School

I'm realizing that if I don't just put *something* up for this post (which has been sitting here as a draft with nothing but two photos in it) it will be so out of date by the time I do it justice that it won't be worth doing!

Krassi had his first day of school last week! I've talked before about how much I have appreciated our school district's willingness to work with us, and am even more pleased working with them to find the right place for Krassi. When we first started looking into having him evaluated I asked to have him placed in the elementary school as a fourth grader instead of by his age which would have put him in fifth grade, and thus, for our district, middle school.

Over the course of the evaluation, it was decided that instead of being placed in the 3rd and 4th grade special education room that he would be in Reuben's K-2 classroom. I was VERY pleased by this, because we had hoped to have him with Reuben so he would still be with part of his family even when he's away at school. Delightfully, he's not only IN Reuben's room, but they have decided to classify him as a kindergartener for a variety of reasons, the biggest one, I think, being that kindergarteners don't need to do standardized testing, and they don't want to have to spend their limited class time (currently one hour per day three days per week) testing him when they'd rather be working with him. I like it.

Krassi getting picked up from his first day. Reuben's pretty proud to have his brother there. I have really like the chance to see Reuben for a few minutes twice in the middle of his school day!

I *think* the plan is for him to follow with Reuben through elementary school, and then fast-forward to high school so he can still "graduate" (finish 12th grade) with enough time before his 21st birthday so he can take advantage of the transitional services the school district provides for children with special needs. As everyone I've talked to says, "Who wants to go to middle school anyway?"

Krassi did a great job when I dropped him off that first day, and I was delighted to see how he responded when I walked back into the room an hour later - a big smile lit up his face, and his whole body wriggled with delight. Two days later when we were back for his second day of school, he made a little happy noise as we pulled into the parking lot, so I think that means he thought it was an okay deal. ;)

And, a fun anecdote so I don't forget it - I met one of Reuben's paras for the first time on Krassi's first day, and she immediately shared with me that she has a dog named Reuben who also has seizures and shares a birthday with Reuben! So she thinks it's pretty neat to be working with our Reu. ;)