Justin seems to be enjoying school and everything, which is good, but I’m in a battle with the school system right now, for two reasons. First: he’s entitled to a support aide in the classroom, but right now he’s sharing one with another boy who has a much more serious form of autism, so Justin isn’t really getting all the attention he needs. Apparently it’s not bad while they’re in the classroom, but when they go to gym class, or to the library, or to the playground outside, the other boy constantly tries to flee, so the aide is busy with him and Justin’s pretty much on his own. That’s not a big deal in the library, but it’s definitely a problem in gym class, since organized group activities make him anxious. So anyway, the school is trying to reorganize things to get him some more support.

The other battle I’m fighting is to try to get Justin some enrichment activities in the classroom, since he can already read and write at a very high level and I don’t want him getting bored when the rest of the class is working on their ABCs. In some ways I’m not sure I need to pursue this, since he can get that kind of enrichment at home, and school is where he needs to work on basic social skills and things that other kids take for granted. But I don’t want him to stagnate just because he’s ahead of his peers in some areas. Argh. We’ll see how things work out.

For a kid with social difficulties, Justin has been amazingly popular at school. He’s already had three requests for play dates and every time I pick him up I find him playing with a different little girl. It warms my heart to see that, since he hasn’t always been welcome around kids his age. There’s hope for him yet!

Brayden is enjoying preschool but is apparently annoying all the other kids cause he copies everything they say and everything they do (sigh). He’s not trying to bug them, that’s just how he learns, but apparently it’s a problem. He never has trouble fitting in with other kids, though, and he always seems to be playing fairly well when I pick him up. He’s in a phase right now of throwing lots of tantrums whenever I ask him to do ANYTHING, but I’m hoping that this, too, shall pass. He’s playing soccer again this fall and seems to love it, so that’s positive.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!