Two months ago, when Ava had barely three words, and yet could understand everything going on around her I could see the frustration building. She had so much she wanted to communicate and it was all locked inside her. In fact, I think it was her frustration that was making her so stubborn about even trying to imitate. She wouldn’t even try. That was why we started by giving her completely new ways to communicate. We used signs and the communication boards and you could just see the light in her eyes. She was so excited to be able to communicate successfully.
We also started working on her speech. I worked with her at home and she was seeing first one (twice a week for half an hour – private therapist), then two (once every two weeks for an hour – local apraxia expert), and now three (once a week for one hour – state early intervention therapist) therapists. Once she experienced the tiniest bit of success, and the praise and attention that went along with it, she began progressing quickly and steadily. She went from simply learning how to and being willing to try to imitate, to imitating single syllables with familiar sounds, to imitating single syllables with new sounds, to repeating multiple syllables with those sounds, to spontaneously trying familiar and new words, and finally to making some two and even three word utterances. The progress in speech alone is wonderful and gratifying.
What is amazing is the personality and confidence explosion that is taking place at the same time. It’s like I’m finally getting to meet my daughter and she’s finally getting to meet the people around her too. Her bond with her family members has intensified exponentially. She and her brother are communicating and playing with each other so much more. She’s trying to sing. She’s engaging in imaginary play. She’s initiating play with other children instead of pushing away every advance another child makes. Today, at her two year pediatrician visit, she went through all of the usual things (being weighed, measured, having her ears examined and her heart listened to, etc.) with a minimum of protest. The last time we went, the doctor and I could barely hear each other over the constant screaming. Today we were able to carry on a conversation without raising our voices at all.
The changes are fairly dramatic and almost all positive. Fine, I probably could do without the loud and gleeful shouts of “no” which she seems to use just because she thinks it’s fun. Seriously, there’s an amused gleam in her eye. She obviously finds it entertaining. But overall I’m delighted to see her personality unlocked and I like the little girl I’m finally getting to know.
A Speech Pathologist Mother and Her Daughter Diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Showing posts with label Ava. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ava. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sometimes I just want to be me
In an alternate reality I live in a world where I am completely selfless, well-rested, and perfectly healthy. In that reality, I have the energy and enthusiasm to devote hours of my time to my children. I would play with them, do enrichment activities with them (cooking, art, music, physical play, literacy, etc.), and make sure that Ava and I get at least 30 minutes of direct, targeted therapy time every day.
In this reality, our household has spent more time sick this winter than well. This makes everyone tired and cranky in addition to the actual symptoms of the current illness (stomach bugs, colds, sinus infections, pink eye, etc.). I seem to be operating on a constant sleep deficit which is being exacerbated by Ava’s desire to wake with the sun. In our area, the sun is currently beginning to show up before 6am. And, to be perfectly honest, I am selfish. I want some time to call my own. I want some time separate from my children. I want to read, or blog, or play a game, or do a craft activity, or have a quiet moment where I do absolutely nothing. As a stay at home mother, I am with my children from the moment they wake till the moment they go to sleep all seven days a week. As much as I love them, that is a lot of time to spend with a two year old and a three year old who don’t know the meaning of independent play yet.
Each day, Ava wakes from her afternoon nap at least an hour earlier than her brother. This is supposed to be her therapy time. It’s the perfect time to do it in theory. She’s well rested and with a small snack, well fed. Sometimes I just don’t want to. I’d rather let her watch tv while Michael finishes his nap. This effectively extends my afternoon break from about one hour to about two. But I feel doubly guilty about this desire. First, tv is the root of all evil (ok, not really, but how many articles do we read about how bad tv is for our children?). Second, it’s her THERAPY. It should be non-negotiable. I shouldn’t even be considering letting it go. It doesn’t matter that she’s getting it elsewhere anywhere from three to five times a week. I have the skills to supplement her therapy myself. I should be doing it. Boy do I hate the word “should.” Anyway, sometimes I just want to be mama (and an imperfect one at that), instead of being a therapist.
And that’s my confession of the day.
In this reality, our household has spent more time sick this winter than well. This makes everyone tired and cranky in addition to the actual symptoms of the current illness (stomach bugs, colds, sinus infections, pink eye, etc.). I seem to be operating on a constant sleep deficit which is being exacerbated by Ava’s desire to wake with the sun. In our area, the sun is currently beginning to show up before 6am. And, to be perfectly honest, I am selfish. I want some time to call my own. I want some time separate from my children. I want to read, or blog, or play a game, or do a craft activity, or have a quiet moment where I do absolutely nothing. As a stay at home mother, I am with my children from the moment they wake till the moment they go to sleep all seven days a week. As much as I love them, that is a lot of time to spend with a two year old and a three year old who don’t know the meaning of independent play yet.
Each day, Ava wakes from her afternoon nap at least an hour earlier than her brother. This is supposed to be her therapy time. It’s the perfect time to do it in theory. She’s well rested and with a small snack, well fed. Sometimes I just don’t want to. I’d rather let her watch tv while Michael finishes his nap. This effectively extends my afternoon break from about one hour to about two. But I feel doubly guilty about this desire. First, tv is the root of all evil (ok, not really, but how many articles do we read about how bad tv is for our children?). Second, it’s her THERAPY. It should be non-negotiable. I shouldn’t even be considering letting it go. It doesn’t matter that she’s getting it elsewhere anywhere from three to five times a week. I have the skills to supplement her therapy myself. I should be doing it. Boy do I hate the word “should.” Anyway, sometimes I just want to be mama (and an imperfect one at that), instead of being a therapist.
And that’s my confession of the day.
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Saturday, March 5, 2011
Two-word combinations begin
I swear my daughter must be sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to read my blog. She reads it to find out what I’m saying she can’t do. Then she proceeds to do that very thing over the next few days simply because she loves proving me wrong.
Just last weekend I was doing some research watching some old home videos trying to see differences between the speech development of Ava and Michael. The major thing that stood out to me was the ease with which Michael could combine words. Ava struggled to do so. A couple of days later I wrote a post on the topic.
Since then, Ava has begun combining words. Frequently. Many times each day. She will do it in imitation succeeding about half the time. She’ll also do it spontaneously. Last Saturday morning, when we picked Ava up from my parents’ house, my dad said, “Listen to what Ava can do.” He told her, “Say Papa house.” Ava then repeated, clear as day, “Papa (small pause) house.” I was amazed and excited and so proud. We heaped praise upon her. As we were driving home the little show off then said, “Mama house.” It was the beginning of something new.
We were walking into her school where they’ve decorated the entryway for spring with construction paper flowers. Ava stopped, pointed, and said, “Pink flower. Red flower. Purple flower.” Seriously! Who is this child? She likes to label things by owner. So, “Mama shoe. Dada shoe. My shoe.” She even said, “Mama no shoe,” once. It’s crazy.
Now, I don’t want to give the impression that all of this is coming out perfectly or easily, or that she is successful all the time. It’s still pretty obvious that combining words takes effort. Many speech sounds are being left out and the words don’t at all sound like adult pronunciations would. She also doesn’t succeed all the time. Often, when asked to say a two word sentence the words will still come out as two of the same word. And she still uses one word sentences most of the time. However, this is a huge breakthrough. She is using two word phrases some of the time. I guess the tapping and encouragement made sense for her. I can’t believe this is the same child that scored at the four-six month old level in speech and language only two months ago.
