A
short look back on the year of the children.
   
Stef finally agreed to be diagnosed. He's got ADD and probably Asperger Syndrome.
Were into the whole diagnostic process with an incapable psychiatrist, which leads to ridiculous situations like her saying to me: "You'd better explain as you know more about it." LOL!!
Stef is now studying ICT. At the department they're used to kids like he and they offer special support. So we're eagerly waiitng for that psychiatrist to get her work done.
   
Lars is studying to become a photographer. He's still a fanatic scateboarder.
Last year I've spend some hours at ER and I've got the idea that he's a bit more carefull after he had his chin stitched.
Right at the
moment we have to keep him under close watch, as we think
that some of the young people he considers his friends, are
not the people we want him to spend his time with.
His
reasonability and common sense compete with the want to
belong to a peer group. That's a huge puberty issue.
Especially now it's time for fireworks.
Ofcourse he's trying to find his own way and getting a sense of being from another generation than we are.
So he's growing his hair. LOL!
It's now at the height of his earlobe, which he considers quite long.
(We've lived the sixties, so we just smile. LOL!)
Thami was diagnosed to have a severe information processing disorder, leading to dyslexia, ADHD and some other problems that have to do with a very limited capacity of his short term memory.
He had a struggle with himself before he admitted he'd better go to a school for better education.
But he agreed with the psychiatrist to try Ritalin.
It did wonders.
And after that he decided to accept the advice for the school for special education too.
From a schoolreport with low marks he went to the upper marks and was very proud.
He want to become a paramedic on an ambulance, and the school doesn't offer education to become it.
Still we think he needs another year of education there to learn to deal with his dyslectia and ADHD.
He had to stop dancing, because the Bulgarian ensemble he danced in, stopped.
But not after they went for 10 days to Bulgarya.
He had a great time en wants to go back.
Right now he's looking for another chance to dance.
   
Nyo is also doing well at school, I mean the studying. He's at the same school as Thami.
During the last part of the last schoolyear matters went worse and I expected severe problems in the new school year.
So I had him put on the waitinglist for therapy.
Things went wrong the next schoolyear in an early stage.
Not only due to him.
I decided to keep him home for a couple of weeks, in full agreement with school.
When it was finally his turn to get therapy, I managed to get the psychologist, some people from school and me round the table.
His psychotherapist is a lovely women and we like her very much. But she's doing the same things with him I did.
I asked help, because all those tricks and exercises didn't help.
It was agreed he would only go to school when he would be on proper medication, and we were put on the waitinglist to see a psychiatrist about that.
I was completely fed up with the system, when the psychiatrist of Thami jumped in.
He's now using Risperdal, and last week his dosage was upped, because his old behaviour was completely back and troubling us all.
I don't like him medicated, but there's no other way.
Because of the autistic problems he can't understand most social processes. He takes things literally and he can't understand jokes, or misunderstands well intended remarks and questions.
So when the other boys are around he needs constant supervision.
Especially when Thami is around.
Djenne is doing rather well. Her dyslexia got in the way and we had a firm confrontation with school about it.
We had them get the papers in order for a commision that decides about children of that age (10) to go to special education.
I'm sure she won't be admitted, as it's only the dyslexia troubling her and she is not experiencing social problems, but the influence on school was as expected.
They suddenly could spend time with her, drew up a treatment plan and all such.
Ofcourse i was almost standing on my chair of anger seeing that they fakes treatment plans of the past for that commission, but I'll make a letter to go with it. In it too some remarks about the way other children are used to help her. That certainly doesn't help.
She was even bullied during the extra help.
The school lacks care and supervision.
I started a new self-invented program with her, and she's doing far better.
The girls still enjoy their balletclasses.
Djenne has moved to a more advanced group and when I saw her, I was amazed by her progress. her grace and the way she's able to deal with criticism.
It's a pity that nowadays one can't go to the balletacademy without proper schoolmarks.
She needs all her energy to overcome the dyslexia, so she'll never be able to get to that level of education.
Lost talent..
But I'm sure she'll learn a lot more of this balletteacher and the other ones at the school.
Yinti got us in severe problems at the beginning of the year.
She was fed up with her teacher. I can't say she was wrong. The first parents evening I had such a strange experience with that teacher.
So to get rid of that teacher Yinti made something up, and the only effect that it had was that we got Child Care into our home, with awful accusations.
Luckily the woman had enough experience to see that even teachers can be wrong and after a final talk with Yinti she went to school and had a "firm talk with those people there".
The school never appologised, and the board never replied on our complaints. So I made very clear that I wouldn't go into discussion about anything anymore with them. If they treat me like I'm non-excistent, I am. LOL! But not before I made them clear they'd better change their way of dealing with children or I would take further steps.
Which I did.
Through a contactperson the council was informed and since then things are changing for the better. LOL!
Yinti gladly left that teacher.
Now she has a teacher she fully trusts and she never says she doesn't want to go to school anymore.
That says enough, doesn't it?
Yinti is still the tiniest here in the house, but she has the biggest smile.
She loves ballet. She has some sort of inborn jerkiness and low muscle tone so she is developing different from Djenne.
She takes ballet very serious and she does very well.
Both girls have started lessons on the practice chanter to become bagpipers.
In fact it will be the three of us in 2006.
So all is dynamic and bubbly in our family, and the girls are drawing and glueing and doing all sorts of nice things young girls do.
They enjoy playing with their real and could-be-real barbies and baby-dolls.
   
They all wish you a happy new year, full
of:
   
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