Leaving the holiday mode behind -

Well here we go again,

Only one more week before facing yet another year of school mayhem.

Yes, although A.J. likes the familiarity that comes along with his regular routines and schedules, he still struggles with the hustle and bustle that portrays the overall high school environment.

in preparation for the new school year
everything is Black (where able) as requested 

While not exactly planned, here is where we are at.....

enjoying weeks of relaxed holiday mode, a combination of xmas season festivities, Computers, Games, etc, resulting in all but the essential routines flying out the window.

Unfortunately AJ has always struggled with any type of morning routine, add his typical teenage 'angst' into the mix, it was easy for him to tip the scales towards shutting down his regular routine all together.

With an uncanny knack of avoiding the inevitable, we are now assisting him to set all his regular back-to-school time-line schedules, etc, into action again before reality hits.

We have already sorted out and purchased items in the ready, a new backpack and lunch bag etc,

this year we are trialling a folder with subject dividers and loose pages for all his school work in the hopes of helping to lighten the weight load of what he's carrying. 

Even the purchase of new pens etc can be a struggle as he only likes the colour Black and it has to have a certain shape and grip feel.

All-in-all we have been making progress in many areas, and hope to continue forward even more.

Connecting to different support services with the help of his NDIS plan, AJ has been assisted to understand and manage different aspects of his life, especially relating to social connections.

One of the main concerns we have is his friendship connections, this year he will be facing the knowledge two close-friends he has will not be returning to school this year, so we will be targeting support in this area, and helping him to connect with new friends during school and other activities he is involved with.  

We are now preparing to enjoy our upcoming long weekend with a few outing activities, keeping the routine schedule going, and relaxing while we still have a little holiday time left, before we're back to the grindstone.

2018 here we come 

Hope you have all had/having a great holiday break and I look forward to sharing more of our journey with you as we head into the latter high school years and preparing for what this stage will bring.

Happiness and Calm to all xxxx Sue