During Summer School hours (which Bryce did not qualify for since he is so advanced in academics :), Bryce has been still going to the school to work with Mrs. Linda, the world's greatest ABA therapist. He gets 5 hours a week according to his IEP, so we spread it out over a few days and it gives him something to do over the summer break. It also is helping prepare him for the new school year, where he will be attending a regular ed 1st grade class this year. Mrs. Linda will be with him all day to help keep him on task. For the summer, Mrs. Linda has been concentrating on social skills and communication instead of more academics. Yesterday, when I picked him up from school, she told me he had just been chattering away all day and was doing fantastic work on his sentences. She sees such an improvement in him since the beginning of Kindergarten. He's finally starting to grasp some of those abstract concepts that are required to build proper sentences. On Thursday, when we were at her house swimming (yes, she invited us over to swim and to work with Bryce in the pool-is she not just the biggest blessing ever?!?!?) she told me that he should be caught up to his typical peers in language by 3rd grade. That is just about the greatest news I've ever had. There's hope. Light at the end of the tunnel. He'll always struggle socially and communication will be hard for him, but if he can make himself understood without someone always there to help...that's a huge burden off my shoulders! Anyway, last night, Linda called me because she forgot to tell me something when I picked up Bryce and she knew I would really want to hear this. She said that she was picking up random flashcards and asking Bryce to give her a sentence using the word shown. She held up one that said, "made." Without hesitation, he said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." She couldn't believe it! She asked Mrs. Caskey, Bryce's kinder teacher, if she had heard what Bryce said. Mrs. Caskey said no, so she asked Bryce to tell her the sentence again. And again he said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Mrs. Caskey didn't see the significance of that, so Linda said, "He's quoting Scripture!!!" We are so blessed to have a wonderful Christian lady working with Bryce in the public school system! She's even offered to use her phone to show him visuals of verses he's working on (sneaky way of getting the Bible into school without breaking any rules). I always said I would never put my children in public school, and sometimes I feel guilty for putting my son in an environment that may be difficult for him, but little things like this confirm that we made the right decision and are doing what's necessary to get Bryce the help and education he needs. And God is keeping him protected and provided for while he's there. What's next? I don't know. We will just take things one day, one month, one year at a time, and trust God to show us where we need to be! Because, we too, are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by an amazing God!
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