Came across this interesting article (The Effects of Motor Planning Deficits on School Function) on motor planning and its affect on success in school. Although Nate is still preschool age, it's definitely on my mind how all this is going to play out when he's in kindergarten. His teachers are concerned about his difficulty using scissors and I've noticed that it seems to be difficult for him to put on his clothes or runs a little awkwardly. Toward the end of May we will be seeing some additional specialists. I'm hoping that if needs some Occupational Therapy, he will receive services. I don't think that his motor planning issues are severe but he may need some additional help.
We've been working with Nate his different oral exercises and encouraging him to say initial sounds as often as we can get him to. The other day, his oldest brother was pouring him some juice. We were encouraging Nate to say /j/. He said it once and we tried to get him to say it again. While we were repeating the sound, he tipped his head slightly downward and then looks at Julien and looks at me and back at his brother again, all the while with a sneaky little grin on his face. He can be so sneaky sometimes. After those little glances, he attempted the /j/ sound again. We continue to take one day at a time...that's all we can do.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Two Words
I've almost recovered from the news that Nate is going to be losing his SLP the end of May. I know he hasn't been seen by her all that long--about 2 months now. He really enjoys working with her and she really understands what we're all going through and has been so supportive. There are days where I'm not sure how this is all going to work out. I'm hopeful that he'll be talking soon. The other night at dinner, I asked him how his day at school was. Maybe I was wistfully hoping that he would just start talking about all the things the he did, the numbers and letters that he's learning or who he played with. It made me sad when he just smiled and uttered some vowel sounds instead. I'm hopeful that he'll have more words soon. He almost has the word 'up' and hopefully 'mom' will be next!
We finally received the local university's speech report from his evaluation the end of February. If you've never read a report of some kind about your child, it's always interesting to hear someone else's description of your child.
We finally received the local university's speech report from his evaluation the end of February. If you've never read a report of some kind about your child, it's always interesting to hear someone else's description of your child.
Nate is a friendly, active child who demonstrates age appropriate receptive
language, play, and pragmatics/skills. His comprehension of language
appears stronger than his expressive abilities. (Always nice to have what you
already know confirmed by an 'expert')...He experienced difficulty imitating
various mouth shapes, vowels, and particularly consonant sounds.
appears stronger than his expressive abilities. (Always nice to have what you
already know confirmed by an 'expert')...He experienced difficulty imitating
various mouth shapes, vowels, and particularly consonant sounds.
This isn't the first report we've received Nate but it's funny to hear your child described in some official document. In the end, it was recommended that he receive services there at the center for communicative disorders, twice a week. This should begin in the fall when the school's semester begins. Until then he'll continue to receive services twice a week through the school district and once a week at his preschool.
On Friday, Nate and I were working in the yard and he wanted to help me water plants. I filled a watering can with water. When it was empty he came over and through his sounds and his holding the can up for me to see, I knew that he wanted more water. In order to get him to try and use words more often (since we're so good at "reading" what he wants, he always opts for the easier way), I had him sign and say /m/ for more and say water (his version is aw-er). He actually put the two words together and said /m/..../or/.....aw....er. That was the most I'd ever heard him say! He was excited he said it and excited to get to water the plants some more. Even though he's only had 2 months of regular therapy, I've definitely seen more improvement in his attempts at words.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Frustration
Nate is making some progress with his speech therapy. According to both of his therapists he is able to make most sounds individually. Now we need to work on getting him to put the sounds together for words. So hard for him sometimes. He almost has the word "up" perfected but many times it comes out only as uh or reversed... puh uh...
Some sad news (and frustrating news) we found out just today, that the SLP he is working with in the school district will be moving. Her last day will be the end of May. I've been able to see a couple of sessions and Nate responds so well that I'm extremely frustrated that he'll have only spent 3 months with her. Who knows what we'll end up with next?? It worries me.
Nate's doing well in his new class at his Montessori preschool. Something that has been troubling me for a while, is that his teacher may not truly understand what Nate's condition encompasses. We've shared information from the Apraxia-Kids website that included a very easy to read letter talking about what it's like to be a student with apraxia. It's almost as if the teacher believes that because he cannot speak that he does not understand academics. He had been working on a basic number activity and she wasn't sure he was really understanding. The trick for Nate and his teachers, at least for now, is that they are going to have to find other ways to check for understanding that doesn't require a verbal response. Today, he did choose to continue working on the math activity and tried to say three -- with his version of "th" which is kind of a "sh" sound.
Next month we have an appointment with a slew of people for the "Asperger's" evaluation. I'm apprehensive about this particular appointment as I know that is NOT what he has and am becoming more cautious about seeing different "specialists" who don't know much. We are scheduled to see an Occupational Therapist, an SLP, a psychologist, and a social worker at this appointment. Not quite sure why a social worker will be there, but it will be a learning experience none the less.
On a positive note, I've met a couple more families with children like Nate who are going through all of these things and it's so helpful to have other people around to talk to and who understand. Facebook has been really helpful with creating these new connections.
Some sad news (and frustrating news) we found out just today, that the SLP he is working with in the school district will be moving. Her last day will be the end of May. I've been able to see a couple of sessions and Nate responds so well that I'm extremely frustrated that he'll have only spent 3 months with her. Who knows what we'll end up with next?? It worries me.
Nate's doing well in his new class at his Montessori preschool. Something that has been troubling me for a while, is that his teacher may not truly understand what Nate's condition encompasses. We've shared information from the Apraxia-Kids website that included a very easy to read letter talking about what it's like to be a student with apraxia. It's almost as if the teacher believes that because he cannot speak that he does not understand academics. He had been working on a basic number activity and she wasn't sure he was really understanding. The trick for Nate and his teachers, at least for now, is that they are going to have to find other ways to check for understanding that doesn't require a verbal response. Today, he did choose to continue working on the math activity and tried to say three -- with his version of "th" which is kind of a "sh" sound.
Next month we have an appointment with a slew of people for the "Asperger's" evaluation. I'm apprehensive about this particular appointment as I know that is NOT what he has and am becoming more cautious about seeing different "specialists" who don't know much. We are scheduled to see an Occupational Therapist, an SLP, a psychologist, and a social worker at this appointment. Not quite sure why a social worker will be there, but it will be a learning experience none the less.
On a positive note, I've met a couple more families with children like Nate who are going through all of these things and it's so helpful to have other people around to talk to and who understand. Facebook has been really helpful with creating these new connections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)