Please keep our little man in your prayers this week. Today he has re evaluations in his speech and OT sessions. Tomorrow morning we go back for another CT Scan, blood work, and MRI which he will be sedated for. Then Wednesday we go met with Neurosurgery to see what is going on in his little head. His headaches are getting worse and more often and are now not just during the night but also during the day. So we are ready to find out what is going on. Friday he also has a hearing screening which is not a big deal but after the rest of the week might be a bit trying.
Our Blessed Lives
Showing posts with label OT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OT. Show all posts
Monday, March 8, 2010
A busy week for a little boy
Please keep our little man in your prayers this week. Today he has re evaluations in his speech and OT sessions. Tomorrow morning we go back for another CT Scan, blood work, and MRI which he will be sedated for. Then Wednesday we go met with Neurosurgery to see what is going on in his little head. His headaches are getting worse and more often and are now not just during the night but also during the day. So we are ready to find out what is going on. Friday he also has a hearing screening which is not a big deal but after the rest of the week might be a bit trying.
Monday, January 25, 2010
One Smart Little Boy
One of the biggest frustrations as a parent with a child with Apraxia is that when people meet Harrison or even people that know him think that since he does not speak they way we "think" he should, that he is no intelligent. Which is very far from the truth. Harrison amazes me daily with the things he knows and the connections he makes.We also went to an Open House to a school we are looking at once he starts school and I really think he could just about do the Kindergarten work now, and it was advanced for the general Kind garden, I did see a few things that we need to continue to work on. One of our biggest areas of needed gain is in his hand writing which is worked on weekly in OT and I work on daily with him.
Harrison LOVES to do his "school work" which we try to get to daily but with two days of Speech and OT, and two days of Mother's Day Out it does not happen every day.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Harrison Speech update
The past month has been a very busy month for Harrison and really more difficult for me than I ever dreamed. Harrison has "aged out" of the state early intervention program, which we had to tell Ms. Lisa, and Ms. Anna goodbye, which was tough. Harrison loves them and I will also miss having conversations with other adults during the week :). They have done so much for our little man and gotten him ready for next stage of his journey.
He has started going to a private clinic and had all his evaluations for his new speech OT therapists. We do now have an official diagnosis of Apraxia, hypotnic (for decreased trunk strength etc), and sensory motor integration, which we were prepared. We are so pleased with his new therapists and he LOVES them and is doing GREAT. It is amazing to see how well he is doing. I stand at the window watching with tears in my eyes, tears of joy I am so proud of how hard he is working. He knows that he goes to his "new school" to work, and is doing far better than we could have ever hoped for. He is doing so much more for his new therapists without the distractions of home which he would not have done even just a few months ago. This has been a great move for him. We just wish that our insurance would think it was as important as we do that our child learns to talk. So we are in process of appealing benefits because of without aggressive treatment he may never learn to speak, but Harrison will get what he needs no matter if it comes from insurance or continues to come out of our pockets, it will all work out.
We have also been meeting with the school system just to see what some more options are. We are waiting to make our decision until we can go observe some of the teachers that he could have to see if we would like to send him into preschool a day or two a week or take him to the school for speech only, or to only continue with only what we are doing currently. We have sat through an special eduction ARC meeting and worked on an IEP, which I have done many many times when teaching but this time I was on the other side of the table. I used to physically hurt when sitting in IEP meetings when we would tell a parent where their child should be and where they were actually preforming. And last week we were be told the same things. John and I have not made up our decision on this matter yet, and there are many many factors that we thinking about before making our final decision.
So long story short Harrison has done great switching form "working" at home to in the clinic and we are thrilled. I am also thrilled that all the evaluations are done for a while. It is very draining to be discussing with everyone you come into contact with how your child is failing or not measuring up. I am glad to be seeing process and that we can enjoy our little boy again. He is just a fun little guy and so full of personality
He has started going to a private clinic and had all his evaluations for his new speech OT therapists. We do now have an official diagnosis of Apraxia, hypotnic (for decreased trunk strength etc), and sensory motor integration, which we were prepared. We are so pleased with his new therapists and he LOVES them and is doing GREAT. It is amazing to see how well he is doing. I stand at the window watching with tears in my eyes, tears of joy I am so proud of how hard he is working. He knows that he goes to his "new school" to work, and is doing far better than we could have ever hoped for. He is doing so much more for his new therapists without the distractions of home which he would not have done even just a few months ago. This has been a great move for him. We just wish that our insurance would think it was as important as we do that our child learns to talk. So we are in process of appealing benefits because of without aggressive treatment he may never learn to speak, but Harrison will get what he needs no matter if it comes from insurance or continues to come out of our pockets, it will all work out.
