It’s literally pouring down with rain today. It’s meant to be spring for goodness sake! We had days of over 25 degrees earlier in the week, now today is like a winters one. Oh well, I guess that’s what I get living in Melbourne!
Beth’s been a little bit sick this week but not too bad. She had Tuesday and Wednesday off with a cough and runny nose but went back on Thursday. We had our PSG meeting on Wednesday afternoon so I dropped Beth off to Bev and John’s before heading up to the school. It went quite well I think. I went in there knowing that her behaviour hasn’t been the best so there were no surprises there although that certainly wasn’t the focus of attention. The Principal went through the notes from our last PSG and it was a pleasant surprise to actually see some of the goals that we’ve set in the past and how they’ve improved over the last few months. Beth has a new aide this week who seems lovely. I know they like to rotate them around sometimes which I think is good for the kids, also for the staff as I can imagine they get worn out at times. Especially with my girl. I took some therapy bands in to see if we could get Beth’s feet up off the floor issues under control. It was suggested by the occupational therapist so that she could play with them with her feet if they were tied from one side of the table legs to the other. They are like giant rubber band material. We also discussed getting Beth a bean bag so that she can observe the rest of the class at the times that she runs out of the room due to pack up noise or starting the day rabble. We all agreed that they are difficult times for kids with sensory issues. Noises that we think are ok can be excruciating for kids with autism. Noises like chairs coming down from tables and put onto floors can be like chalk on a blackboard for kids like Beth.
We also discussed high school and the Principal was confident that when it comes time to scoring Beth in the grade 6 assessments with a psychologist we could more than likely get her scores to below 70 which is needed for the autism specific school. This is of course if it is ready in time and they will take her being older than their other year 7’s. Still, it’s a step in the right direction. We also discussed me taking Beth’s new aide with me to Sensational Kids next time we go which I think would really benefit the school. Any information that I pass on is third hand and while I can explain what to do I can’t always explain why.
All in all I was happy with how it went. Beth is in with the grade 3s and 4s today as the grade 5s are at indoor soccer. She was really looking forward to it so I hope she’s had a good day. I’ll be interested to see if her behaviour has improved though of course in a different setting it’s hard to tell. She seems a bit better at home but her not feeling well can change things either way. It’s Friday afternoon so will see how the weekend goes.
