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.
A Speech Pathologist Mother and Her Daughter Diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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.
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