Brady had his evaluation today at the University.
I am putting the short story here so that I can quickly pass the info along to everyone who is kind enough to be wondering. We are all tired. The girls missed us and are beat after playing with friends all day. Brady and I took a short nap before we picked the girls up but are still beat. Brad is back at work but I am pretty sure he too is beat. The day was a long and exhausting one with a positive ending however.
We left with a diagnosis of severe speech delay and sensory processing disorder. They were reluctant to give him an ASD diagnosis. They felt that had they seen him a few months ago that probably would have been the case but he seems to be making great strides in his pretend play and socialization and various other areas of concern so they really feel that with continued work he will catch up. They will see him again in a year just to make sure he is still on track.
I am happy with this information. Funny because it is pretty much what thought/hoped for in some ways. Yes there are areas of concern but he really seems to be doing better so let's just keep doing what we are doing and watch to make sure he keeps it up.
Thanks for all the thoughts....it means a lot. I have to go start dinner now...the natives are restless. I will be back sometime soon for a little more on the story.
June 8, 2010
May 25, 2010
catch up
I was so determined to keep this blog going and up to date....oops!
We have had a busy busy month.
We took a 10 day trip to FL, continued working with the case worker and ST for Brady, managed play dates with pre-school and other errands of necessity, dealt with a few illnesses and recently toured a farm with Llamas and Great Pyrenees rescue dogs. It has been a full month.
Josey graduates from pre-school on Thursday the 27th. From what I understand there will be graduate caps and tassels....and probably tears. I am not sad so much that she is graduating but amazed to see her growing before my very eyes. She is such a sweet thoughtful girl who can also be headstrong and difficult. I love her fierce independence, or try to anyway since I hope it will serve her well as she gets older and has to be strong enough to maintain her values despite peer pressure. I know I may sound a little silly but we all know that happens way earlier these days...She starts Kindergarten in the fall and she is thrilled. She is still the craftiest little thing and almost always makes stuff for friends and family before herself. I love that about her.
Lucey is growing into a little bit of an attitude. She is a middle child through and through. She works to make sure that she gets attention and is heard. Trust me on that one...she IS heard. *wink wink* She loves animals, as do the other kiddos, and when we toured the farm last week she was excited to see the goats, llamas and dogs. If I could have bottled her giggle and squeals of delight while she played with them I would have. She is a joy, when she wants to be. Fits are her latest "thing" and they never cease to frustrate me. She is loud I tell ya....L-O-U-D!
Brady is coming along in leaps and bounds. He is picking up new words here and there. I think that the GF/CF diet is helping him quite a bit, seems to anyway. We are meeting with an OT next week to discuss some sensory issues he seems to have, we'll see how that goes. He was right in there with the girls feeding the goats last week. Petting the llamas and chasing cats. He enjoys being outside and is in love with a tractor I bought at a garage sale a year or so ago. Too bad it does not currently run....we are looking for a new battery for it. Otherwise he enjoys riding the bajillion other toys we have. He likes to water the plants too.
Here is a list of words for him currently. I will copy and paste his old list and use an asterisk(*) to note new words. Parentheses( ) indicate how he actually says the word. I am not sure that this is terribly important except that some words are much more clear these days so I think I like these phonetic notes to compare to later. Also of note is that some of these words are used and noted during ST or work with the CW but not necessarily used on a day to day basis.
mom
daddy
sissy
no
uppy (ut-ee)
shoes (sooes)
fish (feesh)
drink
night (nigh)
bye (die)
baby
eat
cheese(he does not use this one anymore since he does not get cheese)
more(he is trying so hard to enunciate this word anymore. it is precious)
please (pease)
cookie* (oo-kie)
butt*
moon* (oon)
bubble*
apple*
car* (ar)
me* ( while pointing to his chest. it is adorable!)
