Saturday, November 5, 2011

Catching up......

Seems like forever since I have taken the time to post..but it has been a good few months. Matthew is happy and settled which is all we need to be content.
Most recently we took a trip to the pumpkin patch where Matthew had a ball with friends.



He wanted to be Lightening McQueen...again, but he had so much fun this year. He really enjoyed trick or treating and had a blast.

Probably the most exciting is how well school is going. He loves his teacher and looks forward to going to school every day. He talks about what they do in class constantly and everything is "Mrs. Andersen says..." quite a contrast from last year. He even wants to go to school when he is sick! We recently had his tri-ennial which went well. For the first time I felt like we were all on the same page. The District tested him in many areas for this IEP and he did AMAZING! In the past we have had to argue and defend what we knew Matthew was capable of and it felt SOOOOOOOOOO good to see it in black and white...could not be disputed. It truly was a WOW moment. We still have struggles with repetitive behavior, extreme rigidity, lack of social but he is on a path and it renewed out belief that recovery is possible.
The highlight of the year was yesterday for us. We were told that Matthew's shadow would be out yesterday but his teacher wanted to try and see how he would do without her (in the past we would have kept him home). Because she has such a great rapport with Matthew, we decided to agree. I was so nervous I thought I was going to have a stroke. We prepped him and told him his shadow would be out but that he has been so good and made such great choices that we knew he could do it. He immediately responded "I will do a great job. I will be a big boy like my friends". I was so nervous because the days before were a little tough with regards to rigidity.

At pick up his teacher had a huge smile and told me that HE WAS PERFECT! The best day ever! I had to try not to cry, I was so proud! HE DID IT!!!
It was wonderful for his teacher to see and even more wonderful for Matthew to see that he could do it.
Matthew, you never cease to amaze us. You are such an incredible person and you inspire me. I love you sweet boy! We will still have struggles ahead but we know you will be able to get through anything.
Love, Love Love you Matthew Dean!

3 comments:

Ms. to u said...

Great job! So glad to see last year is behind him and he is forging ahead.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! Great Job Matthew!

Mrs Jones said...

I'm so thrilled to read this post! I know that there are still struggles, but the successes seem to be coming regularly these days and that is great to see!