Monthly Consult & Update

Look at this SWEET little train lovin' baby boy! Alex has grown so much in the past couple of years, not just from this cute little baby to a sweet big boy, but he has grown so much in his ability to communicate. I love talking to my little guy. I am so thankful for everyone who has been a part of making this happen for him, including those who have helped encourage his weary mama.

I received a call today that it is time for us to begin our monthly consult, since the time Alex was discharged from weekly therapy. There is such a demand for this place of therapy that even though we were a current patient, we still had to go on a priority waiting list. The time we have had "off" has been a nice break for all of us, since it takes a large majority of our day to go to therapy due to the travel time. For the past two years, we have driven once to twice a week an hour there, an hour for therapy, and an hour back home. But, every mile, every minute was worth it, and I feel so blessed that we were able to get Alex the appropriate therapy AND have insurance coverage! Anyway, I am eager to get started back. I have heard so many wonderful things about the therapist who will be working with Alex, who happens to be one of their apraxia specialists. I am excited that this will help keep us on the right path and this should fit in pretty nicely with his Kindergarten schedule in the Fall, where he will also be receiving 30 minutes twice a week of small group speech therapy.

We are also in the middle of getting his occupational therapy evaluation underway, just waiting for the call to set up an appointment. I am interested in what the results will be, as he hasn't been evaluated since his third birthday. He qualified for occupational services at that time, but he had much more need in the speech area so we chose to concentrate on that first and foremost. I'm basically wanting to know at this point if we should be doing anything more to help Alex perform to the best of his ability in the classroom setting, that goes beyond the norm, based on his individual needs. And, if we should pursue occupational therapy in the school system as well, if it will benefit those needs.

Overall, Alex still seems to be steady. No real notice of regression since his last therapy session. Still LOTS of reminding him of sounds he should know and be using on his own, but is not. However, I actually heard him say "school" and "this" (dis) today on his own, which I constantly have to remind him about the /s/ sounds. We are still working hard to get him to say things such as "I AM hungry" instead of "I hungry", and "We ARE eating" instead of "we eating", etc. He seems to have gotten the hang of past tense with 'ed' at the end quickly, such as "The dog jumped over the fence. This is the dog that jumped." And, 'ing' words are coming along nicely (ex. going, sitting). Alex has had to work so hard for his accomplishments, so it is such a blessing to me even for the smallest of them!

Summer Break!

Alex graduated his preschool program at the end of May, and we already had his IEP meeting to get ready for Kindergarten! I have peace that we have made the best decision to go on and send Alex to school this year and not hold him back. He is such a smart little guy and it would seem so unfair to him. They are making arrangements for his class to be an "inclusion" classroom, where he will not only have a smaller number of students in his class, but they will also have the assistance of the special education teacher and speech therapist regularly. Alex will get 30 minutes of speech therapy twice a week in a small group setting. And, anytime he needs additional help, such as with reading, as some children with apraxia tend to have difficulty with, he will have the option of additional one-on-one assistance from the special education teacher regularly depending on his needs. We have already met his Kindergarten teacher, and she seems so sweet. Alex is getting really excited about Kindergarten, and I'm getting excited too!

At the end of May, we were still going regularly to speech therapy once a week. However, due to the possibility of bouncing around with therapists this summer, since we were losing our regular speech therapist, I decided it was probably just best to go to a once-a-month consult, and continue working with Alex at home. The consultation would help us monitor his progress and continue giving us ideas of how to work with Alex at home. Just to keep us on track and give us some direction. I feel most comfortable this way. So far it's been a few weeks and I am pleased to say that Alex has not experienced any regression that I can tell, which is a blessing! However, I can't say that I've seen any real progress either. I have to remind him to use sounds he has learned. The more words he strings together, the more intelligible it becomes, and the more sounds he drops. I'll gently remind him by asking, "Alex, are you using all of your sounds?" He is such as sweetheart to always give it another try.

Right now we are just enjoying our summer vacation. Tomorrow the kids begin their week of Vacation Bible School at our church. They are so excited! I really want to make the most of this summer before my "baby" heads off to school. It just absolutely doesn't seem possible that he could already be such a "big boy" and yet still my baby. I have already planned his first day of school to come home and cry ALL day. It was so different with Sarah. She's so independent and was ready long before they were ready for her. It's just so different this time. The first day of school will be here before we know it.