School and Hailey....are they a good fit?

Hard to believe that Hailey has been in school now for almost two months.  What scared me so much has just become part of our routine...part of our every day schedule.  Hailey seems to enjoy school.  She plays shy every day when the teacher comes to get her out of the van.  She covers her eyes, but her hands can't seem to hide her giant smile.  She breaks out in that same giant smile every day when we come to school to pick her up.  I'm not sure I will ever tire of seeing that smile and hearing her squeal "mommy" as she runs towards me.

A couple of days, I've been greeted by her physical therapist and her speech therapist.  Her physical therapist told me what a delight Hailey is.  No matter what the task is Hailey tries her hardest to master it.  She might not be able to do it, but she always tries.  I always get nervous when a therapist or teacher is waiting for me after school.  Almost as if I'm the student again and I'm in trouble with the principal!  It makes me so happy to hear how cooperative Hailey has been with her physical therapist.  Now, the road to success for speech therapy has not been as smooth.  Hailey decided she didn't need to speak to her speech therapist.  Hailey is fine if she gets to lead the activity, but if her speech therapist tries to redirect her, Hailey glares at her and doesn't speak again.  Can you say "attitude overload"?  Somehow and some way, they made a breakthrough last week.  Thank goodness!  Hailey almost didn't want to go home with me and kept hugging her speech therapist.  Yay!!!!  So exciting to actually speak to a speech therapist!!

Let's see...lastly, that leaves Hailey's teacher.  Hailey made her work for it.  For a little bit, Hailey wouldn't speak to her either.  One day, instead of eating her snack (animal crackers), Hailey sat in her seat and signed each animal to her teacher.  Little by little, Hailey is opening up and speaking with her teacher.  I sometimes worry about how much Hailey is taking in (who doesn't wonder how much even their typical children are absorbing!).  I won't spell out word for word what her teacher told me, but she said that Hailey is a very well behaved student and is a good listener and she would take 100 Haileys.  She has been following directions with some adult prompting, but not much.  She is getting the hang of the schedule and how things work.  She seems to be understanding what is going on and is always taking everything in.  It has helped ease my mind. 
I know she has her moments, but it makes me feel better knowing that Hailey is doing well even if she isn't as verbal as we would like.

At home, we haven't noticed many changes in Hailey's behavior due to school.  It is a challenge as the evening wears on because Hailey is in dire need of a nap every day and with afternoon school she misses it.  Fortunately, next year we will have morning class so that solves that problem!!  The biggest change we have noticed is in her speech.  She still isn't consistent with two word phrases (we get a few here and there), but her single words are becoming clearer and clearer with most having correct beginning and ending sounds.

So, I guess our leap of faith with preschool has been a good thing!  She seems to like it and they seem to enjoy having her.

I really think Hailey is trying to plan an escape, but her teacher insists that Hailey enjoyed it!

Looks like an escape to me!!

Hailey loved the "animal clinic" center!