Oscar* (us-ar) This is our dog's name.
boat*
pillow* (i-ow) Basically pillow without the "p" and the "ll". He is extremely attached to a pillow.
banana* (na-a)
uh-oh*
bug* (ug)
sit* (zit)
I think that is it. I am pretty sure. His speech is still pretty limited. He is trying. We will look at his progress again in August and then October and decide what more the AEA can do with/for him at that time. The two basic choices will be either speech groups, which meet 3 times a month for about half an hour, or 3yo pre-school which would meet Mon-Thurs for 3 hours daily. We go to the University of Iowa on June 8 for his evaluation with the CDD down there. Until then we are still working weekly with the case worker or ST on alternating weeks. He is a very affectionate little guy when he wants to be too. Every night before going to bed he tells us all "nigh" and gives hugs.
That has us all caught up I am pretty sure. Later I will upload some pictures to share with you all of our vacation and the farm tour.
We have had a busy busy month.
We took a 10 day trip to FL, continued working with the case worker and ST for Brady, managed play dates with pre-school and other errands of necessity, dealt with a few illnesses and recently toured a farm with Llamas and Great Pyrenees rescue dogs. It has been a full month.
Josey graduates from pre-school on Thursday the 27th. From what I understand there will be graduate caps and tassels....and probably tears. I am not sad so much that she is graduating but amazed to see her growing before my very eyes. She is such a sweet thoughtful girl who can also be headstrong and difficult. I love her fierce independence, or try to anyway since I hope it will serve her well as she gets older and has to be strong enough to maintain her values despite peer pressure. I know I may sound a little silly but we all know that happens way earlier these days...She starts Kindergarten in the fall and she is thrilled. She is still the craftiest little thing and almost always makes stuff for friends and family before herself. I love that about her.
Lucey is growing into a little bit of an attitude. She is a middle child through and through. She works to make sure that she gets attention and is heard. Trust me on that one...she IS heard. *wink wink* She loves animals, as do the other kiddos, and when we toured the farm last week she was excited to see the goats, llamas and dogs. If I could have bottled her giggle and squeals of delight while she played with them I would have. She is a joy, when she wants to be. Fits are her latest "thing" and they never cease to frustrate me. She is loud I tell ya....L-O-U-D!
Brady is coming along in leaps and bounds. He is picking up new words here and there. I think that the GF/CF diet is helping him quite a bit, seems to anyway. We are meeting with an OT next week to discuss some sensory issues he seems to have, we'll see how that goes. He was right in there with the girls feeding the goats last week. Petting the llamas and chasing cats. He enjoys being outside and is in love with a tractor I bought at a garage sale a year or so ago. Too bad it does not currently run....we are looking for a new battery for it. Otherwise he enjoys riding the bajillion other toys we have. He likes to water the plants too.
Here is a list of words for him currently. I will copy and paste his old list and use an asterisk(*) to note new words. Parentheses( ) indicate how he actually says the word. I am not sure that this is terribly important except that some words are much more clear these days so I think I like these phonetic notes to compare to later. Also of note is that some of these words are used and noted during ST or work with the CW but not necessarily used on a day to day basis.
mom
daddy
sissy
no
uppy (ut-ee)
shoes (sooes)
fish (feesh)
drink
night (nigh)
bye (die)
baby
eat
cheese(he does not use this one anymore since he does not get cheese)
more(he is trying so hard to enunciate this word anymore. it is precious)
please (pease)
cookie* (oo-kie)
butt*
moon* (oon)
bubble*
apple*
car* (ar)
me* ( while pointing to his chest. it is adorable!)
Oscar* (us-ar) This is our dog's name.
boat*
pillow* (i-ow) Basically pillow without the "p" and the "ll". He is extremely attached to a pillow.
banana* (na-a)
uh-oh*
bug* (ug)
sit* (zit)
I think that is it. I am pretty sure. His speech is still pretty limited. He is trying. We will look at his progress again in August and then October and decide what more the AEA can do with/for him at that time. The two basic choices will be either speech groups, which meet 3 times a month for about half an hour, or 3yo pre-school which would meet Mon-Thurs for 3 hours daily. We go to the University of Iowa on June 8 for his evaluation with the CDD down there. Until then we are still working weekly with the case worker or ST on alternating weeks. He is a very affectionate little guy when he wants to be too. Every night before going to bed he tells us all "nigh" and gives hugs.
