Farewell to EI!

Tuesday was our last session with Early Intervention, as Isaiah turns 3 in a couple weeks. It doesn't seem that long ago, that Isaiah was just 17m, and we were just starting the program.

Unfortunately, there are still a lot of questions left unanswered. Our coordinator agreed that there are definitely concerns, not just with his speech, and said he needs a good OT. Unfortunately, it's doubtful that he'll qualify for any through the school at this time because they usually don't deal with "just" sensory issues.

I asked if we went to a developmental specialist and got an official diagnosis of some sort, perhaps SPD, if she thought it would help, and she said no. Some school districts do tend to be more generous with services when there are "medical" diagnosis involved (as I've had several of my blog friends with SN kids tell me had been their experience), but she said in her experience, ours is definitely not one of them.

She did say seeing a developmental specialist might still be a good idea, even if it didn't help with school services, but just to get another opinion on him as a whole. I'll have to think on this.

Other than that, just a wait and see. Wait until he's a bit older and closer to school-age for them to realize that his issues will affect his ability to learn (in a "school" sense, not learning in general, because he's already one smart cookie!). See if the small gaps that he does have increase as time goes by.

She kept apologizing that she wasn't able to do more for Isaiah, and that there probably won't be anything at least for the next 6-12 months, other than speech. I guess it's mostly my fault, though, for not pushing for regular OT sessions while we in the EI program and had the chance. :( We met with the OT back in October, but I suppose I thought that those issues would be more short-term, when they've remained the same/gotten worse.

Anyhoo, I'm remaining positive that things will work out. We'll figure something out, one way or another.

In the meantime, we'll definitely miss Carol and Debby, though!! I wish I could have got a better picture, but Isaiah was in a semi-grumpy mood and didn't want to sit for an actual picture. I just snapped this as he was saying goodbye.

Isaiah's transition meeting: the conclusion

Remember me posting about his initial "transition from Early Intervention to school-provided services" meeting way back in February? Well, in April we met again to discuss a plan. (Yes, I know that was a month ago, I just kept forgetting to blog about it *blush*).

On his official speech/language evaluation (taken at 32 months), for receptive communication, Isaiah performed solidly to the 32 month level, and for expressive communication, he's at the 18 month level.

So, he does qualify for home-based speech therapy, currently set at once a week. It will probably start some time in September, which is kinda stinky. He turns 3 the first week of July, so that's a couple months without any ST.

If I get the chance, I'll post more details about his speech progress and where he's at right now. I feel like we're at a plateau, and it'll be interesting to see if perhaps you guys have any suggestions.

Isaiah's re-evaluation

On Thursday, we had Isaiah's re-evaluation for EI (early intervention) since it had been a year since he started the program. He had so much fun, playing with all the toys and games our coordinater had brought, as did Abbie.

He is doing AWESOME in almost all areas of development, even with quite a few skills above age level. (For example, she was floored at how well he is doing with using the potty, as well as his fine motor skills). He's 28 months old, and at the 12-15m level for communicative speech and 21-24m for receptive. And he's at the 20m level for adaptive skills, but only because he still puts everything into his mouth, as he does great with washing hands, getting undressed, etc.

He's going to continue receiving speech therapy 2x a month, and his behavioral "quirks" were also noted on his report (his need for having things a certain way, becoming overly-anxious if they aren't, etc).

We went over his goals from last year, and he's met almost all of them! *yay!* He makes 10+ exclamations/sound effects, he's making 10+ consonant/vowel combinations, he has 30+ word/word approximations, he's using single words to request things, he's labeling familiar objects in a book. That's amazing progress, considering this time last year, he wasn't using ANY words, and only made vowel sounds (oooh, aaah).

Our new goals include repeating non-familiar words, using more multi-syllable words, using 2 word phrases, using more using different sounds in multi-syllable words (all of his current multi-syllable words are the same sound, repeated), and a couple other smaller ones that I don't remember offhand. The main long-term goal is saying and using 50 words, with at least 75% of them understandable to a stranger. (He has close to 50 words now, but the majority of them are sooo vague, that I doubt anyone else could understand them... heck, I have trouble a lot of the time!)

