Week 2 of Camp

Waiting for the shuttle

Joseph is loving camp.  Last week it took a few days to settle in and get used to the people and schedule.  This week he is riding on a shuttle to camp and seems to like that.  His only fear was that he could not rock when he was in the van because people would laugh at him.  I assured him that they would not laugh.  He does not even notice that all these children have disabilities in one way or another. 

He has not made a good friend yet but this is due to his autism and all the others around him suffering some social disorder.  I would imagine it makes it hard for them to really bond with one another.  He loves going on the field trips.  So far they have been to the movies, bowling, tractor museum and sprinkle pool.  He goes swimming on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Today they are having a jumping house which he has been looking forward to since day one!!!  Tomorrow they are going to the zoo.

I don't know what I will do once camp ends on July 9th.  I have to find something to keep him busy.  Then it will be time to get them ready for school.  Right now, SumFun is having a great influence on him!  I can't say enough about this camp, the counsellors, and the beautiful children!!

Camp

By a total miracle I found a camp for Joseph!  It starts tomorrow and goes for four weeks.  It is a day camp for children with mental disabilities.  They will take them swimming, to the zoo, to the movies, do arts and crafts, play games, etc.  I can not even begin to express his joy over getting to go.  It is all he has talked about over the weekend.  I actually found all this on Thursday and although was late on signing him up they took him right away with no money down.  We found out that his respite care would cover some of the costs of his camp and my mileage.

So tomorrow starts a wonderful adventure for Little Joe.  We are finding that there is so much more available to him now that he has been officially diagnosed as disabled.  So we are thanking God for the small blessings at this time.  I will post pictures and daily updates of his camp adventures in the days to come.

Lost

Swimming

School has been out a few weeks now and our poor Joseph seems to be lost.  I am not a parent that wants my children to be away from me all the time.  Actually, I'm enjoying the time with the other children.  But Joseph would do much better going to school all summer.  It made me start wondering why special ed children who seem to thrive on routine and schedule are given 3 months of free time?  Why is there not more for these children?  I started trying to find something for him to do to fill in his time.  I came up with a schedule of fun activities for each day of the week thinking that keeping him busy would be for the best.  But it is impossible to do 24/7.  So my difficult hours of 4 to 6 p.m. (after school hours) has now turned into several hours a day that he has time to meltdown as my attention has to be given somewhere else.

I started looking for camps he could attend.  It got us involved with the brain injury group here in Nebraska.  They do not have any such camp for children but at least it got things moving.  I got in touch with the disability department of the state to see if they offer anything.  Upon reviewing his medical history we discovered, or should I say REdiscovered, that he has an official diagnosis of autism.  So that opens more doors for us as there are camps for autistic children.

One thing that he loves doing is going swimming at the YMCA.  He learned to dog-paddle very well in his  swimming lessons.  He gets to go down the slides now because he can make it to the side of the pool well enough.  We also do library days and he enjoys this.  Yesterday we enjoyed a day at the park with friends.  The key seems to be keeping him as busy as possible.  But once the moment arrives in which he realizes he misses school he gets upset.  He does not understand that this is a really long extended "holiday".  He gets excited for Sunday mass because he thinks Monday he is returning to school. 

He is regressing in many areas especially in his physical abilities.  I will be contacting the hospital today to get him back in PT and OT over the summer months.  I am seeing many left side issues again and this is being witnessed by friends.  His left foot is turning in again.  There is more drooling.  He started playing with his gums and this has caused an infection in his mouth. 

There have been some touching moments I have been able to witness.  Sometimes he is so aggressive that it scares me for the other children but then when all seems hopeless I see him sharing with his siblings.  Or yesterday I saw him pushing his little sister on a swing.  Or I see him console a sibling after they have been corrected by mom or dad.  Those moments are few but are priceless.

So today we will deal with today and not focus on tomorrow or next week or next month.  I am turning to the older siblings and asking for them to each take a day to help with him.  He needs undivided attention from some source and with so many other children I can not do it.  He misses his teachers so much.  If you are reading this he misses you and loves you!  He is longing for school to start!  You gave him so much joy this past year and you have become such a huge part of his life.  May God bless you for all you have done for him and our family.  Good teachers are a gift from God!