Nea's case coordinator emailed us yesterday to inform us that she had been placed in one of the special needs elementary classrooms in the district. We were excited for 2 minutes, and then had 4690 questions!
Not having any answers to said questions, made all the anxiety settle in. I don't think I really slept very well at all.
First, there's not much prep time for Nea. In fact, there's zero prep time. Since the school will be on break starting ON her 3rd birthday, she's not able to start until April 9th. I was having visions of putting her on the big yellow school bus, and it driving off as she looks forlornly in the window as her parents stand crying. Would she understand she was coming back? Would she be stressed the entire time she was gone? Would she flail with despair as she came in contact with a new person after person after person?
Yikes.
Fortunately in cases such as this there is someone who knows much more than I do. My sister was the first person who was able to talk me down off the ledge....and then my Mom soon followed. Clearly I needed to understand more things before I moved right into panic mode.
It turns out I CAN change the start date from Tuesday to Wednesday so that I can take her to school for the first time. She will be in the afternoon class, which works out very well. This means we can keep her with her current therapies at Pedi Rehab on Wednesday mornings, and then go to school in the afternoon. A busy day for her for sure, but I think she's ready to add more to a day. OT has been very pleased with her progress and since that's first in the morning, it will help set the tone for the day.
Also, I can choose which days Nea is bussed to school. Who knew?! My sister explained that whole process to me, thank goodness. So I will take her to school one day a week and the other 4 she will ride the bus. AND it turns out I can change that whenever I want, or for a day. So on the first day of school I will take her and she will ride the bus home. Hopefully this will help with 2 things when she has to ride the bus on Thursday to and from school. 1-the big yellow bus is not a new experience. 2-she gets it that the bus takes her home.
When I registered her today, I was able to meet the teacher and speech therapist! It was not planned, and so nice of her to pop in to meet the parent of a new student. (The freaked out parent of a new student- lets be honest.) Our conversation went like this....
Teacher: Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm looking forward to having Nea as a student!
(okay, side note. She had me at Hello. Seriously. The girl is spunky, vibrant, great smile. All vibes are positive and full of wonderful energy. )
Me: Hi! Nice to meet you as well.
Teacher: We don't have all of her paperwork yet, but we will by the time she starts.
Me: Okay, sounds good. You have to know that I'm a little freaked out with this! It's a huge transition from EI to the school system.
Teacher: Oh, I understand. That's true for many parents. She'll do just fine.
Me: She probably will. However, I will be a mess.
Teacher: (smiling) We're used to it, it's okay. It will all be okay. The students do really well, they like coming here. They think I live here and this is my house!
Me: (I love her.) *stupid smile*
Teacher: Do you know how much therapy she's getting?
Me: Yup! 60min/week of Speech and 30 of OT.
Teacher: Oh! I'm so glad you know all the details. We just don't have it yet.
Me: No problem!
Teacher: Just let me know if you have any questions, okay?
Me: "You and I are building a relationship because we share one thing in common. One precious thing that means more to me than life itself. I've been responsible for her growth, her spirit, her wonder and excitement. And now I'm going to hand you the baton. I'm scared to death to give you the baton, but this is her journey, not mine and hand you the baton I must." (then I had a RuPaul moment....So don't f*#k it up!) (Okay, I didn't say ANY of that.)
Me: I sure will!
The teacher and speech therapist leave and I go back to my paperwork. Seriously, it was a little surreal sitting in an elementary school doing my homework at a desk!
In walks a little girl who is clearly about to lose it. She's probably a 2nd grader and she's just about in tears. She's with the principal...
Principal: Okay, well lets call your Mom and see what she says.
Girl: (dials phone): Hello?
Girl: (starting to cry): Mom said she was picking me up and she's not here! She said she would!
Oh my, poor thing. Then my attention turns to the secretary as I hear her on the phone.
Secretary: Well I have 6 students here that were supposed to be on bus #xyz. The driver drove off.
Secretary: No, there was no sub teacher, it was the regular teacher.
Aide who is with the orphaned students: What are they saying?
Secretary: (covering the phone) ....that the teacher told the driver all the students were on the bus.
Aide: Well we know that's not true, because 6 of them are standing here.
Secretary: (back to phone) Okay, well they will be on the side waiting.
Me: Uhm....you guys. As a person who is going to have a student be on the bus for the very first time, this is freaking me out! (and YES, I DID say that!)
Aide: Honestly, this has never happened before. Seriously. We've never had something like this.
Of course not. Of course the day I come to the school for the first time I get to witness a bus snafu!!
Nea's therapists and I are working on creating a social story for her about school. We will include pictures of the school, the bus, the classroom, and hopefully the teacher will send me a picture :-)
Me: "Hi, I'm Nea's mom, and I would like your photo"
It almost sounds stalker-like!!
****Update*****
The teacher has already emailed me back and will be taking pictures of her, her aide and the classroom for Nea's social story.
Did I mention that I realllly like her?!?! :-)
This made me laugh because I've been the same way! It's a sign of a good mama to be terrified to send them to school. You have already taken a bigger step than me, I don't put my kids on the bus, we drive them. All because we(Chad and I) are weenies! Be as involved as possible, the teachers and staff will love you!
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