First Day of TK!

Garrett started his first day of Transitional Kindergarten today!!!  

(TK is a step between Preschool and Kindergarten offered to kids in the district who aren't quite ready for Kindergarten and qualify for a little extra help.)

He loved it!  No hesitation getting on a new school bus (*I* was a little nervous since this bus took him across town!!) and when he got off he was all smiles and non-stop talk about his first day of school!  He has grown and learned SO much since I saw him off for his first day of school last year!  We met his teacher last week and she said she was impressed with his knowledge!  She said that she hadn't met a student this year who could identify all the ABC's and the sounds that they all make, like Garrett could.  All that speech therapy focusing on letter sounds really pays off!  ;)

In other Garrett news, we have started down the path to a new speech therapy.  He will be using a Paletometer with a private speech therapist once a week.  The Paletometer is a relatively new technology in speech therapy that is suppose to greatly help in teaching a person to speak better, and greatly reduce the time it takes to improve.  

In one year of speech therapy through the school district I've been very disappointed in not only the results, but their efforts as well.  I have not met one person who is proactive or who really seems to care about making a difference.  I had to push and push to get people to tell me what they were working on so I could continue his learning at home, with little results.  He started out the school year last year testing at 1% for speech, and ending the school year at 3%.  Although it's great that he showed improvement, being in the 3rd percentile is nothing to really celebrate.  You should be able to understand EVERYTHING a 5 year old says.  

Anyways, this new technology is like a retainer with sensors that's connected to a computer and the little sensors light up on the screen as a person puts his tongue in the right place, making it easier to show a person where they are suppose to put their tongue to make a  certain sound.  For instance, trying to get a person to make the "r" sound can be tricky.  Try making the sound and notice what your tongue is doing.  With this technology a person can much easier understand where to put their tongue by lighting up the right places on the screen.  

So, we are starting by getting the Paletometer made for him next week, and sometime around September 17th he'll go in for his first session.  I'm told that most kids only need about 20 sessions before they don't need the help anymore.  At one session a week, that could mean that he'll be "graduated" from this speech therapy in about 5 months.  Thinking about him going into Kindergarten being able to communicate clearly makes me feel exuberant!!!!!    

He's a smart, kind, happy kid who is unfairly being misunderstood as someone he's not because of his lack of communication.  He deserves better.  I'm glad he'll be getting it.  :)  Thanks to the drunk driver who smashed down our fence and ruined our yard (that we are still trying to put back together again) we can actually afford to do this now. 

There are silver linings to dark clouds.  God moves in mysterious ways.  :)