Kindergarten

This is Sean's kindergarten class. He is in the self-contained special education class for all of his academic and literacy work. For lunch, P.E., art, recess, and drama (they do two school plays a year), he joins a regular class. He has had two full weeks of school and so far he has been doing great. He brought home his "homework book" for last week and read us the whole thing.

He is reading very well. He knows a huge number of words by sight and he understands how to sound out words and blend the sounds together. He is really only hampered by his limited vocabulary. Some of the words he sounds out don't mean anything to him because he doesn't use them verbally.

You can see in the picture that he is wearing his weighted vest. Sean has a near constant need for different types of physical stimulation and he isn't mature enough yet to simply ignore the need. If he doesn't get the stimulation, it makes him very unfocused and anxious. He and Eli both prefer a lot of deep pressure stimulation. He wears the weighted vest during part of the school day and they keep an exercise ball and a small trampoline in the classroom. Every 45 minutes or so Sean can jump or roll on the ball for a few minutes to refocus his mind. Therapists call this his "sensory diet," and it's amazing how different his behavior is if you can provide him the right kinds of stimulation.