We did have a big move from southern New Mexico to northern, after his 2nd birthday. Had also just had a new baby and were surrounded by family but not super familiar to him at that time. Now in retrospect it is a lot for anyone to deal with, let alone a young child. With his 6th birthday fast approaching and kinder on the horizon I was more worried about his emotional state. I became really worried when last August we observed some aggressive behavior, uncontrollable crying and tantrums. For a 5 yr. old it seemed too out of character. Now at this point we had another new baby, after an incredibly difficult pregnancy. So things were stressful and we where about to move to a new house again. Most days we would both be crying and exhausted. I was on a daily basis dealing with defiance, meltdowns over clothing texture, withdrawn and aggressive behavior. He also really dislikes crowded places, which made it hard with big brother in school and activities.
I finally took him into our pediatrician to discuss evaluations and check ups. We decided it could be sensory processing issues, so we were referred to a psychologist. He also had been diagnosed with a slight astigmatism back in July 2017 and is still wearing glasses. I was feeling so overwhelmed with the idea of sending him to school and dealing with all that. I needed help and guidance because I was slowly losing my mind. By October we were getting started with evaluations and such. Let me just say discussing how it went is whole other blog post because having a big family is frowned upon in the secular world, especially psychology. We had all the evaluations done by November and had an official diagnosis. The diagnosis we got is not one I even expected and had done no research on. It did help to understand what is going on in his mind and better understand his behaviors. It also helped us not feel like we were parenting horribly.
He received a diagnosis of gifted with anxiety. At the time of receiving it ,we really didn't understand except the anxiety part what it meant. I am barely beginning to research and read about it. I focused on the anxiety part, I guess to help him overcome anxieties little by little. He has been going to play therapy since October 2017 and it is going great. We can definitely see a difference in his whole being, really. He engages more and would you know there are not a million meltdowns a day.
I was taking it month by month to decide if we would home-school all the kids. Part of my own mother anxiety was to send him in August to a big school with new adults, a huge amount of children, and lots of activity and transitions. I knew we had to decide based on what is best for him and our school here is great. There just is not enough budget to allow smaller classroom sizes and more one on one. As an educator I am a critic for it, especially as a mother and knowing how each child really does need very different things from one to another. Every month I would ask him if he was ready and excited about school, he would answer no not yet. I didn't feel like his growth to be ready was coming fast enough. After so much prayer and discussions we decided to home-school. We have always discussed and prayed about the idea of home-schooling once our oldest was school aged. Our oldest was in public school until February of this year. I just finally said, lets do it! I am at peace with this decision, now I don't have the looming August is when he would go to school anxiety. I feel like he is at ease too and learning so much now!
That is an update on some of why we are home-schooling and some why to lack of updates on his particular learning. He is just a different child and he is extraordinary!!!
Here he is lining up all their Shining Light Dolls along with their prayer booklets.
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