Gratitude

I'm grateful for some opportunities that I hope will result in a better school placement for Ben next year.

I sent information from a number of inclusion experts to our school board and trustee and the superintendent has agreed to a meeting in July to discuss whether Ben could be supported in a regular high school that has a unit for students who are deaf/hard of hearing (but typical academically -- and they are in the mainstream for some classes with interpreters). This is not where they would choose to place Ben, but I feel it is a better environment with more potential (and not a 45-minute drive from where we live).

Cheryl Joregensen, an inclusion consultant at the University of New Hampshire, has agreed to participate in the meeting by SKYPE!

Other good news. We were seen by a speech therapist at Holland Bloorview with the goal of getting Ben a better voice device and set-up of vocabulary. This is seen as critical to inclusion. We have never been able to find a reliable device that was intuitive and not clunky. The technology has always seemed archaic to me compared to everyday business software you'd use on your computer. It's so slow and difficult to navigate it's a disencentive to using.

And we are participating in Beta testing of WordQ -- a word prediction software -- on the iPad. Ben has used it before on a regular computer. It's helpful because it has speech feedback.

A retired teacher from Holland Bloorview is tutoring Ben in reading and I'm meeting with our local Kumon group because I've been doing some of the books that brother Kenold brings home with Ben.

Ben is going to overnight camp for four weeks this summer -- thanks to the generosity of a family member and a friend.

He's enjoying watching old Zoboomafu shows now that we have Netflix. Last night they featured a Duck-billed Dinosaur which he found hilarious.

I'd love to hear your good news! Louise