I'm not sure what I am thinking right now but I do feel that if I just start writing, I'll get my mind around it and sort everything out.
Ayla had her first day at Giralang Preschool today. It was a really nice day for her. The kids are lovely, the parents are lovely and the two teachers are great too. It's a nice small group of kids from a few different backgrounds....Australian, Indian, Serbian etc. We met the most gorgeous little boy who was also there for his first day. He's from Serbia and he's only 3 1/2 years old. Non-English speaking kids can come into preschool a year early for half days to help them pick up the English language ready for preschool the following year. He was super animated and he definitely had the words "scuss me" and "come, come" totally sorted!
Ayla's favourite part of the morning was playing with Lego....which really just involved tipping it all over the place and attempting to eat it....and they played a parachute game. They have this big colourful parachute type thing where half the kids sit underneath it and squeal and giggle while the other half lift it up and down and shake it all about. Ayla did a lot of squealing and giggling.
But halfway through the morning, I kept having this niggling feeling that this wasn't the right place for Ayla. Don't get me wrong, everybody is great with her and they are welcoming and friendly. Just what we wanted. I don't know. It could just be that it is VERY different to what we're used to and we just need to adjust or it could be that my gut instinct is spot on.
I can't help feeling that this environment isn't going to offer the right challenges for Ayla. The other kids love it and you can see how they are challenged with their 'learning'. For instance, today the kids learned the difference between an Author and an Illustrator. And that's great....but perhaps not for Ayla. Ayla needs to be pushed to explore her physical limits....you know.....stepping, standing, clapping, grasping, holding, throwing, pointing, verbalising or learning expression through augmentative communication. All of these kids already have that....now they're being taught to sit still and be quiet! LOL!
Anyway....I guess I was just using this as a sounding board while I order my thoughts. And in any case, tomorrow is Daddy's day at preschool and I think I should wait and see what he thinks. Feel free to make suggestions.....
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4 comments:
sounds like Ayla had a great day. I'm assuming it's mainstream. After sending my daughter to mainstream pre-school, daycare and now school, if you have a great bunch of accepting kids they lay the foundation for some layers to be added to Ayla development.
We found these locations provide the environment that we can't supply at home, friends, engaging, listening to age appropriate chit chat, feelings and arguements etc. Working on particular areas can always be added on down the track.
Sorry that is from missyscpjourney
ha ha...was wondering who that was ;). Thanks darl. Steven and I have been talking and we think we might need to dual enrol her with a special ed unit to get some balance.
I personally like the idea of the mainstream environment being for education and socialising. Therapy stuff can happen outside these hours. At this stage I would look at dual enrolment too to cover all areas while you have the time and opportunity. Once school starts our kids will be exhausted and not have spare time or energy for extra stuff for at least a while!
I am all for mainstream even though I find the journey somewhat harder and challenging I look at Cooper in his class and he's just one of the kids and I could not see him anywhere else.
Good luck with settling in to your new normal! xo
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