So what does this mean? Well, I still believe that we are dealing with a disorder. The history is too atypical for the speech problems to be a simple delay or just due to the hearing loss due to the fluid in her ears. I do think, at this point, that I feel fairly safe in saying her disorder is on the milder side. Children with a severe disorder work just as hard, and don’t have the same kind of response to intervention. If I had spent two months working intensively with Ava and had seen very little progress that would indicate a more severe disorder. Given the extent of her delay two months ago, I feared something quite severe. I told my family that I wasn’t going to make any predictions though until I saw how responsive she was to intervention. I told them I’d know more in 3-4 months. Only two months later I can say that she’s been very responsive so far and that is a very good sign.
We’ll continue to work with her. She still needs to fine-tune many vowels. She’s missing lots of consonants as well. I’d like to try to start to get her to add final consonants to the ends of her words. And, of course, we want her to continue to use those two word phrases and to add more of them gradually increasing to three or even four word sentences. I’ll consult with Ms. J this weekend and let her expertise guide me in determining which of those things is most important and guide me in how to best achieve those goals.
Just last weekend I was doing some research watching some old home videos trying to see differences between the speech development of Ava and Michael. The major thing that stood out to me was the ease with which Michael could combine words. Ava struggled to do so. A couple of days later I wrote a post on the topic.
Since then, Ava has begun combining words. Frequently. Many times each day. She will do it in imitation succeeding about half the time. She’ll also do it spontaneously. Last Saturday morning, when we picked Ava up from my parents’ house, my dad said, “Listen to what Ava can do.” He told her, “Say Papa house.” Ava then repeated, clear as day, “Papa (small pause) house.” I was amazed and excited and so proud. We heaped praise upon her. As we were driving home the little show off then said, “Mama house.” It was the beginning of something new.
We were walking into her school where they’ve decorated the entryway for spring with construction paper flowers. Ava stopped, pointed, and said, “Pink flower. Red flower. Purple flower.” Seriously! Who is this child? She likes to label things by owner. So, “Mama shoe. Dada shoe. My shoe.” She even said, “Mama no shoe,” once. It’s crazy.
Now, I don’t want to give the impression that all of this is coming out perfectly or easily, or that she is successful all the time. It’s still pretty obvious that combining words takes effort. Many speech sounds are being left out and the words don’t at all sound like adult pronunciations would. She also doesn’t succeed all the time. Often, when asked to say a two word sentence the words will still come out as two of the same word. And she still uses one word sentences most of the time. However, this is a huge breakthrough. She is using two word phrases some of the time. I guess the tapping and encouragement made sense for her. I can’t believe this is the same child that scored at the four-six month old level in speech and language only two months ago.
So what does this mean? Well, I still believe that we are dealing with a disorder. The history is too atypical for the speech problems to be a simple delay or just due to the hearing loss due to the fluid in her ears. I do think, at this point, that I feel fairly safe in saying her disorder is on the milder side. Children with a severe disorder work just as hard, and don’t have the same kind of response to intervention. If I had spent two months working intensively with Ava and had seen very little progress that would indicate a more severe disorder. Given the extent of her delay two months ago, I feared something quite severe. I told my family that I wasn’t going to make any predictions though until I saw how responsive she was to intervention. I told them I’d know more in 3-4 months. Only two months later I can say that she’s been very responsive so far and that is a very good sign.
We’ll continue to work with her. She still needs to fine-tune many vowels. She’s missing lots of consonants as well. I’d like to try to start to get her to add final consonants to the ends of her words. And, of course, we want her to continue to use those two word phrases and to add more of them gradually increasing to three or even four word sentences. I’ll consult with Ms. J this weekend and let her expertise guide me in determining which of those things is most important and guide me in how to best achieve those goals.
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Friday, March 4, 2011
Surgery
Ava’s surgery went well. It was a stressful day for everyone though. We needed to be at the hospital by 6:15 am. We couldn’t give her anything other than clear liquids and nothing after 5am. So we woke her up at 5:00 in the morning and gave her some apple juice. Then we dressed her and popped her in the car for the ride to the hospital. Michael spent the night and then the morning with his grandfather (my mother was still in the hospital).
Ava pitched a fit when they put on her identification bracelet. Then she pitched another fit when they took her vitals. Then we got to wait. They decided to give her something for her anxiety because they couldn’t imagine her separating from us any other way. It worked beautifully. A loopy toddler is actually cute and a bit funny. They took her back to surgery and as I understand it, they put her under first with the mask before putting in her IV. If she were only having the tubes put in, they wouldn’t have needed the IV at all.
Putting in the tubes went smoothly. She still has a lot of fluid in her right ear although the left was clear. We definitely made the right decision about the tubes. It’s been 2-3 months solid now that she’s had fluid in one ear and maybe both. That has a huge impact on hearing. After her ears were drained they did the hearing test. The audiologist said her hearing is great which is wonderful news.
When I got to the recovery area Ava was in a groggy panic. They let her wake up without me and with the IV still in and strapped to her hand and arm. She was extremely upset about the IV. They apparently wanted to leave it in until they were sure she wasn’t going to throw up. I asked them to take it out and explained that she wasn’t going to calm down until it was out. After that it was just a matter of giving her some juice and graham crackers and waiting an hour or so until they let us go home.
We were home by lunch and Ava was eating a cheese roll up as if nothing unusual had happened that morning. Overall, a decent experience. I’m grateful everything went well. It’s good to know she can finally hear because all the fluid is gone and that the tubes will keep it from building up in there again. It's also good to know for sure that there isn't an underlying hearing loss separate from the fluid in the middle ear issue.
So now, we can move on with therapy knowing that Ava can hear us clearly.
Ava pitched a fit when they put on her identification bracelet. Then she pitched another fit when they took her vitals. Then we got to wait. They decided to give her something for her anxiety because they couldn’t imagine her separating from us any other way. It worked beautifully. A loopy toddler is actually cute and a bit funny. They took her back to surgery and as I understand it, they put her under first with the mask before putting in her IV. If she were only having the tubes put in, they wouldn’t have needed the IV at all.
Putting in the tubes went smoothly. She still has a lot of fluid in her right ear although the left was clear. We definitely made the right decision about the tubes. It’s been 2-3 months solid now that she’s had fluid in one ear and maybe both. That has a huge impact on hearing. After her ears were drained they did the hearing test. The audiologist said her hearing is great which is wonderful news.
When I got to the recovery area Ava was in a groggy panic. They let her wake up without me and with the IV still in and strapped to her hand and arm. She was extremely upset about the IV. They apparently wanted to leave it in until they were sure she wasn’t going to throw up. I asked them to take it out and explained that she wasn’t going to calm down until it was out. After that it was just a matter of giving her some juice and graham crackers and waiting an hour or so until they let us go home.
We were home by lunch and Ava was eating a cheese roll up as if nothing unusual had happened that morning. Overall, a decent experience. I’m grateful everything went well. It’s good to know she can finally hear because all the fluid is gone and that the tubes will keep it from building up in there again. It's also good to know for sure that there isn't an underlying hearing loss separate from the fluid in the middle ear issue.
So now, we can move on with therapy knowing that Ava can hear us clearly.
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Thursday, March 3, 2011
Apraxia and infant bonding
This topic is a touchy one for me. I think it is because it ties in to my opinion of myself as a mother. I was always good with kids. Good with babies. I had lots of younger cousins and entertained them at family gatherings well before I was old enough to babysit. Once in high school and through the first two years of college I did a ton of babysitting. Then I chose to work with children as my profession.
