Wait.... what that's not my kid! Oh yes! So let's start on the 1st day. He was not thrilled about going in the opposite direction (for the past 2 years he had been at KCA, the public school is the other way). No me no go to big school me small boy. HEY first off that was an AMAZING sentence. Remember last year at this time he said 1-2 words at a time. EEEK
So in we go. Let me start off by saying that Ms. Pam, Ms Debbie, and his teacher Ms. Peak were ABSOLUTELY amazing. I have had my battles with the school, but that first day changed me on so many levels. I was leaving my kid with his village and trusting them with my precious child. Dacotah was super clingy and when Ms. Debbie took him from me, you could hear his blood curling scream throughout the cafeteria. Did my heart break. Yep into a million pieces. I won't lie I was so scared. I snuck around the corner so he couldn't see me, and Ms. Debbie was patting him to try to calm him down. By the time they got to the hallway he was holding her hand and off they went.
THAT MOMENT when Ms. Debbie took him from me, melted my heart in a way that only a mom could understand. But it was as though Dacotah was hers and she was there to help him. She stayed with him all day Wed, all day Thursday and even part of the day on Friday. She didn't have to but she made sure he was going to be okay. In fact, his ENTIRE team Ms. Pam, Ms. Phyllis, Ms. Mandy, Ms Pat, Ms. Debbie and Mrs. Peak and Ms. Nikki all made his transition one to remember. There are not enough words!!! Really there isn't.
Throughout the day I saw pictures and saw him being in the classroom and participating. I saw a side of him that we had been working towards since May with ABA and it's made a huge difference.
When he was picked up from school he said yes when we asked if he had a good day. Did he like Ms. Peak...yes. Did he have friends.... me have lots of friends...big school. Again we could not have asked for a better transition.
Last week was his first full week and I keep hearing all of the positives and how well he is doing. To say he is exceeding expectations would be an understatement. He has done amazing. I tell him before dropping him off in the cafeteria that I have 5 minutes with him and then I have to go to work. It WORKED wonders. I can sit him down at the table to play and tell him I'm going to work and he tells me bye with no tears!
Monday, August 27, 2018
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Update on Loki
I have to take a moment to update on Loki's training.
Next week he will finish his basic commands and at this point he has learned
Sit
Down
Wait
Under
Place
Leave it
he still has his fun commands like touch, shake, etc but those aren't service related.
Sept-October he will learn his Advance commands
Nov-April we will meet with the trainer EVERY week to start task training and his ADA training out in public. His task will be a "Forced Fetch" Where Dacotah will have a leather tassel of sorts attached to him and/or his clothes that if he runs in a dangerous situation, Loki will grab and hold. He is also being trained that during Dacotah's meltdowns he will "distract" him so Dacotah turns his attention to the dog and gets re-centered.
As many of you know we decided to train Loki ourselves to keep the cost low but more importantly so Dacotah would bond with him. Today Loki is close to 80 pounds and Dacotah plays ball outside with him, and wants to help walk him when we are on neighborhood walks. The bond is growing and we are excited to see how calm Loki is and how fast he is willing to help us with Dacotah's needs.
Tonight I took Loki to Food City and to Walmart. He does wonderful ignoring other people, doesn't bark, doesn't do anything but walk beside us. I LOVE IT.
Speaking of cost we are about $2500 short of our goal to cover his full training. We plan on having a few more fundraisers over the next 2-3 months, but if you or someone you know would like to make a donation, please get in touch with us. I will be taking up another PAWS4DACOTAH order for shirts, so if your work or church would like to order them, please know it's for a great cause.
The difference a year makes.
Can you say a hundred words??? I remember distinctly being told Dacotah has autism and will be lucky to every say 50 words, he will be very lucky. This time last year Dacotah had around 30 words but would not use them to talk to us unless we pushed and pushed. The persistence paid off and today he has a vocabulary of a 3 year old!!! WE WILL TAKE IT. His daycare teachers have commented over the past few months how well he has been doing with saying what he is needing and wanting. This is something we never thought he would be able to do, but I prayed for him daily that I would just know what he needed, if he hurt, and how to comfort him when he couldn't sleep at night.
We made a few difficult decisions and decided to give him Clonidine to sleep at night and since then he has been able to be more alert during the day. He is more aware of what is going on around him and at times will engage "friends" however brief he still interacts with his peers to some degree. There are still more times than not that he simply wants to be alone and goes off in an adjoining room or parallel plays with the group. It's been a year in the making, but we will take it.
We had him tested for Pre-K at the local public school and he was accepted. This is sooooo bittersweet on sooo many levels. I have had a kid at KCA for the past 8 years. Last Friday we had to say goodbye to a wonderful preschool and Ms. Monica, Ms. Tracy, and Ms. Telsi. Dacotah loved them but at the end of the day he was super happy to see his mommy. I was always happy to hear how his day went and getting to see snippets of his days. They were wonderful in allowing his therapists to come to the school and providing a room where they could work one-on-one. I am forever thankful for them.
