Ya know, God is good. He truly is. And, He does answer prayers.
We finally made it into the developmental pediatrician with Alex after waiting for 4 months. That in itself is a miracle. Developmental pediatricians are highly specialized, and there really isn't enough of them to go around. There are places in this country where families who are covered under the military health insurance cannot see one because there isn't one on our insurance plan in that state. I know that sounds crazy, but that is the truth. And even here, there is a wait list that is over 6 months long for the doctor Alex went to. So, Praise God for the short wait!
Secondly was the evaluation done on Alex. There are no signs of autism, no signs of an autism spectrum disorder of any kind. He told us that Alex may have a touch of ADHD, but nothing that should have ever required medication. He said that if anything, Alex is only emotionally immature, and that considering the life changing events we have been through as a family over the past 3 years, that is not entirely unexpected.
He also was encouraging. He told us that choosing to homeschool Alex was the best thing we could have ever done for our son. Wow. Talk about Holy Spirit confirmation! It doesn't get any louder than that!
So, at this rate, we are just doing what we do. School, at home, and enjoying our time together. I'm already seeing improvements in Alex in some areas, others will just take time. I'm not concerned though. God is along for the ride. Even more than that -
He's driving.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
And How Much More Does He Care For You?
I am reminded of Matthew 6:26 (NLT) Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?
I am going to keep that in mind as I am going through this post, as do I want you.
Blythe had his 9 month well baby checkup on Tuesday. I really don't like those, simply because he doesn't handle the shots well. His leg always bruises, it gets very knotty, he gets extremely sore there no matter what we do, it disturbs his diapering patterns, and to make it all the better it affects his sleeping pattern. I kid you not, he's been up for several hours in the middle of the night for the past two nights. Can make for a tired Mommy! But God is good to me and I have a child that will come get the baby in the morning to give me an extra hour or two of sleep. That is one thing I am very very grateful for. Without Marissa's help, I would have been a zombie by now.
So at any rate, the visit is going well. He's a big boy, a very big boy. I tell people he is going to be our very intelligent football player. Hey, that big head of his is going to be useful! He is at the 20lb mark already, and his head is 46cm. Oh yeah, that is the size of about a 2T in a hat for him. On the charts, his head is in the 95 percentile range. Yep, you got it, his head is bigger than 95% of the babies out there. And you wonder why we call him Frankenstein?
So we are going through the motions...."How is he sleeping?" Not all night. He has to eat. "How is he eating" About every 2 hours still. I am not kidding. "Is he crawling" Oh yes, he does the GI crawl and is crawling more normally more often now. "Is he pulling up on things" Oh yes, he is standing, cruising across the couch, and trying to climb on things. "Is he babbling" Nope.
You could hear a pin drop.
"No baby babbles?!?"
Nope. He does the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" and "hiiiis" but no constant consonant sounds. (Remember the cute video of him saying bye-bye? Well bye-bye is gone. Not a site of it for about two weeks now) There is no mamamama or dadadadada or anything like that. He "talks" to us through coos like a smaller baby, and he squeals and cries like no tomorrow but no consonants.
Oh yes, I have heard it all. He is just a little slower, he will do it on his own time, maybe he just doesn't want to talk right now, he is still little yet....
Look, children do develop at different rates. HOWEVER there are certain milestones that occur at certain ages no matter what. The babbling is one of them.
Instructions from the pediatrician?
Watch him close. Talk to him like we've been doing. (We have him watch us, we say the sounds -i.e. mamama, we put his hand to our mouth so he can feel the sounds) If he is not speaking at 12 months we go back for ANOTHER audiology.
Did I mentioned that he failed his newborn one? Yeah, it was repeated and then he passed, but that is why we are having to watch all of this.
If the audiology is clean we go to speech therapy.
Ok, compare my two boys and wonder why I am not ponding my feet on the ground ready to charge all of the doctors like the mother bull I can be???
Remember Matthew 6:26?
My God is bigger than this.
I am going to keep that in mind as I am going through this post, as do I want you.
