Getting My Groove On - Home School Style





It has taken me a few weeks to get back into the groove after the school holidays. This year Sam is in Grade One. We are officially registered with the Education department, which I must admit made me a little nervous as I began preparing his lesson schedule and initial lesson plans for Term One. "This is it", I thought. "This is serious. You can't mess this up." After my momentary panic, I told myself to get on with it and use what I had learnt at the end of last year. Keep it simple and make it fun.

 

I've now developed a lesson schedule for Term One that I am happy with. Actually, it has sort of evolved. A bit of tinkering here, a little modification there. Sam has weekly speech therapy sessions and he has also started gymnastics, which is very exciting, so I had to work these into our lesson schedule too. I have also gone back to my studies, Certificate in Education Support (new name for Teacher Aide), and that takes up a Friday. Life is one big schedule!

 

I eased Sam back  into lessons slowly. We spent the first few weeks reviewing lessons and activities from last year and it has been great to see how much he has remembered. I've also found that he appears more interested in learning. It is easier to engage him and his ability to focus on tasks has improved dramatically. Yes, he still gets a little anxious if we do something new, or if he finds the task difficult, but as his expressive language is developing more and more, he can now tell me how he is feeling. This is a huge step forward in Sam's overall development and as a result, there is a noticeable difference in his behaviour. As his ability to communicate improves, his levels of frustration and anxiety reduces, which means less emotional outbursts. Now when Sam tells me, or I can see, that he is struggling, I let him know that it is OK. It will be hard at first, but am here to help him. We will take it slowly together and it will get easier with practise.

 

And it does.

 

So what have we been up to?

Getting reacquainted with our numbers and number words.

A bit of jumping to strengthen those leg muscles.

Lining up the shot...

Looks like it's going in.





Colouring Minecraft pictures. Sam wanted to get the colours right, so he is copying from the Minecraft X-box cover.



The big circle needed a happy face.

Sam working on our Geography project. He is typing labels under the pictures for our map.

Sam helping me print off pictures for our Geography map activity.



Cutting skills practise as we worked on our Geography project.



 

And the finished product. We made a map of our garden. Sam took all the photos, so it was also a lesson on photography! Love cross learning.

 

Sam has started gymnastics this year. He has low muscle tone so this is an ideal activity for him. It covers gross and fine motor skills, will help to strengthen his muscles and improve his co-ordination. We are very lucky to have the head coach of the gymnastics club doing one to one sessions with Sam. Once he has developed basic skills and is more confident, we hope to ease him into a class with other young children. The most important thing...he loves it!

 

The Many Shades of 22Q - It's Not Black and White (or Grey)

There is an uproar within the 22Q community all around the world right now. In a recent episode of the US medical drama Grey's Anatomy, they portray 22Q incorrectly. Understandably, it has caused a great deal of upset for parents of 22Q children.

 

This is the excerpt from the show that is making news.

 

Two doctors are reviewing patient charts.

 

First doctor says "This Mom's been pregnant 3 times, the first two were stillborn."

Second doctor replies "Well, this one will be too. 22q11 deletion.... She should just adopt.

 

My son Sam has 22Q 11.2, but his symptoms are largely developmental. We do need regular scans for a particular type of tumour, but we are fortunate that he does not, at this stage, have any of the complicated medical issues other 22Q'ers have. There are also people who have 22Q and you would never realise... they may not even know themselves. That's the thing with 22Q - the symptoms are so incredibly diverse. Within the 22Q community, we are united by our diagnosis (or our child's diagnosis), but our individual life journey's are, just like 22Q itself, incredibly diverse.

 

The issue I personally have with what Grey's did, is depicting only one aspect and outcome of 22Q. Yes, a sad and real outcome for many, but not for everyone. A person on one of the Facebook threads that I've read this morning said, "It is just a TV show." Yes, you're  right, it is just a TV show, but a lot of people believe what highly respected long running TV dramas like Grey's Anatomy portray.

 

As a 22Q parent, I know all too well that few people outside of our community have even heard of 22Q, let alone understand it. Goodness, even a lot of the medical professionals we deal with don't understand it, so it is not surprising that the Grey's Medical Advisor got it wrong too.

 

The storyline in Grey's is not a true representation of the whole 22Q picture, but we as a 22Q community can use it to highlight the lack of awareness and understanding of 22Q. So, to the Grey's Anatomy script writers, Medical Advisor and all of you who would like to know more...Google 22Q 11.2.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf3mKfDDzZI