Friday, August 05, 2011

do the right thing.

After much discussion and careful consideration, we have decided to remove Max from daycare for the remainder of the summer. This is by no reflection a statement on what we think about the daycare (Cameron goes there and she is doing terrific). It just wasn't working for Max this year. Over the past month we have noticed a lot of regression into behaviours we haven't seen in a long time. Toileting problems, inconsistent sleep patterns, increased stims and screaming in frustration are only a few of the things we have been dealing with. While it is easy to get frustrated with Max, these behaviours are the only way he has to tell us he is upset.

As the person who will be doing most of the care giving for him over the next month, it is going to be a challenge, but he's my kid. The thought of him being lost and overwhelmed in a room where people really aren't trained in autism or equipped to help him breaks my heart. Part of me wishes that he were at a point that he could handle being in an unstructured daycare environment. But he isn't, and that's okay. He's only five. He's a beautiful, smart boy and it is our job as his parents to make sure we are doing the right thing for him. We want to provide him with a calm, consistent environment so that when he starts senior kindergarten he goes into it from a place of happiness. Perhaps it will be a good way for Max and me to reconnect as we get some Mommy-Max time.

3 comments:

  1. Melissa3:29 p.m.

    What a difficult decision. I hope your summer goes well.

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  2. I have been in your shoes and it is so hard! Filled with much anxiousness and lots of second guessing. However, you will soon have one of those glorious moments where it will remind you how right for you and Max your decision was! For me, it was the first time Ben while in the middle of playing, walked into the washroom and did his business all by himself and then yelled "mummy, come see!"!

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  3. Anonymous8:23 p.m.

    We too had to pull our son out of daycare, we started with trained staff but with staff turnover so high the trained ones were gone soon. Us parents (my wife had to quit her job) seem to be the only ones prepared (or at least we say so to ourselves). We (with belt tightening) can do it, we are lucky - what of the single parent with ASD twins? One thing I have learned - our society is actually quite ill prepared for our kids and this scares me for the future - how will the 1 in 91 be dealt with? The questions are rhetorical, making these kind of right decisions because we cannot even purchase the right support is a truly a sad statement about our society.

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