Friday, December 23, 2011

Hmmm


Riley had his first performance with the band, last week. His music teacher is amazing. All of the bands are just spectacular! Riley can actually play the clarinet! He was pretty pleased with himself.

So after break we are going to possibly look into an advocate. Riley's 504 plan is not being followed. There are at least 4 accommodations which are not being implemented. One of which, and my biggest concern, is a social group. The psyche was going to look into starting one, but needed to get permission from some other parents. We've heard nothing about it since. We met for the 504 in October. I am tired of playing with these people. My kid needs some accommodations as this disorder is starting to affect his academics. The junior high seems unable to do this, so now we must go forward. I have plans, oh I have plans, and I don't think I will be very popular, but who cares? I have pretty thick skin, and this is my kid and this crappy school district is wrecking him.

Riley is starting a social group in January. There's a woman who works for our district, who runs social groups on the side. We will have to pay out of pocket for this, but he needs these skills. Oh, and I did get a phone call from my private Cigna Kelly (when you bitch about Cigna on Twitter, you get results), saying that our insurance will cover a social group (it's in Mountain View though), so I believe we will explore that option as well, and try both groups for awhile. The local one will be good, because perhaps we can connect with some local families who know what we deal with daily, and can relate.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Just Checking In


Things are going well in Riley's world. He's working on finishing his walking stick, in Scouts. This weekend they have an all day workshop to finish it up. He's done a nice job sanding it.

We had a little crisis at dinner last night. Riley didn't chew his bite of taco very well, and got some shell stuck in his throat. He was freaking out, saying, "I don't want to have to go to the emergency room!" Clearly he was talking, and NOT choking, so that wasn't going to happen. He wouldn't drink any water at first, to try and wash it down, just was hysterical. It finally went down, and he continued to have another taco, telling us he would take smaller bites. Good thinking. It's things like this that just bug me. His reactions are so over the top, and not how a "normal" 13 year old would react. It's very frustrating to try and talk sense into him as he is very hard to persuade. We went to dinner tonight, at a restaurant, and while I was up getting my burger fixings, he had taken his food to his seat. He comes up and says, "Well I can't eat my dinner because I don't have a fork!" I had him turn around and see the "Silverware" sign above. Of course they were out, so I made him track down an employee and ask them to refill it. He just doesn't have the knowledge to figure this stuff out on his own! Again, frustrating, but we plug on. I now see very clearly what we have to work on with him, so that he can function as an adult.

Social skills group and Alpha-smart have yet to come to fruition at school. I am cutting them some slack because of the break last week, but I am only going to wait so long, and then I have to call to get things rolling.

Riley goes back to see the endocrinologist this month-the day before our Disney World trip. I think the medicine he is taking, is causing him to gain weight. I want to see what the doctor says, and then in January, we are ALL starting a new, healthy eating regime. Is it wrong to put a 13 year old on a diet? I just think he would be a lot more active if he were in better shape. He WILL NOT stop eating though!