Preschool Open House

Meredith & Sean's preschool open house was this passed Wednesday. This school is a typical preschool. It's at a Methodist church a few miles away from us. We opted not to send Sean to a special needs preschool for a variety of reasons, but most importantly because we felt he'd gain & be challenged more from a typical preschool than he would be at a special needs preschool. We also opted to send him at age 2 (like we did with Meredith), instead of 3 because we felt that it just couldn't hurt and if he showed he wasn't ready, we'd just pull him out until next year.

It doesn't hurt that because both kids are in the same school, I only have one drop off. Yes purely selfish, but hey! I'm entitled to a little convenience.

I haven't been worried about Meredith at all. I don't have any of the "is she going to be ok" jitters. I'm not wondering if she's going to be stuck to my leg at all. I know she's gung ho now, but come Tuesday, she's going to be a clingy mess. At least for a few days. But her teacher is wonderful and so far Meredith really likes her. Meredith was not as shy as she has been in previous years. Plus.... Miss. Shae knows how to teach a child like Meredith.

Now Sean.... Well Sean is a completely different case. There's no camera in the room broadcasting for me to watch like Fastrack had for Meredith. The teacher is not experienced working with children with Down Syndrome. In fact she told me "it just has to be similar to teaching a child with autism." Cue the crickets here.

It's going to be a learning process for all of us. I know that, but I'm nervous for Sean. I'm nervous for me.

At the open house Sean went right in & played well with the other kids. He didn't wanna leave when it was time. I guess that's a good thing?

One thing that stuck out in my mind is that Sean's teacher said (while at the open house) that if Sean (or  any other kid) wasn't able to sit in circle time, he'd be brought to the 1 year old room for those 10 minutes. And I thought I had misunderstood her. I hoped I misunderstood her. It was chaotic with all the parents & kids around. So I left it alone and kind of stewed about it. "How come she had already labeled my baby?", I wondered and got annoyed about.

After a few hours (when I felt things had calmed down for Ms. Jana) I called her. Just to make sure I understood correctly & see how we could work around this if I had. I did in fact understand correctly and I have to say that mama bear did come out. I hope that Ms. Jana knows that I don't wanna be "that mom", but I will.

I calmly explained that Sean already knows how to be a 1 year old. I need, he needs and we all want him to know how to be a 2 year old.

If a 2 year old is expected to sit in circle time, then I expect Sean to sit in circle time. Even if that means he has to sit on a lap or be given a quiet toy to hold. She explained that there is one child that she knows of that is quite disruptive and unable to circle in circle time. He also tries to get other kids to join in the disruption. And I said "Well if his parents are good with it, that's fine. I'm not."

She said that was fine and Sean would stay in the class. I said that he absolutely should be brought out if he's melting down to cool off, but he should be brought back into her class.

We discussed many things and I hope that Ms. Jana knows that I want to work WITH her to ensure Sean is successful, but I won't hesitate to let her know when something doesn't sit right. And I hate that I had to be all mama bear before school even started. I'm sure I'm totally labeled now. Oy. But I'm glad we cleared that up. It would've eaten away at me like no one's business. She agreed to call me if she sees a pattern of "bad" behavior developing so that we can work on it at home and would let me know before any major changes were made to Sean's day. She said that from what she saw of Sean today while he was playing with the other kids, there wouldn't be any issues and that he was going to do well.  Phew.... She was watching him. I knew it!







Here's to a wonderful school year. I'm hopeful that both of my children will do well and learn things I could never teach them. Or at the very least that neither wants to learn from me. I'm sure that as I learn to navigate having a child with special needs in a typical school, that I'll learn things (maybe a little patience?) I could never learn any other way.