We have also been meeting with the school system just to see what some more options are. We are waiting to make our decision until we can go observe some of the teachers that he could have to see if we would like to send him into preschool a day or two a week or take him to the school for speech only, or to only continue with only what we are doing currently. We have sat through an special eduction ARC meeting and worked on an IEP, which I have done many many times when teaching but this time I was on the other side of the table. I used to physically hurt when sitting in IEP meetings when we would tell a parent where their child should be and where they were actually preforming. And last week we were be told the same things. John and I have not made up our decision on this matter yet, and there are many many factors that we thinking about before making our final decision.
So long story short Harrison has done great switching form "working" at home to in the clinic and we are thrilled. I am also thrilled that all the evaluations are done for a while. It is very draining to be discussing with everyone you come into contact with how your child is failing or not measuring up. I am glad to be seeing process and that we can enjoy our little boy again. He is just a fun little guy and so full of personality
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Brag Time
Ok, so since I have been putting some of what is going on in Harrison's world on here, I feel like he needs some space for some brag time.
You all know I think he is a perfect gift from God and our Little Red Head Wonder, that we are blessed beyond measure to have in our lives and given the awesome responsibility of being his parents.
He has been doing so well lately especially with some of his sensory Issues. In the last month he has started a new Sunday School class at church, and a new Awana class (which is even in a different building) and he as done so GREAT. He goes in and LOVES both classes.
He has also started a new Mother's Day Out class and is also doing great there and is so excited to bring home his work to show us and to put on the fridge.
He has been going through evaluations at the new clinic and he has went with new people and held his own.
We are so proud of him, if you can't tell.
He also is really trying to repeat things that we say and is not as timid with his "words" as he has been in the past.
He is doing Great with his school work, learning his letter, numbers, etc. He is writing letters and even knows some sight words.
And he is SO MUCH FUN...
You all know I think he is a perfect gift from God and our Little Red Head Wonder, that we are blessed beyond measure to have in our lives and given the awesome responsibility of being his parents.
He has been doing so well lately especially with some of his sensory Issues. In the last month he has started a new Sunday School class at church, and a new Awana class (which is even in a different building) and he as done so GREAT. He goes in and LOVES both classes.
He has also started a new Mother's Day Out class and is also doing great there and is so excited to bring home his work to show us and to put on the fridge.
He has been going through evaluations at the new clinic and he has went with new people and held his own.
We are so proud of him, if you can't tell.
He also is really trying to repeat things that we say and is not as timid with his "words" as he has been in the past.
He is doing Great with his school work, learning his letter, numbers, etc. He is writing letters and even knows some sight words.
And he is SO MUCH FUN...
Monday, September 14, 2009
Today
Harrison had his first of several evaluations today to move from First Step (the state's early intervention program) to having his Speech and OT in a clinic. We had visited the clinic before and he handled the visit well but he does not usually take too kindly to evaluations so we did not Know what to expect for today. We have been talking about his "New School" for a few days, got a gift (aka prize) for his new OT ready this morning before we headed out and hoped for the best. He has had one rough day, and when I say rough I mean ROUGH so I was waiting for the worst. We left about 45 mins early in hopes that he would take a short nap and wake up in a better mood which was a gamble. He did take about a 20 min nap and woke up in a GREAT MOOD, and did really good at the clinic. He went by himself with his new "teacher" and had a blast. I am so glad because truth be known, I was dreading today. It is a completely different feeling for therapist to come to the house than to take your child to a clinic and having to rehash all the areas where your child falls short. But God is good, and his OT was super sweet and Harrison LOVED her, an answer to prayer for sure. Remember Harrison does not "take" to everyone. Next week he goes back for the speech evaluation on Monday and the second part of the OT evaluation on Wednesday we are hoping for a repeat from today :)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Harrison's World Part 3 -- Trunk Strength
While Harrison was evaluated by the OT she notice right away that he had decrease trunk strength compare to what he should have. She Also noticed that at that point his rib cage had not moved down as much as it should have. Both with can effect his breathing which can effect his speech, and even his reflux that he has had since he was born.
What He does or does not do
*When He is laying on the ground playing he will lean to one side so he does not have to hold his head up.
* He will shift his whole body to move closer to an object instead of reaching across his body to simply get it.
*He has very poop upper body strength, for example if crawling he will use his head on the ground to help balance his body. IF you hold him in your lap and hold his legs he can not wiggle his way out of your arms.
* He runs with his arms straight next to his body instead of pumping his arms, in attempts to help control is balance.
What we are doing?
* OT to work on this strength
*A lot of reaching across his body (ie holding toys or books to one side of his body and making him us the opposite hand to reach for it. )
* Lots of crawling, jumping, and climbing.
*"rough house" play to help him to learn the motor plans to get away and to use his arms and trunk instead of legs and head.
*Harrison is also taking horse riding lessons to help build up this strength. We had planned on riding lessons but started a little earlier to help. He is LOVING his riding lessons by the way.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Harrison's World Part 1 & 2 -- what he lives with
Ok so since I have had to move sites due to having too many pictures, I have decided to link the past two posts about Harrison's Speech issues etc. I will be adding more information about these things so I thought it would be good to have all the information in one place.
Harrison's World Part 2
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