Monday, November 18, 2013

The Handwriting Saga

I'm going to warn you in advance that this is a bit of a
vent post.
I was worried that the day would eventually come, I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. The proverbial ball has been dropped, and, unfortunately, Curtis is one of the kids that is affected. 

Here we are in the middle of November and Curtis' occupational therapy (OT) through the school district has been lacking, to say the least. As you might remember, his school unfortunately lost their amazing occupational therapist at the end of the last school year (she moved to another state, such a bummer!) I had high hopes that this school year would be OK, however, as I knew she had left detailed information about Curtis and all the other kids she worked with. Apparently, the transition wasn't so smooth. I received word from Curtis' preschool teacher about 6 weeks ago that he wasn't being pulled from class for his OT services. Or, at least not as frequently as she thought he should. When I questioned Curtis' case manager about this, she emailed the therapist and asked her to get in touch with me with more information about his OT schedule and how everything was going. 

What I heard back from the occupational therapist didn't sound very promising. At all. She told me she had "scheduling challenges" and that he did "not have a consistent OT service time". Apparently, due to multiple assessments and meetings, she had missed service times for the children needing therapy--including Curtis. Wait...WHAT?? Most of his OT support was, in fact, being worked in with his motor lab time, I was told. ("Motor lab" is where Curtis goes twice/week before school to work on gross motor activities--it's like physical therapy/physical education). I'm fine with them doing both fine and gross motor activities during motor lab, but I'm not OK with them completely replacing traditional OT with this combo of OT and motor lab. Especially without my consent. This type of OT is so not what was planned when I signed his IEP last May. And it is so not the same kind of OT he has had the past two years through the school district. 
Honestly, all I can say about this is, "What the hell is going on here? How can they suddenly make these changes? And how is it that it's now been 3 months into the school year and there is still not any sort of OT schedule for my child? How is this acceptable?

In the meantime, Curtis has become very interested in writing letters. I shouldn't really say "in the meantime"--he's been interested for several months, really, but he's become obsessed with it recently. He tries to write his name pretty much any chance he gets--he does an OK job, but requires quite a bit of help. In his preschool class, they are starting to work on writing their names and working on the basics of holding a pencil properly and have even started to keep their own little journals where they can practice writing their name and draw little pictures. Great, right? Yes--except when Curtis' teacher showed me his journal, she expressed some concern. I guess there was a page where they were to write their name and Curtis' just looked like scribbles. I could see some attempts at letters, but no one else could probably notice that the thing in the corner was a "C" or that the scribble to the side was supposed to be an "S". Her reason for concern? Well, she said that Curtis could do better than that last year. My child is regressing? Is this from lack of OT? I don't know. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm also upset. Angry, yes, but mostly just sad. OK, that's not true. I'm pissed. I guess I'm both.

I don't have a photo of the journal. I wish I did, but I don't. You wouldn't see much, anyway. Just scribbles.

I do have this picture--
"Curtis"--written by Curtis, with help, on 10/3/13. It's not bad, but he needed help with the C, starting the U, and the entire S. (that's a donut above his name, by the way, heehee)

Back to the story...and this is where it gets silly...

Before his teacher even showed me the scribbles in the journal, I had emailed Curtis' case manager and asked if we could get the therapist to help him work on handwriting skills. So the afternoon after I talked to the teacher about the journal, I heard back from the case manager. That's when I got the news that the new OT is no longer at the school! She's gone! She "didn't work out." Really? Well, that's a shocker. Now there is another new OT. Awesome. So, what does this mean? Will she have to evaluate Curtis before anything gets done? If so, how long will that take? And how long before she can get a "consistent OT service time"? UGH! I'm taking deep breaths and hoping for the best. No, really, I am.
**deep breaths**
Realizing that all of this could take a long time, and Curtis could be sitting around waiting to be taught, I decided that I had to step in and do something. So Curtis and I (and his big sister, the little teacher-in-training) have spent the last few weeks using a great iPad app called "Wet, Dry, Try" from the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) program (a great, great program!).

Some photos of Curtis practicing an uppercase "I":

 


 


I also bought some of the supplies (little chalkboard, chalk, My First Schoolbook, and Teacher's Guide) from their website so I can start working with Curtis at home while the school system gets "situated", shall we say. I'm really, really hoping that Curtis can go to kindergarten next year and I really don't see why that dream can't come a reality for us without continued, consistent hard work. True, he will likely need the assistance of an aide--in fact, it's something that I want for him considering his physical limitations--but Curtis should be able to do many of the things the other kids in a mainstream class are doing. And I believe that one of those things is writing letters, numbers, and his name. Definitely his name! And the fact that he is practically begging to sit and learn to write--we have to teach him! I'm not an occupational therapist, nor a teacher...but I will try my best to do what I can.

Videos of Curtis using the app...






I have to take a quick second to say that I'm so grateful that Curtis has such an amazing occupational therapist through CCS--she has really helped us these last few weeks (no joke, Curtis has been crazy obsessed with trying to write letters and his name). Even though they are not supposed to work on school-related therapy needs, she has allowed him to work on it a little bit during their therapy time each week and she has told me what she knows about the HWT program, she gave me suggestions for what items to buy from the website, and she even let us borrow a CD with songs about writing letters that she has from the program. She's really great.

So Curtis has been using this app for about 2 weeks, and here is an example of how he wrote his name yesterday--and he wrote it all by himself!! Big sis had him write it in 4 different colors :)
See those uppercase "R"s? He had never attempted one before the HWT app came along. Now I guess he's some sort of pro at them. The "U"s with the little line coming down are still my favorites, with the "i" coming in a close second :) I think he's doing awesome. I can't wait to see how much he improves after we get the set in the mail from the HWT program! 

So back to the school situation...I've already told the case manager what I want for Curtis in the months to come and we are working on getting a date set for a meeting. Since he's missed so much therapy so far this year, I want them to double his therapy (going from one day/week to two days/week--mind you, he wasn't even doing one day/week). I don't want all of his OT combined with motor lab. I want him focusing on writing skills (while working on other fine motor skills, as well) so he can work along with his peers in class and be prepared for a kindergarten setting. Curtis is ready to learn and to be taught. It's time for them to be ready to help him. Enough with the inconsistent schedules and the lack of time for the kids that are there because they need their time. Enough. Get it together.   

I don't think my requests are unreasonable. I don't think I'm asking for too much. Do you?

I'll keep you posted on progress and how the meeting turns out. Wish us luck!