First Day at Center

Our little guy is such a trooper. Today was his first day at the Verbal Behavior school – still half time for the next two weeks until he starts full time two weeks from now. I talked to him often this morning about going to see his therapist at his new room in his new school – even as we were in the car driving there I was easing him into what was in store. He’s never done VB anywhere but home. We arrived, and his BCABA came out to the car to greet us and take Thomas in. No big deal –he just took her hand and went with her. I followed, bearing a few more things for his room.

I was at the Center for probably about 45 minutes total, between loading more furniture in and meeting with the business manager to clear up a mystery EOB from our health insurance carrier. I could not help but hear the noises around the building – the entire time, some child was crying or tantrum-ing due to the transition to the new building. Routine and sameness are huge for these kids – talk about jumping off the deep end from all that! When we arrived, one little girl was in the parking lot, screaming & crying, not wanting to go inside. Many kids were have a rough time today. This was expected by everyone involved, and everyone was appropriately patient & understanding. Our little guy, on the other hand, just walked right in and while he did explore, just made himself right at home. This is what I’m talking about when I say that our little guy is one easy-going, sweet-mannered boy. It’s no mistake that I call him my angel boy - I've often said that if this is what autism looks like for our boy, then we'll take it. When I picked him up, I heard from more than one person there that he had a very happy day. Relief! (And nice that Mommy had time to go get a latte at Starbucks and read for an hour. Lovely.)

The other thing that sunk in today was just how much these people love our kids. Most of these therapists are young folks right out of college – maybe they taught for awhile – but they have no direct personal link to autism. They just were in the right place at the right time, found their niche, and are doing the most fabulous work with these kids who can be very difficult to teach. The dedication and devotion to each kid at the center made my eyes misty more than once. I am feeling very blessed today.