May 2010
Alex has really grownup. He is about ready to take his behind-the-wheel drivers test. He passed his written test without any trouble. Alex has been practicing his driving almost daily. He says he enjoys driving so much that he can't understand why people complain about driving too much!
Speaking about passing tests, Alex also passed his high school proficiency tests. This means he just has to get the rest of his high credits to graduate. Alex has been working hard at completing his course work and his projected date of high school graduation is December 2010. This is a full semester ahead of schedule!
Alex's other big news is that he moved into his own apartment recently. He and Mathew are sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Huntington Beach. The guys work together to pay the bills and share other expenses. Besides going to school full-time, Alex is working full-time as well. Although He doesn't have a lot of free time, Alex has also managed to maintain a healthy relationship with his girlfriend. I am so happy that Alex has made such positive changes over the past year. He has shown so much growth emotionally, its really amazing. I don't think anyone would have guessed that Alex would be in such a wonderful space in his life at the age of 18! I am so proud of his successes and just know the feature looks very bright for him.
November 2009
Alex has been working out at the local gym a lot lately. This is a new interest for Alex and we are glad to see him getting out and socializing a bit. At school he continues to struggle. While he says getting his high school diploma is a goal, he often misses classes or doesn't turn-in his class work. Next semester Alex hopes to take a class at the local community college as well as a class in crime investigation through ROP. I am hoping next semester Alex will put some more effort into his academic goals. Alex has also shown some interest in finding a job in the community however he has not had much luck. Currently Alex is helping with his younger brothers on the weekends. He escorts them on outings in the community and assists with some homework.
July 2009
Alex has been looking for a job this summer. While he still needs lots of support and encouragement at least he is trying to get some employment. With the economy and no job training Alex has not been successful so far. Alex is turning 18 next month and knows that he needs to start getting serious about school and getting a job. Surprisingly Alex has said that he is not interested in learning how to drive. He says he is too nervous to learn now. Although Alex would probably be a good driver since he does not react impulsively, I am glad he is waiting a while to drive. Alex is determined to get a high school diploma despite having two full years left to go. We are hoping that Alex will take a college class or two concurrently so that he can start meeting motivated young adults his own age. I am afraid that in special education classes that Alex is not being exposed to motivated students nor building good study habits. Alex continues to be a work in
progress.
February 2009
Alex continues to love Howies Game Shack located at our local mall. After school he takes the city bus directly to the mall. For a while Alex was ditching his last period class in order to get to his beloved Howies an hour earlier. Now we have worked out a system with his last period teacher. In order for Alex to get his bus money he needs to stay in class until the end of sixth period then he can get his bus money from the school office. This method has worked perfectly! In fact in order to get Alex to complete nonpreferred tasked it almost always needs to be tied into Howies.
Alex continues to just do the minimum in school. He understands the importance of passing his classes, however Alex is unwilling to do any more work than just the basic. He has no motivation to move to advanced levels in his classroom despite the increase in privileges. Even the enticement of taking drivers education if he gets on the Gold Level has no effect on Alex's motivation. ...and the beat goes on...
November 2008
Alex does only the minimum at school. He has no desire to get ahead. Even the incentives offered to students in his special day class do not interest him. Alex even understands that if he gets a "B" average in school I will let him take drivers education. None of this seems to matter to Alex. Alex seems single-minded with his only interest in playing video games at Howies Game Shack at the Westminster Mall. Alex has even learned how to take the city bus to the mall when he ran out of rides to get there. Alex can spend hours in front of the computer screen. Due to some behavioral issues he lost his personal home computer so the only way he can get his daily dose of video games is to go to Howies. I wish Alex had a better relationship with his brothers but basically he is a loner who can go days without talking to anyone. I worry about Alex's ability to move through this world as an adult. At 17 1/2 Alex has never had a job and shows only a little interest in looking for one. He has very limited relationships with people and generally those relationships are only with people who can provide something Alex wants. It is an extremely sad situation and I am at a loss to figure out how to move Alex through this self imposed isolation.
September 2008
Alex had a low-key summer. He decided not to go to summer school.
I would have preferred that he attend but it is pretty difficult to
convince a 17-year-old to attend summer school, most especially when his school staff are telling him it isn't necessary. At the end of summer Alex was actually happy to get back to school. He definitely missed at least the social aspect of school. We did encourage Alex to get a summer job. Despite turning in several job applications he had no bites. Most of the summer Alex went to Howie's Game Shack to play on-line games. He seems to be the most social with other teens in that, sort of, parallel play setting. Alex did have a nice birthday dinner with a couple of his brothers. He received some nice gifts including new clothes and an
iPhone, which he was very excited about.
May 2008
Alex finally got to move into his new bedroom last
month. He is very happy to have a room to himself. While
the room is rather small, Alex has managed to get a
double bed, dresser, desk and a flat screen television
in the room. Alex really needed his own space so we
designed a bedroom out of our former arcade room. Alex
even has a carpeted loft with cable and internet. Since
moving into his new bedroom, Alex seems to get along
with everyone a little better and is smiling more. The
completion of this bedroom makes ten bedrooms in the
South house and six bedrooms in the North house. We are
definitely maximizing every last bit of space that we
have in both houses!
