Alastair's progress

We started back at school this week, though things have changed slightly. Last term Misha and I met with Alastair's teacher and the SENCO - special needs coordinator (all schools have them nowadays) to ask that Alastair be moved to the mornings. He had been getting very tired by three sessions of afternoon school and our morning routine was becoming a bit too sedate for fear of tiring him out completely. As a result, we weren't going for walks or to the beach or our little zoo park as much (and I was starting to feel like a caged animal). They understood, apart from anything else, that he needs to walk more to build up an appetite so he can eat more and grow faster. Anyway, they obliged and this term he goes in for three mornings and Gregor continues with every afternoon.

Inadvertently, we've also managed to split the boys up. Far from being a bad thing, most people agree it's good for them both. Gregor was having a difficult time letting Alastair get on with his teacher and couldn't really leave them alone, being both protective and dominating, which wasn't helping anyone. Now he's free to make his own friends and seems to have accumulated a couple who like making models as he does. For me and Misha it means we don't yet get to have time without the kids during the day, but at least we can enjoy them individually rather than always having to be arbiter and grand protector to ensure that there's equality and that both their interests are met despite their differing needs. It's quite liberating in fact and I love having them separately.

Here is Alastair last month at his physio session with Annie at the Newberry Centre in Gorleston.

Climbing onto and off a step this high is still not so easy for him, but he's making great progress. We still get supplied with special Piedro boots from the centre and next week we'll get a new pair.

It is generally understood that children don't walk and speak at the same time and this remains the case for Alastair too despite his global development delay. This is why I believe that we'll see much more progress with speech once he can confidently go up and down stairs and look where he walks. His speech is coming on. We have laminated phonics cards and are working on "b, k, t, m, s, l, and f". L and F are really hard for him and a lot depends on his association with the sound. I am figuring out that he needs to own and enjoy the sound himself, so "t" is better as "toys park" and "tractor" than the "tennis" picture on the card, "k/c" is best as "cookie", which he can say already!

We are going through a formal Statement process at the moment. This is a collection of reports from all the relevant therapists and services to indicate his needs once he starts reception class in January next year. The idea is that it won't give us recommendations as to which school may be best, ie current school vs special school, but will prescribe the type and amount of additional support he'll need in the upcoming years.