This daily correspondence between schools she attended and us gives you a glimpse of our daily life. Most parents of typical children do not communicate on daily basis with the teachers. This gives a reader an insight to how important daily communication is for a child with autism.
Kat has attended school since she was 3 years old. These are school notes that were result of correspondence with her parents and her teachers. We have made comments at a later date reflecting back on the impact of these events. Kats School Notes Index
Date |
Notes |
Comments |
1993-01-01 |
1/1/93 Hi , Happy New Year to everyone . Kat is doing well. She is tired today (Not used to hours ). Kat is starting to speak short sentences (2-3 words) .
Danuta
That is really great ! she seemed to enjoy her holiday & was not all that thrilled to be back! (I don't think any of us are usedto the hours yet ! )
K. |
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1993-01-05 |
1/5 Dear Danuta,
Kat had a great P . E . lesson today w/ lummi sticks and music . The children tapped their sticks ( about 18 in . long like a building block) in time to the music and did marking , jumping , etc. she followed directions really well and had a great time too .
C.
We sent home some of Kat's little people. Br. has been putting them in his mouth and we're afraid of choking . M.
Hi K. & C.
I'll be traveling Mon - Wed if you can leave the note just in case of emergency . I am also enclosing Kat's social " cards . Can you review them and send them back with comments if you have any . One side Kat reads the other Bridget , Tom , or I. Thanks, K. & C.
Danuta
PS . Kat seems to like them . |
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1993-01-11 |
1/11 Tom -
Thanks to Danuta for letting us see your cards - and the phone list for the next couple days .
C. |
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1993-01-14 |
1/14 Danuta -
Hope you twp. was good . Kat is becoming very assertive during work ( sometimes aggressive) recently . She is usually easy to get back ontrack w/ a reminder of her motivation system. I was wondering if you are seeing similar behavior at home?
The conversation cards look good
K.
Danuta -
C. & I have switched hours & I work Tues . Thurs . & Fri . I could come & tutor Kat M or Wed after school w/ Francie or at 6 ock w/ out her. How does that sound starting in February? We are moving next weekend so Feb . would work for me . I could get Kat started in piano .
K.
K.,Wednesday with Fr. ! right after school would be great . I will be away some day's so we may need to cancel for those times . Thanks .
C. and K. ,
I spoke with J.B. ( the OT) about Kat's aggressiveness. Her feeling is that Kat is displaying developmental progress and the aggressiveness is the sign of her growth in social development . (2 - 3yr olds act that way but are not as big or strong ) . She suggested a time out from activity or some other way . If you have ideas we could talk about it and maybe agree on one way for consistancy .
At home she is aggressive but mostly with Bridget . Another new wonderfull behavior is screaming !
Danuta |
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1993-01-19 |
1/19 Yes- she will scream here . I see it as a skill deficit ( both the agressive & screaming) & try to teach her a functional alternative . I have her go back & practice the situation using the appropriate language . Using written & schedule cues helps w/ transition to and times which could errupt into aggression opportunities. Usually , if she knows what is expected she does not get as upset w/ the change. Also - if she doesn't want to do something & you ask help her say " No thank you " . of course, if it's something she must do , don't ask her if " No " is not an option (that could get confusing). If she says " No thanks" appropriately , all should honor that & let her do what she wants for a little while(even Bridget.) Usually , thats what she means when she's aggressive. It is part of development until kids learn how powerful language is as a negotiating tool . Progress! Progress!
K. |
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1993-01-20 |
1/20 Danuta ,
The Franklin speller is on Dict . and I can't reprogram it ( am I dumb ! ?) for Kat . She worked well today in general , esp . in P . E . in which we did gymnastics (forward roll, log roll, crab walk) and she LOVED it and was very eager to have her turn - great attention !
C.
Hi , Kat does love gymnastics , we increased it to twice a week now. I believe I fixed the Franklin
Danuta
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1993-01-25 |
1/25/93 K.,
Kat had a good weekend . She is starting to play with GeoSafari . It's a game where she has to enter the number , that is shown next to a picture to give an answer . Could you ask S. to read Kat's speech Book .
Thank you
Danuta
1/25 Dear Danuta -
S. has written to you today - we are beginning a program to expand on her speech lessons - we will be asking her questions similar to those she has been asked in speech but we'll ask her while out on the playground to help her generalize these phrases .
C.
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1993-01-26 |
1/26/93 C. , could you give us the list of the phrases so that we can try and generalize those at home as well . Thank you .
Danuta
Danuta -
I'll ask S. to write them for you .
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1993-01-27 |
1/27/93 Hi , Kat is really starting to learn by observing . In gymnastics today she tried to imitate what she saw on 1/16/93 during Bridget's gymnastics meet . She saw the girls run quick & jump of the vault . Today she backed up real far and ran real fast trying to do the same . She also was trying to do the round off of the balance beam but wouldn't figure out how to do it. Danuta.
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1993-01-28 |
1/28 That is exciting news !! Observation skills are powerful teaching tools ! S.'s been out will get phrases to you soon
K.
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