An Introduction

School starts tomorrow.  I didn't get a phone call.  I called the school and lit a fire under a new person's behind and at least I got a call from the bus driver, but I am still concerned about what will happen to Haley once she gets to school.  I am planning to follow her bus and follow her in.  I thought it might be a good idea to write the teacher about my daughter, since I didn't get to go to the school and meet him in person.  Here is the letter that I am sending with her tomorrow.

Hi, my name is Haley.  I am very shy.  I can speak, but it might be a long time before you will have any evidence of that.  I don’t speak in full sentences.  I tend to use nouns mostly.  There are some other words that I like to use a lot, like Cool, Awesome, Silly and Fun. 

Sometimes when I am excited I put lots of words together.  My mom likes that because it means that I am thinking, not just repeating.  I did that just yesterday when I started talking about spending the weekend with my Grandma and Grandpa and I put it together with going to the Zoo, even though those two things didn’t happen at the same time.  I said a long string of things like “Grandma.  Grandpa. Tractor ride.  Walk Tree Farm.  Zoo.  Train ride.  Animals.  Lunch.  Bird show.  Goats.  Store.” 

My Grandma and Grandpa are very important to me.  We have to drive for about three hours to see them.  I like to visit them, but we don’t get to do it very often.  When we are there I get to drive my Grandpa’s John Deere tractor and walk around their forty acre tree farm.  They grow big trees there that they make in to studs to build houses.  My other Grandma lives far away, it takes several days to get to her house, but when I am there I get to see trains go right by her house.

I like school.  I really like structure.  I do so much better when I follow the same routine every day.  My big sister goes to this school too, she is a junior.  It will be fun if I get to see her in the hall or at lunch time.

I like all kinds of food, but I do a lot better if I don’t have milk products or wheat products.  My mom makes my lunch when I come to school.  I can have snacks at school, but it would be best if they didn’t have dairy products or wheat in them.  I don’t know the difference though.  I will eat anything.

My mom has been trying really hard to get me to use the bathroom by myself this summer.  At home I go in to the bathroom by myself and pull down my pants and sit down and then I knock on the door so that my mom will come in and help me.  If she tells me what to do I can do it, I just don’t do it on my own yet, so I will need some help and some prompts.  I can dress myself; I learned how to do it last year when I had to dress down for PE.  I don’t have any depth perception so I need to sit down to take off and put on my pants. 

My lack of depth perception means that I just take new situations and new places slow.  I have gotten pretty good at adapting, but you might notice that I get really careful at steps and I look for handrails, I need them.

My favorite thing in the whole world is trains.  I really like steam engines.  My favorites are the 700 and the 4449 which are both housed in Portland.  My mom and dad take me to see them whenever they are on display or running.  I also really like the train ride at the Oregon Zoo.  When I am at home I like to watch videos of trains going by and videos that feature trains and the people that work on them.  My dad takes me “train-watching” almost every Sunday.  We sit by the tracks and watch trains go by.  It is really fun for me and my dad.

I love all kinds of animals.  I have a lot of plastic animals (mostly horses) and I like to carry them around in purses.  I also like to play with my horses and my wooden stable that I got for Christmas.  I have dolls too that I like to dress and undress and redress.

I really like to watch videos.  My favorites are The Road to El Dorado, Spirit-Stallion of the Cimarron, and The Back to the Future films- especially the third one.  I like most Disney movies, but my favorites are The Fox and the Hound, Lion King, 101 Dalmatians (all three) and Oliver and Company.  I love the Pixar short Geri’s Game.

I like to use the computer.  I play Zoo Tycoon, Lion King and Spirit.  I also like to look at YouTube videos of movies that I like.  I like to fast forward and repeat them.

I am almost always happy. 

Sometimes if I want to do something and I am not able to I get very upset.  If I get upset I usually repeat what it was that I wanted many times and I get louder and louder.  I sometimes scream at a really high pitch.  I have been known to fall down on my knees and cry.  I have never really gotten very upset at school, though,  I usually save that for when I am at home.

I am excited to be back at school, but I don’t do very well with transitions or change, so I might be extra shy and quiet for a while.  Once I am comfortable I will be a good student.