Blythe had his 9 month well baby checkup on Tuesday. I really don't like those, simply because he doesn't handle the shots well. His leg always bruises, it gets very knotty, he gets extremely sore there no matter what we do, it disturbs his diapering patterns, and to make it all the better it affects his sleeping pattern. I kid you not, he's been up for several hours in the middle of the night for the past two nights. Can make for a tired Mommy! But God is good to me and I have a child that will come get the baby in the morning to give me an extra hour or two of sleep. That is one thing I am very very grateful for. Without Marissa's help, I would have been a zombie by now.
So at any rate, the visit is going well. He's a big boy, a very big boy. I tell people he is going to be our very intelligent football player. Hey, that big head of his is going to be useful! He is at the 20lb mark already, and his head is 46cm. Oh yeah, that is the size of about a 2T in a hat for him. On the charts, his head is in the 95 percentile range. Yep, you got it, his head is bigger than 95% of the babies out there. And you wonder why we call him Frankenstein?
So we are going through the motions...."How is he sleeping?" Not all night. He has to eat. "How is he eating" About every 2 hours still. I am not kidding. "Is he crawling" Oh yes, he does the GI crawl and is crawling more normally more often now. "Is he pulling up on things" Oh yes, he is standing, cruising across the couch, and trying to climb on things. "Is he babbling" Nope.
You could hear a pin drop.
"No baby babbles?!?"
Nope. He does the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" and "hiiiis" but no constant consonant sounds. (Remember the cute video of him saying bye-bye? Well bye-bye is gone. Not a site of it for about two weeks now) There is no mamamama or dadadadada or anything like that. He "talks" to us through coos like a smaller baby, and he squeals and cries like no tomorrow but no consonants.
Oh yes, I have heard it all. He is just a little slower, he will do it on his own time, maybe he just doesn't want to talk right now, he is still little yet....
Look, children do develop at different rates. HOWEVER there are certain milestones that occur at certain ages no matter what. The babbling is one of them.
Instructions from the pediatrician?
Watch him close. Talk to him like we've been doing. (We have him watch us, we say the sounds -i.e. mamama, we put his hand to our mouth so he can feel the sounds) If he is not speaking at 12 months we go back for ANOTHER audiology.
Did I mentioned that he failed his newborn one? Yeah, it was repeated and then he passed, but that is why we are having to watch all of this.
If the audiology is clean we go to speech therapy.
Ok, compare my two boys and wonder why I am not ponding my feet on the ground ready to charge all of the doctors like the mother bull I can be???
Remember Matthew 6:26?
My God is bigger than this.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Daily Mercies
Go check out Ginger and The Daily Mercies!
http://heresmycuplord.com/2009/06/03/the-daily-mercies-our-first-thursday-edition/
http://heresmycuplord.com/2009/06/03/the-daily-mercies-our-first-thursday-edition/
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
"Field Day"
Being where I am right now, I am begining to see things in a completely different light than I ever have before. And let me warn you, my perception of things is very different than what you would expect.
First, Alex.
He made his first "successful" day at DEAP yesterday. I am soo suspect of that it is unreal. My heart screams "foul!" and my brain cannot compute it. Not that I shouldn't be "proud" of him. But let's look at it through my eyes for a moment. The teacher just had to go through a disciplinary process over her treatment of my son. The day before (Monday) he scored a wonderful 12. The things that she had itemized on the paper are the same behaviors he's been having, none of which have brought him one good day yet (in out of 46). The difference on yesterday? The aide sat with him the ENTIRE time and she noted that he still lost points (ok, so what???? At least he finally had ONE good day!). Today was business as usual, with a beautiful 22 - complete with a descriptive narrative on how he kicked himself in the head several times today and proceeded to bite his own arm (don't know, don't ask, can't explain it, is NOT normal for him).
Now, on "field day".
This was the day scheduled for Dayna's school to have field day. As a child, I remember the fun of field day, organized activities, Mom and Dad being there, sharing lunch together....how it signified the begining of the summer break. Loads of good memories for me. But today I really saw it in a completely different light.
