Life on Mars

This morning, getting ready for SCHOOL!

I've been running silent for a while.  After two years in a school just for kids with autism, Ben started in
a classroom alongside typical kids about 3 weeks ago.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go, so I didn't want to talk about it.

When we started planning this transition back in December of 2012, it seemed simple:  "Oh sure - we'll build a rocket and fly it to another planet  - easy-peasy."

We calmly let the application deadline to re-up at our special school go by - "No problem, Earth is the perfect place for humans, but we should really check out the other planets.  If we want to plan ahead as a species, we need to get out there."

We searched for the right school to attend and experienced some dismay as the options dropped away - "Mars it is!"

We found a company to do ABA therapy in preparation and throughout the school year.  It's expensive and not covered by insurance, but we applied for the Medicaid waiver in hopes of help with the costs.  We had heard it was underutilized, but apparently that's not the case any more.  We were "not selected."  No problem - "Ok, we hired SpaceX.  Between deficit spending and pulling some money out of the Social Security fund (thanks Ma and Pa), we can cover this."

Things went surprisingly well.  Ben's teachers are all we could hope for, and the school has been very welcoming to our therapy team.  Drop-off feels like we have to pull off a Mars landing every day, but other than that, reports are good.

Yesterday morning, at drop-off, we went into the "large motor room" to get some ya-yas out before the day started.  A girl from Ben's class came over to us, and silently handed him a train car that I recognized from home, and then walked away.  Ben held it up to me and said, "She gave me my train.  Oh, that's so nice of her!"  I said, "Who was that?" and he said, "That was Becka." (incorrect, but close)

It's hard to get across how much that interaction meant.  I'll just say, I'm glad we're doing what we're doing.