Saturday, December 6, 2008

Great News

I received some news yesterday that has been making me jump for joy! Tyler qualifies for free preschool through CMS. Let me first say that our first preference would be that Tyler does not need any special needs services. But since this isn't the case, I am grateful that he will be receiving help.

He's been getting services ever since he came home from the NICU. He's had PT, OT, Speech, and other things. He has come a long way however, there are things we need to continue to work on. I didn't know how this would all pan out once Tyler turned 3
because his service provider switched from the Early Intervention Program to CMS. Fewer kiddos qualify for services through CMS. I knew that there were some delays in Ty's development but I didn't know if CMS felt that they were 'significant enough'.

He qualifies for Speech therapy and free preschool. He'll get Speech during the school day. On the positive side, Tyler has some significant strengths and he is quite intelligent. CMS feels that he needs to be in their preschool to foster his social skills, transitioning skills, so on and so on.

I became teary-eyed when I got all of this news. On the one hand, I am sad that Tyler needs any of this help. On the other hand, I am grateful that these services are available to him. I am choosing to focus on the positive as opposed to the negative.

He qualifies for preschool until he reaches Kindergarten! He will be in a program called Bright Beginnings which is a 5 day a week preschool when he's 4 years old. Now, he'll start off going 2 days a week with an option to increase the days if needed.

This is the part that was extra icing on the cake......the school day is 6 hours. I will get about 5 hours to myself on those 2 days a week. I CANNOT GET OVER THAT! I have visions of totally organizing EVERYTHING in my house and I may even get a part-time job. I can go to the doctor without bugging one of my friends to watch Tyler.

I sure do feel blessed.

3 comments:

megan said...

Wow, Jen, that is amazing!!!!! Sounds like a win-win situation for you and Tyler! GREAT NEWS!

ODonnell Family Blog said...

That is so cool! Kudos to you for getting so involved with Tyler's education!!

Tracy said...

That is AWESOME!! I could feel your excitement as I read your blog. I'm so happy for you and Tyler!