I just assumed I’d be a wonderful mother. Before Michael was born I imagined bonding with him as an infant. I imagined he’s be comforted by my arms, voice, and face. I imagined playing peek-a-boo, singing songs, exchanging smiles and baby-talk. What I got was a baby who cried almost nonstop for 8 months. He didn’t seem to be comforted any more by me than by anyone else. He didn’t smile on schedule. He didn’t laugh on schedule. He preferred looking past me at the lights behind me rather than looking into my eyes. We never played peek-a-boo. He didn’t babble. I thought people were exaggerating when they talked about bonding with their infants. I thought they were reading things into their children’s behavior that weren’t there. I just didn’t realize exactly how different Michael’s early development was.
Ava followed only 15 and a half months later. She was a little more typical. She didn’t have the fascination with lights and the eye contact avoidance. She didn’t cry as much. She did seem to prefer her parents somewhat to others. In comparison, she seemed like such an easier baby. In retrospect, she still didn’t smile, laugh, coo, or babble on schedule. We still didn’t have that give and take, that positive feedback loop that leads to the early bonding so many people have with their infants.
My husband and I just thought we weren’t baby people. We didn’t realize that we were having a perfectly normal reaction to the fact that our children weren’t as socially interactive as a typical infant. It’s hard to bond with a baby that doesn’t smile at you. It’s hard to bond with a baby that doesn’t play the typical back and forth infant games like peek-a-boo and other finger plays. Without that interaction, bonding is just more difficult and will happen slower.
When I was watching home videos I came across one of Ava when she had just started to smile. She was almost 4 months old. It was difficult to get her to smile, and when I did it was in response to tickling (a physical stimulus), not in response to a social overture. She almost seemed to be struggling. I can remember that Michael’s first laugh was in response to being thrown up in the air and caught again – also in response to a physical stimulus. And he was much older.
Looking back on it now, I think much of this could be related to the apraxia. The late smiles and laughs and the lack of babbling are all early red flags for apraxia. I never really reflected on the impact that has on the parent’s relationship with their baby – and their confidence in themselves as a parent.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? It would make for an amazing research study.
I just assumed I’d be a wonderful mother. Before Michael was born I imagined bonding with him as an infant. I imagined he’s be comforted by my arms, voice, and face. I imagined playing peek-a-boo, singing songs, exchanging smiles and baby-talk. What I got was a baby who cried almost nonstop for 8 months. He didn’t seem to be comforted any more by me than by anyone else. He didn’t smile on schedule. He didn’t laugh on schedule. He preferred looking past me at the lights behind me rather than looking into my eyes. We never played peek-a-boo. He didn’t babble. I thought people were exaggerating when they talked about bonding with their infants. I thought they were reading things into their children’s behavior that weren’t there. I just didn’t realize exactly how different Michael’s early development was.
Ava followed only 15 and a half months later. She was a little more typical. She didn’t have the fascination with lights and the eye contact avoidance. She didn’t cry as much. She did seem to prefer her parents somewhat to others. In comparison, she seemed like such an easier baby. In retrospect, she still didn’t smile, laugh, coo, or babble on schedule. We still didn’t have that give and take, that positive feedback loop that leads to the early bonding so many people have with their infants.
My husband and I just thought we weren’t baby people. We didn’t realize that we were having a perfectly normal reaction to the fact that our children weren’t as socially interactive as a typical infant. It’s hard to bond with a baby that doesn’t smile at you. It’s hard to bond with a baby that doesn’t play the typical back and forth infant games like peek-a-boo and other finger plays. Without that interaction, bonding is just more difficult and will happen slower.
When I was watching home videos I came across one of Ava when she had just started to smile. She was almost 4 months old. It was difficult to get her to smile, and when I did it was in response to tickling (a physical stimulus), not in response to a social overture. She almost seemed to be struggling. I can remember that Michael’s first laugh was in response to being thrown up in the air and caught again – also in response to a physical stimulus. And he was much older.
Looking back on it now, I think much of this could be related to the apraxia. The late smiles and laughs and the lack of babbling are all early red flags for apraxia. I never really reflected on the impact that has on the parent’s relationship with their baby – and their confidence in themselves as a parent.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? It would make for an amazing research study.
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Doubt
Ava has been making progress quickly. It’s a blessing I am truly grateful for. However, an interesting side effect is that people (family, friends) are beginning to ask me if I perhaps over-reacted. Perhaps Ava is just a late talker after all. Perhaps she’ll catch up just like Michael did. Ava's swift progress combined with questions from others and the reluctance from other professionals to officially diagnose began to make me doubt myself.
So I went to our home videos. I wanted to compare Ava’s speech now (about two months after she first started making progress) to Michael’s speech at that same point – two months after he first started making progress. That would be when he was about 18-19 months old. It was interesting. Most of the time his speech sounded very much like Ava’s speech right now. He didn’t have any final consonants either. He was using mostly one word utterances. But, and this is a big but, when he did combine words he easily put two to three words together. Neither word sounded exactly like the adult version of the word, but they were combined easily and you could tell them apart. You could tell that he was saying two different words and combining them with no difficulty. That is a huge contrast with Ava. She has to work to try to combine words. When she tries they usually all come out the same. This is not typical.
Michael did not develop on a typical timeline, and his early history was atypical, but once things finally got started they followed a typical developmental pattern. That is a late talker. That is a delay, not a disorder. Ava is different. She needed therapy (and possibly fish oil supplementation) to get started. And now that things are started, the development does not look typical. This is disorder, not a delay. I don’t know yet what the future holds for her. The great progress so far gives me hope that her disorder (suspected CAS) is on the milder end of the spectrum. I am sure, however, that this is a disorder and not a delay. I am not over-reacting. I will continue to do everything in my power to help her. Both my professional and my mama instincts tell me that. And my research confirms it.
So I went to our home videos. I wanted to compare Ava’s speech now (about two months after she first started making progress) to Michael’s speech at that same point – two months after he first started making progress. That would be when he was about 18-19 months old. It was interesting. Most of the time his speech sounded very much like Ava’s speech right now. He didn’t have any final consonants either. He was using mostly one word utterances. But, and this is a big but, when he did combine words he easily put two to three words together. Neither word sounded exactly like the adult version of the word, but they were combined easily and you could tell them apart. You could tell that he was saying two different words and combining them with no difficulty. That is a huge contrast with Ava. She has to work to try to combine words. When she tries they usually all come out the same. This is not typical.
Michael did not develop on a typical timeline, and his early history was atypical, but once things finally got started they followed a typical developmental pattern. That is a late talker. That is a delay, not a disorder. Ava is different. She needed therapy (and possibly fish oil supplementation) to get started. And now that things are started, the development does not look typical. This is disorder, not a delay. I don’t know yet what the future holds for her. The great progress so far gives me hope that her disorder (suspected CAS) is on the milder end of the spectrum. I am sure, however, that this is a disorder and not a delay. I am not over-reacting. I will continue to do everything in my power to help her. Both my professional and my mama instincts tell me that. And my research confirms it.
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Our house = Plague ground zero
So, as I discussed, Michael had some kind of stomach bug last week. It hit him last Friday night to be exact. I didn’t mention it at the time, but my husband and I came down with it Sunday night. We thought Ava had escaped because she was at her my parents’ house Friday night. They even kept her Saturday night too to try to protect her. I didn’t know I was sick yet on Sunday so we had therapy with Ms. J that morning and our playdate. I found out later that Sara got sick this past week. Then Ava got sick anyway Monday night. So far, this bug had proven to be extremely contagious. But at that point we thought we were clear. No one had been sick since Monday night.
