Today Ella had her evaluation at Ann Reid Early Childhood Center, where she will be attending preschool in the fall.
To say she was excited would be an understatement. Ella has been looking forward to going to school for such a long time. When we pulled into the parking lot, her face immediately lit up while she said, "Is that MY school??"
While Ella was being evaluated, Michael and I were interviewed by various members of the team, so that they were able to learn more about Ella as well as any of our concerns.
This was our second meeting at Ann Reid, and we were once again very impressed. All of the team members seemed very knowledgable of the needs of a child with a neuromuscular disease (the school has actually had children with SMA before)! Among those at the meeting were the assistant principal, school nurse, social worker, psychologist, speech pathologist, physical therapist and occupational therapist.
Ella was also taken on a tour of the building, where she got to see some classrooms and even met a little boy who is also in a wheelchair :)
The Ann Reid Early Childhood Center is only a couple years old. This school will be perfect for Ella. Everything is state-of-the-art and will make things easier for Ella. From the standers and gait trainers, to the small sinks with automatic soap dispensers, Ella will have an easier time doing more things independently, which is one of the main goals that the team has for her.
Ella will be in a "blended" classroom. In this type of classroom, half of the students have special needs and the other half does not (aka "community students"). There is one teacher and two aids in every blended classroom of 15 students. There is the possibility that Ella will also have her own nurse, depending on whether or not she needs to do a feeding tube feed while at school.
Speaking of community students, Michael and I made the difficult decision to enroll Henry at Ann Reid for his second year of preschool next year. This year, Henry is attending Sky Blue Scholars (where Ava attended as well), and we absolutely LOVE it. Sky Blue has become like a family to us and we are so impressed with their educational philosophies. It was a hard decision, but in the end we decided that it was a better fit for our family to have Henry and Ella attend the same school (rather than having three kids at three different schools).
As of now, the plan is to have Henry and Ella take the bus to school together, and they couldn't be more thrilled :) Ella will attend Monday though Friday mornings and Henry will attend Monday through Thursday mornings (only children with special needs go on Fridays). With Ava being in 1st grade, next year is going to be quite a transition for me, having four mornings every week with no children around! It will be a whole new life of running errands and doing housework alone...and who knows, maybe I'll have a little time for "me" :)
One thing we're a little apprehensive about is Ella's expectations, because so far, she thinks that when she goes to preschool she'll be able stand and walk by herself :( She still thinks that her inability to do such things is a result of her age...she doesn't yet understand the harsh realities of SMA. But we're hoping that our visit today helped a little bit, by showing her that there are other kids at school in wheelchairs, standers, etc. Plus, with the guidance of Ella's psychologist, we've gradually been having more conversations with Ella about going to school in her wheelchair.
But we're definitely really looking forward to Ella going to Ann Reid. We think it's going to be such a good fit for her, both physically and emotionally, and we can't wait to see that bright mind of hers put to work!!
