A Fresh New Start

I cannot believe that the kids have been back in school now for almost 2 months!  Time is flying by way too fast for my liking.  But back to my first statement...."back in school".  And we are!  Jake is a full time, participating student again.  And I give him kudos for it because he is at school by 8 am every day and has rarely complained about it.  He is tired, I can see it is catching up to him a bit lately, he is taking himself to bed early more often than not.  I pleasantly surprised him last week one evening by telling him he did not have to get up for school the next morning, just to give him a day to recuperate (and to avoid him feeling so tired and overwhelmed that he may actually refuse to go).  And I am going to try and plan a few long weekends away so that he continues to get that occassional break. 

If there is one thing that I have learned over the last few years after these concussions, it is to REST when needed.  If we had given Jake the time off that he needed after his repeated concussions I am quite sure his recovery time would have been much less.  In the end it caught up to him and resulted in him being withdrawn from school for 4 months!

I still have to figure out what to call these days off when I call his absence into the school.....his term is "a day", in the past he would just say he needed "a day"....he could not describe it any other way at that time.  Now we know it meant his brain was overworked, and his body was telling him to take a break. 
That being said, we do have the understanding and cooperation of the school.  Jake is a student identified with post concussion syndrome and anxiety, both of which tend to interfere with his academic achievements. The school is working on finalizing an IEP for him but already have the accommodations in place, and the head of Special Ed happens to have a special interest in brain injury and anxiety!  She was actually the one who reminded me that chewing gum can help reduce anxiety as the act of chewing gives the brain something else to focus on.  So I am sure that when I do figure out what to call these odd days off she will understand.