More Insight About What's To Come

I've been thinking a lot about what's going to happen to Raquel once she turns three in January. Even though we speak so highly of her current therapists, the reality is that they will be leaving - and fairly soon - especially considering we are just days away from being in October. And everyone knows how fast the holidays come and go. After we ring in 2009, Raquel will be three in just a couple weeks. Her last ABA session will be on her 3rd birthday.

And then what? I've been asking our ABA Team a lot of questions because pretty soon the Regional Center is going to start getting involved during our "transition phase" - and you know how I feel about Regional.

Today Janine overlapped with Cari during our afternoon session. Janine did the Brigance Assessment Test on Raquel. This is what Elizabeth did back in mid-June as a baseline when we were switched to the ABA Program. Even though we have noticed huge changes in Raquel, the Brigance testing is speech based so I thought she scored pretty much the same as she did on her first assessment - low. And this test also wants her to stack ten small blocks on top of each other by the time she's three. This is very unrealistic - especially for a child with fine motor issues. Regardless, this is one of the tests they are required to use.

Her session was a little off because it started out with Janine asking me a bunch of questions for the Brigance assessment and they did not start the session right away. As soon as her therapists show up, Raquel is ready to get started, so her waiting patiently got less and less patient as the time passed. Once we opened the box, she did pretty well - especially considering she still isn't feeling very well and refused to take her afternoon nap. Janine reads her data sheets every week and continues to be very pleased with her progress. And Raquel was very vocal throughout her session.

So what happens down the road? From what I've questioned over the past couple of days, Raquel will most likely be transitioning to a preschool. This will be through our school district. There are many types of schools and I'll be able to get a list and physically go check them out one-by-one before I enroll her. Because she is not able to effectively communicate, it is critical that I find a place that I can trust. Classrooms apparently will be small - in the 8 to 10 range - and she would most likely be going around 4-5 hours per day. We will also have the option of continuing in-home care, but this would no longer be covered by the state. I'm still not making any decisions either way until we get much closer to her transition date. I'm determined to find the perfect match for her!