Friday, September 19, 2008

Ella in school

I've had a few people lately ask what kind of school Ella goes to and what she does there. Ella goes to Spokane Guilds' School and Neuromusclar Center, and we love it, it is one of the main reasons that we decided to move to Spokane. It is for children birth to three, and they see kids with a wide range of disabilities. Ella goes 2 days a week for 2 hours each day. She is in a toddler group and is doing really well. There are 6 kids in her class, including recently her boyfriend Riley! Watching over the 6 kiddos are 5 adults, a special education teacher, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist and an aide, and they are so wonderful! Her day goes like this, when we arrive in her classroom she has to go over to the circle and find her picture and sit down (she was just moved to sitting on a round bolster so that she really has to practice her balance the whole time and does great!). During circle they sing songs, with movements of course, then they get stamps which Ella loves, then head off to their various therapies. On Wednesdays Ella has 45 minutes of physical therapy and 15 minutes of speech therapy, between those times she "plays" with the special education teacher. During the last 20 minutes they eat lunch together as a group, which is so funny to watch, so that they can practice using their utensils and drinking from a cup, wash hands then go home. On Fridays Ella has 45 minutes of occupational therapy and 15 of speech and the rest is the same. Ella has been going to this school for 6 months now and I don't even know where to begin on all that she has learned, she did have her OT evaluation today so I'll be sure to post the results of that when I get them. As a side note let me warn you that I'm sure I will not be happy about the results, I hate evaluations they just bring you back to reality... Anyhow, with that here are some pics.
Getting her stamp








Brushing her skin to wake
up her muscles!










Swinging, working on her
core strength





Climbing the ramp






Reaching and getting up on
her toes

Working on the
scooter board






Going for a ride





Putting up stickers, while
still on the scooter

"I've had enough" I took this
right before she did the turtle
when she is done she flips herself
on to her back and yells.








Playing with bubbles during
speech therapy




Climbing the stairs to wash







So big!









These my friend Mary (Riley's mom) took today, not sure why I can't get them bigger.
circle time




Riley dancing!









Crawling through the tunnel
Ella's favorite time, lunch time!!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Just wanted to ask a question. Oh, I follow your blog and found it via Renee Garcia's blog. I must tell you, Ella is such a doll!!

Ok, on to my question. Did I see some sort of step with hand rails attached at the toilet? Just wondering because I too have a little girl with Ds. Her name is Carly. Carly is 6 years old and is attending kindergarten. She has a hard time getting on the potty at the school due to some weakness to her left arm/hand caused from a blood infection that she had while on chemo. The school wants to place some sort of hand rail, but I am really interested in learning where Ella's school found the contraption that I saw in the pic's you posted.
If you could email me with any information you may have involving my question I would really appreciate it.
Thanks!
Joany and Carly
joanygeorge@hotmail.com

kecia said...

ok I REALLY wish they had a school like that here!! It looks so wonderful!! If you ever hear of anything like that in utah let me know!

My name is Sarah said...

You are doing so many big girl things at your school Ella. It looks like you are having fun too.

Melissa @ Banana Migraine said...

Wow - that looks like an incredible school how neat. Those are some great pictures and it looks like Ella is doing so amazing!

~KC: said...

It looks like Ella is doing Great!!!.
That is an amazing school. Kacey, thank you for sharing these lovely pictures :D

Anonymous said...

Such a big girl! She just looks so darn cute in those pigtails!!! I love to see the pics of her at school. Keep up the good work missy!! We love you all so much and miss you bunches too! Love, Aunt Tami and family

The Bliss Family said...

What a great environment for Ella and other kids to be apart of. I wish we had a school like that in Seattle. It would be nice to have all of the different therapists & specialists work together as a team.

Lisa

Heather said...

I haven't been by in awhile so I spent a little while getting caught up and watching some videos.My 17 year old sat with me and said,"Make sure you tell her ...I'm obsessed with Ella."Hard not to,Ella is such a cutie.She does amazing stuff and is so animated.Her school looks incredible and as always I see children like Ella and have such a difficult time imagining Zoey doing all these great things but ...I remain hopeful and know in her time she will find her way.

Kim said...

That is so awesome! How did you find out about it? Mattie is so little, we don't know all that is available in our hometown.

Becca said...

That looks like a totally awesome school. I love that they have that staircase going up to the sink--I can't wash Sammi's hands in the sink yet because she won't stand on the step-stool steadily. They have such amzing activities there!

By the way, I love what you did with Ella's hair!

Anonymous said...

I swear I left a comment on this one once before but I don't see it so here I go again. I agree we have the great school ever for our kiddos. Riley is loving his new toddler group and I think is scaring Ella less and less with his loud outside voice :-) I'm so glad they get to be buddies in the same class.

Shannon @ Gabi's World said...

I am tired just seeing how hard she is working! Great job Ella! Can I work on my core strength now? It looked like fun!