This school is unable to provide the children with "recess" on a continuous basis. It's either wet, or too hot, or too cold....the children are lucky if they get 15 minutes on a day that they are able to have recess. So you have a school chock full of children under the age of 11 with NO way to burn off excess energy or even build endurance for physical exercise! It should be no surprise to see students ending up in DEAP!
And so, one day a year, they dedicate and ENTIRE day of strenous physical activity. Yes, the kids are on teams and they play these "organized" games. Yes, there is a section that is full of water games (let's face it, it's Texas and it is SUPER hot here, even at June 2nd). But these kids are running out of energy within the first 3 games and it ends up being a mess of whiny, hot, tired children, who continue to be drawn through a massive amounts of "games" to where they are finally taken to the water section....so at the end of the day, they are mush and soppy on top of it.
(insert sigh here)
And we wonder why our children are overweight? And we wonder why they are not as healthy as they once were? Why are they getting into so much trouble? Why are so many now ADD/ADHD?
The schools are at the point where they are having to teach based on being able to get the students to pass at standardized scoring. The teachers are the ones left "raising" our children whether we want to admit that or not. Seriously? Our kids are there at least 7 hours of their day. Where do you think they are learning about life from?
One teacher today walks by me with her voice raised - at this point she is just as frustrated and tired as her students. I hear, "What part of PUT THAT DOWN did you NOT understand?" I giggled. I've used that one.
As I sit here, however, I am more sad now than before. What a legacy to pass from us! I, now more than ever, are compelled to be the one in charge of my child's education!
First, Alex.
He made his first "successful" day at DEAP yesterday. I am soo suspect of that it is unreal. My heart screams "foul!" and my brain cannot compute it. Not that I shouldn't be "proud" of him. But let's look at it through my eyes for a moment. The teacher just had to go through a disciplinary process over her treatment of my son. The day before (Monday) he scored a wonderful 12. The things that she had itemized on the paper are the same behaviors he's been having, none of which have brought him one good day yet (in out of 46). The difference on yesterday? The aide sat with him the ENTIRE time and she noted that he still lost points (ok, so what???? At least he finally had ONE good day!). Today was business as usual, with a beautiful 22 - complete with a descriptive narrative on how he kicked himself in the head several times today and proceeded to bite his own arm (don't know, don't ask, can't explain it, is NOT normal for him).
Now, on "field day".
This was the day scheduled for Dayna's school to have field day. As a child, I remember the fun of field day, organized activities, Mom and Dad being there, sharing lunch together....how it signified the begining of the summer break. Loads of good memories for me. But today I really saw it in a completely different light.
This school is unable to provide the children with "recess" on a continuous basis. It's either wet, or too hot, or too cold....the children are lucky if they get 15 minutes on a day that they are able to have recess. So you have a school chock full of children under the age of 11 with NO way to burn off excess energy or even build endurance for physical exercise! It should be no surprise to see students ending up in DEAP!
And so, one day a year, they dedicate and ENTIRE day of strenous physical activity. Yes, the kids are on teams and they play these "organized" games. Yes, there is a section that is full of water games (let's face it, it's Texas and it is SUPER hot here, even at June 2nd). But these kids are running out of energy within the first 3 games and it ends up being a mess of whiny, hot, tired children, who continue to be drawn through a massive amounts of "games" to where they are finally taken to the water section....so at the end of the day, they are mush and soppy on top of it.
(insert sigh here)
And we wonder why our children are overweight? And we wonder why they are not as healthy as they once were? Why are they getting into so much trouble? Why are so many now ADD/ADHD?
The schools are at the point where they are having to teach based on being able to get the students to pass at standardized scoring. The teachers are the ones left "raising" our children whether we want to admit that or not. Seriously? Our kids are there at least 7 hours of their day. Where do you think they are learning about life from?
One teacher today walks by me with her voice raised - at this point she is just as frustrated and tired as her students. I hear, "What part of PUT THAT DOWN did you NOT understand?" I giggled. I've used that one.