Thursday my mom had the day off so she spent the morning with us. The other set of grandparents were coming in to town this past weekend to celebrate Ava’s birthday with us. The party was planned for Saturday morning. Ava spent Saturday night at my parents’ house again so we could decorate. Saturday morning early my parents called asking us to come get her. My mom had the bug. My parents were going to have to miss the party. Mom had to have picked it up at our house Thursday morning even though no one was sick any longer.
So if you’re counting we now have infected all four of us, a playdate friend, and my mother. Victims = 6. We did warn my husband’s parents. But they had driven 8 hours to spend some time with us so they came. It was wonderful. We had a delightful party. The children and the grandparents played beautifully together. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday together. We had plans to go to a children’s museum together Monday. Nope. Both of my husband’s parents got sick last night. My dad got sick too. Now we’re up to 9 victims. Seriously, this thing has a 100% infection rate.
Everyone else had a terrible 5-8 hours and then several days of low appetite/energy. My mom, on the other hand, is now in the hospital. In an isolation room. She’s not getting better. Three days in her symptoms are still severe. I feel terrible. I’m worried.
So, due to a bug that passed through our household last weekend and we thought had passed, we managed to put my mother in the hospital and infect three other grandparents as well. Two of those grandparents drove 8 hours for the privilege. Not our most successful weekend ever.
Thursday my mom had the day off so she spent the morning with us. The other set of grandparents were coming in to town this past weekend to celebrate Ava’s birthday with us. The party was planned for Saturday morning. Ava spent Saturday night at my parents’ house again so we could decorate. Saturday morning early my parents called asking us to come get her. My mom had the bug. My parents were going to have to miss the party. Mom had to have picked it up at our house Thursday morning even though no one was sick any longer.
So if you’re counting we now have infected all four of us, a playdate friend, and my mother. Victims = 6. We did warn my husband’s parents. But they had driven 8 hours to spend some time with us so they came. It was wonderful. We had a delightful party. The children and the grandparents played beautifully together. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday together. We had plans to go to a children’s museum together Monday. Nope. Both of my husband’s parents got sick last night. My dad got sick too. Now we’re up to 9 victims. Seriously, this thing has a 100% infection rate.
Everyone else had a terrible 5-8 hours and then several days of low appetite/energy. My mom, on the other hand, is now in the hospital. In an isolation room. She’s not getting better. Three days in her symptoms are still severe. I feel terrible. I’m worried.
So, due to a bug that passed through our household last weekend and we thought had passed, we managed to put my mother in the hospital and infect three other grandparents as well. Two of those grandparents drove 8 hours for the privilege. Not our most successful weekend ever.
Two years ago today
Two years ago today I held Ava for the first time. Happy second birthday to my little girl. It's such a cliche, but I fall in love more every day.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Fish Oil Supplementation
I first read about Omega 3 fish oil supplementation in The Late Talker book. They devote an entire chapter to the topic. As an SLP I am frustrated that there isn’t more research out there and I would hesitate to recommend something with so little research. As a parent of a child with suspected apraxia I have a completely different opinion. There’s almost no evidence of harm, and the possibility of hope. Why not try anything that might help?
Here are some of the articles I have found on the topic in addition to the Late Talker book. Read them and decide for yourself.
You might ask how on earth we get our two year old to swallow a fish oil liquid. The answer is that we don’t. We disguise it as an after dinner “special treat”. Sometimes we mix it in with a couple of tablespoons of lemon flavored yogurt. Sometimes we mix it with raspberry sherbet. Sometimes we mix it in with those yogurt drinks they make with kids. She doesn’t even know it is there. Getting her to eat it is usually no problem at all.
The product is not fishy at all. If it tastes fishy or smells fishy it has spoiled. We store our bottle in the freezer to extend its shelf life.
Is it working? Who knows? Ava’s progress has been amazing. But we started the supplementation at pretty much the exact same time we started therapy. Who knows if it is the therapy or the Omega 3s or both?
Here are some of the articles I have found on the topic in addition to the Late Talker book. Read them and decide for yourself.
- Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and ADHD – Can Nutrition Help? This article nicely summarizes some of the actual research out there on fish oil supplementation and disorders. Note that in this article the term dyspraxia does NOT refer to apraxia of speech.
- Essential Fatty Acids This is a generic article on fish oil supplementation.
- Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Learning Disabilities This article talks about some of the research on fish oil supplementation and learning disabilities.
- Syndrome of Allergy, Apraxia, and Malabsorption: Characterization of a Neurodevelopmental Phenotype that Responds to Omega 3 and Vitamin E Supplementation This is a research article published in the Journal of Alternative Therapies in 2009. However, this research study did not have a control group, so although as a parent I am encouraged and interested, as an SLP I am still not convinced.
- The Omega Wave This is a pretty interesting news article on fish oil supplementation and learning disability, but it is just a news article, not a research article.
- Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega LiquidThis is the product we eventually decided to use. We are not giving the recommended dosage for an adult. I am not going to tell you what we’re giving, because I’m not comfortable giving dosage advice. Make your own decision after reading the research yourself and consulting with your pediatrician.
You might ask how on earth we get our two year old to swallow a fish oil liquid. The answer is that we don’t. We disguise it as an after dinner “special treat”. Sometimes we mix it in with a couple of tablespoons of lemon flavored yogurt. Sometimes we mix it with raspberry sherbet. Sometimes we mix it in with those yogurt drinks they make with kids. She doesn’t even know it is there. Getting her to eat it is usually no problem at all.
The product is not fishy at all. If it tastes fishy or smells fishy it has spoiled. We store our bottle in the freezer to extend its shelf life.
Is it working? Who knows? Ava’s progress has been amazing. But we started the supplementation at pretty much the exact same time we started therapy. Who knows if it is the therapy or the Omega 3s or both?
Saturday, February 26, 2011
A new power put to use
Ava is learning to communicate and she loves it. She feels empowered. She can ask for the specific food she wants to eat. She can request the specific television show she wants to watch. She can ask her mama or daddy to drop what they’re doing and come play. She can tell her brother “no”. So many things are now possibilities that weren’t before. Mostly this is all good. However…
She’s also about to turn two. We’re celebrating her birthday this weekend, in fact. You know what they say about two. It often involves the words “terrible” and “tantrums”. Combine the explosion in her ability to communicate with the natural nature of a two year old and you get a child who has discovered how to protest. Loudly. At great length. Complete with tears and wailing. For example, we came in from a walk. Ava wanted to go back outside and I told her that we couldn’t because it was time to get dinner ready. She sat in front of the door and cried for 15 minutes. Then she finally noticed that I wasn’t paying attention and gave up. This is happening more and more frequently. Now it tends to be at least once a day.
Ava is also developing a mama thing. When she asks for milk she wants me to get it for her. If she needs to potty she wants me to take her. When it’s time to get ready for bed she wants me to read the books. And you should see the performance when I leave her at school two mornings a week. At first we indulged her. It didn’t seem like a big deal to just have me take her to the bathroom instead of her daddy. But then it got worse. The insistence on mama instead of daddy started coming more often and the protests became more dramatic. Now, she will simply refuse to use the bathroom unless it’s me. Even if my husband carries her to the bathroom and places her on the potty, she won’t go. The child certainly knows her own mind. I’ve seen her hold it for more than two hours rather than go for her daddy.
