Last week was parent/teacher conference. I typically tend to prepare emotionally. Typically, it’s been meetings about how my son does not pay attention, how he’s not doing good, how he’s trying to run away, how he hits adults, he’s meltdowns, etc. Because this has been our experience, I’ve learned to prepare emotionally, and to be ready for the worst. Every now and then he surprises us. But those times are rare, few and far in between.

This time however, I was secretly excited. I tried not to get my hopes up but I was excited. Since our in-home trainer had told us that he’s been doing really good, I was hoping. I let myself hope that it would be a good conference.

And it was.

It started with the teacher telling me what a different kid he is from last year. And when she started telling me everything he does, I was in awe! For example, he has to do work independently. He has to go to his work station, and he needs to put certain things in order, usually ABC’s or numbers. Then when he’s done, he gets a colored velcro and puts it in his schedule, indicating that ithat particular task has been completed. Then he has to pick the next color and work on the next task. After he’s done with all 4 or 5 tasks, he then has to take one of the color velcros to get his “All Done” laminate to complete his schedule. The last step is to take it to the teacher and she gets to let him take his break. It’s simply amazing! I would have never thought that he would be able to work independently for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes! Independently!

She also told me that he has gotten upset a few times. For example, he hates it when it’s cloudy. She has to take out the sun, and put clouds instead. And this drives him crazy! He’s all about routine. And sunny is most of the time. Change is so difficult for him. Last year, cloudy days were so hard for him that meltdowns would occur. Long, difficult meltdowns. And yet this year, he’s learned to accept it. He doesn’t like it, but he accepts it. And during those times, he’s learned to take his frustrations and control them. Self control! He’s had one meltdown since school stated. One! He’s learning.

She also told me other things that he does. For example, he likes to eat waffles. Waffles? Who would have thought that he likes waffles? He is so picky with his food. We’ve tried so many different food items and we just get nowhere. Yet here, at school, he eats waffles! Crazy!

Then she told me about apples. He loves apples. I asked her, “He does? Cut up apples? We’ve tried apples before, they’ve been a hit-and-miss.” And she told me, “Nope. Entire apples!”

She said he will eat all of it except the core. When he’s done, he’ll get up and throw the left over piece in the trash. I was shocked! Apples? Whole apples? She said that they tried giving him green apples but he didn’t like those. He took a bite, he realized he didn’t like how they tasted, and he threw it in the trash. He tried green apples!

It’s so crazy to see that not only does he have his own little life away from us, but he’s succeeding. He’s learning and improving. I am so proud of this little boy. I know how difficult so many things are for him. I can see his struggles. And yet he’s learning to overcome them.

And along the way, he surprises me by eating apples. ❤️♥️ 🍎🍎🍎💙💙