We didn't make any official goals for the behavioral stuff, but I'm hoping that with the OT suggestions (which I'll write about next), and some changes around the house, we can curb some of those. I'm really excited and am very hopeful. She's going to send me a copy of the evaluation report, so if I left anything out, I'll update this, but I think that's about everything.

Smiles, Stings, Speech and Sickies

Things have been pretty crazy lately, but I'm starting to accept that as normal. Here's a glimpse of the past few days...

Last week, we were all sick with a nasty tummy virus, resulting in lots and lots of laundry. I had a bunch of chux pads leftover from the homebirth, so I had what I thought was a stroke of genius and used those to surround the kids. Nope, the little buggers somehow managed to miss the pads and puke over every single towel and blanket we own. To make matters worse, the spring is running low like it does every summer, so we have to ration our water usage. I'm still trying to overcome Mount Laundry!

On Tuesday, we met with Isaiah's speech therapist as well as his service coordinator. Although there have been a few new words here and there, Isaiah's been having a lot of total meltdowns. He freaks out if things aren't in a certain order. Lots of crying, lots of tantrums, LOTS of fustration on everyone's part. We are going to try picture cards, which I'm working on right now. Also, we're going to attempt to have more of a schedule, at least with mealtimes and bed/naptime. It'll be hard since we've never done one before, but worth a try. We're meeting again next Tuesday for some more brainstorming.

And in other Isaiah-related news, he got stung by a bee yesterday. He was playing in the playroom and came running to me, screaming his head off. His finger/hand was red and starting to swell. I assumed that maybe it got smooshed in the door or something. I put arnica ointment on it, and helped him hold an ice pack. The picture below is of when it was at it's worse (I was starting to worry about a broken finger), but then it started looking better. Later, Isaiah pulled me by the hand and dragged me in the playroom... where he pointed out a wasp on the floor. Ah, that explains it. Poor little guy!

And, in much happier news, I finally caught Oliver's first smiles on camera! He's been smiling for the past couple weeks, almost always in the morning, but never managed to capture it until the other day. He's such a happy boy first thing in the mornings. Full night sleep, fresh diaper, breastfast (hehe), and he's nothing but smiles.

Look Who's Talking!

So, in my last update, Isaiah was saying "buh" for ball. Well, he is now using "buh/"buh-buh" for book, bubble, boom-boom (fireworks), baby, blanket, pillow, broken, poo-poo, and boo-boo. In addition to mama, dada, more, and "zz-zz" for music. As he has been in speech therapy for six months now, we had a re-evaluation at our last meeting. At 17 months old, he was evaluated at a 6 month level in expressive skills. And now at 22 months old, he's at a 12 month level, but with many milestones on the 15 month level. That's a lot of progress! From barely babbling to over a dozen words/word approximations! Last night, he was getting all comfy cozy in bed, when he said "buh-buh" in a very sad voice. I saw that he had his pillow and blanket. Ah, his baby had fallen on the floor. Once they were reunited, he rolled over and fell asleep. A few months ago, the same scenario would have just brought tears, and lots of them (with the occassional scream), as I took random shots in the dark to figure out what was wrong. This is COMMUNICATION, folks!!!! YAY!

Buh!

Yesterday, I was sitting at the computer when Isaiah walked in the room. He was saying "buh, buh, buh". Just as I turned to look at him, a BALL went sailing past my head.

A NEW WORD!!! And he totally initiated it on his own (not just him repeating something). *happy dance*

We're still working on signing, since he doesn't request things, other than with crying and a lot of vague pointing. So far, the only new sign he's picked up on is "car". (When watching the Baby Signing Time video, he goes nuts doing the sign for "milk", but then I realized that he's confusing it with the universal sign for "bye-bye". He thinks all the babies on the video are waving at him, and he's just returning the gesture!)

It's hard, because I must admit there is a lack of consistency. After a long day, and I'm desperately trying to get dinner on the table with two little ones underfoot, and everyone's crying and whining... no, sometimes I won't bother with signing "eat" myself, much less making him sign it.

Or, he'll take me by the hand and pull me to the kitchen. Then, he'll point to the cabinet where we keep the cups, followed by pointing to the fridge. (All this is usually accompanied by a lot grunting, whining and crying). He's trying to communicate, and I feel bad for withholding a drink, when it's very obvious that's what he wants. But then again, he needs to talk eventually. And we know he can talk. It's just getting him to do it.

