School Has Begun

Noah's first day in the first grade was a great experience! He had his Spiderman shirt & his Super Hero backpack! All set!
His teacher is phenomenal! I'm so impressed with her willingness to not only teach my child but to keep him safe. I purchased a couple of books for her to use in the classroom. The first was "Taking Seizure Disorders to School: A Story About Epilepsy ." This is a cute book that attempts to simplify the seizure discussion for first graders. It's main focus is to explain what a seizure is and what it looks like. However it also emphasizes that the epileptic child is just like every other kid. They like to play on the playground, go to science, work on their math and everything else the other classroom kids enjoy doing each day. I think the book allows for the teacher to skip some pages that don't apply to that certain student. For example, Noah's seizures are tonic clonic, so no reason to read about focal seizures to the other first graders.

The second book was That's What Friends Are For. I love this little book. It tells a story about an elephant that hurts his leg and can't walk the distance he needs to travel to see his cousin. Each one of his friends comes along and gives him advice. The Elephant says "Thanks" but none of the advice will work for him. Eventually the Lion teaches all of the animals that friends don't just give advice, they actually help each other. It was a really sweet read! One that is easy for a first grade class to understand and put into action.

Noah's teacher taught the kids "Noah's Emergency Plan" on the very first day! If the teacher says those words, the students will immediately stand up and go to the room next door. The first child in line will communicate what is happening in their classroom to the other teacher. Noah's teacher will stay with him as long as necessary. The best part is.... They are practicing the plan.

By this coming Monday, all of the teaching staff at Noah's Elementary School will be fully seizure trained. The District Nurse and I have trained Noah's teacher and 5 other support staff on the use of his Diastat as a separate training class. In addition, the school has developed a plan so that someone has their eyes on Noah at all times - recess, lunch, lunch recesses, etc.
What a wonderful school and teaching staff we have for Noah! I love it. It is beyond my comprehension how far our school goes to help my child. Ultimately, he is my responsibility and I really expected to have to be at the school with him much more. Our Principal just does such a great job with these Special Needs Kids. Not only is a great for my child but it is a really good thing for every day kiddos to have experiences with kids that might be a little different than themselves.

Love our School!