Back to School

Monday night we all attended the Back to School/Open House night at Olivia's new school. Olivia begins Kindergarten this year and in terms of education it's a whole different ballgame. Services in North Carolina are divided into 2 categories...Early Intervention (mainly serving people from birth-to-three years) and the K-12 system. In North Carolina the kids in the 3 and 4 year old category fall into a grey area, they qualify for and receive early intervention services but the administration of these services varies widely based on what geographic area of North Carolina you live in. Olivia turned 5 over the summer so we're officially crossing into the threshold of the K-12 education system and all the federal laws and guidelines that go along with it.

Last year Olivia attended a preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds at the public school in our neighborhood. Students have to have a qualifying condition in order to attend the preschool program and those conditions ranged from physical and cognitive disabilities to communication challenges and economic status.

This year Olivia will be attending a different elementary school in our school district that is better equipped to serve students with special needs. At Olivia's new school they have several classes of children with special needs divided by diagnosis. Olivia will have the same 1:1 aide as she did last year and this is he area of her education that we're most pleased with. We like the teacher but we're not sure that Olivia's class will be the best fit for her. Olivia will be in the ID (Intellectually Disabled) class. There will a total of 6 kids in Olivia's class, 1 teacher, 2 classroom aides, and Olivia's 1:1. We know that we're moving soon so we aren't going to push it.

Olivia enjoyed visiting her classroom. Some of her classmates will be in wheelchairs so the classroom is a large open space. There's not a lot of furniture which is good since Olivia won't be tempted to climb on it, there's plenty of room for her to run around and nice big windows.



There are a ton of new toys for Olivia to discover. I was nervous about how Olivia would do in her new class at her new school but within the first 10 minutes Olivia had gone right over to the play area and was happily entertaining herself with some of the toys and books.



Peter also enjoyed visiting Olivia's classroom. I know that he'll love school when he's finally able to go. He is such a laid back little guy. He really is a very easy kid. He impressed everyone when he announced in his loudest voice that had to pee pee. After that was taken care of he announced that he was ready for a snack, he pulled up a chair and sat down at the table to enjoy his snack while Olivia explored her new classroom and Mike and I were able to chat with the teacher.


Olivia's first day of school is on Thursday. She'll be riding the school bus all by herself for the very first time. Check back later in the week to see how it goes.