Wow, it's been a bit since I've managed to write. So much for a computer helping to make that happen :-) Needless to say, school, work and the kids have kept me busy!!
So when we bought a house back in April, one of the things that we looked for, as I'm sure most, if not all, parents do, was a good school district. Shortly after moving I outreached to the school district to talk to them about getting Bug assessed.
Let me back up a step. I've mentioned many times that Bug has a speech delay. Well initially we had her assessed b Early Intervention back at 18 months. We used them until she hit age 3, which is when she aged out. They would have transferred her over to the school district at that time, but we did NOT like the school district we were in, and therefore went on our own and worked with her, did the speech therapy thing, etc.
So I knew that at 3 we could get help.
Well we moved shortly before her 4th birthday. So I called the new school district and asked them about getting her assessed. It was at the end of the school year, so they sent me out the paperwork but advised that an assessment wouldn't happen until the new school year. Which I was OK with. I actually even held off on sending the paperwork for a bit so that I could send in the most up to date information. So I sent it in early August.
They came out and did an initial assessment at home. K and I were both here, and we actually got her to say a lot during this initial assessment. At the beginning of the assessment, the woman doing it let us know the steps of the process. The initial at home assessment, then if they determined the child warranted further review a play assessment at one of the schools where a team of people assess and make the decision together. Then they would decide at what level of need the child was at. For example, just speech therapy in the home, or maybe at her current daycare, all the way up to being eligible for the school districts preschool program.
So they did the in home assessment, and before the woman left she advised that they would want to bring Bug in for a play assessment.
So we took her in for the play assessment. K handled the majority of that assessment as I was only able to stay for a little while. They let me know before I left that they would schedule a meeting after they had a chance to meet and decide what to do, and that meeting would be either a 'your child is fine' kinda meeting, or they would present their findings and an IEP.
When I talked to K after the play assessment was over, I asked him what he thought. He said they eluded to the fact that she would be eligible for some services, but we weren't sure what. It took a few weeks before I got the call, but they scheduled an IEP meeting. Based on the call I knew it was an actual IEP meeting and not a 'give your kid a break, she's fine' meeting. And I was happy about that - she has come so far, but I think we need the professionals to be back in the mix now.
So, I went to the meeting. K wasn't able to come, but my mom was, and I was really glad that she was able to tag along.
It was kinda crazy when I got there and there were 5 people in the room. I felt a bit stressed about that at first. There was the speech therapist, 2 preschool teachers, the school psychologist and the person who did the initial at home assessment. They started off the meeting by going over each of their individual thoughts/findings/assessments of Bug. Nothing was surprising.
The speech therapist then went over where she fell on her language skills. They found her receptive language just barely normal, which is what i expected. I think she's got better receptive then what they gave her credit for, but knowing my daughter like I do, she didn't show them everything she can do. She gets shy, and when pushed in a situation she's not fully comfortable in she kinda shuts down. And they did say she didn't talk much for them, in fact, the speech therapist sat outside the bathroom door when K took her to the bathroom, because she was fighting him on going - and using her words. Yeah, that's my girl ha ha.
Anyways, then the part that made this mama cry came in. They diagnosed her with a developmental delay. That was HARD. Her score was WELL below normal. But they all said (and I've often wondered) that they think part of it is her significant speech delay. What they told me is that a developmental delay in educational terms is different than the medical term. It's given to children ages 3 - 5 who show delays in pre academics. Things like rote counting to 10, recognizing shapes, colors, numbers, letters, etc.
She struggles with these things. We work on it, but she still struggles.
So it wasn't a surprise. But the fact that she fell so far below normal was enough to break me down.
In the end, she qualified for their preschool program. So Monday through Thursday morning she'll attend preschool in our school district from 8:35 - 11:05. She will get 40 minutes of speech therapy a week. Her IEP is very detailed with the goals they are aiming for in terms of words and/or signs that others can understand, the number of capital letters she will recognize, how far she can rote count, etc. The school district will pick her up at daycare and drop her back off; and a car seat will be used (yeah!!).
She is the 9th child in the class, and they can have up to 12. No more than 4 of them can be 'typical' peers. They have 1 teacher and 2 aides, plus the speech therapist that comes in on Mondays. Amazing ratios. I have very high hopes. I'm happy with the school district so far.
I got a chance to talk to her teacher, and I LOVE him. He was actually doing a play assessment with another little boy when we took Bug in for hers, and I could tell just how good he is with kids. Talking to him reiterated that fact. You can tell he's in it for the right reasons.
So, the IEP meeting was last Friday. We are still working on getting the transportation set up since pick up/drop off isn't at home. But yesterday K drover her and took her to the program so that she could have someone there for her first day, as well as having a day break on Friday to help let it settle in.
