It's been a really long time since I have written here. I have a few drafts of things I have been thinking about, but they haven't been quite.....right.
I wanted to tell you a little bit about our current challenge, and one that has taken me a little more by surprise than I thought.
Our youngest son, J, who is 4, nearly 5, is supposed to be heading off to school next year. The challenge with that is that he has a Global delay, and so he is actually much closer to 3 than he is to 5. Now, we have seen some amazing advances this year with him being in pre school and we have been so blessed to be really well supported in that environment. However, big school is such a different place. There are so many more things that he needs to be able to do, and at this stage, he just isn't up to them developmentally.
So, this leaves us in a predicament.
We need to decide whether to:
- apply to send him to a specialised unit for schooling next year, which is then decided by the department of education on where he will actually be placed
- whether we attempt to put him into a mainstream class with support, though probably not to the level he is supported this year.
- do we repeat him in pre school? If this is an option we choose, he has new kids next year to deal with, and are we potentially stunting his learning? Or, are we allowing his social skills and language to catch up to the rest of his ability?
Each option, in our case, has its pros and cons which I won't bore you with here. But it has really put us, and particularly me, in a position where I feel that whichever option I choose has the potential to have great impacts on his growth and potential to be the best that he can be.
I spend a fair bit of time chatting to other parents with kids on the spectrum, and I am very lucky to have a little group of friends who all have children the same age as J. It's been interesting to watch as we all navigate what the best schooling position is best for our child. The thing that has struck me is that this decision is a really individual one.
I guess though, what I hadn't been expecting, was how much fear I have around J going to school next year. How concerned I am about how he is going to go. Whether he will get lost in the crowd in a mainstream class, or if he won't be challenged enough in a unit placement. I find myself analysing every detail and to be honest, I'm still not sure what is the right decision for him. At this stage I need to trust that the right outcome will show itself. That God has his hand on this decision and will open and close the doors that we need him to.