I don’t really know what to do about any of this other than to refuse to indulge her. Surely this is a stage that won’t last forever?
She’s also about to turn two. We’re celebrating her birthday this weekend, in fact. You know what they say about two. It often involves the words “terrible” and “tantrums”. Combine the explosion in her ability to communicate with the natural nature of a two year old and you get a child who has discovered how to protest. Loudly. At great length. Complete with tears and wailing. For example, we came in from a walk. Ava wanted to go back outside and I told her that we couldn’t because it was time to get dinner ready. She sat in front of the door and cried for 15 minutes. Then she finally noticed that I wasn’t paying attention and gave up. This is happening more and more frequently. Now it tends to be at least once a day.
Ava is also developing a mama thing. When she asks for milk she wants me to get it for her. If she needs to potty she wants me to take her. When it’s time to get ready for bed she wants me to read the books. And you should see the performance when I leave her at school two mornings a week. At first we indulged her. It didn’t seem like a big deal to just have me take her to the bathroom instead of her daddy. But then it got worse. The insistence on mama instead of daddy started coming more often and the protests became more dramatic. Now, she will simply refuse to use the bathroom unless it’s me. Even if my husband carries her to the bathroom and places her on the potty, she won’t go. The child certainly knows her own mind. I’ve seen her hold it for more than two hours rather than go for her daddy.
I don’t really know what to do about any of this other than to refuse to indulge her. Surely this is a stage that won’t last forever?
Friday, February 25, 2011
The secret and the consequences
I have discovered the secret to getting my children to enthusiastically finish off an entire bowl of carrots (or cucumbers or celery) and then come begging for more. First, provide dip. Second, give it to them before the meal. Serve it when they’re hungry, but you haven’t finished getting dinner ready yet. I put out a bowl of raw veggies with a side of dip and they go to town. If I serve it with the meal they’ll eat one or two. If I serve it before the meal they’ll polish off a whole bowl and ask for more.
I did this the other day, but told them “no” when they asked for seconds. I wanted them to be hungry for the rest of the meal. A few minutes later they wandered into the kitchen hands and faces covered in ranch dip. Since they were out of carrots they had just decided to finish off the dip with their hands. Sigh. I said to Michael as I was wiping off his hands, “In the future, we do not eat dip with our hands.” He asked, “Is this the future?”
I did this the other day, but told them “no” when they asked for seconds. I wanted them to be hungry for the rest of the meal. A few minutes later they wandered into the kitchen hands and faces covered in ranch dip. Since they were out of carrots they had just decided to finish off the dip with their hands. Sigh. I said to Michael as I was wiping off his hands, “In the future, we do not eat dip with our hands.” He asked, “Is this the future?”
Thursday, February 24, 2011
A magical 90 seconds
Imagine, if you will, a play place at the mall. In it there is a small rowboat divided into two sections by a small bench to sit on. On one side of the bench, nestled in the spot where the feet would go if you were sitting on the bench, is a young girl perhaps 2 ½ or 3 years old. Ava crawled into the other side facing the bench and the girl.
Now, what would usually happen here is that the other child would make some sort of friendly advance towards Ava. She would respond by screaming and turning away as if she’d been attacked in some way and I would have to apologize to the parent and explain that Ava reacts that way to everyone. I promise. Their child had been perfectly polite – friendly even. Then Ava would run/crawl/climb away as quickly as possible while I try to explain to her that the other child was just trying to be nice.
This time was different – wonderfully different. The other little girl glanced at Ava, only briefly, and smiled and then began drumming on the bench. Ava smiled back and began drumming too. They were playing together. Both laughing. Making eye contact. When one would stop, the other would start again and more laughter and drumming ensued. At one point the other little girl stood up saying, “Up!” and Ava immediately mimicked her standing up and saying “Uh!” And then they both sat down and drummed some more.
Then two other little girls tried to climb in too and broke the magic spell. At that point things were way too crowded for Ava and she left. The whole thing couldn’t have lasted more than 90 seconds, but they were a magical 90 seconds.
Imagine, other parents take such things for granted.
Now, what would usually happen here is that the other child would make some sort of friendly advance towards Ava. She would respond by screaming and turning away as if she’d been attacked in some way and I would have to apologize to the parent and explain that Ava reacts that way to everyone. I promise. Their child had been perfectly polite – friendly even. Then Ava would run/crawl/climb away as quickly as possible while I try to explain to her that the other child was just trying to be nice.
This time was different – wonderfully different. The other little girl glanced at Ava, only briefly, and smiled and then began drumming on the bench. Ava smiled back and began drumming too. They were playing together. Both laughing. Making eye contact. When one would stop, the other would start again and more laughter and drumming ensued. At one point the other little girl stood up saying, “Up!” and Ava immediately mimicked her standing up and saying “Uh!” And then they both sat down and drummed some more.
Then two other little girls tried to climb in too and broke the magic spell. At that point things were way too crowded for Ava and she left. The whole thing couldn’t have lasted more than 90 seconds, but they were a magical 90 seconds.
Imagine, other parents take such things for granted.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Playdates
Our neighborhood is filled with little boys. One little boy, who lives up the street, is only six weeks older than Michael. Let’s call him Justin. I ran into Justin’s family during one of the walks I took with Michael his first summer when he was only six months old or so and I was desperately trying to stop the crying. By the time the boys were about a year old we were doing regular weekly playdates. It’s great. They’re a wonderful family and I’ve enjoyed watching the boys go from babies that played near each other to little boys who are beginning to play with each other.
At two (almost), as you all know, I felt Ava was also ready for regular playdates. And just last week through pure luck I stumbled upon a little girl right here in our neighborhood only a few months older than Ava. Let’s call her Sara. Sara even goes to Ava’s daycare and when Ava turns two in another week she’ll be moving into Sara’s class. So the girls will be together two mornings a week until Sara moves up to the next class. Sara’s mother is really nice and we set up our first playdate this past weekend. The girls seemed to have fun. They’re a little too young to really play together, but they played nicely in the same space with the same toys. We have another playdate set up for next weekend. I hope we can continue to get together with this family. They seem nice and it is such a gift for a child to have a friend that lives nearby. Hopefully I’m planting that seed.
At two (almost), as you all know, I felt Ava was also ready for regular playdates. And just last week through pure luck I stumbled upon a little girl right here in our neighborhood only a few months older than Ava. Let’s call her Sara. Sara even goes to Ava’s daycare and when Ava turns two in another week she’ll be moving into Sara’s class. So the girls will be together two mornings a week until Sara moves up to the next class. Sara’s mother is really nice and we set up our first playdate this past weekend. The girls seemed to have fun. They’re a little too young to really play together, but they played nicely in the same space with the same toys. We have another playdate set up for next weekend. I hope we can continue to get together with this family. They seem nice and it is such a gift for a child to have a friend that lives nearby. Hopefully I’m planting that seed.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Early Intervention Therapy
We’ve had two sessions with our Early Intervention therapist, Ms. A. now. I'm not sure how it works elsewhere, but here in Missouri, the early intervention therapist comes to your house. Other than the fact that I'm forced to clean, it is super convenient. She's coming once a week for an hour as we decided in our IFSP meeting.
Ms. A is great and I like her a lot. She’s already building a rapport with Ava and Ava is working well with her. She’s given me some new tips that work well with Ava. Ava is right at the border between one syllable utterances and two syllable utterances. We’re all trying to work with her to try to get her to make that jump up. Ms. A introduced tapping. It’s simple, but it really helps Ava hear that she needs to be producing more syllables. Nana (for banana) is two taps. Mo mi (more milk) is two taps. Right now, she can say more. She can say milk. She cannot say more milk. But if you tap, she’ll try. It usually comes out mo, mo. But at least she’s trying to imitate both words.