As I sit here, however, I am more sad now than before. What a legacy to pass from us! I, now more than ever, are compelled to be the one in charge of my child's education!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Struggles
I have had some very strong struggles over the past few weeks where Alex has been concerned. I know that I have been tested in my faith, that I have been stretched, and that I am being purified in the fire! One thing for sure, I have not lost my sight of God throughout our whole ordeal.
We made the choice to homeschool him begining next year recently. I've received so much confirmation that we are following God's will here it has been just jaw dropping. Left and right, front and back, God has spoken loud and clear here.
I have been searching into curriculum for him, and praying about it. I know that I will have what will work for him for next year when it is time, but please, think of us, and if you have suggestions, feel free to leave me a comment. I will most certainly review whatever is sent my way!
Friday, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back though. The teacher that is in charge of him took photos of him on her personal cell phone and sent them to me in a text message. No explaination for them and no phone call. He had been drawing on the desk and I guess she felt the need to have me view his artwork. Let me explain why this made me so very angry.
First, there is a behavior chart that comes home with him every day. I sign and keep a copy, one copy goes back to her, and the final copy goes in his file for adminstration. There are times where she has let me know that he has drawn on the desk, I got that. I don't feel there was a need to take a photo of it and send it to me. What exactly was that supposed to accomplish?
Second, the photo was taken of him in the middle of the classroom within sight of the other children and teachers. It was strictly for humiliation of him and nothing else.
Third, he has been singled out. The other children in that room are in standard wooden school desks. My 6 year old is sitting in a desk that looks like it has a dry erase top. Yes, you read that correctly. A dry erase desktop - and he was expected NOT to draw on it, WITHOUT that being told to him until AFTER he had already done it.
Forth, she did not put that he even drew on the desk on the behavior chart that comes home. Remember, the one that has a copy to go to the adminstration? There was no mention of the drawing, no mention of the texts, nothing. No apparent paper trail so that administration could track this incident.
Fifth, and the final straw, she told him to stand next to his desk. He did. She says, "Smile for the camera!" Oh, the anger that rose up in me from the whole thing! Thankfully my husband had the sense to make me wait 2 hours before us going to the school over it.
Yes, we handled it through the proper channels, and with dignity and respect. There will be an administrative action taken against the teacher. The school is aware of our plan to homeschool him and supportive of it. How dare they do this??? As if he did not have enough struggles dealing with the previous trama from the begining of the year and that so called teacher!
A dear friend of mine gave me some advice. She told me to pray for the teacher and to remember that we are to pray for our enemies.
I don't view this teacher as my enemy. She is not the enemy. She was unfortunantly the vessel used to hurt my son. I will pray for her, but not as if she is the enemy, but as a woman who needs Jesus and the love He brings in her life!
So with that, I've found a wonderful online community of homeschool families. www.thehomeschoollounge.com I will try to get a button on here for them soon. Check them out, wonderful group of women from all over the country!
And so we begin a new and exciting journey with our son, at least where his education is concerned!
We made the choice to homeschool him begining next year recently. I've received so much confirmation that we are following God's will here it has been just jaw dropping. Left and right, front and back, God has spoken loud and clear here.
I have been searching into curriculum for him, and praying about it. I know that I will have what will work for him for next year when it is time, but please, think of us, and if you have suggestions, feel free to leave me a comment. I will most certainly review whatever is sent my way!
Friday, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back though. The teacher that is in charge of him took photos of him on her personal cell phone and sent them to me in a text message. No explaination for them and no phone call. He had been drawing on the desk and I guess she felt the need to have me view his artwork. Let me explain why this made me so very angry.
First, there is a behavior chart that comes home with him every day. I sign and keep a copy, one copy goes back to her, and the final copy goes in his file for adminstration. There are times where she has let me know that he has drawn on the desk, I got that. I don't feel there was a need to take a photo of it and send it to me. What exactly was that supposed to accomplish?
Second, the photo was taken of him in the middle of the classroom within sight of the other children and teachers. It was strictly for humiliation of him and nothing else.
Third, he has been singled out. The other children in that room are in standard wooden school desks. My 6 year old is sitting in a desk that looks like it has a dry erase top. Yes, you read that correctly. A dry erase desktop - and he was expected NOT to draw on it, WITHOUT that being told to him until AFTER he had already done it.
