This summer has been an interesting one, sort of like a seesaw with Michael on one end and me on the other. (You have to suspend your disbelief to make it actually work despite our size difference!)
Let me explain what I mean:
Michael on the Upswing
For the first five weeks of the summer, Michael went to a babysitter’s home. Bonnie is a special education teacher who wanted to do some childcare this summer and responded to my ad on Care.com (a wonderful site, by the way). She was drawn to the picture I posted of him and felt that he was the one she was supposed to take care of this summer.
It was truly a match made in heaven. Bonnie was willing not only to deal graciously with Michael’s meltdown and quirks, but also to work on specific skills such as playing games appropriately with others to have fun and to show good sportsmanship. This is a big struggle for him, and between Bonnie, the TSS, and Bonnie’s two children, who are 12 and 13, they made some good progress.
Even the psychologist who runs his playgroup remarked that he is more focused when playing games and is ready to take his turn, as well as accepting others’ choices about what to play more agreeably. He still has trouble with losing, but is learning to better moderate his words and behaviors.
Although I was completely thrilled with the arrangements and would do it again in a heartbeat, I have to admit there were some downsides to those weeks. I was driving back and forth across the river twice a day, often in very heavy traffic, and filling up my gas tank about every 5 days in addition to paying her. I had no down time, as I was picking him up directly after work and often driving then to a therapy appointment or other activity.
And Now It’s My Turn
Again, this second part of the summer isn’t all bad for Michael; it’s just better for me.
Right now, Michael is going to STAP, which stands for Summer Therapeutic Activities Program and is funded through Medical Assistance. He has been to this particular one before and is thrilled to finally be in the big kids’ room, but he doesn’t like it as much as going to Bonnie’s house. There are a lot more demands on him for appropriate social interaction in a more structured setting with a lot less flexibility and choice in terms of what he wants to do.
For me, however, it’s great! The van picks him up at the house in the morning and brings him home in the afternoon. Since the program is 6 hours, the travel time brings it to 7 hours or more out of the house each day. I go to work for four hours and then can run errands, come home and work on things around the house or just take a rest if I need one. 
We are continuing with OT but taking a break from playgroup until STAP is over, so we don’t even have as many places to go. And I think this summer has worked out well because he did get a relatively unstructured break but is now getting back into a routine that is closer to what happens at school. And even though they focus on social skills and not academics, they do have them doing some form of writing or art every day.
Now if I can just get him to work on that darn packet the second grade teachers sent home to be finished by the first day of school!
Oh, yeah, and I still don’t know what I’m going to do with him for the week between the end of STAP and the beginning of school. (Any local moms interested/available for 25 hours the last week of August? I don’t even care if I have to drive across the river, honestly!!)