Another idea she had was to use an exercise ball during therapy. Children with apraxia often have more success with speech productions when they are paired with movement. So she put Ava on the ball and did Row, Row, Row Your Boat with her. The song was super slow and she rocked Ava back and forth with each word. By the end of the song Ava was trying to sing along. It was adorable.
Right now, the therapy sessions are more indirect and play based than I’d like. Therapy based on motor planning principles is all about getting lots and lots of productions, and you just can’t get as many productions in play based therapy. I’d love to see Ms. A begin to incorporate a more structured part of the therapy session at some point, but so far they’re really just getting to know each other. It will come. And if I want that to happen I’ll have to figure out a way to keep Michael occupied elsewhere. But overall, I’m pleased. It’s an excellent beginning.
Ms. A is great and I like her a lot. She’s already building a rapport with Ava and Ava is working well with her. She’s given me some new tips that work well with Ava. Ava is right at the border between one syllable utterances and two syllable utterances. We’re all trying to work with her to try to get her to make that jump up. Ms. A introduced tapping. It’s simple, but it really helps Ava hear that she needs to be producing more syllables. Nana (for banana) is two taps. Mo mi (more milk) is two taps. Right now, she can say more. She can say milk. She cannot say more milk. But if you tap, she’ll try. It usually comes out mo, mo. But at least she’s trying to imitate both words.
Another idea she had was to use an exercise ball during therapy. Children with apraxia often have more success with speech productions when they are paired with movement. So she put Ava on the ball and did Row, Row, Row Your Boat with her. The song was super slow and she rocked Ava back and forth with each word. By the end of the song Ava was trying to sing along. It was adorable.
Right now, the therapy sessions are more indirect and play based than I’d like. Therapy based on motor planning principles is all about getting lots and lots of productions, and you just can’t get as many productions in play based therapy. I’d love to see Ms. A begin to incorporate a more structured part of the therapy session at some point, but so far they’re really just getting to know each other. It will come. And if I want that to happen I’ll have to figure out a way to keep Michael occupied elsewhere. But overall, I’m pleased. It’s an excellent beginning.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Sweet Rituals
Daily life with small children is made up of small rituals. How do you wake them up (or how do they wake you up)? What do you do when you put them to sleep? What special games or songs are special to you? How do they greet Daddy when he comes home from work? Some rituals are pretty boring and they are just the routines that get you though the day. Some are sweet.
Ava and I have a new ritual. It's developed since she moved to her toddler bed. One afternoon when she woke up from her nap she was cranky and I just pulled her into my lap on the floor and sang to her and rocked her until she felt better. The next day when I got upstairs after hearing her wake up she was waiting for me sitting on the floor in front of the door to her room. I could tell she was waiting for me to sit down and scoop her into my lap for a repeat of songs and rocking time.
Over the next several days more steps were added. Now it is pretty consistent. She waits for me in front of the door. We sing and rock on the floor. Then she slips out of my arms and brings over a book which we lie in front of on our tummies with arms propped on elbows to read together. Then we tickle and giggle and roll around and play until I finally suggest going downstairs.
It's a sweet way to spend some time together before our afternoon therapy session and I treasure it. It's a ritual shared just between mother and daughter that we don't have to share with anyone.
Ava and I have a new ritual. It's developed since she moved to her toddler bed. One afternoon when she woke up from her nap she was cranky and I just pulled her into my lap on the floor and sang to her and rocked her until she felt better. The next day when I got upstairs after hearing her wake up she was waiting for me sitting on the floor in front of the door to her room. I could tell she was waiting for me to sit down and scoop her into my lap for a repeat of songs and rocking time.
Over the next several days more steps were added. Now it is pretty consistent. She waits for me in front of the door. We sing and rock on the floor. Then she slips out of my arms and brings over a book which we lie in front of on our tummies with arms propped on elbows to read together. Then we tickle and giggle and roll around and play until I finally suggest going downstairs.
It's a sweet way to spend some time together before our afternoon therapy session and I treasure it. It's a ritual shared just between mother and daughter that we don't have to share with anyone.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Nighttime Wakenings
Nighttime Wakening One:
We were shocked awake by Ava's cries of "Mama! Mama!" We never have to go in to her in the middle of the night, but I could hear the panic in her voice. She had a foot stuck in between the rails. As soon as I got it out she instantly rolled over and fell back asleep. The scary part is that she stayed asleep when the smoke alarm went off seconds later because I had left her humidifier on full blast and coming into her room stirred the humidity up towards the smoke alarm. Logically, our high-tech smoke alarm interprets that as a fire. After turning her fan on full blast and waving a towel at the smoke alarm for what felt like five minutes it finally shut off and we were able to go back to sleep.
Nighttime Wakening Two:
Michael fell asleep quickly the other night because he had skipped his nap. I could hear a lot more restlessness and coughing than usual through the monitor and was a little worried, but not too much. I'm lucky. The vast majority of the time The children sleep beautifully every night from bedtime through to morning. But a few minutes later I knew exactly what I was hearing - the sound of a child throwing up and panicking about it. The mess was epic and involved changing bedding, wiping down the crib, carpet cleaning, washing several stuffed animals, a 10:30 pm bath, and a new set of pajamas. Michael and I were snuggled in a blanket waiting for his Daddy to finish cleaning when round two hit. An 11:00 pm bath ensued, followed by another round of laundry.
I decided we needed at least one puke free hour before trying to put him to bed so we relocated downstairs to pass the hour in front of the tv. Round three hit 40 minutes later, but this time the mess was contained to a single blanket. 40 minutes after that we managed a bucket. At that point I sent my husband back to bed and was hoping to get Michael back into his bed at 1:40 in the morning. So of course round five hit at 1:30 am. My next goal was 2:30. We only made it until 2:00am pushing my goal back to 3am. He finally fell asleep on the floor of the living room around 3am. I left him there not wanting to risk disturbing the fragile peace and slept on the sofa myself.
We were shocked awake by Ava's cries of "Mama! Mama!" We never have to go in to her in the middle of the night, but I could hear the panic in her voice. She had a foot stuck in between the rails. As soon as I got it out she instantly rolled over and fell back asleep. The scary part is that she stayed asleep when the smoke alarm went off seconds later because I had left her humidifier on full blast and coming into her room stirred the humidity up towards the smoke alarm. Logically, our high-tech smoke alarm interprets that as a fire. After turning her fan on full blast and waving a towel at the smoke alarm for what felt like five minutes it finally shut off and we were able to go back to sleep.
Nighttime Wakening Two:
Michael fell asleep quickly the other night because he had skipped his nap. I could hear a lot more restlessness and coughing than usual through the monitor and was a little worried, but not too much. I'm lucky. The vast majority of the time The children sleep beautifully every night from bedtime through to morning. But a few minutes later I knew exactly what I was hearing - the sound of a child throwing up and panicking about it. The mess was epic and involved changing bedding, wiping down the crib, carpet cleaning, washing several stuffed animals, a 10:30 pm bath, and a new set of pajamas. Michael and I were snuggled in a blanket waiting for his Daddy to finish cleaning when round two hit. An 11:00 pm bath ensued, followed by another round of laundry.
