An information filled day...

Hi everyone,

If you are still keeping up with our saga, thanks! :) We are back home from the 24 hour long EEG test for Aiden. As we predicted and expected, that test came back normal/inconclusive. So.. we still haven't yet found any medical explanation for what happened to our little guy. We will be going back to speak with the neurologist again to see where we go from here, and what further testing Aiden may have to undergo.

In the meantime, while searching for a medical explanation, we are still trying to figure out where and what to do about Aiden's options for school and speech therapy. So as I mentioned in my previous post, we were offered a spot for Aiden in the 4 year old class at the UCP Charter School near UCF. We went today to speak with them, take a tour and find out some more information.

I'm happy and RELIEVED to report that this is most definitely the perfect match for Aiden!!!!!!!!!!!

The school is a charter school, so because Aiden has qualified for special school and therapy, he can go there for free compliments of Orange County Public Schools. This school has a waiting list of 180+, and there is ONE spot available, but because we have the blessings from Orange County, we get first dibs!!! How crazy is that?

This school believes in making all their classes "inclusive". This means that 1/3 to 1/2 of the kids in Aiden's class do NOT have any special needs of any kind. Their parents put them there because they believe in teaching their children about compassion and caring for all kinds of people *goosebumps anyone?*. They state in their literature that a benefit to a child without dissabilities attending this school is that inclusion provides opportunities for children to learn that being different is acceptable and not something to be afraid of or shamed by. Wow. Some of the kids are children of the staff at UCP. Some are children of professors at UCF. Some children just have parents that get the concept of an inclusive school, and know what a great school it is. Even if Aiden gets better, and doesn't need help anymore, this is something that is truly powerful, and something I WANT Aiden to learn about. The class has 15 children, and 3 teachers. So.. on a full day with perfect attendance.. the ratio is 5:1, which I think is pretty phenominal.

The teachers and therapists work together so that Aiden's "care plan goals" will be worked on by a team, and will be well integrated into his day. As I mentioned in previous posts, Aiden qualified for free GROUP speech therapy 2x per week for 30 minutes. Well, UCP will provide Aiden 1:1 therapy if they believe that is what he needs (still free to us), but also use the "group therapy" concept if it works for his goals. Basically they will do what is best for Aiden.

The school will give us a written report of Aiden's progress and what they worked on with him EVERY SINGLE DAY when we pick him up. I think that is amazing! Also, there will be a meeting offered to us every 3 months with Aiden's teachers, speech therapist, the director and us to go over Aiden's goals, how he is doing and what changes or adjustments need to be made to his goals, basically assessing where Aiden is developmentally every 3 months, verses the once a year we would get at the public school. WOW!

The class follows a daily schedule of course, but what I LOVED was on the door an newspaper article was posted. It discussed the fact that public schools (especially at pre-k) age aren't encouraging physical activity at school. In fact, that is one of the reasons we knew we would NOT be sending Aiden to Bonneville Elem. We were told at Bonneville when we toured there that there is no playtime, all academic (at 4 years old????). At UCP, Aiden will have playground time (which is amazing for socialization and speech), and then also in his day will be "walking" time. WALKING time! I LOVE THIS. I mean, how often to do you find a school that IN their curriculum they encourage taking a WALK as a group. Walking, talking, looking, exploring, socializing, smelling, and the list goes on. I don't know why, but this really touched me. Aiden's class also gets MUSIC THERAPY once per week. Umm... you think I like this? How absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!

In August, their new facility will open. This is a brand new state of the art facility with double the classrooms all the way up to Grade 3. It will have 2 playgrounds, indoor gyms and much more. We do hope and pray that Aiden does well over the next year and a half or so, and can go to Kindergarten at East Lake Elementary School where Anna goes, BUT.. if need be, this school will be there for Aiden.

So... we called Orange County Early Intervention to let them know that we have found the perfect match for Aiden, and the paperwork is in motion. We plan to have him start at UCP on March 17th. He'll go Mon-Thur from 8:30 - 11:30am. Afternoons and Fridays are for private speech therapy and MOMMY time!!!!

As of right now, we go back to the neurologist at the end of March to discuss the results of Aiden's latest bloodwork, and talk about what to do next.

Things are finally falling into place though and we look forward to Aiden getting what he needs to get better and caught up.

Alright, there you have the latest and greatest!

It's nice to be home, sitting in my family room with Anna and Aiden and Will. Not the easiest 24 hours, but at least we can resume the week with more normalcy. :)

Love,
Holly