Preschool Changes

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, 2010 has been a year of change for The Spence Family. Along with the big changes in John's work, Kyle also was transferred to a new school/classroom after the holiday break. Since Kyle turned three, he has been enrolled in the Early Childhood Preschool offered by the school district. When Kyle began the program, the only morning openings available were at an elementary school location. Kyle has really enjoyed his time at this school setting and became comfortable with the teachers, therapists, and classroom assistants. In the fall, it was decided between John, me, and the early childhood staff that it would in Kyle's best interest to transfer to a classroom at the actual Early Childhood Center. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone who was working with Kyle, but know that we need to do what is best for Kyle and his developmental success. The staff feels they will be able to keep a closer eye on Kyle to assist in particular areas he is having a more difficult time with.

Kyle has been attending his new school since the beginning of January, but I feel as though he hasn't been in a consistent, normal routine due to snow days, holidays, and teacher developmental days. Kyle (and I) had a rough time for several weeks with the adjustment, with tears at drop off. At his old school, I would drop Kyle off in a car pool line, and at his new school, I need to walk him into the building, to the classroom. Honestly, this was a hard adjustment for me as well, especially on very cold, snowy, rainy days and not to mention the craziness which goes along with finding a parking place. I'm leaning towards letting Kyle ride the school bus beginning next year. The preschool buses are smaller than a regular bus and there is a helper who rides on the bus to straps the children in so I do feel it would be a safe option. We also really like Kyle's new teacher...she is great with the children and is so easy going and laid back. It was also comforting to know that his new teacher had worked with Kyle a little during summer school, so she was familiar with him and glad to have him join her classroom.

Kyle is making so much progress in school, especially in the speech and language area, which is so very exciting for us. It's so much fun to actually be able to have a "little" conversation with Kyle! He is still receiving speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. He has recently started music therapy and according to the therapist notes he seems to be doing very well during his sessions. We have a parent/teacher conference scheduled in a couple of weeks and we are anxious to hear all the good things they will have to say about Kyle's progress. Although, Kyle is making great strides in many areas, he still has plenty of "catching up" to do, but have complete faith he will catch up to his peers.