I decided we needed at least one puke free hour before trying to put him to bed so we relocated downstairs to pass the hour in front of the tv. Round three hit 40 minutes later, but this time the mess was contained to a single blanket. 40 minutes after that we managed a bucket. At that point I sent my husband back to bed and was hoping to get Michael back into his bed at 1:40 in the morning. So of course round five hit at 1:30 am. My next goal was 2:30. We only made it until 2:00am pushing my goal back to 3am. He finally fell asleep on the floor of the living room around 3am. I left him there not wanting to risk disturbing the fragile peace and slept on the sofa myself.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Toddler Personal Ad - Response
Well, I left to pick the children up from school fully intending to ask Ava's teacher about possible playmates. Then I chickened out. It's so easy to just think, "I'll do it next time." That's just my way of rationalizing procrastinating some more. I was feeling guilty about it because every time I put it off I let another week slip by without a good play option for Ava.
That same night we went for a walk before dinner. Our weather has been unseasonably warm for a change and we were taking advantage. So in some weird and blessed twist of fate, as we were on our walk I spotted a mother and a young daughter also out for a walk. They live about four houses away (moved in recently) and her little girl is only three months older than Ava. She gave me her email address and I contacted her that night. We'll have our first playdate Sunday.
I hope we all get along because it can't get much better than a little girl only three months older who lives less than a two minute walk away.
That same night we went for a walk before dinner. Our weather has been unseasonably warm for a change and we were taking advantage. So in some weird and blessed twist of fate, as we were on our walk I spotted a mother and a young daughter also out for a walk. They live about four houses away (moved in recently) and her little girl is only three months older than Ava. She gave me her email address and I contacted her that night. We'll have our first playdate Sunday.
I hope we all get along because it can't get much better than a little girl only three months older who lives less than a two minute walk away.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Sensory Issues?
Have you ever noticed that once your child has a diagnosis you see everything through the lens of that special need? Ava has started to show some behaviors that make me wonder if she has some sensory issues, but there are other perfectly reasonable explanations for each behavior individually…
For example, she’s a really, really picky eater. She likes breads and pastas although she’s even picky there. If there’s a little piece of crisped cheese on the pizza crust it must be picked off. If the pasta is penne instead of rotini it is rejected and so on. She’ll eat most fruits, but the only vegetables she’ll eat are raw carrots, celery, or cucumber with dip. She’ll eat chicken nuggets, but no other meats. She won’t even touch a hot dog. She loves cheese, yogurt and milk. We serve what we serve at dinner. I just try to make sure there’s one thing on her plate she’ll eat even if it is applesauce. Last night, for example, we had pot roast. The rest of us ate the roast and veggies with gravy. She ignored everything on her plate except the applesauce. Anyway, before the speech delay I just figured she was a picky eater and that she came by it honestly (I’m picky. Her grandmother is picky.) Now I’m beginning to wonder because there are other things too.
She’s recently become very upset by wearing anything with a tag. It never seemed to bother her before. Perhaps though, we know now because she finally has a way to tell us. And any of her pajama bottoms or pants that have a tag are now instantly rejected. This morning I had to put her in a different shirt because of the tag in the first one I tried. So I begin to ask myself, “Is this sensory?” There are perfectly reasonable other explanations. She has sensitive skin and I can see with my own eyes that the tags on her pants are irritating the small of her back. The skin is scratched up in that area. So the explanation could simply be that the tags do actually bother her skin.
She also absolutely refuses to let me put anything in her hair. Her hair is finally (near her second birthday) growing out enough that it’s getting in her eyes a little. I’d like to put in a barrette or something, but she acts like it is hurting her and will continue to be bothered by it for hours. I know this because once I managed to distract her enough to leave on an outing with it in her hair and in every quiet moment her attention immediately returned to it. Now she has a complete meltdown if I even mention putting in a barrette. Again, this could just be a normal kid behavior. I don’t know. This is my first little girl.
But now I have three things: the food, the tags, and the hair stuff. If I put all of those things together does it paint a different picture than each one individually? I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just paranoid at this point. I haven’t really researched sensory issues yet. Even if she does have some sensory issues, what would the significance of that be? What would I do differently? Does anyone out there have any experience with or knowledge of sensory issues? Do you think I’m reading too much into completely unrelated, relatively typical kid behaviors? Opinions welcome.
For example, she’s a really, really picky eater. She likes breads and pastas although she’s even picky there. If there’s a little piece of crisped cheese on the pizza crust it must be picked off. If the pasta is penne instead of rotini it is rejected and so on. She’ll eat most fruits, but the only vegetables she’ll eat are raw carrots, celery, or cucumber with dip. She’ll eat chicken nuggets, but no other meats. She won’t even touch a hot dog. She loves cheese, yogurt and milk. We serve what we serve at dinner. I just try to make sure there’s one thing on her plate she’ll eat even if it is applesauce. Last night, for example, we had pot roast. The rest of us ate the roast and veggies with gravy. She ignored everything on her plate except the applesauce. Anyway, before the speech delay I just figured she was a picky eater and that she came by it honestly (I’m picky. Her grandmother is picky.) Now I’m beginning to wonder because there are other things too.
She’s recently become very upset by wearing anything with a tag. It never seemed to bother her before. Perhaps though, we know now because she finally has a way to tell us. And any of her pajama bottoms or pants that have a tag are now instantly rejected. This morning I had to put her in a different shirt because of the tag in the first one I tried. So I begin to ask myself, “Is this sensory?” There are perfectly reasonable other explanations. She has sensitive skin and I can see with my own eyes that the tags on her pants are irritating the small of her back. The skin is scratched up in that area. So the explanation could simply be that the tags do actually bother her skin.
She also absolutely refuses to let me put anything in her hair. Her hair is finally (near her second birthday) growing out enough that it’s getting in her eyes a little. I’d like to put in a barrette or something, but she acts like it is hurting her and will continue to be bothered by it for hours. I know this because once I managed to distract her enough to leave on an outing with it in her hair and in every quiet moment her attention immediately returned to it. Now she has a complete meltdown if I even mention putting in a barrette. Again, this could just be a normal kid behavior. I don’t know. This is my first little girl.
But now I have three things: the food, the tags, and the hair stuff. If I put all of those things together does it paint a different picture than each one individually? I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just paranoid at this point. I haven’t really researched sensory issues yet. Even if she does have some sensory issues, what would the significance of that be? What would I do differently? Does anyone out there have any experience with or knowledge of sensory issues? Do you think I’m reading too much into completely unrelated, relatively typical kid behaviors? Opinions welcome.
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Thursday, February 17, 2011
Therapy Progress – Speed of Light
My last update on Ava’s speech therapy progress was almost exactly three weeks ago. At that time I had only been working with her for about 2 and ½ weeks and her progress was amazing. I commented that in terms of her speech she looked like an entirely different child than before I started working with her.
Three weeks later and she continues to make progress at an almost unbelievable rate. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m so glad I’m blogging about all of this because otherwise I wouldn’t believe it myself. I have dropped down to more like an average of 4 sessions a week (in addition to the therapy she’s getting from others). Real life keeps interfering. Ideally I’d work with her every single day, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.
So, three weeks ago she’d imitate easy things when bribed by food and spontaneously about half the time. She was using /d/, /m/, /h/, /s/, /n/, /sh/, /t/, /w/, and /b/ (not all clearly, but trying). She had a limited number of vowels but refused to even try new ones. She was using CV syllable structure and could imitate simple CVCV syllables (mama, dada). She was using 15-20 “words”.