K really likes the teacher too, and that's a wonderful wonderful thing.
So. Here's to the next phase in our lives. Here's to getting our Bug the additional help she needs, and here's to hoping that this time next year I'll be telling you all about the person my little girl is; and not just what I know because I know her, but what I know because she is TELLING me.
Showing posts with label speech therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speech therapy. Show all posts
Friday, October 17, 2014
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Six Months and 3 years
I can't believe how much my babies are growing up.
Goose turned 6 months old 10 days ago.
Bug will be 3 years old in 7 days.
I love watching everything new that they do each day, but each milestone is bittersweet, as I know I'm watching some of these things happen for the last time in my life as there will be no more babies.
I don't tend to do these types of posts, but I want to put it out there, to remind myself of what these guys were doing at these ages.
Goose has been sitting up unsupported for almost 2 months now. He started rolling over a few weeks before that. Now he rolls this way and that and just wants to move move move. I suspect he'll be crawling before we know it. We started him on solids about 2 weeks ago. We are going the route of Baby Led Weaning (I wanted to do this with Bug, but it didn't work for her). So far it seems to be working for Goose. he's had Avocado, Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans. He's getting better and better at grabbing the food off his tray and getting it to his mouth. And he's actually eating food, he's not just making a big old mess (but yes, he is doing that too :-))
He was my good sleeper, but about 6 weeks ago he caught a cold and hasn't slept worth crap since then. He suddenly can't fall asleep on his own, and wakes up anywhere between 2 and 4 times a night. It's brutal, which is funny considering Bug was SO MUCH WORSE. We're working on it, but I am doing my best to recognize that it may also be a mix of that cold as well as all the new stuff that's going on (see paragraph above).
He's a happy little boy, smiling and giggling on a regular basis. He loves his big sister, especially grabbing her hair ha ha.
As of yesterday he weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces and was 28 inches long. He is still medicated for his reflux twice a day, and absolutely still spits up massive amounts. I'm hoping another few weeks or so of solids will help that out more.
Bug, oh bug. She's awesome, but very much a 3 year old. So a month or so ago she suddenly decided that she was interested in potty training. She's been doing pretty good, but still has lots of accidents, especially if she's in a pull up. So I try to keep her mostly in underwear, but that's not always feasible. She hasn't really pooped in the potty, and public toilets seem to scare the living daylights out of her, and even if she has to pee it ends up turning into meltdown screaming central. But she's working on it, and we are trying to make a big deal out of it when she does go in the potty, but not make her feel bad when she doesn't (while still trying to explain why it's better to go in the potty). It's a strange line to walk, that's for sure.
She's been doing good in speech therapy and has a LOT more words. There's still many that people would never understand that we (usually) do. But she's getting there. We continue to teach her some sign language as well, just to help her skills. Every sign we teach her the word with too, so many of them she will do both (cookie anyone?). Some she just struggles with the word so much so it's nice to have the sign so that we can figure out what she is trying to talk about.
She's in the terrible 3's for sure, she throws some pretty major fits at times. But they are actually more tolerable (most times) than the tantrums she threw at 2. I think that a lot of that is because of her ability to communicate now that wasn't there before.
She loves Octonots on TV, and it's not beyond me to let her watch it just so that I can manage to get both kids ready for bed. Especially when K is working. This is something that I swore I'd never do. But then I got pregnant. And exhausted pregnant. And then new baby and new baby pregnant. Yeah, she gets about an hour of TV a day total. 1 episode in the morning, 1 in the evening. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
She has this crazy head of hair that adults would kill for. It's long, thick, shiny, healthy and has these great natural highlights. But she HATES to get it brushed. Above mentioned TV show helps that problem too :-)
She doesn't have her 3 year check up until closer to the end of the month, but we had her in the other week and she weighted just shy of 31 pounds. She's my peanut. I swear Goose is going to catch up with her by the time he's 1 1/2!!
That's it for now. It's getting late (ok, not really, but it sure feels like it). I'm ready to head to bed, before the first waking of the night!
Goose turned 6 months old 10 days ago.
Bug will be 3 years old in 7 days.
I love watching everything new that they do each day, but each milestone is bittersweet, as I know I'm watching some of these things happen for the last time in my life as there will be no more babies.
I don't tend to do these types of posts, but I want to put it out there, to remind myself of what these guys were doing at these ages.