Forth, she did not put that he even drew on the desk on the behavior chart that comes home. Remember, the one that has a copy to go to the adminstration? There was no mention of the drawing, no mention of the texts, nothing. No apparent paper trail so that administration could track this incident.
Fifth, and the final straw, she told him to stand next to his desk. He did. She says, "Smile for the camera!" Oh, the anger that rose up in me from the whole thing! Thankfully my husband had the sense to make me wait 2 hours before us going to the school over it.
Yes, we handled it through the proper channels, and with dignity and respect. There will be an administrative action taken against the teacher. The school is aware of our plan to homeschool him and supportive of it. How dare they do this??? As if he did not have enough struggles dealing with the previous trama from the begining of the year and that so called teacher!
A dear friend of mine gave me some advice. She told me to pray for the teacher and to remember that we are to pray for our enemies.
I don't view this teacher as my enemy. She is not the enemy. She was unfortunantly the vessel used to hurt my son. I will pray for her, but not as if she is the enemy, but as a woman who needs Jesus and the love He brings in her life!
So with that, I've found a wonderful online community of homeschool families. www.thehomeschoollounge.com I will try to get a button on here for them soon. Check them out, wonderful group of women from all over the country!
And so we begin a new and exciting journey with our son, at least where his education is concerned!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Grrrr....
Well if this isn't a frustrating start.
When they make appointments at the OT office, they schedule you in 30 minutes before your appointment time. So this morning we are penciled in at 8:30, but his appointment isn't until 9. I get there just past 8:40 thanks to the school traffic, and what do they tell me? I have to bring him back at 1. They won't see him because we are over 10 minutes late. For an appointment that isn't supposed to start until 9. Bah. Oh well, it's okay really, it just means he gets to stay at home with me today. That is not such a bad thing considering how things are going at school. Which brings me to my next point of frustration.
When we decided to put him into DEAP, we did it based on the information we were given about the program. We didn't have a lot of choices, and at the time DEAP seemed to be the best choice. DEAP is actually Disciplinary Education Alternative Placement. Yeah, you got it, my kindergartener is in the alternative program. Our choices were to do nothing at his current school at the time, and that couldn't work because he was completely disrupting the classroom. We could put him on the 504 plan, but that wouldn't work because all they would do is just keep suspending him from school. We couldn't have him evaluated for the PBS (Positive Behavior Setting) because PBS is for special needs children and the evaluation would take weeks and they would have had to label him "emotionally disturbed" to put him in there. Seriously, I was not going to go there. He may have some things going on but he is most certainly not emotionally disturbed. DEAP was supposed to be a positive thing, set up for the kids to earn points, set up for the child to succeed....even though it is a punative setting, but everyone (including us) thought it would be a good thing for him. No transitioning classes, no major distractions, only a few children, and 3 teachers 1 counselor to work with him.
DEAP has turned into a nightmare for him and us both.
He's been there almost 30 days and not had the first successful day yet.
Whenever I call they tell me that they will have another school district level meeting to determine what else they can do with him - and when I ask what the "what else" is they cannot really tell me. She says, maybe put him on a behavioral plan. Well, to me that is exactly what he has right now. 5 things he has to work on, and his teacher lets me know every single little thing that he does wrong, trust me on that. His paper is outlined every day with an itemized list of his mistakes.
So I tell the counselor yesterday that his OT has said he has the markers for autism, that she feels like DEAP is not what is best for him, and you know what that lady tells me? That he might be borderline but he's not badly autistic. I'm thinking, "what do you know? when did you get your medical degree?" And when I bring up the fact that he has seriously regressed in behavior, the counselor tells me that is common when the kids get into the program because it is a punative program and sometimes the other kids in the room are worse than what your child is, blah blah blah - okay look, Alex is not a new student in there, there is no reason for some of these things to be happening, and I am D.O.N.E.
