Max started Giant Steps Preschool this Wednesday.
I was very nervous to send him but knew it was the exact place he should be at.
Giant Steps is a Government Funded Preschool specifically for those children age 3-5 with Autism. I put Max on the waiting list last January and never thought he would get in. There are 131 children in Utah County on the waiting list. That is a lot of children. There are three Giant Step Classes in Utah county and each class has 12 students.
Max attends school Tuesday - Friday from 9am-3:30pm. It is a long day, but worth it. He gets one-on-one Therapy three times a day, plus Music Therapy, Physical Therapy, Computer and Speech Therapy, and even Food Therapy. The day is packed, and busy.
My biggest concern was Lunch time. Max doesn't eat much in the way of solid foods. We were told to pack a bunch of different foods that he is tried or even liked in the past. The first day he hardly ate anything. When he came home is drank two full sippy cups full of carnation instant breakfast. Max only drinks out of a specific sippy cup. And if we get him to eat one piece of solid food during the day we call it a good eating day. He mostly drinks his diet of Chocolate milk and apple juice. And YES we have tried everything, we have done everything and made anything he wants to get him to eat solid foods. It is a texture issue and with some therapy and help outside our home we are hoping for an improvement. So after three full days he started eating more and more. I know he is hungry!!
Each day we drop Max off at 9am. He can't be late. They are on a very strict schedule. And right at 3:30 Max is done and waiting for us outside the building. The parents don't go inside. Max doesn't bring in Gerald. And he walks in with the help of an Aide. It is all a system, and it is wonderful for a child who is Autistic.
We got back the testing this past week and although I am not going to share his test scores, because in the scheme of things they don't matter. We know he is Autistic, and the testing just confirms that. But we do have a better understanding about where developmentally he is. His speech is the most delayed, and soon Dexter and Max will catch up to each other in the way of speech development. He is more sever in a few areas, and we will work with the Giant Steps teachers to help him in these specific areas.
The first day I texted his teacher and she was so nice to send us pictures and text us back at lunch and share how he was doing. They also send home a progress note daily that shares with us how he did during his Therapy Sessions. So the "What did you do at school today?" question is answered each day by this progress note.
So far so good. Will and I are extremely happy with the choice we made. It was made with prayer and guidance from Heavenly Father and I know he is watching over Max. We are also overwhelmed by the support of friends and family. Thank you so much for the notes, text messages, emails and phone calls asking how Max was this week. We are so blessed to have such a great support system.
Giant Steps is a Government Funded Preschool specifically for those children age 3-5 with Autism. I put Max on the waiting list last January and never thought he would get in. There are 131 children in Utah County on the waiting list. That is a lot of children. There are three Giant Step Classes in Utah county and each class has 12 students.
Max attends school Tuesday - Friday from 9am-3:30pm. It is a long day, but worth it. He gets one-on-one Therapy three times a day, plus Music Therapy, Physical Therapy, Computer and Speech Therapy, and even Food Therapy. The day is packed, and busy.
My biggest concern was Lunch time. Max doesn't eat much in the way of solid foods. We were told to pack a bunch of different foods that he is tried or even liked in the past. The first day he hardly ate anything. When he came home is drank two full sippy cups full of carnation instant breakfast. Max only drinks out of a specific sippy cup. And if we get him to eat one piece of solid food during the day we call it a good eating day. He mostly drinks his diet of Chocolate milk and apple juice. And YES we have tried everything, we have done everything and made anything he wants to get him to eat solid foods. It is a texture issue and with some therapy and help outside our home we are hoping for an improvement. So after three full days he started eating more and more. I know he is hungry!!
Each day we drop Max off at 9am. He can't be late. They are on a very strict schedule. And right at 3:30 Max is done and waiting for us outside the building. The parents don't go inside. Max doesn't bring in Gerald. And he walks in with the help of an Aide. It is all a system, and it is wonderful for a child who is Autistic.
We got back the testing this past week and although I am not going to share his test scores, because in the scheme of things they don't matter. We know he is Autistic, and the testing just confirms that. But we do have a better understanding about where developmentally he is. His speech is the most delayed, and soon Dexter and Max will catch up to each other in the way of speech development. He is more sever in a few areas, and we will work with the Giant Steps teachers to help him in these specific areas.
The first day I texted his teacher and she was so nice to send us pictures and text us back at lunch and share how he was doing. They also send home a progress note daily that shares with us how he did during his Therapy Sessions. So the "What did you do at school today?" question is answered each day by this progress note.
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| Progress Report |
So far so good. Will and I are extremely happy with the choice we made. It was made with prayer and guidance from Heavenly Father and I know he is watching over Max. We are also overwhelmed by the support of friends and family. Thank you so much for the notes, text messages, emails and phone calls asking how Max was this week. We are so blessed to have such a great support system.
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