Fridays Update

Thursday was another busy day in Abilene. Troy and I went to several stores looking for a traditional TV/DVD combo unit. Evidently, times have changed since we last bought a TV. We could only find LCD TVs and those are not Steven proof. Fortunately, a nice lady at Best Buy suggested a pawn shop. So, off we went to Wild Bill's Pawn Shop. That was quite an adventure! We successfully purchased a TV and a DVD player and took that to Steven's room. Someone asked for pictures of Stevens room so here they are: His new TV/DVD player. Notice the KING of all, BARNEY, is playing on the DVD player!

We also put up some stickers on his walls to make it seem a little more homey. The maintenance guys will paint his walls any color we want so that will be getting done in the next few days.

This is a picture standing in the doorway. You can see that it's definitely Steven's room! There are blankets and toys all over the floor.

Steven has done well adjusting to his new dorm. Right now, he has two aides with him. Their job is to remain at arms length at all times....even when he is sleeping. This will be the arrangement until Monday, when he will go down to 1:1 after they get to know him a little better. This next picture is Steven with his main 1:1. They seem to have hit it off well.

On Thursday, Troy and I also met with the school district coordinator. We were able to see Steven's actual classroom and meet his teacher. We will need to have an IEP meeting with the new district before he can enroll in school and that should be this upcoming week. We were excited to learn that Steven's aide (whose name we can't remember right now) will also go to school with him. The school district and the dorm admin have worked together for many years and they are both very flexible in designing a program that will benefit Steven.

We stopped by the admin building at the dorm and put money in Stevens "trust fund". This money is used for their outings so the boys can learn to manage money, etc. We also got a map of the entire campus and found out where the indoor pool and the guesthouses for parents are located. Next time we head down, we will probably stay at one of the guesthomes on campus.

Each time we went to the dorm and saw Steven, we noticed that he was becoming more and more confused by our coming and going. We decided that it would be better for him if we just headed home on Thursday evening instead of staying until Friday. He is making a better transition than we expected.

We got home last night, ordered pizza, watched a little TV and were in bed before 9:00. We called the dorm to check on Steven about 8:30 and he was doing well. They had gone for a drive to the lake, walked the campus and even had Dairy Queen. Steven was happy as a lark! All in all, we are doing okay. We are still very emotionally raw but feel assured that we made the right decisions for our entire family.

Thats the news as of Friday morning.

Betsy