School business

I went by the school today to drop off a note for the school nurse Mrs. Pillow and Alan's PPCD teacher Ms. Anna happened to be in the clinic. It was good timing, since it gave the three of us a chance to talk about the options for Alan at school as his treatment continues. There are three paths:

1. Status Quo - We continue as we've been going, three full (half) days at school and two days a week where we pull him out early for preschool. We would also keep him out of school as needed for chemo, office visits and if necessary for neutropenia. Obviously, this would be the ideal situation.
   
   
2. Revised ARD - If Alan is consistently unable to attend on a regular basis, we revise his ARD paperwork for fewer days attended a week. This keeps him on the bus and in the classroom, but with less time dealing with the school office over his absent days.
   
   
3. Homebound Status - If Alan is severely laid up and unable to attend school on any regular basis, he can be put on homebound status. Under this status, a special teacher (consulting with his speech therapist at school) will come to the home for lessons about an hour to hour and a half a week. He can go to school for parties and social time as he is able, but it would be under our supervision. He would not ride the bus and we would not be able to leave him in the classroom.
   

Ms. Anna has taught children as a homebound teacher and she said they just wanted to be at school, not have time with yet another adult. Nurse Pillow spoke of a student who had gone through Ewings Sarcoma treatment attending the school the entire time. Alan has already missed so much time with his peers I hope that he handles this new regimen well enough to minimize any disruptions to attending school. Doc P and Doc H2 fully support this as well, so I pray that Thursday's treatment won't be too hard on him.

We had been worried that the tumor and pain was holding him back. At home he seems much less active, crawling more than walking and sitting or lying down rather than moving around. Apparently, according to Ms. Anna and Ms. Kim (the special ed teacher who helps him at preschool) he has been very active at school! He's all over the playground and using the walker to get around like a champ! Ms. Anna said he has even been using the walker cut in line. *headdesk* Obviously he is saving all his energy for school.

Last Christmas I had noticed Houston school district rooms both at the Children's Cancer Hospital at MD Anderson and the Ronald McDonald House, so I asked Nurse Pillow if she knew how that worked. Since Alan would be considered resident in the Houston school district if he was staying there for Proton therapy, it would mean dis-enrolling him from his current school and re-enrolling him in the Houston district. His current ARD and IEPs would transfer with him so he would be pre-qualified for services there. Of course it would be ideal if we do his treatment during the summer break. We'll see - there are still plenty of questions about his treatment plan to answer before we get that far.


Ms. Kim took this picture of Alan working hard to get to the playground at preschool with the help of a little friend.