That has us all caught up I am pretty sure. Later I will upload some pictures to share with you all of our vacation and the farm tour.
April 15, 2010
Dude...really?!
So this morning I made some cookies for the kiddos. It was a Jamie Oliver recipe, I will share it on my blog later, and it chilled in the fridge overnight then got cut up and baked this am. It was a cf/gf recipe and they were pretty yummy. I made the kids wait until later because obviously I would not let them have cookies for breakfast.
The twins loved them. Josey too. I thought they were pretty darn good as well. anyhow....per instructions from the ST and the CW I obviously make sure that I tell Brady what it is and really draw the word out.
this afternoon after nap he got up...pointed to the table(where the cookies were) and said, "ooo-kee". Really?! Seriously?! I think that is the "longest" word so far that he has spit out. I cannot help but wonder how much the gf/cf diet is helping him. He totally said cookie.
will I ever stop crying with new words from him? : )
The twins loved them. Josey too. I thought they were pretty darn good as well. anyhow....per instructions from the ST and the CW I obviously make sure that I tell Brady what it is and really draw the word out.
this afternoon after nap he got up...pointed to the table(where the cookies were) and said, "ooo-kee". Really?! Seriously?! I think that is the "longest" word so far that he has spit out. I cannot help but wonder how much the gf/cf diet is helping him. He totally said cookie.
will I ever stop crying with new words from him? : )
April 8, 2010
Holy Crap!
(my apologies because I think this post title was used by a friend for the same reason but I know you will understand why I also used it...)
Brady just said "apple" while using the sign.
As if this was not enough he just put together, through sign and words, "apple, more, please", in that order. Using BOTH the signs AND the words. and he was pretty darn clear with all those words as well.
I absolutely cried hearing that from him. We have gone through almost 4 apples in the process as well. lol Kind of like the bubbles...if he wants apples he will get apples. I am just over the moon right now.
Brady just said "apple" while using the sign.
As if this was not enough he just put together, through sign and words, "apple, more, please", in that order. Using BOTH the signs AND the words. and he was pretty darn clear with all those words as well.
I absolutely cried hearing that from him. We have gone through almost 4 apples in the process as well. lol Kind of like the bubbles...if he wants apples he will get apples. I am just over the moon right now.
Bubbles
One of the things we are working with Brady on is being more aware of his mouth and lips and tongue. His ST blows bubbles with him and touchs his mouth with them. Through these bubbles she explained she is also working on sensory issues as well as his verbal development. He also started hitting his chest and saying "me" when he wanted a turn with the bubble wand and blowing bubbles. Bubbles have been a good thing here.
We have a bubble blower. I like to set it up and start it blowing bubbles outside for the kids to chase and also when they are playing on the back porch sometimes too.
Yesterday Brady got up and gestured to the back porch and said, "bubble". oh.my.goodness. I about fell over. I excitedly repeated "bubble" to him and commended him for "good talking". I got the bubble blower and brought it inside to blow bubbles for him. Unfortunately the bubble blower had passed away sometime in the night. I will be buying a new one. If he wants bubbles and will ask me for bubbles....dude we will get him bubbles. :)
We have a bubble blower. I like to set it up and start it blowing bubbles outside for the kids to chase and also when they are playing on the back porch sometimes too.
Yesterday Brady got up and gestured to the back porch and said, "bubble". oh.my.goodness. I about fell over. I excitedly repeated "bubble" to him and commended him for "good talking". I got the bubble blower and brought it inside to blow bubbles for him. Unfortunately the bubble blower had passed away sometime in the night. I will be buying a new one. If he wants bubbles and will ask me for bubbles....dude we will get him bubbles. :)
April 3, 2010
It is April!
We are doing well here...loving the warm up in our weather. It is sooo nice to be able to go outside and play. To be able to open all the windows and enjoy the fresh air.
