Like in movies, when men are sent to boil water - aka get out, keep busy and stay out - as their wives give birth, I have come to realize that I, as a mom of a special needs kid, have also been handed a lot of "busy work." Keep a journal. Record what they eat. Keep track of behaviors. Monitor bathroom habits. While all was incredibly useful to me, not one shred of this information was ever requested by doctor, therapist or teacher - even when It was offered carefully annotated and in chronological order, In fact. the conclusions I made were often held as suspect and often dismissed by "professionals."
Another great challenge was implementing "the schedule." James is on a rigid one. It's on his iPad. Funny how his old school claimed James was unable to comprehend a schedule. Why? Because he got upset at the changes. Huh? Ditto with therapy. James hasn't had a set schedule all year. So far only two days have not varied. Why? Because "paying" (i.e. not Board of Education or insurance cases) get priority now. It used to be seniority and severity. So i keep a rigid schedule so your easily avoidable changes can be tolerated? Oh. I thought it was for times of sickness, accident and emergency. Silly me.
I get it.
Instead of dealing with the aftermath of yet another extreme change in today's services, James and I completely altered his Friday schedule. No therapy, no school books, just a visit to see the dinosaurs. Please don't tell James it actually was school because he "thought the museum was sweet." But never mind, I forgot, you don't really believe he can read or communicate.