I feel like we have just been tossed to the side, and that is that. I feel like noone is willing to answer our questions, that noone is willing to help him or us. I don't get phone calls returned, emails returned....and I can really tell that they (being the school) don't want to talk to me, I am a point of frustration for them and so is my son. Whatever happened to the school system actually helping the students it has???
I think parents who get a diagnosis right away, before their child is school age, have it easier than parents like us. He's been in pre-k, but not really long enough to see anything, and all the school wants to do is say he has ADHD and have me give him pills.
Well you know what? It is my RIGHT and my CHOICE to not give him medication that DOES NOT WORK!!! I do not see any benefit to that whatsoever! And if they would actually stop and look at his behavior they would see that it is NOT ADHD! We've already been told that! But their precious psychologist (who cannot even write scripts, I have to get meds from Alex's pediatrician) said Alex does after ONE 45 minute session, so therefore it must be gold right?
Okay.
I think I'm done venting it out.
I know that God is with us, I know that He makes a way. But in all honesty, I wanted to share EVERY aspect of our journey with this, to be true witnesses. This is not easy. It is filled with nights that you cry, days you want to give up, days you get frustrated at all the "professionals", days you get frustrated at your child because you don't understand why, days you feel like a failure as a parent, and days where you truimph!
Continue to pray for our family, it really does help.
When they make appointments at the OT office, they schedule you in 30 minutes before your appointment time. So this morning we are penciled in at 8:30, but his appointment isn't until 9. I get there just past 8:40 thanks to the school traffic, and what do they tell me? I have to bring him back at 1. They won't see him because we are over 10 minutes late. For an appointment that isn't supposed to start until 9. Bah. Oh well, it's okay really, it just means he gets to stay at home with me today. That is not such a bad thing considering how things are going at school. Which brings me to my next point of frustration.
When we decided to put him into DEAP, we did it based on the information we were given about the program. We didn't have a lot of choices, and at the time DEAP seemed to be the best choice. DEAP is actually Disciplinary Education Alternative Placement. Yeah, you got it, my kindergartener is in the alternative program. Our choices were to do nothing at his current school at the time, and that couldn't work because he was completely disrupting the classroom. We could put him on the 504 plan, but that wouldn't work because all they would do is just keep suspending him from school. We couldn't have him evaluated for the PBS (Positive Behavior Setting) because PBS is for special needs children and the evaluation would take weeks and they would have had to label him "emotionally disturbed" to put him in there. Seriously, I was not going to go there. He may have some things going on but he is most certainly not emotionally disturbed. DEAP was supposed to be a positive thing, set up for the kids to earn points, set up for the child to succeed....even though it is a punative setting, but everyone (including us) thought it would be a good thing for him. No transitioning classes, no major distractions, only a few children, and 3 teachers 1 counselor to work with him.
DEAP has turned into a nightmare for him and us both.
He's been there almost 30 days and not had the first successful day yet.
Whenever I call they tell me that they will have another school district level meeting to determine what else they can do with him - and when I ask what the "what else" is they cannot really tell me. She says, maybe put him on a behavioral plan. Well, to me that is exactly what he has right now. 5 things he has to work on, and his teacher lets me know every single little thing that he does wrong, trust me on that. His paper is outlined every day with an itemized list of his mistakes.
So I tell the counselor yesterday that his OT has said he has the markers for autism, that she feels like DEAP is not what is best for him, and you know what that lady tells me? That he might be borderline but he's not badly autistic. I'm thinking, "what do you know? when did you get your medical degree?" And when I bring up the fact that he has seriously regressed in behavior, the counselor tells me that is common when the kids get into the program because it is a punative program and sometimes the other kids in the room are worse than what your child is, blah blah blah - okay look, Alex is not a new student in there, there is no reason for some of these things to be happening, and I am D.O.N.E.
I feel like we have just been tossed to the side, and that is that. I feel like noone is willing to answer our questions, that noone is willing to help him or us. I don't get phone calls returned, emails returned....and I can really tell that they (being the school) don't want to talk to me, I am a point of frustration for them and so is my son. Whatever happened to the school system actually helping the students it has???
