parent moms has 4 boys, 3 with some kind of issue... and the one without autism, the "typical" kid is the MOST difficult. Haha... I now can see that future.

Anyways... off to a great start for the first few weeks of school and we are on a mountain high for a while. God is good.