Summer at the River

Here's where we hung out this afternoon: a stretch of beach along a local River.


It's been The River to me since I can remember. It feels good to be sharing it with the kids. I could actually relax because their Nana came with us, so James and his sister both got some personal attention.


James spent some time in the water, testing his balance against the rocky, sandy bottom and the River's gentle, yet persistent, current. He threw rocks, dug in the sand, and tried to scoop real live minnows with a net. He and I had splash wars (he's holding his hands better for this than he did before) and tossed the net back and forth to each other. He picked a flower for me and even started to gather and count the rocks. Before throwing them. I'll bet that's a couple of P/T sessions right there.


Felt soooooo good!

Good heavens, I adore those floaties from the Dollar Store. It gave both kids confidence to play in the water and try to swim on their own. They are bright and easy for me to spot.

Summer Picnics

Our local Farmers' Market sets up twice weekly in the summer. On Sundays, I like to take the kids there, to get us out of the house and see what's fresh. James loves the live music. He loves it so much that I have to keep a close watch on him, as he will almost get in their laps or try getting within an inch of the instruments. While they are being played.

It's also a great excuse to pack a lunch and picnic outdoors.

James still loves his usual menu of PB&J, apple slices, and pretzels (or something crunchy). It can be a challenge to keep him seated and restrain his bite sizes. As soon as something catches his attention, he'll leap to his feet and head toward it, regardless of what's still on his plate or in his mouth. It this James, a 5-year-old boy, or the autism? I have no idea.

I do know that we love the welcoming atmosphere of our Farmers' Market:

School starts next week. Yikes!

Calling for an Assist

I just made a call to the Swain Center, to see about getting another evaluation for James. Right after his initial assessment by the North Bay Regional Center, he started receiving treatment there twice a week with a speech therapist. After age 3, we continued to visit on a weekly basis, when school was out of session, as part of our Respite Care.

The more I see of kids and services, the luckier I feel that he got such good help up front. His therapist kept at him, and didn't let James get away with much. This is tough, because he knows how to use his charm and cute looks. She knew he needed to be pushed and found ways to successfully challenge him. Even when he was tired and cranky from going to therapy instead of napping, she got him to accomplish just a little bit more.

When it came time for his first school IEP, she helped me set better goals for him. Because the school folks were setting him goals he'd already achieved (they had not worked with him at that point), and I am not a speech specialist, this woman's help was invaluable to us. I am hoping to have her input to bring with me for a meeting with James' Kinder Team after school starts.

Perhaps I should have done this earlier, but I hate overscheduling James. He's been progressing so well with social and speech development this summer -- the sessions at the gym's Kids' Club with older kids, participating in the city's Summer Camp program, and hanging out with older cousins at the beach all helped him take advantage of some great modeling to imitate and build upon.

Now, however, I am reliving the last part of his preschool year, and the disappointment with the speech services and goals (or lack thereof). I know Kindergarten will be a whirlwind of activity and excitement. I'd REALLY like him to succeed, so am hoping that by having the Swain Center's input, we'll be off to another good beginning.

Magic Marker Monday: For Daddy

James had fun making a card for his Daddy's birthday. He'd watched his Mom and Big Sister make theirs, and knew what to do.

Within ten seconds he had red marker on his fingers, and the inside of his lower right calf -- ???

James loves having his hands outlined. He told me what we should put on the card and I drew them in. Then I held the pen out in front of him, in the middle, to see which hand he would use to grab it (I am obsessing lately with hand-eye-foot dominance lately, as in I don't see it and shouldn't this be a concern? Like I don't have enough to fuss over? Evidently ... maybe not). He reached and grabbed with his left hand. I helped him draw the J and then he finished the rest of his name, saying the letters as he started to draw them.

For more creative fun, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.


  

Hearing Test

I recently took James to his HMO, to get his hearing and ears checked out. He's already had several hearing tests and passed them, but he's also not sat through them completely and kept the earphones on his head. Plus, the audiologist and I had some doubts that he was understanding the directions.

Here he is in the waiting room, pretending to read a book from a nearby table:

I wanted to recheck his hearing because I have concerns about how his speech is evolving -- it does not sound normal to me. Rather, it reminds me of listening to people I know who learned to speak without being able to hear very much. I tried talking with his speech therapist from school, but she said she did not notice anything different. I know deafness runs in part of my family, so while James can hear, I really, really wanted any abnormalities in his hearing architecture ruled out.

(image taken from a chart in the Audiology Department)

James did so much better with the test this time! He left the headphones on all the time. He finished all the tests. He could sometimes say when he heard a noise. Mostly, they used pointing to a picture of the word spoken, or dropping a shape into a sorting can.

He loved the shape sorter. He's hold the piece up to the ear receiving the signals, then dropped it in after he heard the signal. Early on, he saw that the test person would look out into the control room to confirm the noise had sounded. So James started checking with the person on the other side of the glass too, between taking the shape off his ear and dropping it in the corresponding shape hole.

He actually spoke about a quarter of the words for the pictures he pointed to. I am guessing this is the same audiologist he had before, because by the test's end she was exclaiming over how big he'd grown and how many more things he could do and respond to.

His ears got a clean bill of health, including the ear drums and cochlear hairs. I am so glad I got this test done. While I was looking up the counterparts to the office chart on the internet, I kept finding correlation between the hearing organ and sensory & speech development, as well as vestibular activities. This reminded me that James for a long time hated swings and walked like he was drunk; therapists told be that his vestibular system was extremely sensitive.

Now I am mad at myself that I did not connect the dots between language difficulty and vestibular sensitivity better and sooner. I am wondering what I can do now to help James with speech issues. I am wondering why the O/T and speech therapist didn't talk together more at the school. Frustration! However, at least I can be pretty secure in the knowledge that James' hearing is fine.

SOOC: Look of Love

James and his Nana, enjoying a quiet moment at the county fair last week ...

The Slurping Life is living in the Present. Why not take a moment to visit Melody and others to check out SOOC Saturday/Sunday entries past & present. No cropping or fixing -- it's life, straight out of the camera.





  

Horsing Around at the Fair

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Sonoma County Fair. We started off with our bag lunch at the picnic tables in the Kids' Area. We almost didn't leave. Big sister leaped into the sand box and prepared to burrow in for the rest of the summer.

James ran about, playing with everything. What a treat for him to run about and explore so many fun new things. He really got into horsing around:

He was so cute, galloping with his horse and making it say "Neigh! Neighhhhh!!!" But wait, here's the really adorable pic:

After melting his equine-loving Nana's heart (by making his horsie give her kisses), he galloped off into the afternoon ...

Once again, it was nice to note all the progress. In addition to play acting, James noticed the rides, especially the Ferris Wheel. He had a good time with me in the house of mirrors and liked the 2-story purple slide ride with me. He told us in no uncertain terms what he did and did not want to do. I still have to watch him, because he has no concept of boundaries -- for example, he wandered up onstage in the middle of the grape juice mustache judging contest, helped himself to a cup of juice, and completely kerflumoxed the judges by being at ease and smiling at everyone ... as he started to touch the props for the magic show that was up next -- yikes!