I think parents who get a diagnosis right away, before their child is school age, have it easier than parents like us. He's been in pre-k, but not really long enough to see anything, and all the school wants to do is say he has ADHD and have me give him pills.
Well you know what? It is my RIGHT and my CHOICE to not give him medication that DOES NOT WORK!!! I do not see any benefit to that whatsoever! And if they would actually stop and look at his behavior they would see that it is NOT ADHD! We've already been told that! But their precious psychologist (who cannot even write scripts, I have to get meds from Alex's pediatrician) said Alex does after ONE 45 minute session, so therefore it must be gold right?
Okay.
I think I'm done venting it out.
I know that God is with us, I know that He makes a way. But in all honesty, I wanted to share EVERY aspect of our journey with this, to be true witnesses. This is not easy. It is filled with nights that you cry, days you want to give up, days you get frustrated at all the "professionals", days you get frustrated at your child because you don't understand why, days you feel like a failure as a parent, and days where you truimph!
Continue to pray for our family, it really does help.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Rambling Vindication
What a past couple of days! I am so amazed at how things have progressed and how God provides...He never fails to amaze me.
First, I want to share my personal praise report.
Alex had his first Occupational Therapy appointment on Thursday morning. That was a most amazing experience - I wanted to bring his therapist home with me and just keep her for everything! Of course, we cannot do that because she blesses so many people in the position she holds.
Let me begin by explaining how God has set this up. I started looking into something called "Sensory Intergration Dysfunction" in regards for Alex awhile back. The principle of his school brought this to my attention during one of our meetings. She had been thinking about what was going on with Alex and over one particular weekend while her and her husband were away she had seen an article in a magazine that made her think of Alex so she shared it with me. In my research about SID, I really felt like it described a lot of things that were going on with him. Never had I been able to figure out why the seams of his socks irritated him so badly, why his bed was "bumpy" to him, why he doesn't eat with a fork/spoon until I read up on this. In order to get this diagnosis, you have to see a certified OT that specializes in this area. So I brought this up to his pediatrician and the doc set in motion the referrals needed from the insurance company to get him evaluated.
The OT's office is called Integrity Rehab. They have a website, and so when the referral came through, I pulled up their website....WOW. They base their practice on Biblical teaching and on the healing of Jesus Christ. Out of all the places we could have ended up here, this is the one that was chosen for us. That is God for you! To top it all off, his OT specializes in sensory disorders. Praise God!
Alex goes in for his evaluation, and let me tell you - she was able to get him to sit still in the seat for 20 minutes! No wiggles, no tapping toes, no jerky arms AND she actually got him to do work! She recommended we purchase something called a CoreDisk Beanbag - it is a seat pad that is filled with plastic pellets that will provide sensory feedback to him.
Her official opinion, he most certainly has sensory issues and she is fully pushing us to continue to go for an evaluation for autism. Her opinion is that he is displaying the telltale markers of autism. I trust her opinion, because for one, they work with autistic children daily. A good deal of autistic children benefit from OT.
Well, needless to say, I came home excited! So I decide to take a leap of faith and call the developmental pediatric office that we have been trying to get him into to see if the appointment books were open yet....We have been trying to get him in there since February, and those books have been closed for MONTHS. The receptionist puts me on hold, and when she comes back she tells me that we have an appointment for September 10th! FINALLY! Can you say shout from the rooftops the glory of our God???
I know September seems like a world away right now, but keep in mind, there are children out there right now who have to wait a year or longer to get into a developmental ped office or do not have the ability to be seen at all.
The lady at the insurance company told me that she doesn't like it when people call from SC because they don't even have a developmental ped there to see children. How sad is that??? Yes, we have very good insurance, being a military family many of our medical/behavioral needs are met at little or no cost to our family, however, we have to find doctors that are already in our insurance network. For the most part that is pretty easy, but when you start getting into the specialty fields, it becomes a little more hazy.
At any rate, God has provided. We are one step closer to discovering what exactly is going on with Alex.