Sooooo what's all the fuss about? Pre-K.... our big boy will go to Union starting next Wednesday. I am full of fear, dread, and at the same time optimistic. I am waiting for the office to tell me I have to come pick him up because it's too loud in cafeteria and he's fled, or the gym doors were unsecured and he managed to disappear.... AHHHHHH THESE Fears are sooooo very real. Been there done that. Soooo Next Wednesday is going to be an adventure.
We do have some safety measures in place. God heard my prayer when I asked that his teacher have an idea about kids with autism. Mrs. Peak has ABA training she also has nursing so she knows about food allergies. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. She has an aide in her room and if that is not enough I am prepared to ask for a one-on-one aide especially during those times when it's too loud and he gets overwhelmed. But I'm praying he goes in the first day and does wonderful and my fears are put to rest and he proves his momma wrong.
As far as the run risk, that is still very much a problem. Several times when talking to his preschool teachers he would get out of the daycare and be outside of the fence at the van in the parking lot. The daycare door is HEAVY. I say that because it is very heavy and nothing compared to the doors at the school. Tammy his ABA therapist said I really needed to consider a tracking device just in case.
I put it off for a week but the more I thought about it, the more my mommy gut took over and I reached out to the Sheriff's department. They have a program called PROJECT LIFESAVER where they place an ankle monitor on Dacotah. This monitor will provide a pinging signal with a two mile radius on the ground, so they can drive around and find him with it, or after 30 minutes with no luck on the ground they will call out of state police with a helicopter that can ping the signal 10 miles away!!! Let me just say Lt. Meade talked to me on the phone for 45 minutes getting to know about our family and our son and made us feel like we were one of them. Included. Something that we don't feel a lot. She will personally come this Friday to our home to meet Dacotah and to place his lifesaving device on him. From there the school resource officers can change his battery as needed. With his device if we go out of state the local law enforcement can also pick up the signal if he gets lost!!! Even in Canada!!!
So I'll update next week on how he is handling everything.
We made a few difficult decisions and decided to give him Clonidine to sleep at night and since then he has been able to be more alert during the day. He is more aware of what is going on around him and at times will engage "friends" however brief he still interacts with his peers to some degree. There are still more times than not that he simply wants to be alone and goes off in an adjoining room or parallel plays with the group. It's been a year in the making, but we will take it.
We had him tested for Pre-K at the local public school and he was accepted. This is sooooo bittersweet on sooo many levels. I have had a kid at KCA for the past 8 years. Last Friday we had to say goodbye to a wonderful preschool and Ms. Monica, Ms. Tracy, and Ms. Telsi. Dacotah loved them but at the end of the day he was super happy to see his mommy. I was always happy to hear how his day went and getting to see snippets of his days. They were wonderful in allowing his therapists to come to the school and providing a room where they could work one-on-one. I am forever thankful for them.
Sooooo what's all the fuss about? Pre-K.... our big boy will go to Union starting next Wednesday. I am full of fear, dread, and at the same time optimistic. I am waiting for the office to tell me I have to come pick him up because it's too loud in cafeteria and he's fled, or the gym doors were unsecured and he managed to disappear.... AHHHHHH THESE Fears are sooooo very real. Been there done that. Soooo Next Wednesday is going to be an adventure.
We do have some safety measures in place. God heard my prayer when I asked that his teacher have an idea about kids with autism. Mrs. Peak has ABA training she also has nursing so she knows about food allergies. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. She has an aide in her room and if that is not enough I am prepared to ask for a one-on-one aide especially during those times when it's too loud and he gets overwhelmed. But I'm praying he goes in the first day and does wonderful and my fears are put to rest and he proves his momma wrong.
As far as the run risk, that is still very much a problem. Several times when talking to his preschool teachers he would get out of the daycare and be outside of the fence at the van in the parking lot. The daycare door is HEAVY. I say that because it is very heavy and nothing compared to the doors at the school. Tammy his ABA therapist said I really needed to consider a tracking device just in case.
I put it off for a week but the more I thought about it, the more my mommy gut took over and I reached out to the Sheriff's department. They have a program called PROJECT LIFESAVER where they place an ankle monitor on Dacotah. This monitor will provide a pinging signal with a two mile radius on the ground, so they can drive around and find him with it, or after 30 minutes with no luck on the ground they will call out of state police with a helicopter that can ping the signal 10 miles away!!! Let me just say Lt. Meade talked to me on the phone for 45 minutes getting to know about our family and our son and made us feel like we were one of them. Included. Something that we don't feel a lot. She will personally come this Friday to our home to meet Dacotah and to place his lifesaving device on him. From there the school resource officers can change his battery as needed. With his device if we go out of state the local law enforcement can also pick up the signal if he gets lost!!! Even in Canada!!!
So I'll update next week on how he is handling everything.
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