2 weeks ago after meeting with Derek's teacher, he was put on an IEP, individual education plan. Steve & I and the teachers have noticed a huge improvement. (For details on his prior behavior, check the previous post) Instead of pointing out the bad behavior they have been giving more praise when he does what he is supposed to. Derek has a new dinosaur sheet everyday where he earns stickers that he gets to put on the dino & they write a little note explaining why he earned the sticker. At carpet time, he is pulled into another room with 3 other kids where they do the exact same thing as the rest of the class, just on a smaller setting and this has really worked out for him. Instead of receiving bad reports when we pick him up it's all been positive.
There are 2 teachers and 4 teacher aides. 26 students in Derek's class, the butterflies, and 26 students in the ladybird class. The layout of the classes is like 2 really BIG rooms, with a cloak room & restrooms behind it, the classes are combined until carpet time where they read stories, do a group activity, etc. then they seperate. They have their own playground and outdoor rec area, seperate from the other grades. There are numerous centers all around the classrooms and the kids pick what they want to do/play with and the teachers integrate a teaching lesson into what they are doing. Very close to Montessori style. The teachers have an AM class, AND a PM class, so on a daily basis they deal with 100 different children!! So the fact that they are willing to work with Derek is so awesome, and I truly feel blessed and grateful.
We still have our moments of course, Derek has good & bad moments and a lot of it is a reaction to how Steve, Elora, or I are acting. If we're running behind in the morning and we're frustrated and anxious then he is as well but he doesn't just keep going to make up the time he just melts down and it seems like he is stuck in quicksand and it takes a lot of coaxing, & patience before we can even get out the door.
He doesn't respond to yelling, in any way, which in a way is a blessing in its self, because this is an area of my parenting I've been wanting to change, When our kids grow up and when they talk about "mom and dad" I don't want them to say "Remember how mom and dad were always yelling!" So now I am forced to change, God answers prayers just maybe not in the way we want them to. The best way we've found so far to get him to calm down is a time out, and by the end of his 4 minutes he's back to his happy self. Recently, when we put him in time out he said "It's time for me to get out now!" We replied with "No, you are 4 years old now,you have to stay in time out for 4 minutes." He said "No,I did not have a batman birthday I am 3, no I'm 2, so only 2 minutes!" LOL Nice try kiddo,
So for now, Derek is doing awesome and even though it isn't about us, Steve & I are becoming better parents because of him.
p.s. another cute Derek Story,we were having company stay over on Saturday so I told the kids they needed to do their chores so their rooms and playroom were clean. Derek jumped on this and cleaned his room and then he cleaned the playroom all by himself. This is amazing since normally Derek hates cleaning and he'll cry & whine the entire time, but not this day. When he was all done he said "I get my money now!" I said yes, I'm so proud of you! He replied with "Yeah I did it all my self, Dynan & Rora didn't help. I get 1, 2 monies now since Rora did not do it?" Smartie pants
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