PRE-SCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN

     I remember one day when I took Alyssa to a regular check up with her neurologist he asked me if I had made arrangements to enter Alyssa into pre-school. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! She's only three years old and who will watch after her and keep her safe? No, I wasn't ready to deal with this. How dare they suggest I drop her off at school and just leave her there! I couldn't fathom the idea that someone could take care of this child other than me. They wouldn't know how to handle her and of course she would be lost without me. I think I was a little bit too over protective, but these are the crazy thoughts that traveled through my mind when the Doctor suggested she start school. But, the doctor explained that it would be better for Alyssa to start young so she could start learning to interact with other children. So, as scared as I was, I went directly to the board of education so they would be certain to understand that my daughter had a medical condition and would need special care from the school system. I am very thankful that we entered into a good school system. They were eager to answer all my questions and helped me feel more relaxed about entering her into the preschool program. Turns out, the school was just up the street from us and she was going to placed in a preschool that offered special assistance to those who needed it. The classroom had a 3:1 ratio as there were three tachers. This made me feel confident that Alyssa would be watched over constantly. I worried a great deal that someone would neglect her and she would wander off and be lost forever! I had come to grips with the idea of entering her into school, but when that first day came, I was a wreck. Alyssa, on the other hand, was thrilled to death. She couldn't wait to go to school. She dressed up all pretty that day, (Alyssa, to this day, loves to wear a dress!) and we waited outside for the little bus to come and take her to her school. I wanted to take her on the first day to make sure she got to the classroom and to see that indeed she was safe. But Alyssa insisted on riding the little bus. So, when the bus came, I made sure she was properly buckled in and as soon as it drove away, I got in my car and drove to the school. I guess I just had to be sure she got to the classroom ok and wanted to know that the teacher would be there each and every morning to get her off the bus. It all went well and I was releived but I sure didn't know what to do with myself for those 3hrs she was gone (although those were very quiet hours).

     Pre-school was probably one of the best school years Alyssa has had. Whenever we had a PPT (planing and placement team) meeting, we discuss Alyssa's strengths and weaknesses and try to figure out which areas needed improvement. It was discovered early on that Alyssa had some compulsive behaviors. There were certain classroom asignments that required that the children follow specific directions such as color-by-number, or cut and paste. Alyssa had difficulty with this from the get go and still does. I'm not certain whether or not she just didn't understand the explanation or whether she just had it in her head to do the work the way she saw fit. When it came to cutting projects, such as cutting a circle out on the lines, she would just keep cutting and cutting around and around until the paper was gone and then take a fit because she couldn't understand where the circle had disappeared to. The teacher would try to moniter her when cutting so as to tell her when to stop and that she had done a wonderful job, but Alyssa just couldn't stop and all cutting projects ended up the same, cut down to nothingness. The doctor had concluded that Alyssa's brain is affected by SWS in the visual perception area of her brain and I beleive this could very well account for some of her compulsive behaviors. It's as if she doesn't see things the way that others do and so her perception is distorted. She is also affected in the gross and fine motor areas of the brain and therefore it was determined that she start a physical therapy session that would be provided by the school.

1st & 2nd GRADES