Isaiah's 18m appt + speech update

We had Boo's 18m check-up this morning. He's up to 23#, and around 31". (Abbie's 27#... she just had to get on the scale, too!) . We brought markers to color on the paper that's on the exam table. The kids loved that! (Although Isaiah went a bit nuts, so by the time the pediatrician came in, he was covered in green. Oops!)

The ped. didn't even bring up vax this time (I think this is the second time in the row he hasn't questioned my decision, so yay!) He made a note in his chart about Boo's milk allergy and speech delay (although, he'll be getting a copy of his evaluation and progress reports from EI).

Speaking of which, that's going really well. I've been meaning to update on this, but we fianlly have his first word of sorts! Isaiah will say "MA!" for milk and more. (Hopefully "mama" will be next!) He's starting to babble a lot more with a greater variety of sounds, which is very reassuring. We've also been "promoted" in ST- instead of once a week, we're now doing once every 2 weeks of in-home visits. The woman that we are working with is absolutely WONDERFUL. Basically, she just comes in and plays with us, while giving me tips on how to encourage Isaiah to be more vocal.

Oh, I don't think I updated on this either, but a couple weeks ago we went to the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind to have a full hearing test done. He did really well and passed everything. (Although, he wouldn't keep the earphones on for the reactive test, so we have to go back this summer if he's still receiving ST).

Anything else you wanna know about my little Snuggle Monster, just ask! Other than being the strong, silent type, he's your typical toddler- getting into everything, climbing on everything, constantly causing chaos.

Isaiah's Speech Evaluation

We had Isaiah's EI evaluation today. He's doing excellent in most areas, scoring at or above his age level. They just couldn't get over how bright he was. Of course, then there's the speech area where he's only at a 6mo level. So, yeah... definitely needs some help in that area. We're having a speech therapist come out to the house once a week to work with him. We met with her today, and she's absolutely wonderful. We made our goals for the next year. Our long-term goal is 50 understandable, consistant words. (Seeing as how he has ZERO now, this is very exciting!). I'm really looking foward to this. She kept saying how it's great that I called so early. And rarely does she see kids this young, but with his delay, he definitely needs it. Expecially since he's not making any consonant sounds, it'll be hard for him to progress until he learns those. (DH was being a negative ninny this morning... but hasn't said anything since. Hopefully he sees that is a very beneficial thing, if not neccessary, at this point.) Oh, I do need to make an appt. to get his hearing checked. She said she prefers it in all speech cases. We missed having the newborn screening done, since he was born at home... and we never got around to making a separate appointment. (Yeah, talk about mucho guilt when she asked about this. He doesn't *seem* to have a hearing problem... expecially since his receptive skills are spot-on for the most part.) I really hope this will help him communicate his needs better. He still cries SO much during the day. Not only fustrating to him, I'm sure, but to me as well. Makes me feel like a horrible momma, when he seems so miserable and unhappy. So, keep your fingers crossed!

A Boy of Little Words...

Today, a couple ladies from Early Intervention came up to the house. We're seeing if Isaiah (almost 17m) qualifies for any services since he still isn't talking at all. I've really been back and forth on this decision. I've had people tell me "Yes, call immediately! The earlier they catch problems, the better" and others say "No, he's perfectly fine. My kid didn't talk until X years old." But, after putting it off for a couple months and seeing very little progress, I decided to call. Both of them were REALLY nice. The main one who is in charge of everything was super-friendly. She's a SpEd teacher, so she was all on the floor, playing with Isaiah. He took right to her, and hugged her right away. Lots of paperwork. Felt like I was signing over my soul, not requesting an evaluation. LOL. She said that while he's VERY bright and does have great receptive skills, she does feel like he has a delay, expecially since he's not using any consonant sounds. She's going to talk to the speech therapist and we're going to have an official evaluation here at the house next Tuesday. And if need be, set up an IEP for future services. After today's meeting, I'm feeling a lot more confident in my decision. It seems they focus on teaching the parent how to work with the child through their daily routine. Which is what I'm all about. It's NOT going to be him going to a strange place with a strange person, sitting down at a little desk, doing flashcards. Actually, how she was describing it, it was really meshing with my thoughts on unschooling, so that was reassuring. I'll keep post an update after the evaluation, as well as progress!