Tomorrow is the deadline to submit Riley’s course selection for next year. It will be R’s last year of high school...Grade 12...Graduation. YIKES!!! Yes…I am FREAKING out as I’m writing this!
In the past I have never looked much beyond the current school year or at best a couple of years down the road. When R was in elementary school, he/things could change so quickly it was hard to plan too far ahead. There were times when he would grow in leaps and bounds, times when he would be on a steady course and other times when it seemed as if he was going backwards. Our mantra was always and still is “one day at a time”.
Next year Riley will graduate with a School Completion Certificate as opposed to a Certificate of Graduation as he has been on a modified program since elementary school. R’s skill set has been such that his IEP (Individual Education Plan) goals have always been geared towards his social skills and self-help skills in order to work towards his own independence as opposed to academic goals.
The high school courses available that are suitable and would benefit Riley have gotten more limited as he’s gotten older. However, over the past two years Riley has participated in the Work Experience program. This has been very beneficial and has provided him with hands-on work experience in our community at two different businesses, one elementary school library and the once a week delivery of a local newspaper. He rides public transit to and from work/home and last year started to ride the bus by himself (that’s an entire blog post in itself). We still meet him at the bus stop at our end as we live on a fairly busy street and street safety is an on-going concern. Truthfully, G & I are having trouble pulling back from this one.
So next year Riley will continue with the Work Experience program and prepare to transition into the “real world”. R seems to be taking it all in stride. G & me…ummmm…not so much.
*Deep breaths* One day at a time…D
Hooray Riley! And hooray for you! What a wonderful launching pad you've given him. It is so exciting to read how this all unfolds for a kid who has been given the resources he needs. I hope you feel very proud.
ReplyDeleteWe have been very fortunate with all the support R's had in school no question about that. The best is seeing how proud Riley is of himself when he does something for the first time. Toooo cute. ;P
DeleteIt's so scary isn't it. Tommy, with his breakdown over the summer, can sometimes not even handle going into the public. We're about to start "working from home" stuff just to keep some momentum going. I am such a hoover-mom. I can't fathom him getting on a bus alone. There's not enough medications for ME to allow that to happen lol Good for R.. for accepting all of these experiences. So wonderful :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't fathom him getting on a bus either. His SEA last year thought he could do it and "encouraged" us to let him try. We followed behind the bus the first 3 or 4 times in the car. HA! He's been riding the bus since he was in grade 2 so is very comfortable on it and there was always someone to meet him at either end all of last year. Like I said, we still pick him up or walk him to the bus stop at our end.
DeleteI was a nervous wreck last night thinking about next year. That's why I take my meds WITH wine. LOL!
There's a camp here in the summer. Relatively new. It's a mere 3 days a week for 2 weeks on 2 weeks off sort of thing. To get BACK to just being able to drop him off.. ugh! I can't wait. Tommy's never liked buses at all. We always had to harness him in. As he got older it became a bigger problem. He's figured out that if he doesn't want to do something, he really doesn't have to. lol Freaking sucks. Wine and THEN some!!
ReplyDeleteOMG...I wish! R is definitely NOT a "camp" kinda guy!! We tried so many times when he was younger and it was always so stressful (for ME). He went away to an actual camp for 5 nights one summer with his afterschool/weekend worker. He did OK but when it came around the following year, he said "No thanks!" HA!
DeleteTossing around sending him to a teen "social" club that a friend at school goes to once a week. We'll see. *sigh*