From the October Quarterly Newsletter
By Sherry Smeal-Grover
Welcome to Fall everyone. First, I would like to welcome E.C to the Silver Room and to the Autism Academy. E.C and B.K have become very close friends and can usually be found running around the room together. Sadly we had to say good-bye to J.L., as he moved up to the Orange Room for some new adventures. Also, we would like to welcome Miss Cheryl and Miss Patrice to the Silver Room staff. The students really seem to be enjoying working with them. We can’t forget Miss Kandy who has been with AAL for over four years, what would we do without her. Finally, Miss Lauren, a BGSU student comes every Friday to observe and work with the students. She is excellent with the pupils and enjoys jumping in and working one- on- one with the students.
We were very busy this summer and your students have achieved many new things. M.S. and C.K. mastered some of their morning work, which allowed me to make it more challenging for them. M.P. has mastered two benchmarks for his reading goal, which means that he has learned five new sight words. We are working on mastering the signs for them as well. K.G. has mastered a part of his Reading goal, which is great. B. K. has been working really hard in the fine motor center, where he enjoys tooth brushing the most. They have been doing so well, that we have pushed back lunch time some more so that we can get more accomplished during the morning, because after lunch we are all just too tired. Don’t worry, we still get many sensory breaks so that we don’t get too overwhelmed or overloaded.
I would like to give a big “thank you” to all the parents. I know that nights at home are crazy once you get home from work and there are many things to do. I am so happy that many of you have jumped on board with having homework twice a week. There are just so many things that I want to accomplish each day with these amazing students that we simply run out of time most days so it helps that they can get additional practice with the concepts at home. In time, I expect that homework days will increase to three nights per week. But for now, I am happy with two. A second thank you goes to the parents who have donated many things to our classroom. We have a good supply of materials for your child and I expect that we will be able to deal with any situation that arises.
