Will's Progress

We had Will's first school conference last week and I thought I'd update "the blog" on how it went for myself and others who care to know so that I can look back and see progress as the school year continues.
Will has some developmental delays and attends a wonderful preschool for kids who need varying degrees of help.
Will's delays are minor, but significant enough to address and we're thankful for the help.
His two areas that need extra help are in fine motor skills and social skills.
Fine Motor: Since September, he's learned to hold a pencil properly (but still needs assistance to get there), manipulate the pencil and use scissors to cut a line. This is great, but the biggest improvement we have noticed is in his attitude and confidence in that he WANTS to try whereas before he would get frustrated very easily and avoid any activities that required fine motor skills.
Social Skills: This has been a harder issue to pin-point. Will is very outgoing and social but has a very hard time initiating interactions with peers when adults aren't around. At the conference, Will's teacher helped explain/shed light on this and I appreciated her insight. To summarize: Will thrives on structure and predictability. Adults are predictable in how they interact and communicate. Kids are not predictable. When Will goes up to an adult, he knows that if he asks a question, the adult will answer in a fairly predictable way. With kids, you never know what answer (if any) you get. Will has some anxiety in this area so avoids initiating peer relationships unless a.) an adult supervises and helps to coax Will into having an interaction with a peer or b.) Will is very comfortable with his friend/cousin/sister and knows how they may react, which gives him confidence.

There have been a few difficult situations where Will has put himself out there to a friend and asked to play and they either say "No" or they ignore him. When Will gets this reaction he either melts down or does something inappropriate like runs around roaring. To this, he sometimes will get a comment like "You're Weird." As much as this KILLS me to hear, I get it and I know that this is normal for kids, but to Will it really sets him back in what he feels comfortable doing he next time a new similar situation comes up.

One of the hardest things I've had to deal with is my own attitude and how to handle questions others have.
When people ask where Will goes to school I feel like I need to explain/defend why he is in a special education program. "Oh, Will seems fine to me" is the response I usually get. I know that people mean well (and please don't feel bad if you have said this to me), but this response makes me as a parent feel insecure, like I need to justify/explain things and then I feel stressed out after talking about it. Not every delay is noticeable and usually when I'm around or an adult is interacting with Will he DOES seem fine. And really, he IS fine. This is just how he is and he needs help in maturing and figuring these things out which is why we call it a DELAY and not necessarily a DISABILITY.
Will's teachers and therapist have been wonderful. They know that Will is delightful and understand his limitations and are helping to coaxe/train him in gaining confidence. They also help me to have confidence in knowing that Will is in a good place and that he does need help. He is making a lot of progress that he wouldn't have otherwise made.

I'd appreciate prayer and support in the remainder of the school year and also how to approach the upcoming year as Will prepares for kindergarten. I also would like prayer for myself and John as we continue to learn how to be the best parents to Will that we can be and understand him in the wonderful way that God made him.
Hope this helps to explain things better. I look forward to checking back on this post in the spring when we have another conference.

Thanks for reading!