One place where life had a lot of momentum riding into 2025 was Finn's autism therapy. He had kept basically the same core therapy team the entire time through 2024 (which is insane in a industry with so much turnover), and in that year he has made a ton of progress towards the initial goals we set when he started attending ABC in 2023. They had gotten him potty trained, they had taken away his violent outbursts. At the minimum starting in 2025 it felt like Finn had what he needed to attend regular school which was always the goal.
The stage was set for 2025 to be a big year. When we had the meeting in March to assess his progress it was clear he was nearly done with therapy by that point given how many of the 2023 goals achieved, but I had a big concern with making sure he had support during an unstable part of his life despite that (aka me moving out). ABC had become his home away from home, and I wanted to make sure we didn't pull the plug too fast in case the divorce lead him to backsliding on his behaviors.
But since the March assessment was so positive I did like the idea of getting him in Kindergarten some so he could have that experience and he could start getting into the school's system in case they thought he needed accommodation. On March 25th he started doing Kindergarten half of the morning and going to therapy the other half. I nearly wore myself out taking him back and forth for months but it was worth it, he really enjoyed that experience. His teacher- Miss Golden- was super nice and overall he loved "real school." On the day before my birthday we went to a play he was part of where he had a line he had to memorize- he did great in the play, better than some of his peers. Even though it was a short experience for him it showed he could do well in a school environment.
To get him into school that March we had two options: super cut his hours in March or me doing the back and forth with the cut coming in September. I wanted him to have support in case the school experiment didn't go well, so I fought for full hours. When school was done he went to ABC a full day during the summer break, which was another good test because Casey finally left as his BCBA that May and I wanted to see how he handled changes at ABC. After some setbacks due to a personal conflict with a tech it all ended up working out fine, and he got to the end of the summer with a lot of momentum in life. When the summer was over I had little worries about him handling first grade but the fear that "once out you could never go back" of autism therapy still stuck with me after all we had been through.
At first he started first grade just going to 11 every day, but within a month we pushed that to 2pm. The plan was to keep it there for a few months, but then I learned that Finn's new BCBA was leaving at the end of September. His mom was pushing for it all just to end right there, and then I got pulled into PHDwin Week and couldn't object. Part of me was upset that I didn't get to see his ABC graduation after all the time spent there, but when the tech that had been with Finn the longest- Matthew- told me he thought Finn was ready I felt confident signing off on therapy ending abruptly.
Two weeks ago I went to a meeting where I met Finn's teacher and she said he was doing well in all subjects and managing well in school overall. The goal for years was to get him where he is- a kid in normal classes doing well- and I am thankful for ABC for getting him there.
One huge benefit of being out of ABC is that he is now back at Creative World after his school day is over. Old school became new school again! Since that is in my neighborhood on the days I have Finn I simply walk over there and pick him up. The concept of walking home from Creative World is something he really loves, and I enjoy that time strolling home when he is beaming about his new life as a kid just going to school and going to daycare after.
The whole concept of ABC therapy is what they called "early intervention," which meant that the most effective therapy happens between the ages of 2-5. Luckily thanks to pushing from my friend Ben we did get Finn in therapy within this time of Finn's life and it seemed to have a real effect on his future. I thank all of the teachers and therapists who helped him transition into where he is today. It was a detour that was well worth doing.
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