A new school year

I met with Braedon and Reilly's teachers yesterday to set some goals for the beginning of the year. It's a fun thing to sit with their teachers and discuss all the possibilities and laugh about what the year will hold. I have great hope and optimism for my two boys. Here are their goals.

Braedon
1. Improve his self help skills. Learn to independently brush his teeth. Put his coat, shirt, pants, socks, and shoes on independently. Will learn to wipe himself after using the bathroom.
2. Improve in using full sentences. Will improve in pronunciation. Will improve in commenting about his environment, how his day was and answering social questions.
3. Will improve in social skills. Will participate in all classroom activities. Will learn to engage in associative play. Will learn to be a friend.
4. Will improve in fine motor skills. Will learn to write his name and trace lines and letters independently. Will learn to cut on fat lines independently. Will learn to button shirts and pants.
5. Will improve in self regulation. Will improve in having less aggressions towards others. Will improve in self regulation during transitions. Will improve in being ok with new situations during the day.

Reilly
1. Will improve his communication by using Pecs, pointing to the item. Encourage verbalization's.
2. Will improve his task behaviors. Will begin the core attending program. Participate in all scheduled groups daily. Learn to sit and listen during groups.
3. Will improve his self help skills. Will learn to wash and dry his hands independently. He will brush his teeth with partial prompts.

I don't know why typing these goals out made me feel down. When I look at them, they seem like such easy things to do. Simple tasks. Yet, they are incredibly difficult for my boys to learn and maintain. I don't have down days often, thank goodness. I know each child learns a unique pace and each accomplishment is very important. Sometimes I just feel like I'm running in a tub of molasses.