Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Angie was here today to work with Preston. He was in a fantastic mood until he saw her and then it was all over. He just was NOT interested in her games or her toys! The first half of the session was spent just trying to get him involved and from throwing fits. He did finally come around. That kid can be quite a pistol. He was mimicking a lot today. Lots of "mmmmmm's" and "ummmmm's" etc. I am hoping he does better with LaQuita tomorrow than he did with Angie today. Carrie called and she will be coming to the end of our session with LaQuita tomorrow.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Progress
Last night Preston went to the kitchen and stood where we keep the banana's, pointed and said something ----no idea what it was but I am going with "banana". lol!
Also, last night he identified the following animals on his flash cards: duck, cow, kitty, dog, sheep, horse. Today he identified and said the following words/pictures in a book: ball, socks, shoes, truck, milk.
When we were playing with a race track yesterday, whenever we would push the button that pushed the cars to start he would say "DOUGH" (Go)
Slowly but surely we're getting some communication out of him.
We have been working on sensory issues too. It's been tough to get adjusted to adding those into our routines. We have definitely done so with the electric toothbrush....we have wrapped him up tight in a towel....we have been swinging and having him push and lift. He helps me add clothes to the washing machine. Carrie comes again tomorrow and we can get some better direction from her.
Also, last night he identified the following animals on his flash cards: duck, cow, kitty, dog, sheep, horse. Today he identified and said the following words/pictures in a book: ball, socks, shoes, truck, milk.
When we were playing with a race track yesterday, whenever we would push the button that pushed the cars to start he would say "DOUGH" (Go)
Slowly but surely we're getting some communication out of him.
We have been working on sensory issues too. It's been tough to get adjusted to adding those into our routines. We have definitely done so with the electric toothbrush....we have wrapped him up tight in a towel....we have been swinging and having him push and lift. He helps me add clothes to the washing machine. Carrie comes again tomorrow and we can get some better direction from her.
Background
Just for a little background.....Preston Walker Bennett was born March 23, 2006. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz. and came via a planned C-Section. It was an uneventful pregnancy after what seemed like an eternity of trying to conceive. We took fertilty drugs at one point and discussed Invitro as well as IUI with my OB who was doubtful we would conceive without medical intervention. We finally threw in the towel in December of 2004 and took a cruise in January of 2005 set to be a family of four. That summer, we decided to add to our family and adopted a dog from the Humane Society. Milo moved in and 4 days later I conceived Preston....This baby was as near to a miracle as we could imagine.
After a pretty normal first 16 months or so of his life, we went for his 15 month check up (we were a month late) and Dr. Roziona (Pediatrician) asked about his words. At that point Preston only said "hi" (although emphatically) He had said dadda earlier in the summer, as well as mama. But no longer said those words. He didn't appear to have any sort of naming convention for Mike or I or anything else for that matter. Dr Rozina suggested that we contact Johnson County Infants and Toddlers Assn. for an evaluation.
I met with Nikki Weideman in August of 2007. She scheduled LaQuita Rabanaal to come in and evaluate Preston's speech and language. At that time, he was assessed at a 3-6 month level and everything else (behviorally and cognitively) he was right in line with where he should be.
Over the next several months we had lots of progress and a few setbacks. At the time of Preston's 6 month evaluation, it was suggested that Angie Steiger come in and evaluate him, since he was having "attending" problems with LaQuita. He seemed to be getting up and leaving and was hard to keep him attentive to LaQuita's visits. He was really having issues with LaQuita at the time. He seemed to be avoiding her and not making eye contact and playing only with me and paying attention to me but not to her. No matter what fun toys she brought he wanted nothing to do with her. It may have stemmed from a 3 week period that we decided to put him in his high chair for their sessions. He may have been "punishing her" for trapping him in the high chair-lol.....Once Angie started (one hour a week)seeing him weekly, he seemed to be ok with LaQuita and allowed her to play with him and started making eye contact again and was having fun with her.
Angie's evaluation let us know he may be sensory seeking. An Occupational Therapist was called into do an assessment. It was decided after the assessment that 2 hours a month would be allotted for an OT to come into the house and work with Preston regarding his sensory issues.
Carrie Grossdider our newly assigned OT came out April 17th and we began working with her.
The last several weeks have seemed to show quite a bit of progress. Which is why I decided to start keeping this on-line journal. My cousin asked me if I was tracking his progress personally like as in a journal and I thought a blog would be much more along the lines of something I could handle updating!
After a pretty normal first 16 months or so of his life, we went for his 15 month check up (we were a month late) and Dr. Roziona (Pediatrician) asked about his words. At that point Preston only said "hi" (although emphatically) He had said dadda earlier in the summer, as well as mama. But no longer said those words. He didn't appear to have any sort of naming convention for Mike or I or anything else for that matter. Dr Rozina suggested that we contact Johnson County Infants and Toddlers Assn. for an evaluation.
I met with Nikki Weideman in August of 2007. She scheduled LaQuita Rabanaal to come in and evaluate Preston's speech and language. At that time, he was assessed at a 3-6 month level and everything else (behviorally and cognitively) he was right in line with where he should be.
