Amanda
Being a parent is hard. Being a working parent with a child going to school online can be even harder. As rough as virtual learning started, it has actually turned out to be a great success! I worried about Zion and his schooling. I thought he was going to fall behind or just not be able to focus. However, this whole virtual learning thing has really done Zion some good! His most recent report card showed all A’s! He had to switch from his normal teacher to the virtual teacher (they combined the virtual kiddos to make it easier for the classroom teachers) and he was not very happy at first. He really likes his homeroom teacher and so he cried about changing. I thought we were going to have to send him in, but he gave her a chance and now he is doing AMAZING!! She is able to differentiate for Zion and has been giving him extra reading assignments as well as 3rd grade reading assignments. I know some may think extra assignments? But Zion needs them. He finishes his other work quickly because he is above grade level so he needs that extra push. I communicated with his teacher that I wanted him to be challenged because he is very capable.
Aside from his succeeding at school, Zion’s home life is still a little rough. He thinks about COVID constantly. Everything he does revolves around coronavirus and if it will potentially make him sick. He doesn’t like to go into stores, he doesn’t want to touch anything, some days he doesn’t even want to give me a kiss because we could spread germs. I worry about his obsessions and how this will effect him. He doesn’t want to go back into school because he fears the germs and getting sick. Whenever one of us isn’t feeling well (even a headache) he will keep his distance. We don’t watch the news if he is around because he listens, he worries. I don’t want to shelter him but I also don’t want to cause him more anxiety then he already carries. I still debate on talking to the doctor about his anxiety. I fear that it will get worse as he ages. Anyone have any experience with Autism and anxiety?
I have recently found some videos of Zion when he was younger and how much he struggled with his speech! It is crazy how in 4 years, my child went from barely speaking and being 80% unintelligible to speaking to complete, full, and clear sentences. He talks so much now that he actually is speaking too fast! That is starting to be addressed now in speech. However, I honestly think he will be exited out of speech this school year and I am actually pretty excited about that thought!! Next blog I will post a before and after of his speech progress once I get the videos together..it is amazing!!
Thank you so much for reading. It has been a rough couple of months with all the changes happening in life so writing this blog has been a great outlet. Sometimes the month slips by me and I feel like I missed an opportunity to express all the things that have been happening, but Zion is succeeding, he is doing amazing! Although we have hiccups and challenges, Zion has shown to be resilient. Autism does not define him, it just makes him extra unique.
