Andrew's first day at pre-school (year 2)

Wow!! I am so happy right now. Yesterday, I called his teacher, "Mrs. W.", to get an update on his first day. She said, "I was just about to email you. He was amazing! He got to be the leader because he had been through it all before, and he did very well. Last year, he didn't want to do things in front of people, and today, despite the fact that there were all new faces in the classroom, he did everything! I had him go get his backpack out of his locker at the end of the day, then set it down, then I asked him to go get his mail out of his box, and he did that too. He was a different kid! He asked for a sticker at the end of the day [last year, we had this whole system where if he complied with all of the areas, he would get a sticker or a stamp on each of the tasks], and I told him that I didn't think we needed to do that this year."

Wow.

I am so glad I held him and had him do a second year of pre-k, because he will hopefully be ready for kindergarten next year. I hope I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched (to use the old cliche), but I am really hopeful.

The only thing we need to figure out is the bus schedule. The original time they gave me for him to be picked up is 10:53. Class for him doesn't start until noon. As soon as I told Mrs. W, she said, "oh, that's not going to work. No kid should have to sit on the bus for an hour, and Andrew's day will be over before it even begins." I agree. Plus, we live a mere hop, skip, and a jump away from school (but are on the bus route because of the busy road that leads to the school). If we had a second vehicle for Daddy, that wouldn't be a huge deal and he technically could bike him to school for now, but that would involve either shoving 3 kids in a bike trailer meant for two, or connecting the tagalong to the trailer so he has a Daddy choo-choo ride. I don't know. Mrs. W. said not to panic and just to give it a few weeks and hopefully they will figure out a different time. She said there's always the insanity of the buses at the beginning of a school year.

I will keep you all posted on his school progress. He still has his evaluation scheduled for 10/24 (this is the sensory assessment).

My big boy!

Sensory Evaluation.

Andrew had his appointment on Tuesday with the Pediatric Behavioral Specialist he has seen in the past. She sees enough behaviors that would fall into either ADHD (most likely) and something on the spectrum (probably mild Asperger's). She stated that he does a lot of movement that is without purpose (I believe this is fidgeting she is referring to). His need for his cars to always be in his hand -- always lining them up and not really driving them around. You all remember his intricate patterns he used to make with them (I had posted pics on Facebook in the past). Everything revolves around his cars and he will cry if we take them away (for instance, if he pushes his sister or brother away from him). He has frequent angry outburts he is unable to control and a lack of impulse control (his teacher noted this as well). For instance, we have told him not to do certain things (like turning over all the pavers in the yard looking for bugs/grubs) and it doesn't seem to get through at all -- he only has one goal in mind and that is to get the bugs. He brings bugs in all the time and has an obsession with them (some of this is normal little boy stuff; some of it could be sensory).



She said one thing she noticed that would maybe rule out a spectrum disorder would be that he is social, but she noticed that there seemed to be a routine to the questions. Andrew goes up to nearly everyone in public and will say, "what's your name? Where does your work live? What kind of car do you have? What color is it? What time do you get home from work" or if they mention a spouse, he will say, "what color hair does he have?" These are odd questions for someone his age (I think) and very typical of Aspies.


His tantrums are uncontrollable and definitely not very normal for his age.


He was late to walk and has trouble with fine motor skills (writing with a pencil -- he can trace some letters now but not write words like some of his classmates could -- his teacher didn't think this was a concern just yet), freaks out when a shirt is inside out and cannot figure out how to fix it. I remember when he was 16 months old, he seemed to have a hard time getting up if he was on his back -- like getting to a sitting position.


He's very intelligent, very expansive vocabulary, but is definitely socially awkward. This may be endearing at the age he is now, but I would imagine in a few years, it wouldn't be so endearing.


When we go to a store, any store, he immediately bolts and goes full speed ahead, ignores me when I tell him to stop, and doesn't care if he about knocks people over. His only goal is to get to the cars and line them up.


I asked him if there is a reason he runs at the grocery store. I ask him if there is something that bothers him when we walk in. I asked him what he hears. He said, "I hear people talking." It seems to be a strange response because I really don't notice that when I go in. Maybe he hears all the conversations and it drives him nuts.


He will ramble on and on to people about stuff and isn't aware of the awkwardness or if they are bored, etc. He feels compelled to tell strangers that he went to a birthday party back in June. I am not sure if he is imitating adult conversation or if this is normal.


He prefers adults to kids. He sneaks to the neighbors to talk to them whenever they are outside. One day he went over there probably 10 times.


He seems to have a poor understanding of safety (looking for cars, etc.) and biked straight across the road the other day without looking for cars.


He enjoys wearing long sleeves and sobs sometimes like at the change of season, in spring, when I make him wear short sleeves. He sees no issue with wearing his red train sweater outside when it's 95 degrees.


When I went to his classroom, it happened to be Dr. Seuss' birthday so all the kids went in the hall and simultaneously read books. Andrew could not focus and held his hands over his ears and said, "Mom, it's TOO LOUD!" [it was more like a dull roar] He will turn off fans if they are going because he doesn't like the noise and today when I was blow drying my hair, he covered his ears and told me it was too loud.


He did not play with toys until age 3.5 when he got his first cars. That is all he will play with. He lines them up on the couch all day long. He brings them to the dinner table and the bathroom and in the car and EVERYWHERE. His first "toy" he took to was at about 20 months and that was my hairdryer. He wanted to carry it everywhere.

All of these things have always stood out to me and now we are finally going to get a sensory assessment done to see if, indeed, he is on the spectrum. If not, he probably does at least have ADHD. I don't want to go straight to meds, but there is some occupational therapy we can try. If he absolutely cannot function in school or his behavior worsens, we have opened up to trying meds.


I just want to get him the help he needs. My other two are developing differently than he did (playing with toys) and I can see now that Andrew has been different from the start. Amazing, beautiful, boy, but definitely marches to the beat of his own drum.