Fast forward three weeks and she’s moved up to a whole new level again. She’s added more consonants including /p/ and /y/ (the sound at the beginning of yellow) and gotten much better at some of the ones she was just starting on three weeks ago.
She’s also making progress on her vowels. Her productions of the ones she already knew are getting cleaner and she’s adding new ones like the short /i/ and the long /e/. More importantly, she’s willing to work on them now. Before I couldn’t get her to even try a new vowel.
She’s using CVCV syllable structure spontaneously. Our family members finally have names. We’re “mama” “dada” “papa” and she has approximations for her own name, her brother’s name and her grandmother. (And that still hasn’t grown old. She loves calling us by name and does it frequently just because it makes her happy. It makes me happy too.) Even more impressive, and just in this last week she’s starting to be able to do CVCV words where the vowel changes. So she can do “nanuh” for banana. Or “babi” for baby. They’re messy, and the vowels aren’t pure, but you can tell she’s trying to make the two vowels sound different. Occasionally they will just pop out clear as day, but most of the time they’re messy.
Before she was using 15-20 words total. Now I truly couldn’t count. She’s spontaneously attempting new words. Her receptive language is great and always was. She knew the words for things, she just couldn’t say them. Everything was locked inside. Now she’ll just try. What pops out of her mouth often sounds a little like what she’s trying for, but I’m mostly guessing from context. The point though is that she’s trying on her own. She just looks at something, or wants to talk about something she sees on tv and just tries to tell us about it. It shows such a gain in confidence on her part.
Seriously, if I were working as a professional (rather than as a mother in this case) and evaluated Ava six weeks ago, then three weeks ago, and today and then I put those evaluations side by side I wouldn’t think they could possibly come from the same kid. I’m humbled and grateful and amazed at what she has accomplished. In fact those words don’t really fully express how I feel about all the progress.
Why is it working? It is the fish oil? You have to wonder at least a little. Is it a matter of lots of the right kind of therapy at the right time? Would she have gotten better anyway if we had just left her alone? Is it that her speech problem is just really responsive to intervention - so once we started working with her the problem that looked so severe turns out to be milder? Am I getting excited too early because a plateau is just around the corner? We’ve come so far. And there’s still so much left to do. And I’m scared this is some kind of fluke that will be taken back. I’m trying hard to not be too hopeful. Which sounds odd, but it’s true.
Three weeks later and she continues to make progress at an almost unbelievable rate. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m so glad I’m blogging about all of this because otherwise I wouldn’t believe it myself. I have dropped down to more like an average of 4 sessions a week (in addition to the therapy she’s getting from others). Real life keeps interfering. Ideally I’d work with her every single day, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.
So, three weeks ago she’d imitate easy things when bribed by food and spontaneously about half the time. She was using /d/, /m/, /h/, /s/, /n/, /sh/, /t/, /w/, and /b/ (not all clearly, but trying). She had a limited number of vowels but refused to even try new ones. She was using CV syllable structure and could imitate simple CVCV syllables (mama, dada). She was using 15-20 “words”.
Fast forward three weeks and she’s moved up to a whole new level again. She’s added more consonants including /p/ and /y/ (the sound at the beginning of yellow) and gotten much better at some of the ones she was just starting on three weeks ago.
She’s also making progress on her vowels. Her productions of the ones she already knew are getting cleaner and she’s adding new ones like the short /i/ and the long /e/. More importantly, she’s willing to work on them now. Before I couldn’t get her to even try a new vowel.
She’s using CVCV syllable structure spontaneously. Our family members finally have names. We’re “mama” “dada” “papa” and she has approximations for her own name, her brother’s name and her grandmother. (And that still hasn’t grown old. She loves calling us by name and does it frequently just because it makes her happy. It makes me happy too.) Even more impressive, and just in this last week she’s starting to be able to do CVCV words where the vowel changes. So she can do “nanuh” for banana. Or “babi” for baby. They’re messy, and the vowels aren’t pure, but you can tell she’s trying to make the two vowels sound different. Occasionally they will just pop out clear as day, but most of the time they’re messy.
Before she was using 15-20 words total. Now I truly couldn’t count. She’s spontaneously attempting new words. Her receptive language is great and always was. She knew the words for things, she just couldn’t say them. Everything was locked inside. Now she’ll just try. What pops out of her mouth often sounds a little like what she’s trying for, but I’m mostly guessing from context. The point though is that she’s trying on her own. She just looks at something, or wants to talk about something she sees on tv and just tries to tell us about it. It shows such a gain in confidence on her part.
Seriously, if I were working as a professional (rather than as a mother in this case) and evaluated Ava six weeks ago, then three weeks ago, and today and then I put those evaluations side by side I wouldn’t think they could possibly come from the same kid. I’m humbled and grateful and amazed at what she has accomplished. In fact those words don’t really fully express how I feel about all the progress.
Why is it working? It is the fish oil? You have to wonder at least a little. Is it a matter of lots of the right kind of therapy at the right time? Would she have gotten better anyway if we had just left her alone? Is it that her speech problem is just really responsive to intervention - so once we started working with her the problem that looked so severe turns out to be milder? Am I getting excited too early because a plateau is just around the corner? We’ve come so far. And there’s still so much left to do. And I’m scared this is some kind of fluke that will be taken back. I’m trying hard to not be too hopeful. Which sounds odd, but it’s true.
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Toddler Personal Ad
Playmate wanted – St. Louis, MO area. Approximately 2 years of age. Preferably female, but will consider males. Serious inquires only. :-)
Ok. So a toddler personal ad is ridiculous, but I really do need to find Ava a playmate. Ava’s starting to show an interest in playing with others. When a friend comes over to play with Michael she follows the two of them around. We were at the park recently and she was fascinated with a three year old little girl who was playing nearby, but unfortunately that little girl didn’t want to play with a “baby” and Ava didn’t even have the language to try to engage her. The signs are there that this would be the perfect time to find a friend (preferably female) for her to play with regularly. But I don’t know anyone with a little girl. Our neighborhood is full of rough and tumble boys. Seriously. I can think of 7 boys under the age of five on our street. But no girls.
Ava does go to daycare two mornings a week and her class is full of children her age, but I never really run in to any other parents. Is it ok to ask the teacher if Ava has one or two children that she gets along with the most and put a note in the box of the children asking the parents if they’d be interested in a playdate? It seems… weird. And a little desperate. I hate to come off as weird and desperate.
Does anyone have an opinion on that idea? Or have any other ideas? I’m completely open to suggestions.
Ok. So a toddler personal ad is ridiculous, but I really do need to find Ava a playmate. Ava’s starting to show an interest in playing with others. When a friend comes over to play with Michael she follows the two of them around. We were at the park recently and she was fascinated with a three year old little girl who was playing nearby, but unfortunately that little girl didn’t want to play with a “baby” and Ava didn’t even have the language to try to engage her. The signs are there that this would be the perfect time to find a friend (preferably female) for her to play with regularly. But I don’t know anyone with a little girl. Our neighborhood is full of rough and tumble boys. Seriously. I can think of 7 boys under the age of five on our street. But no girls.
Ava does go to daycare two mornings a week and her class is full of children her age, but I never really run in to any other parents. Is it ok to ask the teacher if Ava has one or two children that she gets along with the most and put a note in the box of the children asking the parents if they’d be interested in a playdate? It seems… weird. And a little desperate. I hate to come off as weird and desperate.
Does anyone have an opinion on that idea? Or have any other ideas? I’m completely open to suggestions.
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