Jack is getting a lot more words but I wouldn't really say that he is "talking" in any way that anyone other than I can understand. He is certainly hearing but I do not know how much he gets. When he is looking right at me he is actually understanding a lot. When he is not looking at he he hears, but I am not sure how much he understands. I was told that learning speech requires hearing and overhearing. Kids overhear so much of other people's conversations. Jack really can't overhear so it limits him a lot.
Jack's birthday is November 28th. In my school district the birthday cutoff is December 1st. If a child is 5 before December 1st they can start kindergarten that year. Jack will be 5 next year two days before the cutoff. I asked the special ed coordinator if I can hold him back and start him the next year. She said I can do that but then he will lose all his preschool services. He gets speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and services of a teacher of the deaf. There is no way he will be ready for kindergarten next year. I have the choice to send him to kindergarten at the deaf school. They have a kindergarten first grade combo class that is located in a public school. It is in East Islip which is almost an hour bus ride for Jack. If he goes to this kindergarten I can always have him repeat kindergarten in our home district. I know it is a year away but all the planning will have to be done in a few months because there are limited placements. All the placements require tons of meetings and evaluations and it can be an exhaustive process. I would guess all the decisions will have to be made by January.
When Julianna started kindergarten she was writing her name, reading many words and understanding some math. Her birthday is January 8th so she was one of the older kids in the class. It seems like Jack is years behind where Julianna was at this age and she was testing behind for a long time. Jack has progressed the most physically. He was testing in the 3rd percentile in overall physical assessment just over a year ago. Now he can do anything a child his age can do and more. He is very physical and he really likes sports. I am going to get him into some organized sports activities but he may have issues following directions.
Julianna is loving her new school. She enjoys sports and loves to read.
Here are some first day pictures.
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