Progress Report

*Little Brother*

Sensory:  We got Little Brother evaluated by an OT for sensory processing disorder.  He has it.  Sigh.  His sensory issues are related to vestibular movement, especially when going from sedentary to movement oriented tasks or vice versa.  For example, after he's been sitting for a while, if he stands up and starts running, sometimes he'll fall forward and land on his belly.  It's not like he gets hurt from it, he just gets back up and keeps going.  This also explains why he pauses for a few seconds after he's gone down a slide (it's because he still feels like he's moving.)   I was told by the therapist that he's very impulsive, which is a thing you see in kiddos with sensory processing issues and behavior regulation.  So basically, we're teaching him how to handle being told no (currently his reaction is major temper tantrum and trying to do whatever we told him he couldn't do) to help him become more stable emotionally.  I feel like all we're doing is seeing more temper tantrums and my patience is so very thin right now.  I had no idea that impulsivity was sensory related, I thought it was more personality based.  He also has extremely poor visual tracking.  So, now he and Kiddo get OT at the same time and I love both of their OTs.

Speech: Words and phrases are coming!  This little guy has so much to say.  I've had one therapist say she's sure he has apraxia, and two who think it's just a severe delay.  The more I hear new words, and an improvement of old words, the more convinced I am it's just a severe delay, or if he does have apraxia it's definitely mild and nowhere near as severe as Kiddo's.

New words and phrases:
Ok (said all. the. time.  Especially when being disciplined, though within minutes he's doing again what he was doing before)
All clean
Stomp stomp roar (when he stomps his little feet, than hands out as he pretends to be a dinosaur)
appy juice (apple juice.  Sounds so much like he's saying happy juice I jokingly called it that for a while.  But once he started asking for it all the time, we got rid of it all.  No more happy juice, bud.)
Oh no!
Aww man
Pete Cat (his fav book, Pete the Cat)
Teetee on (Tv on.  When he wants to watch TV)
Kitty cat
Ocdoput (octopus)
Doo doo doo (what the rooster says)
Hew pwee (help please)
Moowee (movie)
Pa pie ee chit (french fries and chicken.  his fav thing to eat)
Zitza (pizza)
Chut (church)
Amen! (after our prayers)
Wet  (especially when playing in the pool or bath)
Mama baby (when pointing out a mother and her baby, especially in books)
I know (his response when we tell him "I love you."


*Kiddo*

Speech: Kiddo is totally blowing me away with all the new words and phrases and sentences (yes, for real, sentences!).  Every time he's done with a speech therapy session his speech therapist raves about how much he is saying and that she is understanding what he saysand how much clearer he is.  Other people are beginning to understand him too, so I don't need to translate for him all the time. I wish I had kept a list of all the new words or phrases, but here's the most impressive ones I can remember off the top of my head:


I love you Mommy.  (My all time favorite phrase.  Took me 5 years to be able to hear it).
Big Hero 6 good movie!
Touch Mommy nose.
Microbot (from Big Hero 6)
Bug fly.  Daddy do this. (demonstrates swiping motion Hubster made to shoo a fly away)
I want to play Angry Birds please. (What?  7 words?  With correct grammar?  I'm blown away.)
Right there (when answering the question where something is.  Before he would just point).
Oh, I get it (when told some new information.  He totally got this phrase from me and whenever I hear him say it I just can't help but grin)
Play Lego Game Daddy (when telling me he played the Lego Game Movie with Hubster on the playstation)
Later?  (whenever I tell him he can't do something now).

A few conversations:

Me: Wake up, we're at Chick-fil-A!
Sleepy Kiddo: Eat play?
Me: Yeah.   Sound like fun?
Kiddo: Yes.  Sleep later.

As we drove past Chuck E Cheese:
Kiddo: Chuck E Cheese!
Hubster: Yeah, we went there for your birthday.
Kiddo.  Yes.  Minion cake.
Hubster: It was a cool minion cake.
Kiddo: Yes.  Cake all gone.

And a funny story:  Kiddo's speech therapist and I are working on the "F" sound with him.  We tell him "Teeth on your lips" and demonstrate.  I did that with him, when we were counting, "four, five" and Kiddo starts giggling.  I asked him "What's so funny?"  He says, "Mommy, teeth dirty."  I had a piece of seasoning stuck between my teeth. ;)

Random stuff: He now can put his shoes on all by himself on the correct foot.  He can alternate his feet on the stairs effortlessly if he has a railing or a hand to hold.  He is no longer having issues with getting his hair washed and is a lot less concerned with getting water in his face.  In fact, in the kiddie pool he went down a slide face first. :)


In the Upcoming Weeks:

We'll be heading up to the DC area next week to visit with family and friends in the area, and to have three days of speech at a Mini CHAMP at George Washington University's Speech and Hearing Center July 13-15.  This is where he went two summers ago to work with Jodi Kumar for CHAMP Camp.  At the time, he had just turned three, had about 20 word approximations, and mainly communicated using sign language.  He left with the k and g sounds and about 10 new words and the phrase "I want ___" which was huge progress for us and really helped me know how to work with him better to get faster progress then we were seeing before CHAMP.  The progress he's made in two years has been pretty incredible, and every speech intensive we've done (CHAMP Camp in 2013 and Nancy Kaufman's 4 day speech intensive in 2014) have been so great for really boosting his speech and progress.  Our goals at the mini speech intensive will be working on his d, n, and f sounds.  I'll keep you posted on how he does, and can't wait to see family and friends again. :)