I am one happy mama to be able to report that Liam has settled into our new home, his new school, and my husband's new work schedule. We prepared and did social stories before but I never dreamed that it would be enough to set his overly thinking mind at ease. We've had very few (by few I mean only 2) episodes of an anxiety melt down but they lasted 5 minutes, ...what?!
We have gone to the zoo, water park, a weekend retreat into the mountains of New Mexico, the science museum, a small petting zoo with bounce houses. All these activities with very little resistance on Liam's part. Only the transitioning has been an issue but still, he BOUNCED in the bounce house with TONS of kids and smiled while doing it! He's made friends at school and wants to have play dates with them! I have tears in my eyes as I write this because never did I think my early intervention techniques would pay off as well as it is. Never crossed my mind that we too could do activities that others do without conflict and anxieties.
A BIG BIG THANK YOU to his special needs preschool teacher for 2 years, Mrs. Thompson! Liam grew so much from the first day we came into your class to now. I can't express how you've helped our family and how much we appreciate you.
Another BIG THANK YOU to Kerry & Carol for your ideas on schedules and charts. Kerry, whenever we talked you didn't make me feel like I'm a crazy mother who's overly concerned for my child. You listened, understood, and helped me out greatly when I needed it.
Of course my PARENTS I THANK every day for their support and understanding. I very lucky to have such caring and loving parents.
Well I'll wrap this up because its sounding more like an acceptance speech than an update about Liam. :) But I feel like I did win something, I won an anxiety free child and that's the best reward or gift that I could ever receive.