To top it all off, he had is his best day ever at school on Friday. No, it wasn't considered a successful day, he didn't get the 30 points he needed to have a successful day, but it was still a success for him in my eyes. He came home with a 26 - the highest amount of points he's gotten since being placed into DEAP.
Over the next few weeks he will be receiving OT services. They are going to work on his sensory issues (most of which are in the tactile area) and they are going to be doing ABA therapy with him (Applied Behavior Analysis) which will work on his social skills, trying to get him to come out of that world that he is locked into.
Thank you Father God, thank You for coming through for us, thank You for seeing us more precious than the birds of the air, and thank You for wrapping us in Your loving arms of grace and mercy!
First, I want to share my personal praise report.
Alex had his first Occupational Therapy appointment on Thursday morning. That was a most amazing experience - I wanted to bring his therapist home with me and just keep her for everything! Of course, we cannot do that because she blesses so many people in the position she holds.
Let me begin by explaining how God has set this up. I started looking into something called "Sensory Intergration Dysfunction" in regards for Alex awhile back. The principle of his school brought this to my attention during one of our meetings. She had been thinking about what was going on with Alex and over one particular weekend while her and her husband were away she had seen an article in a magazine that made her think of Alex so she shared it with me. In my research about SID, I really felt like it described a lot of things that were going on with him. Never had I been able to figure out why the seams of his socks irritated him so badly, why his bed was "bumpy" to him, why he doesn't eat with a fork/spoon until I read up on this. In order to get this diagnosis, you have to see a certified OT that specializes in this area. So I brought this up to his pediatrician and the doc set in motion the referrals needed from the insurance company to get him evaluated.
The OT's office is called Integrity Rehab. They have a website, and so when the referral came through, I pulled up their website....WOW. They base their practice on Biblical teaching and on the healing of Jesus Christ. Out of all the places we could have ended up here, this is the one that was chosen for us. That is God for you! To top it all off, his OT specializes in sensory disorders. Praise God!
Alex goes in for his evaluation, and let me tell you - she was able to get him to sit still in the seat for 20 minutes! No wiggles, no tapping toes, no jerky arms AND she actually got him to do work! She recommended we purchase something called a CoreDisk Beanbag - it is a seat pad that is filled with plastic pellets that will provide sensory feedback to him.
Her official opinion, he most certainly has sensory issues and she is fully pushing us to continue to go for an evaluation for autism. Her opinion is that he is displaying the telltale markers of autism. I trust her opinion, because for one, they work with autistic children daily. A good deal of autistic children benefit from OT.
Well, needless to say, I came home excited! So I decide to take a leap of faith and call the developmental pediatric office that we have been trying to get him into to see if the appointment books were open yet....We have been trying to get him in there since February, and those books have been closed for MONTHS. The receptionist puts me on hold, and when she comes back she tells me that we have an appointment for September 10th! FINALLY! Can you say shout from the rooftops the glory of our God???
I know September seems like a world away right now, but keep in mind, there are children out there right now who have to wait a year or longer to get into a developmental ped office or do not have the ability to be seen at all.
The lady at the insurance company told me that she doesn't like it when people call from SC because they don't even have a developmental ped there to see children. How sad is that??? Yes, we have very good insurance, being a military family many of our medical/behavioral needs are met at little or no cost to our family, however, we have to find doctors that are already in our insurance network. For the most part that is pretty easy, but when you start getting into the specialty fields, it becomes a little more hazy.
At any rate, God has provided. We are one step closer to discovering what exactly is going on with Alex.
To top it all off, he had is his best day ever at school on Friday. No, it wasn't considered a successful day, he didn't get the 30 points he needed to have a successful day, but it was still a success for him in my eyes. He came home with a 26 - the highest amount of points he's gotten since being placed into DEAP.
Over the next few weeks he will be receiving OT services. They are going to work on his sensory issues (most of which are in the tactile area) and they are going to be doing ABA therapy with him (Applied Behavior Analysis) which will work on his social skills, trying to get him to come out of that world that he is locked into.
Thank you Father God, thank You for coming through for us, thank You for seeing us more precious than the birds of the air, and thank You for wrapping us in Your loving arms of grace and mercy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)