Life has snatched me up by the pigtails and is shaking my like a rag doll. I am so busy this week.
-wiper blade committed suicide while driving down road in pouring rain
-snow gone, replaced by rain and MUD in my front yard
-VBS planning in high gear
-Jack beginning to shriek when not getting way
-3rd son caught in lie of tremendous proportions, parenting in panic mode
-hair color too dang dark
-2nd son's OCD over school pants condition out of control
Guess where we are going to be from July 6th to July 29th??
I am so excited. We were last down there in the summer of 2006. The boys paternal Puerto Rican grandparents haven't seen the kids since then. Tickets have been purchased and plans are being made. Winter is almost bearable again knowing that we are getting to vacation this year.
Jack had his first one on one speech therapy today and by the end of the hour he told her bye bye with no prompting. I almost peed.
Friday's speech play group was HUGE. Ten kids showed up because the weather was good, I guess. I practically wrote a book to tell my board mates at Ivillage about the day so I am going to copy and paste that here for you guys.
So, the SLPs are incredibly sweet and adore Jack. He is cute, of course, but they seem so taken with the fact that he signs so well. He is a novelty. I think his type of speech delay/disorder (still suspected apraxia) is not common and everybody wants to work with him. It's like being the prettiest girl at the party!! Plus, my mom brought snacks. They love us.
Now the hard part.
Age at evaluation-1 year, 4 months (16 months)
EIDP test- Language skills consistent at 8 month level, scattered up into age range of 12-15 months. Average language age was 12 months.
it says "expressive significantly below comprehension". Its the difference in the two that makes him eligible.
The final paragraph of that report has "moderate impairment" checked.
Of course, this report has WAY more information than this. It's broken down into many smaller chunks of information.
His IFSP says he will get one hour a week one on one therapy minimum and 4 hours a month group therapy (that is the play group). I told her I was incredibly flexible and would bring him to her when needed. She said it won't say it on the paper, but he can get more services that way.
The goals are-
imitate tongue movements, decreased drooling, and eat age appropriate foods.
produce early speech sounds (b, p, m, d, t, n, w, h) in C-V, C-V-C-V, and V-C combos
use early speech sounds in single words when provided a model
spontaneously use early speech sounds in single words
use variety of words (10 verbal approximations, 100 signs) to express his wants/needs and share info
Expected timeframe for above goals- 6 months
I am optimistic about how much therapy he will get, but I don't feel one way or another about how I think the actual therapy will work. I am just hoping for the best. His first one on one is Monday.
This morning is Jack's IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting. It will be after his speech play group. My mom is going with me to help me remember what I need to ask and judge if what they are offering in the way of services is good enough. Of course, we want what is best for him, but it is so early that I don't know how much therapy will be enough. The good thing is you can request a change at any time.
My friend, Sleep Goblin is amazingly generous. Remember that she is the one who sent Jack those awesome Macobabies flash cards. She made an adorable picture based on my front yard in spring!! She used her new toy. I am not sure which one she got, but I know she will tell us eventually in the comments.
She is an awesome friend and I wish I could meet her in real life. We are like peas in a pod. Or cats in a box. With a kid. Or something.
This past Sunday was my turn chaperoning youth group and we got lucky. The younger kids, F.R.O.Gs were going Cosmic Bowling and we were invited to join them. Woot. The kids had an awesome time.
Jack had so much fun watching the kids bowl.
So much that he passed out.
As for lettuce, do you realize that I am going to need 25 cups of shredded lettuce for VBS? That boggles my mind. I don't even want to know how many heads it takes to make 25 cups. Egads.
