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In The News
March 2010
David is excited about going to Science Camp with the 5th other grade students at school. He has been wanting to pack his bag for months even though the camp isn't until mid-March. David will also be going on a cruise with Grandma Sue during spring break. David is excited about these trips and knows he has earned them by big improvements in his behavior. In fact David has settled down some much over the past several months, he is even improving in his academics. It is so awesome to hear David read out loud, especially since we never thought he would break the code and be a reader. The best part of all is to see David's self-esteem grow by leaps and bounds.
November 2009
David continues to enjoy fishing. He even earned a special Sunday fishing day with his teacher. David says that all he wants for Christmas is "tons of fishing gear!" David continues to work toward his Black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He is currently wearing a brown advanced belt which means he is two belts short of a Black belt. David will also start tennis lessons in December. He is very excited about learning how to play tennis and has been asking about taking classes for some time now. Since David is so athletic, I am certain that he will be playing tennis like a champ in no time!
July 2009
David is keeping busy this summer. He completed four weeks of summer school happily. He enjoys school now so there are very few problems with his attendance. Summer school is only a half day so David was home every afternoon full of energy. David has recently taken an interest in fishing. For a guy so hyperactive it has been amazing to watch David's patience when he goes fishing. He can go three hours just waiting for a fish to take his bait. Although he has rarely caught a fish, he keeps trying. While fishing on the Huntington Beach Pier David talks to all of the fisherman. He is so endearing that often one of the fisherman on the pier will give David one of his own freshly caught fish! David is also learning how to snorkel. David is excited to see the fish from another prospective. It's great to see David channel his energy into positive recreational activities. To keep up with David's adventures follow him on Twitter.com: FishermanDavid. Please let us know if you are following him so we don't accidentally block your Twitter account.
March 2009
David is thriving in his new school. He has several weeks of perfect behavior earning him a citizenship award. It is awesome watching David develop self regulation skills in terms of his impulse control and tantrums. David continues to "shut down" at school when he is overwhelmed with the work. Now, instead of acting out often David will simply put his head down on his desk. This is a huge improvement from the aggressive behavior that we saw in the past. David is also doing well academically.
 In math class he is learning about fractions and double digit multiplication. Last school this level of work seemed out of David's potential. David is showing us that once he had adults t school who were in charge and would not tolerate his outbursts he could actually settle down and learn.
November 2008
David was transferred to a new school this month. He is now placed in a classroom for children with emotional and behavioral issues. The class has only eight students ages 9-12 along with two instructional aides and a teacher. The class is run in a very structured way where the children are accountable for behavior choices. There are lots of incentives and rewards for making good choices. The students are taught core curriculum that is modified for their specific learning styles. Jarrod and Alexander also attend this program and they are thriving. So far David says he "loves" his new school. I think he feels freer since he doesn't have a one-to-one aide at his side the entire school day. I believe this is a good move for David. At the new school his teacher is excellent and able to manage very challenging children with ease. I think David will begin to progress academically and settle down behaviorally with this level of support.
September 2008
David enjoyed showing us his classrooms (fourth grade and resource room) as well as Sergei's classroom during "Back-to-School Night." David showed us his desk and some of his work. David continues to make academic progress. I was really amazed how he was able to negotiate round various menus in order to play some learning games on the computer. Although David continues to have erratic behavior likely related to his bipolar diagnosis, he can have such a good heart at times. David is very kind to the household pets and to his younger brothers. David has been increasing helpful and demonstrating more maturity at home. He continues to participate in Tae Kwon Do and Young Marines.
May 2008
David continues to struggle with behavioral
challenges and impulse control issues at home, school
and in the community. Most recently we have had to
tighten up his behavioral support plan at school.
David's aggression was increasing to the point where he
was hurting or attempting to hurt his classmates and the
adults who support him. Hopefully the new behavioral
support plan will have enough interventions to assist
David in making good choices for his behavior. David
continues to make excellent progress in Tae Kwon Do and
has absolutely noo behavioral challenges in the Young
Marine program. David is looking forward to summer and
has been helping the workers as they finish building our
pool. David says he wants a pool party for his birthday!
February 2008
David is enjoying his new school. Luckily for David he was able to keep his previous one-to-one instructional and behavioral support staff with him during the transfer. With that little bit of consistency David's anxiety about changing schools and making new friends was greatly reduced.
David will be starting on the Special Olympic's swim team this month. He is very excited. David is an excellent swimmer but has never participated on a team before. Being successful on a team will take a lot of cisalpine and structure. David has been used to just freestyle swimming and playing in the water. David has been successful on other Special Olympics teams so we are confidant that he will enjoy this sport too.
November 2007
David continues to make some good academic gains. At a recent IEP it was revealed that David was actually beginning to read using some good word attack skills. He also continues to make gains in mathematics and written language as well. We are thrilled with David's academic progress. This has always been an area that David struggled with year after year. Due to his learning disabilities and developmental delays we were unsure if David would ever be able to read and write. David continues to have behavioral challenges that wax and wane. There are more days than before that David is able to handle disappointment and frustration appropriately, but unfortunately more often than not David has a difficult time making good behavioral choices when he is upset. He continues to have one-to-one support in the classroom and on the playground. This level of support is to help David learn have appropriate behavior with his peers. We hope as David gets older and better able to problem solve his verbally and physically aggressive behaviors will decrease.
September 2007
David kept very busy this summer. David attended a number of summer camp programs attended by children with and without disabilities. David continues to struggle with impulse control and aggression. We provided extra support at the day camps and he did fairly well. David can be a good friend to other campers and an excellent helper to camp staff. On the other hand, David is easily frustrated and often misinterprets the words and actions of others. When we provided support staff to help David negotiate social situations in the camp environment David did much better. Besides camps, David spent a lot of time at the beach, water parks and swimming pools. David is an excellent swimmer and just being outside and in the water throughout the day helps David settle down and sleep well at night!
June 2007
David graduated from the Young Marine Recruit Training program last month. It was tough work for David who still struggles with following directions and maintaining appropriate behavior. David enjoys the Young Marine program however and tries his hardest to comply. This month David is participating in a week long encampment with the Young Marines. He will participate in another encampment later in the summer as well.
Beside summer programs with the Young Marines, David will also participate in other camp activities. David is an outdoors type of guy and thrives in environments with lots of adult-driven structure and support. David will spend several weeks at Camp James and Special Camp for Special Kids. We are excited that David is more and more able to be successful in these programs with only minimal support.
April 2007
David continues to make great progress on his behaviors. He is bringing home many more positive notes from school. He gets very excited to see those notes on his web page! David is enjoying playing on a Special Olympics basketball team and is really learning about teamwork. He practices every Sunday and has already participated in several tournaments. David is also interested in joining the Young Marines. He will participate in two three-day encampments at Camp Pendleton later this month. If he is successful he will graduate from the Young Marine recruitment program in early May.
 