February 2008
Alex continues to make good progress socially. He seems far less angry than before. He has settled into high school quite well although ANY opportunity to miss school he will gladly take! Alex spends most of his time outside of school playing adventure games on his computer ( Yes we have a household network which allows us full access to any computer in our house at any time!!) or hanging out with a few of his brothers. He is definitely not interested in any group extracurricular activities except to go out to dinner with his grandparents every Monday evening and to an occasional movie with his brothers.
Alex did finally agree to get orthodontia. He has noticed that the boys who have orthodontia miss a little school about once a month when they get their braces tightened or adjusted. According to Alex the pain is worth it just to miss a little school. He gets his braces on later this month. I hope he will let us take a few pictures.
November 2007
Alex is doing great in high school. He is getting wonderful grades and has yet to complain about the 6:45 am bus time. Generally Alex is doing well at home too. He is arguing and fighting less often with his brothers. We have actually observed some cooperative interactions with his brothers on the computer. Alex continues to be helpful around the house. In fact he is the most reliable, of all the boys, with his chores. The best part is we are actually seeing Alex smile more often. We are excited about this maturation and hope to continued growth in this area.
September 2007
Alex returned to high school after summer break without too much complaining! He still would like to attend a different high school but he understands that his wish is entirely behavior dependent. Alex understands that he is in almost complete control over the high school program he attends based on his behavior and appropriate classroom participation. So far Alex has been working very hard toward achieving his goal. Besides positive participation at school Alex has also started helping more around the house. Alex has been earning some spending money by keeping the kitchen clean at night and helping with the evening laundry---both very BIG tasks in a large family! Alex has shown excellent responsibility getting these jobs done without prompting and reminders. It is nice to see Alex maturing and showing us how he is capable of such positive behavior.
June 2007
Alex started high school this month. He was pretty reluctant to go.
Even though he was ready for a change and was thrilled to be graduating from middle school,
Alex definitely was comfortable with his routine. Besides the bigger campus and making new friends, the most difficult part of this transition is Alex's morning routine. Previously he was able to wake-up at 8:20 am and make it to school by 8:35 am. Being so close to the middle school campus made it convenient to sleep-in and wait until the last minute to go to school. Alex's high school is much further away and he now rides the school bus. The bus arrives at our house at 6:40 in the morning! As predicted this schedule does not make Alex very happy! We hope that eventually Alex can get used to this schedule and save his sleeping-in for the weekends.
April 2007
Alex is looking forward to graduating from middle school. Because he is an older eighth grade student, Alex will actually be able to start learning how to drive next school year. We've told Alex that in order to drive he will need car insurance, and in order to get affordable car insurance he will need to have good grades. This speech seems to motivate him for about a week! We will see how the transition goes to high school, perhaps being with more age-appropriate peers will be a motivation for Alex to work toward his potential.
February 2007
Alex continues to struggle with the idea that he not only needs to attend school Monday through Friday, but he also needs to be on time to school! He doesn't always want to follow teacher directions and almost never is willing to dress-out for PE class. Apparently in Russia the educational program he attended allowed him a little more flexibility. We have receive some very positive feedback recently however. According to the instructional aide in the classroom, Alex has improved his reading skills tremendously since he started middle school. He not only reads independently but he also is willing to read out-loud in his reading group! This is a huge step for Alex who tends to be guarded around his peers and the teaching staff at school. School staff report that despite the fact that he has only been in the USA since May 2005, Alex is able to pronounce most of the vocabulary words correctly, read in English with expression, and handle the pauses and variety of inflections related to the punctuation. We are certainly grateful to any good news and frequently have to remind ourselves to watch for and get excited about the small, but positive, progress.
December 2006
Alex received student of the month for November 2006! The school staff have noticed an overall improvement in Alex's attitude and performance. We are excited to see Alex complete his work and handle various frustrations much more appropriately. Alex continues to love the Internet game "Puzzle Pirates." Given the opportunity he would play almost 24-hours a day! The game requires not only complex strategy to play well, but also requires reading and writing in English. As a result Alex's skills in English have improved tremendously. In fact Alex has become so comfortable speaking English, it is very rare to hear Alex speak Russian anymore.
October 2006
Alex had a rough start during the beginning of the school year. It was difficult for Alex with all of the class and teacher changes that always happen in September. Alex is a very bright teenager but it is often challenging to figure out what motivates him. Getting Alex to go to class and to complete his homework can be extremely difficult at times. This Friday, however, we received two notes from two different teachers letting us know how well Alex did the past week. We were extremely delighted that Alex put his best effort into his school work for a whole week! We all celebrated at home with a late night pizza party on Friday and then on Saturday night four of boys (Alex's choice) had a poker party with Russian food with grandma Sue and Grandpa Jim at their house. We are hopefully that we might see more positive feedback from Alex's teachers in the future.
July 2006
Alex is hanging out at
home this summer. He is enjoying sleeping in and using
the computer. Alex enjoys being by himself and
appreciates that the house is relatively quiet during the
summer days while most of the other kids are participating
in camps and other community activities. Alex continues
to struggle with trust issues with adults and bonding with
the family. Alex continues to be awesome at caring for our
pets. He is especially attached to Lucy who follows him
everywhere. Alex enjoys talking to his biological brother
who still lives in Russia.
Click here to view Alex's
grades
