Parent/Teacher Conferences

I know it seems odd to be so excited over parent/teacher conferences when kids are only in preschool but because it's with Hunter I cannot tell you how important these things are to me.

Hunter was "officially" diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified), basically he has many behaviors that fit in the Autism Spectrum but because he doesn't fit exactly into any one category like typical Autism, high functioning Autism, Aspergers or ADHD he has the NOS label. He attends pre-school at the public school where they have a delayed development program for 3 and 4 year olds. Just recently we put him on some medication (our last resort) and his response has been amazing! Thus at parent/teacher conferences Hunter's teacher was so excited about his progress that she was pretty certain that Hunter would be able to attend regular Kindergarten full time.

Early on in the school year Hunter was placed in the regular preschool program 2 days a week while the rest of the week he attended the delayed development preschool. Just prior to putting him on medication we had a meeting with his teachers, they didn't feel like he was having a whole lot of success in regular preschool so they wanted to have him in regular preschool only one day a week while increasing his time at the delayed development program. So having his teacher say that she wishes they would have waited to change things after seeing such major improvements with Hunter and that regular Kindergarten was more than just a possibility was AWESOME!!

We are so thankful for everyone who has been so supportive and helpful with Hunter and in our venture in finding him help. It hasn't been easy, to say the least and at times it can be extremely frustrating but we know how smart Hunter is and we are confident that his successes will be great, we are so blessed to have him in our family. I now have a much better attitude when we go shopping or out to eat and I hear children screaming or having a meltdown in public. Sometimes it is just what it is but other times that child may be having a problem with the many noises, lighting, or any number of things. For me to judge what is going on with that child would be nothing short of ignorance, just because there are no outward signs DOES NOT mean that a child doesn't have a disability. Remember that next time your out and about, because 1 in 150 children have Autism ( from very mild to extreme, the spectrum is so large). If your not sure about what Autism is or your perception is skewed by movies like "Rain Man" check out the web site http://www.autismspeaks.org/!