Over the next several months we had lots of progress and a few setbacks. At the time of Preston's 6 month evaluation, it was suggested that Angie Steiger come in and evaluate him, since he was having "attending" problems with LaQuita. He seemed to be getting up and leaving and was hard to keep him attentive to LaQuita's visits. He was really having issues with LaQuita at the time. He seemed to be avoiding her and not making eye contact and playing only with me and paying attention to me but not to her. No matter what fun toys she brought he wanted nothing to do with her. It may have stemmed from a 3 week period that we decided to put him in his high chair for their sessions. He may have been "punishing her" for trapping him in the high chair-lol.....Once Angie started (one hour a week)seeing him weekly, he seemed to be ok with LaQuita and allowed her to play with him and started making eye contact again and was having fun with her.
Angie's evaluation let us know he may be sensory seeking. An Occupational Therapist was called into do an assessment. It was decided after the assessment that 2 hours a month would be allotted for an OT to come into the house and work with Preston regarding his sensory issues.
Carrie Grossdider our newly assigned OT came out April 17th and we began working with her.
The last several weeks have seemed to show quite a bit of progress. Which is why I decided to start keeping this on-line journal. My cousin asked me if I was tracking his progress personally like as in a journal and I thought a blog would be much more along the lines of something I could handle updating!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Children's Mercy Evaluation Team
We met with the evaluation team at Children's Mercy Developmental and Behavorial Sciences group yesterday for Preston's evaluation.
We spent a long and exhausting morning with the group of Doctors at Children’s Mercy Preston got pretty worn out, too. He fell asleep on daddy's shoulder while the Doctors went over their findings with us.They had a lot of work for him and a lot of questions for Mike and I. There is a LOT to take in and several areas of concern. The first being that he is moderately to severely speech and language delayed (DUH-lol).
They could see why they were looking at him for signs of Autism but really aren’t thinking that is what is going on. It appears to be several things. They won’t rule autism out at this point but he is not being diagnosed with it at this time and may never be-which is good! Their primary concerns appear to be Oral Apraxia and possibly dyspraxia. These are all things we will continue to work with the Occupational Therapist on. Speech Pathologists are who ultimately diagnose those types of conditions so we will leave that to LaQuita (our wonderful SP who also, by the way specializes in Apraxia!) at a later time. There also appears to be some attention deficit areas of concern. His attending is just not good-even for a 2 year old. We will have a big report to pour over. Lots of could be’s and maybe’s but I didn’t feel we got any real tangible answers. He also seems to be sensory seeking a great deal and will no doubt really do well with our direction from Carrie (OT). Since he is not pointing much and doesn’t know how to differentiate between different items-slow learner was also mentioned. We always thought he was a great problem solver and well above his age but truthfully he was right at about the age appropriate level for that.
They also noted that he has a lot of difficulty with transitions so that is something we will be working on, as well as always wanting to eat and have something in his mouth at all times. He has a lot of work to do. In fact we all have lots and lots of work to do.
To date he says when asked the following questions:
How old are you Preston? He replies "DOOOOO"
What does a kitty say? he replies "Mow. Mow." (rhymes with "how")
What does a puppy say? He replies "Aarrrrrrrrghhhhh"
He is saying mama and dada in a limited way
Sometimes says "Es dough" (Let's go)
He is a good mimicer but does not seem to initiate words himself.
Lately he signs "more" saying "mo-mo-mo-mo-mo" over and over and it pretty much equals "get it for me" not necessarily "more" of anything.....just get it.
We spent a long and exhausting morning with the group of Doctors at Children’s Mercy Preston got pretty worn out, too. He fell asleep on daddy's shoulder while the Doctors went over their findings with us.They had a lot of work for him and a lot of questions for Mike and I. There is a LOT to take in and several areas of concern. The first being that he is moderately to severely speech and language delayed (DUH-lol).
They could see why they were looking at him for signs of Autism but really aren’t thinking that is what is going on. It appears to be several things. They won’t rule autism out at this point but he is not being diagnosed with it at this time and may never be-which is good! Their primary concerns appear to be Oral Apraxia and possibly dyspraxia. These are all things we will continue to work with the Occupational Therapist on. Speech Pathologists are who ultimately diagnose those types of conditions so we will leave that to LaQuita (our wonderful SP who also, by the way specializes in Apraxia!) at a later time. There also appears to be some attention deficit areas of concern. His attending is just not good-even for a 2 year old. We will have a big report to pour over. Lots of could be’s and maybe’s but I didn’t feel we got any real tangible answers. He also seems to be sensory seeking a great deal and will no doubt really do well with our direction from Carrie (OT). Since he is not pointing much and doesn’t know how to differentiate between different items-slow learner was also mentioned. We always thought he was a great problem solver and well above his age but truthfully he was right at about the age appropriate level for that.
They also noted that he has a lot of difficulty with transitions so that is something we will be working on, as well as always wanting to eat and have something in his mouth at all times. He has a lot of work to do. In fact we all have lots and lots of work to do.
To date he says when asked the following questions:
How old are you Preston? He replies "DOOOOO"
What does a kitty say? he replies "Mow. Mow." (rhymes with "how")
What does a puppy say? He replies "Aarrrrrrrrghhhhh"
He is saying mama and dada in a limited way
Sometimes says "Es dough" (Let's go)
He is a good mimicer but does not seem to initiate words himself.
Lately he signs "more" saying "mo-mo-mo-mo-mo" over and over and it pretty much equals "get it for me" not necessarily "more" of anything.....just get it.
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