Goose has been sitting up unsupported for almost 2 months now. He started rolling over a few weeks before that. Now he rolls this way and that and just wants to move move move. I suspect he'll be crawling before we know it. We started him on solids about 2 weeks ago. We are going the route of Baby Led Weaning (I wanted to do this with Bug, but it didn't work for her). So far it seems to be working for Goose. he's had Avocado, Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans. He's getting better and better at grabbing the food off his tray and getting it to his mouth. And he's actually eating food, he's not just making a big old mess (but yes, he is doing that too :-))
He was my good sleeper, but about 6 weeks ago he caught a cold and hasn't slept worth crap since then. He suddenly can't fall asleep on his own, and wakes up anywhere between 2 and 4 times a night. It's brutal, which is funny considering Bug was SO MUCH WORSE. We're working on it, but I am doing my best to recognize that it may also be a mix of that cold as well as all the new stuff that's going on (see paragraph above).
He's a happy little boy, smiling and giggling on a regular basis. He loves his big sister, especially grabbing her hair ha ha.
As of yesterday he weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces and was 28 inches long. He is still medicated for his reflux twice a day, and absolutely still spits up massive amounts. I'm hoping another few weeks or so of solids will help that out more.
Bug, oh bug. She's awesome, but very much a 3 year old. So a month or so ago she suddenly decided that she was interested in potty training. She's been doing pretty good, but still has lots of accidents, especially if she's in a pull up. So I try to keep her mostly in underwear, but that's not always feasible. She hasn't really pooped in the potty, and public toilets seem to scare the living daylights out of her, and even if she has to pee it ends up turning into meltdown screaming central. But she's working on it, and we are trying to make a big deal out of it when she does go in the potty, but not make her feel bad when she doesn't (while still trying to explain why it's better to go in the potty). It's a strange line to walk, that's for sure.
She's been doing good in speech therapy and has a LOT more words. There's still many that people would never understand that we (usually) do. But she's getting there. We continue to teach her some sign language as well, just to help her skills. Every sign we teach her the word with too, so many of them she will do both (cookie anyone?). Some she just struggles with the word so much so it's nice to have the sign so that we can figure out what she is trying to talk about.
She's in the terrible 3's for sure, she throws some pretty major fits at times. But they are actually more tolerable (most times) than the tantrums she threw at 2. I think that a lot of that is because of her ability to communicate now that wasn't there before.
She loves Octonots on TV, and it's not beyond me to let her watch it just so that I can manage to get both kids ready for bed. Especially when K is working. This is something that I swore I'd never do. But then I got pregnant. And exhausted pregnant. And then new baby and new baby pregnant. Yeah, she gets about an hour of TV a day total. 1 episode in the morning, 1 in the evening. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
She has this crazy head of hair that adults would kill for. It's long, thick, shiny, healthy and has these great natural highlights. But she HATES to get it brushed. Above mentioned TV show helps that problem too :-)
She doesn't have her 3 year check up until closer to the end of the month, but we had her in the other week and she weighted just shy of 31 pounds. She's my peanut. I swear Goose is going to catch up with her by the time he's 1 1/2!!
That's it for now. It's getting late (ok, not really, but it sure feels like it). I'm ready to head to bed, before the first waking of the night!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
6 months!
I can't believe it! I'm 6 months, and I'm officially a little over a week past viability, at 25 weeks 3 days. It's amazing, and I love it!! I'm finally gaining a little weight, and I'm officially up 14 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is up 4 pounds since my last OB appointment a little over 2 weeks ago. I finally have gotten past the stress related weight issues I think!!!
Work is still insane, still very stressful, and I'm still trying to work on hiring. I've interviewed some good candidates, but I don't want to hire until I've interviewed everyone I'm interested in, and HR is taking their sweet old time.
K and I have had a couple of counseling appointments now, and everything is going good. The counselor thinks that we are heading down the right path and we are working very hard on the open lines of communication. I really appreciate everyone's sweet words on my last post, it means a lot to me. We are going to work through this and come out stronger on the other side. It won't be easy, but we will make it.
K20 is moving like crazy, way more than Bug ever moved around. I've got insane heartburn and am ALWAYS exhausted. I'm more uncomfortable at this point then I was with Bug, I just feel like this baby is constantly pushing out all sides of my tummy. I think I'm having some braxton hicks contractions too. Otherwise I'm feeling great though!
Bug is doing awesome. We've had the second early intervention appointment, and they said that she is doing 3 year old things on all her other skills, but they can already say she'll qualify for help on the speech (has to be less than 25%, but I don't know her stats just yet). We will have another appointment with them on October 15, and then we'll start once a month appointments with them. We'll have to start weekly speech therapy as well, and unfortunately I do not think it will be covered by insurance. I don't know that for a fact yet, it all depends on how it would be coded, but from my years in the industry I suspect that it will be coded in a way that translates to learning disability (not that she has one; it's all about coding here), and that is something that isn't covered in Ohio (other states I know mandate some level of coverage). The biggest bummer about that is that we are struggling financially right now, and K is about to start losing hours as the weather gets worse out and he has less students able to fly, which means less money. Then when I'm on maternity leave I'll only get 2/3 of my pay. But that doesn't matter - we will do whatever we have to for Buggie, and to get her the help she needs!!!