  
February 2007
David wrapped-up his Special Olympics floor hockey season. While he was one of the youngest players on the team, he ended the season receiving an award of "Best Stick Handling Skills." We are so proud of his ability to play team sports. David continues to participate in Tae Kwon Do and he is almost ready to test for his Orange Belt. We have also recently received some awesome feedback on David's progress in school, both academically and socially! After he has struggled for so long, its wonderful to hear some good news.
December 2006
David is having great success this year in school. David is fully-included in a second grade class with instructional aide support. Although he is extremely delayed academically, he is making progress. Socially, we have seen tremendous success this year. David is able to play with other children at recess without getting aggressive. David is also better at handling frustrations and disappointment in an appropriate way. While transitions continue to be difficult for David, he is able accept a change in schedule a little better as long as he has some warning. David continues to participate in Special Olympics and is currently on a floor hockey team. David also has resumed Tae Kwon Do lessons.
September 2006
David enjoyed his summer. We are very proud of his growth over the past few years. We really noticed how much he matured when he was able to attend several summer camp programs with very little personal support. David attended Sports Camp in August. This was the first sleep-over camp David has attended where the counselors were not specially trained to meet the needs of campers with developmental disabilities. We were so proud of David's ability to attend a summer camp program catering to typical children.
David is such an athletic boy, Sports Camp was the perfect venue for David to be successful. Next year David is interested in attending the Junior Lifeguard program which is both mentally and physically intensive. We believe that David will be able to continue to have success in programs with his typical peers.
July 2006
David had his 8th birthday this month. David
received lots of very cool gifts but his favorite gift was
a ping pong table and equipment. David loves sports and
ping pong has turned out to be a great activity for these
warm summer nights. David is not only learning how to play
the game, but to also keep score and to take turns. David
is learning that hitting the ball too hard is not always
the best and when playing doubles it takes teamwork to
play the best.
All of these are new skills
for David and they don't always come easy, but David is
getting the concepts! In fact, it has been amazing to
watch David mature over the past few years. David's
improvement in self-regulating his behavior has been
outstanding. David still has his moments but in general he
is requiring less redirection and is able to participate
in group and family activities with less support. We look
forward to watching David's continued growth in all areas.
March 2006
David (7) is wrapping up his ice skating season with a big tournament on March 18, 2006. Before he even finished the ice skating season, David has started on a gymnastic team. David is a natural in the area of gymnastics---as so delicately displayed on the Nanny 911 episode! David is also interested in swimming and skateboard riding. Luckily it is almost time to resume swim lessons again as the weather warms up.
David loves to hang out with Ann in the kitchen during breakfast especially. David is learning how to make scrambled eggs and toast.
David is also learning how to empty and to fill the dishwasher. David has done an excellent job keeping his concentration while working in the kitchen. David takes a lot of pride helping out, especially in the kitchen, and certainly this new focus helps David keep his impulsive behaviors more in check.
 
February 2006
David continues to make progress learning how to self-regulate his behaviors and to control his impulsiveness. David is more able to participate in group activities although he still requires quite a bit of adult support. Like all of us, David has his "up days" and his "down days" but as he has aged David seems to have increasingly more "up days." David is involved with Special Olympics and is currently on an ice skating team.
 David is also participating in a basketball clinic on the weekends. This program provides an opportunity for the children to learn the skills to eventually play on a basketball team. David has done well with this clinic where the emphasis is placed on individual skill development and not on competition. David is also taking skate boarding lessons twice a week.
At school, David continues to make slow but steady academic progress. Socially, David still needs lots of support for maximum success. David is at least more agreeable to attend school recently and we feel that the efforts of the instructional staff at school have really paid off in terms of making David feel successful in that setting. We are proud of David's accomplishments and look forward to watching him make continued steady growth.
  
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