Transition Week Two

Many of you have asked me this week how Brandon is doing as he entered week two of transition.  Thanks for asking.  If you are a parent with a child going off the college or off to work and moving out of the house, you may relate to our transition.  I am happy to report that week 1 and week 2 have been great.  Brandon is very happy. Brandon made it through week one just fine.  He knows everyone at the school and the staff working with him all know and love Brandon.  That has helped tremendously.  The school's adult transition program has also doubled in size and for Brandon that has been good with more classmates for socialization.  Brandon is loves the school environment. Brandon is picked up each morning with his favorite bus driver and the routine is the same as last year.  That has helped.  Ross is with him everyday that Brandon is at school.  Brandon loves Ross and that has helped.  His new companion Chris has a great deal of experience with young adults transitioning and has been very slow to begin the process for Brandon to be more accountable in his life.  That has helped.  Chris's personality is similar to Brandon's (calm and laid back) and that has helped.  And of course there is music.  Chris and Ross are musicians and Brandon loves music.  That has helped.

I wanted to set up a fairly regular schedule with Brandon for the year so he knows what is coming next.  Brandon's speech therapist worked with Brandon to set up a calendar on Brandon's IPAD (his communication device) so he knows what is happening next.  Brandon is happiest when he knows what will happen next and there are no big surprises.

Chris is adjusting to having someone living with him and working with Brandon on privacy and roommate rules.  That is working fairly well. I am still working the daily things as they come up and trying to figure out how those can run smoothly.  These include things like ordering and delivering supplies, ordering and dividing out medications, making sure everyone is where they are supposed to be and communicating with the school/therapist/doctors.  I think this will work itself out as we move into more of a routine.  Brandon is also very happy coming to my house on the weekends and having time for himself during the weekend. 

I know that in order for this arrangement to work Brandon needs to find friends, find his space in the world and know he is valued.  So Brandon also will begin "We are the Chorus" next week so he can participate in music.  He also will begin Special Olympics.  He is participating in a social group on Wednesdays, but he will move into Special Olympics during that time. Brandon is working with the University of Texas Special Education Department.  They will assign a student to work with Brandon and we will want to concentrate on socialization and jobs.  As part of his participation, Brandon will also join Best Buddies UT  (http://www.utbestbuddies.com). I hope he will get some additional social opportunities through the program.  Brandon can also receive additional speech support from the Speech department at UT. 

This week we also focused on jobs.  Brandon had a job last year at Seton.  This is a volunteer job. He started back at this job this week and everyone there was glad to see him.  I will be working to see if we can find other job skills to learn through Seton.  The best news - Brandon was selected to be a volunteer at KOOP radio AND work at the time slot for the Beatles show.  I am hoping that is a great match for Brandon because he loves the Beatles.  Brandon knows every little fact about the Beatles and can name the entire Beatles library.  So this is a really good job match. 

But as a mom, the most important thing for me is that Brandon is happy.  From all reports back to me, everyone says Brandon is happy and that is the best result for me. 

I know many of you have also asked - what about Leah.  Well I am taking the opportunity to again work on getting back in shape and eating healthy.  I have started walking again (I stopped the regular routine this summer) and the goal is to be down 25 pounds by mid-Oct.  I have 7 more to go.   And I am just now starting to think about what will life look like with a little extra time after 19 years. 

We will keep you updated as we work through the transition.  Thanks for all your kind words and support. 
Leah