I love that little girl more than anything in the world. She can be tough some days and leave me in tears, but that's OK. She's such a sweet, good natured little girl. I know her tantrums are from the speech issues, and we'll work through those. Otherwise she loves to giggle and roll around wrestling with daddy (not so much mommy these days, the tummy is getting in the way). She's been such a mama's girl lately, and it's SO sweet! Tonight when I was putting her to bed, after our whole routine I asked her if she was ready to go night night. She shook her head yes, but then when I went to put her into the crib (we are working on getting her more comfortable with her BIG GIRL BED) so we do our singing and cuddling there right now, but haven't fully done the transition, yikes, she didn't want to go. So we sat on the glider and cuddled for a bit longer. It was so precious, and I held onto it so tight, knowing it won't last forever. Then I put her in the crib and she went to sleep. Oh man do I love that little girl.
So yes, we bought her a big girl bed. It's crowding her room along with the crib right now, but we're hoping a slow transition will make it easier. I figure right now we are looking at 6 months before we'll need the crib, between finishing out the pregnancy and K20's time in the bassinet. So if we can get her transitioned within the next 3 months, then we have 3 more months of her getting really used to it and over the crib so that she won't feel as if the new baby is stealing it.
I can't believe she's 2, we're working on a big girl bed, and I am 6 months pregnant with our second miracle. We may be going through some rough personal times right now, but I really do have an amazing life. That's how I know we will work things out because this life, this family, this EVERYTHING is worth it.
Work is still insane, still very stressful, and I'm still trying to work on hiring. I've interviewed some good candidates, but I don't want to hire until I've interviewed everyone I'm interested in, and HR is taking their sweet old time.
K and I have had a couple of counseling appointments now, and everything is going good. The counselor thinks that we are heading down the right path and we are working very hard on the open lines of communication. I really appreciate everyone's sweet words on my last post, it means a lot to me. We are going to work through this and come out stronger on the other side. It won't be easy, but we will make it.
K20 is moving like crazy, way more than Bug ever moved around. I've got insane heartburn and am ALWAYS exhausted. I'm more uncomfortable at this point then I was with Bug, I just feel like this baby is constantly pushing out all sides of my tummy. I think I'm having some braxton hicks contractions too. Otherwise I'm feeling great though!
Bug is doing awesome. We've had the second early intervention appointment, and they said that she is doing 3 year old things on all her other skills, but they can already say she'll qualify for help on the speech (has to be less than 25%, but I don't know her stats just yet). We will have another appointment with them on October 15, and then we'll start once a month appointments with them. We'll have to start weekly speech therapy as well, and unfortunately I do not think it will be covered by insurance. I don't know that for a fact yet, it all depends on how it would be coded, but from my years in the industry I suspect that it will be coded in a way that translates to learning disability (not that she has one; it's all about coding here), and that is something that isn't covered in Ohio (other states I know mandate some level of coverage). The biggest bummer about that is that we are struggling financially right now, and K is about to start losing hours as the weather gets worse out and he has less students able to fly, which means less money. Then when I'm on maternity leave I'll only get 2/3 of my pay. But that doesn't matter - we will do whatever we have to for Buggie, and to get her the help she needs!!!
I love that little girl more than anything in the world. She can be tough some days and leave me in tears, but that's OK. She's such a sweet, good natured little girl. I know her tantrums are from the speech issues, and we'll work through those. Otherwise she loves to giggle and roll around wrestling with daddy (not so much mommy these days, the tummy is getting in the way). She's been such a mama's girl lately, and it's SO sweet! Tonight when I was putting her to bed, after our whole routine I asked her if she was ready to go night night. She shook her head yes, but then when I went to put her into the crib (we are working on getting her more comfortable with her BIG GIRL BED) so we do our singing and cuddling there right now, but haven't fully done the transition, yikes, she didn't want to go. So we sat on the glider and cuddled for a bit longer. It was so precious, and I held onto it so tight, knowing it won't last forever. Then I put her in the crib and she went to sleep. Oh man do I love that little girl.
So yes, we bought her a big girl bed. It's crowding her room along with the crib right now, but we're hoping a slow transition will make it easier. I figure right now we are looking at 6 months before we'll need the crib, between finishing out the pregnancy and K20's time in the bassinet. So if we can get her transitioned within the next 3 months, then we have 3 more months of her getting really used to it and over the crib so that she won't feel as if the new baby is stealing it.
I can't believe she's 2, we're working on a big girl bed, and I am 6 months pregnant with our second miracle. We may be going through some rough personal times right now, but I really do have an amazing life. That's how I know we will work things out because this life, this family, this EVERYTHING is worth it.
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