On Labour day weekend, we went on the Waterloo Central Railway and took this old train from Waterloo to St. Jacob's...and then got caught in a near-tornado!
Ziva's first day of SK (September 19th).
A visit with Grandma and Poppa Anderson.
Carving a jack'o'lantern with daddy. Ziva loved scooping the guts out (a good sensory experience for our little sensory seeker!).
Thanksgiving Day, Scotsdale Farms...yes, it was warm enough for shorts and a tank top!
Halloween. Ziva as "Fifi". She was so cute!
Hello, everyone! Fall has seemed to just fly by with all its changes and adjustments for Ziva. She has settled into SK at the public school where she is assisted by a full-time EA. We had a bit of a rocky start, but it seems now they are getting to know her and how to respond to her needs. We have met with the school team and now have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) in place so they can target her needs. Part of the challenge is that Ziva is very good at fooling people into believing that she is incapable of many things...and it is only once they get to know her do they realize what she is able to do.Speech is still her biggest delay and oftentimes people judge her based on her speech abilities. It has been difficult for us as parents, transisting her to the public school. When she attends day care, we see her teachers before and after school every day and so we are constantly in touch with them and can find out what and how she did that day. This is an area that we are still working on with the school. We are used to living with a "non-talking"child and so we are constantly advocating for her and speaking on her behalf; we now need the school to do the same for us or else we would have no idea what she does at school.
In just the past few days Ziva has started to say "Stop it!" with great clarity (she also signs "stop" for added emphasis, which is hilarious!). It does sound a bit rude, but we are grateful that she is being so forceful. At her day care (where she has been since last March), her peers know her, like her, and are kind to her. However, we have found that when she is around kids who do not know her, one of two things happen: they "baby" her or they are mean to her. We, of course, do not like either of these things! Because of her innocence and gullibilty, kids are often very mean to her and try to get her to do inappropriate things (we have actually had adults do this to her too, if you can believe it!). Her judgement and social awareness is not at the level where she "knows better" and other kids take advantage of that. It just breaks our heart to see kids being so mean to her when she is such a loving, sensitive, and generous child. We are hoping that her "stop it!" will carry over to sitautions where kids are being mean to her!
Ziva acquired the word "why?" sometime in mid-September. Yeah! This is a milestone that we had been waiting for. She asks it ALL the time, about everything...but that is okay by me! I never tire of it because it shows development, growth, and an inquiring mind.
Ziva continues to love music and it amazes me how quickly she remembers anything put to music. We are hoping to start MusicTherapy in the new year. This is therapy (for fine motor, gross motor, etc) done to music. We think this is right up Ziva's alley!
Keep checking in!
No comments:
Post a Comment