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We did flash cards which really helped the vocabulary. I had him for six weeks in Poland, one on one all day every day. That helped a lot. We also kept him home for two weeks after we got home. I had planned longer, but he was begging to go to school with the other kids and school was a more familiar environment, more similar to the orphanage. He was actually calmer and more willing to spend time with me after he started school, so I think even with the problems we had, I still would have let him go. By that point I think we both needed that break from each other. However, he started a week before Christmas and I was at the school in his class every day that week. Then we had we two weeks off for Christmas. After Christmas we went back but I was still in the school a lot. He had a one on one aid who was an adoptive parent and understood the attachment stuff, though his teacher did not.
I did this year print out a letter all about attachment for the teacher before school this year and wish I had done that the previous years.
I did move him back a grade so that his first year (half year) in shcool he could concentrate on language aquisition and not get behind academically. As a result he is 8 and half and in second grade now. He was eligible for a summer program for ESL his first year, but we did not do it as I wanted him home with me and he was immerssed in English there. I took him to school and picked him every day the first year and a half and was always there volunteering and stuff. I went on every field trip and helped in the classroom etc. I made it a point to let him see me talking frequently to his teachers and aid. I wish we had a found a good attachment therapist earlier. I also wish I had limited what was in his room more.
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