Take That

Warning...this is a long post in response to my last post. If you don't want to read it, at least scroll to the bottom and watch the video!

Yesterday, I took Witten to school and after dropping him off in the toddler room and talking to one of his former teachers in the infant room, I asked the director if I could speak with her. She took me back to her office and we talked about the events of the previous day. When we were walking back, I saw the teacher who had made the comments about getting a second opinion taking breakfast around, and let the director know that she was the teacher who had told me that. She was shocked. She told me that not only was it not their place to make that determination, and that she as a mother of one of the girls in Witten's room knew that doctors don't get concerned about the walking until 18 months, but also, the woman who had made their comment is their cook, not even a regular teacher in the classroom...she's just been covering for another teacher.

I let the director know that we had been in contact this week with Witten's doctor as well as ECI, and neither of them were worried, so we felt that there was no reason to be worried either. I also reiterated what the doctor had confirmed about him being capable, but scared and stubborn.

I came up with a plan for Witten and let her know what I wanted. I first reassured her that it's ok if he gets hurt, stepped on, falls when he's climbing...I just want him to learn how to be a boy, and when he's trying to climb on the playground equipment, instead of being nervous that he's going to fall and get hurt, show him how to climb up the equipment, and if he falls, that's just part of the process. It's the same when the walking kids come to get him and want him to play. If they accidentally hurt him, it may be the motivation he needs to walk with them instead of getting down on the ground and crawling. I told her that I know that she's worried about law suits, or us pulling him out of school, and assured her that we are not those people. We expect him to get cuts, bruises, bites. If he doesn't come home dirty or bloody sometimes, then he's not being a boy! She was more comfortable with letting him remain in the toddler room after this.

Another thing I asked for was instead of complaining that he can't get in and out of his chair at the table, and then just picking him up to get him in and out, they should show him how to get in while HELPING him do it, and then do the same when it's time to get out. Likewise, when it's circle time, instead of leaving him at the table to scream and then picking him up to bring him over, they could be proactive and tell him that it's circle time right before they start. Then, one teacher could grab his hand and make him walk to it. She agreed that both of these would be better solutions.

In regards to visiting the infant room throughout the day, I reiterated that he needed to be with the big kids to get their lessons, their outside time, to sit in the big chairs and eat with forks and spoons, and to sleep on a cot. Since he isn't walking as much as they are, he's not as tired at nap time, so after an hour, he wakes up and they lets everyone know that he no longer wants to sleep. Most of the babies are asleep during this time, so I said that it would be a perfect time for him to go in the infant room until the rest of his class wakes up. I also said that after 4, when the toddler room goes down to 1 teacher and all of the kids are really wired, that would be another good time to put him in the infant room. Those parents tend to come earlier, so they would have the man power to work with him on his walking.

The director agreed with all that was said, and was very upset that not only had their cook tried to give me medical advice, but also that their instructional specialist had spoken with me about Witten in the classroom with others around. She said that she would teach the cook how to interact with parents as well as give the toddler room training on how to work with Witten.

I am very pleased with the outcome. We chose this school because they had individual plans for each kid, and we were surprised that in the toddler room, the teachers seemed to expect them to be more cookie cutter kids.

When my mom picked him up yesterday afternoon, she received a VERY warm reception in the room. I am very hopeful that everything will go smoothly from here on out with him in that room.

With all of that being said. Look and see what Witten has been doing since last night.