Well, Khalid is back at his old school and Iman is happy to be going along with him. I’ve yet to visit the old school and formalize their removal, but I’ll definitely be doing so- especially since we paid half the fees in advance!
Khalid was immediately happier back in familiar settings- the first day on the playground was a mini-reunion. His KG-1 friends who were now spread through various KG-2’s found him and welcomed him back, even telling their parents about his return. Khalid is a bit of a celebrity in the school, not because he’s famous in any respect, but because he will greet every person he sees warmly. The janitors, the school nurse, the lunch room guy- they all love him and I feel like I’m walking in Khalid’s shadow when I pass through the halls with him. Everyone knows Khalid, almost no one knows me to be his mother. 🙂 Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. Of course, it’s a completely different issue that Khalid’s class hasn’t had an English teacher for the entire week, but for the moment, Khalid is happy.  And, as is to be expected- SubhanAllah- his spontaneous verbal skills are taking off again.  He was becoming less talkative over the summer with no one but the immediate family around, but now that he’s back in school there’s an immediate difference.  Take, for example, this overhead conversation.
Khalid: Musfira, look! It’s the cut the rope. Â I will show you.
Musfira: Pbbbbt?
Khalid: You feed the frog the candy. Â It’s Om-Nom. Collect the stars.
Musfira: Eeeee!
Khalid: I’ll show you. Â Oops, two stars. You need three stars. Â Not four stars. Â Like this.
Compare this to conversations that I have with Khalid where he gives me one-word replies for the most part. Â Khalid isn’t interested in talking to adults, but he’ll give a 4-month baby an iPhone game tutorial.
Speaking of 4-month old babies, Alhamdulillah, Musfira rolled over about two days ago. Â Soon she’ll be crawling. Â Shortly thereafter, driving. Â Where does the time go? And where did she learn to generate such ear-piercing shrieks of joy? It was my hope that her personality as a child would be an extension of her personality as a baby. Â Iman is an intense little girl, and she was an intense baby as well. Â Musfira has, so far, been a happy and social baby, and I was hoping that would continue indefinitely. Â She’s turning up the volume though lately, and twisting mini-teddy into half-nelsons while chomping his mini-teddy head, and squealing so loud, so long, and so non-stop that a staff meeting had to be put on hold yesterday- three therapists, one senior, one driver, and HF and I- because no one could hear each other over Musfira’s personal opera.
SubhanAllah.
Assalam alekum wa rahamtullah
Do you guys put him in Arabic school? I mean does everyone speak arabic there? Or is this an english language private school?
Walaikum Assalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Stranded 🙂 this is an English language school in which half the day is English and half te day is Arabic as a second language. 🙂
alhamdolillah, awesome news, despite the no english teacher bit.
ad hey, shrieking happily is cool 😛
salam.ur lil family has become a heart softener for me alhamdulilah.
barakallah feekum..i soo love khalid.
Assalam alekum again!
From reading your posts on schools, I find it is difficult to place someone with special needs in private schools (as is here in canada). Are there special schools? Can people afford the special schools? I heard they are very very expensive and not always the best places. No surprise, as that is also the case here in Canada.
I ask because my husband often speaks of moving out there. I fear for my family becoming even MORe isolated. In Canada, despite its problems, no one can kick us out of community pools and areas for being autistic. But since everything is private in Dubai and other gulf countries, I don`t see anything stopping people from plainly rejecting and refusing you entry to their facility for being disabled.
Am I right?