Dyspraxic Journey

Monthly Archive: March 2016

Awww…to breathe and function again

My entire family has been out of pocket off and on for the past 2 weeks. Ughh…everything from the flu to sinus infections. CB, HB, and I are on the mend. Olem is still battling the sinus infection but his doctor has sufficiently drugged him up so he has hope he will feel normal again soon. This seems like so late in the year to get the flu, but I guess the flu had other ideas. I was told it was some mutant, super-strong strand that invaded and that even if we had received the flu shot, it wouldn’t have mattered. The plan for the future is to still stick to my guns and not get the flu shot in upcoming years. 3 cancelled trips later and we back into our usual routine.

In other news, Olem’s crazy behavior regression back in January/February has for sure flown the coop. It has not surfaced and we hope it doesn’t rear its head again, or at least goes into hiding for a very long time. On the flip side, it seems like CB’s language skills have improved tremendously. I just read through my last blog and I will say that some fog has slipped back in. He isn’t in the regression phase, but he also isn’t in the mostly-fog free phase he went through a couple of weeks ago. He seems more like his usual self with his usual challenges, like today, he didn’t want to change activities and told me how much he didn’t like me each time a change was requested. For example, I walked into the door at his school and he told me he wanted to play more. I asked for a hug and he told me he didn’t like me and went to sit by the door and throw a fit. He followed a similar patter when we got to his speech therapist’s office and when I asked him to find his water bottle for dinner, which was located in his backpack he brought in from the car.

From the pre-k front, his head teacher and I have set a goal for CB to be able to write his name before he leaves school, which will be the end of May. The goal is for the first letter to be in caps and the others to be in lowercase. We will see how this goes :). Being that CB really dislikes writing and doesn’t put much focus into it, this may be a stretch goal. Oh, and I found out that his head teacher also worked at the university lab school CB will attend next year. She had nothing but positive things to say about the school. I love CB’s head teacher! Too bad, the school isn’t way closer.

 

March 31, 2016 Education, Growth and Progress 0 Read more >

A Positive Shift in CB’s Body

Starting a week ago, CB went through a shift and seems more comfortable in his body and to have grown in a few areas. This may be the growth that is typically witnessed after long regression periods. I already blogged about some of the regression we were seeing with CB in January and February – http://www.dyspraxicjourney.com/regression-hitting-kicking-spitting-and-perseverating/. We saw small bits of improvement in late February and then starting last Wednesday night, it was as if a barrier within CB’s brain was removed or moved out of the way. It all started during a walk with me after dinner last Wednesday. We were walking along and he seemed more present, conversational and observant. During the walk, CB saw 3 girls playing in a neighbor’s lawn with their mom’s gathered in a semi-circle behind them chatting and sipping wine. CB showed interest in the girls playing and the older one who was 9 asked him to join them. He played beautifully with the girls, including 1 his own age, which involved kicking balls around, chase, and just typical kid play. He even played in his rubber rain boots. We stayed there for 30-45 minutes. The next day continued in the same fashion where he received 2 bonus stars at school and had a great OT session. On Friday, his ST mentioned that they played 2 games and CB was actively involved the whole time. Usually about 2/3 the way, CB would grow disinterested and distracted. He also focused very well and was attentive during his horse therapy. While playing at the park, he ran further than he ever has. If he over-reacted with his brother, he could recognize the behavior, apologize, and move on. The following days have continued in a similar pattern.  (more…)

March 10, 2016 Growth and Progress, , 0 Read more >

Kindergarten School Selection

After much deliberation, we decided on CB’s school of choice for Kindergarten for next year. We ended up selecting a school that is located and run through our local university. The school does not meet the criteria I specified in my post The Perfect School, but that school doesn’t exist (that I know of ;)).

The school is run by a master teacher with her master’s or PhD in child development or a related field, an assistant teacher with her degree in child development or a related field, and several undergraduate students. There will be a max of 19 students in the class. The school is designed to meet the child at their level. I hope this will be less stressful for CB. The school only runs from Monday-Thursday so that allows more time for therapy. They also focus on positive behavior and social interaction like CB’s current pre-k. The school comes highly rated by close friends.

The downside is that we will have to pay for his school for his Kindergarten year but the plus side is that we both feel very comforted by the decision. Too bad the school only offers options through Kindergarten.

March 3, 2016 Education 0 Read more >