Brady is coming along. He has added "uhh-ey"(uppy) when he wants us to pick him up and "sooes" for shoes. It is awesome that he is using uppy spontaneously when he wants us to pick him up, in the right context and all. He is also using "feesh"(fish) and baby more often.
So his words now are:
mom
daddy
sissy
no
uppy
shoes
fish
drink
night
bye
baby
eat
cheese
more
please
I think that is it. I will add to this when I remember more.
Lucey is all kinds of funny. She is talking up a storm and it is always amusing. She pottied in the potty for the first time last week. It was a one time thing. lol That is ok. Josey did it all in her own time and I am sure that Lucey and Brady will too. She is definitely her own person with her own sweet personality. She has no problem holding her own with Brady and Josey either. She is a snuggler for sure and still prefers to be touched while trying to go to sleep. Her and I often spend the last half of the night sleeping together.
Josey is growing like a weed. I put a 5T dress on her the other day, I swear it fit fine when she first got it, and it was a little short. Good thing I prefer shorts under all dresses...this one needed it. She is a sweet kiddo and is always making drawings and cards for her friends and family. She is going to be starting some summer gymnastics this year. She took a couple of short sessions at the Y and loved it. She seems to have a knack for it and since she enjoys it I figured why not. Next week she starts another season of spring soccer. I am her coach this time and I think we will have fun! I will definitely update on how that goes.
Overall we are busy and happy and having fun these days. Happy for spring and loving the warmer weather. It is the day before Easter and tomorrow we will be having an Easter meal and egg hunt with some good friends. Next week we have a shower for my brother in law who will be getting married in early May. This time next month we will be in sunny Florida for his wedding. Looking forward to that! Brad is best man and Brady will be the ring bearer. Looking forward to seeing my guys dressed up and looking great!
Brady is coming along. He has added "uhh-ey"(uppy) when he wants us to pick him up and "sooes" for shoes. It is awesome that he is using uppy spontaneously when he wants us to pick him up, in the right context and all. He is also using "feesh"(fish) and baby more often.
So his words now are:
mom
daddy
sissy
no
uppy
shoes
fish
drink
night
bye
baby
eat
cheese
more
please
I think that is it. I will add to this when I remember more.
Lucey is all kinds of funny. She is talking up a storm and it is always amusing. She pottied in the potty for the first time last week. It was a one time thing. lol That is ok. Josey did it all in her own time and I am sure that Lucey and Brady will too. She is definitely her own person with her own sweet personality. She has no problem holding her own with Brady and Josey either. She is a snuggler for sure and still prefers to be touched while trying to go to sleep. Her and I often spend the last half of the night sleeping together.
Josey is growing like a weed. I put a 5T dress on her the other day, I swear it fit fine when she first got it, and it was a little short. Good thing I prefer shorts under all dresses...this one needed it. She is a sweet kiddo and is always making drawings and cards for her friends and family. She is going to be starting some summer gymnastics this year. She took a couple of short sessions at the Y and loved it. She seems to have a knack for it and since she enjoys it I figured why not. Next week she starts another season of spring soccer. I am her coach this time and I think we will have fun! I will definitely update on how that goes.
Overall we are busy and happy and having fun these days. Happy for spring and loving the warmer weather. It is the day before Easter and tomorrow we will be having an Easter meal and egg hunt with some good friends. Next week we have a shower for my brother in law who will be getting married in early May. This time next month we will be in sunny Florida for his wedding. Looking forward to that! Brad is best man and Brady will be the ring bearer. Looking forward to seeing my guys dressed up and looking great!
March 26, 2010
Pajama Time
So I took a couple of videos last night of both Brady and Lucey. It was after bathtime so they are fresh and clean and all jammied up. My favorite. Brad and Josey were at the library so it was just us. Lucey was tired and you can tell she is as not as "with it" as Brady but these are still cute. This is my video brag of Brady pointing out his eyes, nose and mouth. You can hear him clearly say "hi", "eyes" and "die"(bye) in this video as well as some other vocalizations. Enjoy! I know Brad got a kick out of them when he got home.
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