Competing Priorities

I'm a stay-at-home mom right now and for the foreseeable future. I try to spend a lot of time playing with my kids. In an ideal world I'd do some sort of special, planned activity every day (art, cooking, building, etc). I don't actually do that every day of course, but I try - or I used to.

Ever since Ava's diagnosis I've been doing all of the things a parent needs to do in such a situation: phone calls, research, and taking Ava to appointments or having appointments here. It all consumes an extraordinary amount of time. Then, on top of all of that, I'm trying to research as an SLP to guide my work with Ava. I'm studying the disorder of CAS, learning about the various approaches to intervention, purchasing and reading books on the subject, and beginning to make therapy materials.

Instead of playing with my children or planning activities to do with them, I find myself at the computer most of the morning. I stop to kiss boo boos, get drinks, mediate conflicts, help various children potty, and make meals. And I try to tell myself that I'm encouraging independent play. After all, they've been playing with each other more. Yesterday they built a fort out of chairs and blankets and played in it pretty much on their own. They travel upstairs and play in their rooms or downstairs to the playroom in the basement. All of that is good. But I still feel guilty that I'm not doing more with them right now.

Life will balance out again eventually, right?

Poem speaks true

I came across this poem in a blog post at apraxia-kids called In Your Silence. Check it out. If you have a little one with apraxia this speaks true.

IFSP Meeting - Ideals vs. Practical Realities

The IFSP meeting went well overall. Everyone was nice. Everyone was well prepared. In fact, the SLP that evaluated Ava had done some preliminary research for me. She had a specific therapist in mind for Ava. This new therapist (Ms. A.) is a person the evaluator thinks would be perfect for Ava because she has a lot of experience and success working with children with apraxia. The evaluator had called Ms. A. to check if she had any openings in her schedule. She does. One. For an hour, once a week on Friday mornings at 8:30 am.

So, I had to choose. They were perfectly willing to write into our IFSP twice weekly sessions for 30 minutes. But then we couldn't work with Ms. A. Or, we can see Ms. A. for the once a week for an hour session.

In an ideal world I could have my first choice therapist see Ava for my first choice therapy schedule. That's not reality though. I decided to try Ms. A. once a week. We can reconvene another IFSP meeting and change to twice a week for 30 minutes later if this isn't working. I made that decision because I'm an SLP and Ava is willing to work with me on other days. I can learn from someone who is experienced in working with little ones with apraxia and do extra sessions in between.

If I wasn't a speech-pathologist, or if Ava refused to work with me I would have made a different choice. Once a week isn't enough to address apraxia. They need practice more often. But because we're getting therapy elsewhere, and I'm working with her too, this choice makes sense for us now.

So that's how the IFSP meeting went. I'll let you know how the first therapy session goes and what I think of Ms. A. once I meet her.