My big Kindergartener!

Wow, so much is happening in the life of my sweet five year old! You know those teeth that were wiggling at the dentist? Well, shortly after that visit, one night as usual we went to brush Alex's teeth and much to my surprise, one of those teeth were missing! I showed Alex his missing tooth in the mirror and asked him where it was. Come to find out, he had swallowed it! He said, "so that's what that was!" LOL Silly boy. He didn't even know he had lost a tooth, much less that he had swallowed it! So, no saving his first lost tooth for the baby book.

My baby boy had his first day of Kindergarten. No tears for Mom, but lots of prayers to get me through the day. Alex was so excited, and when I picked him up that afternoon he told me that he had the "best first day of Kindergarten EVER!" Such a sweet boy. The teacher said he did terrific. Right now they are doing some placement testing, but next Monday starts his first full week of Kindergarten. Look at how grown up he looks all ready for school!

Alex went last week for his first monthly speech therapy consult with a new therapist. She seems great and Alex did well at participating. I was glad to know that based on his previous testing, he has still continued to make progress with his speech at home. We are to work on words that require lots of air, specifically the "sh" sound this month. Alex will definitely be challenged by this one. Soon, he will be getting 30 minutes twice a week of small group speech therapy at school, and have a once-a-month consult with the private therapist. Hopefully this plan will work well for my little guy. He is doing so well and hopefully his apraxia won't be too much of a hurdle for him at school.

I also want to thank those of you who visit Alex's blog and go on to comment with your words of encouragement, or just to share your story about your own apraxic child. Please save our blog and check in from time to time. I'd love to hear from you again! Or, feel free to email me at luvmy2angels@aol.com.

Dentist Day!

Due to the fact that Alex has dealt with many sensory sensitivities, I have put off taking him to the dentist for too long. Today was the day, his first dentist visit! I chose a children's dentist where they allow parents to accompany their children during proceedures, and who specialize in working with children with special needs. (I was surprised at the amount of dentists around here that do NOT allow parents past the waiting room.) We were familiar with this dental office as my sister had worked there previously and the office staff are great and still remember us. Sarah has been previously a few times, but has never had a cleaning. So, today both of the kids got x-rays, an exam, and a cleaning. The staff had the kids laughing and made them feel so comfortable. Both of them did wonderful, but I was especially proud of Alex as this shows how much progress he's made dealing with his sensory problems.

If you're wondering what those sensory "problems" are that I am talking about, let me briefly explain. Many touches, sounds, and even things Alex would see, would affect him more extremely than would be expected to be normal. Such as, certain sounds would make him cover his ears. He would even cover his ears when he saw something he didn't like, and scream. He has been an extremely picky eater due to texture preference and also had a difficult time having his hands dirty and was obsessed with hand-washing. So, to imagine someone getting Alex to comfortably lie down, open his mouth and stick cleaning utensils inside of it, along with the minty paste and flouride used during the cleaning... we have PROGRESS here! He does have a strong gag-reflex and I had to warn the nurses, but he did great.

I am happy to report that BOTH kids had healthy teeth with NO CAVITIES! Alex also has two loose front bottom teeth which will be out any day now. He is so excited and can't wait to go to the dollar store and spend his 'tooth fairy' money!

Monthly Consult & Update

Look at this SWEET little train lovin' baby boy! Alex has grown so much in the past couple of years, not just from this cute little baby to a sweet big boy, but he has grown so much in his ability to communicate. I love talking to my little guy. I am so thankful for everyone who has been a part of making this happen for him, including those who have helped encourage his weary mama.

I received a call today that it is time for us to begin our monthly consult, since the time Alex was discharged from weekly therapy. There is such a demand for this place of therapy that even though we were a current patient, we still had to go on a priority waiting list. The time we have had "off" has been a nice break for all of us, since it takes a large majority of our day to go to therapy due to the travel time. For the past two years, we have driven once to twice a week an hour there, an hour for therapy, and an hour back home. But, every mile, every minute was worth it, and I feel so blessed that we were able to get Alex the appropriate therapy AND have insurance coverage! Anyway, I am eager to get started back. I have heard so many wonderful things about the therapist who will be working with Alex, who happens to be one of their apraxia specialists. I am excited that this will help keep us on the right path and this should fit in pretty nicely with his Kindergarten schedule in the Fall, where he will also be receiving 30 minutes twice a week of small group speech therapy.

We are also in the middle of getting his occupational therapy evaluation underway, just waiting for the call to set up an appointment. I am interested in what the results will be, as he hasn't been evaluated since his third birthday. He qualified for occupational services at that time, but he had much more need in the speech area so we chose to concentrate on that first and foremost. I'm basically wanting to know at this point if we should be doing anything more to help Alex perform to the best of his ability in the classroom setting, that goes beyond the norm, based on his individual needs. And, if we should pursue occupational therapy in the school system as well, if it will benefit those needs.

Overall, Alex still seems to be steady. No real notice of regression since his last therapy session. Still LOTS of reminding him of sounds he should know and be using on his own, but is not. However, I actually heard him say "school" and "this" (dis) today on his own, which I constantly have to remind him about the /s/ sounds. We are still working hard to get him to say things such as "I AM hungry" instead of "I hungry", and "We ARE eating" instead of "we eating", etc. He seems to have gotten the hang of past tense with 'ed' at the end quickly, such as "The dog jumped over the fence. This is the dog that jumped." And, 'ing' words are coming along nicely (ex. going, sitting). Alex has had to work so hard for his accomplishments, so it is such a blessing to me even for the smallest of them!

Summer Break!

Alex graduated his preschool program at the end of May, and we already had his IEP meeting to get ready for Kindergarten! I have peace that we have made the best decision to go on and send Alex to school this year and not hold him back. He is such a smart little guy and it would seem so unfair to him. They are making arrangements for his class to be an "inclusion" classroom, where he will not only have a smaller number of students in his class, but they will also have the assistance of the special education teacher and speech therapist regularly. Alex will get 30 minutes of speech therapy twice a week in a small group setting. And, anytime he needs additional help, such as with reading, as some children with apraxia tend to have difficulty with, he will have the option of additional one-on-one assistance from the special education teacher regularly depending on his needs. We have already met his Kindergarten teacher, and she seems so sweet. Alex is getting really excited about Kindergarten, and I'm getting excited too!

At the end of May, we were still going regularly to speech therapy once a week. However, due to the possibility of bouncing around with therapists this summer, since we were losing our regular speech therapist, I decided it was probably just best to go to a once-a-month consult, and continue working with Alex at home. The consultation would help us monitor his progress and continue giving us ideas of how to work with Alex at home. Just to keep us on track and give us some direction. I feel most comfortable this way. So far it's been a few weeks and I am pleased to say that Alex has not experienced any regression that I can tell, which is a blessing! However, I can't say that I've seen any real progress either. I have to remind him to use sounds he has learned. The more words he strings together, the more intelligible it becomes, and the more sounds he drops. I'll gently remind him by asking, "Alex, are you using all of your sounds?" He is such as sweetheart to always give it another try.

Right now we are just enjoying our summer vacation. Tomorrow the kids begin their week of Vacation Bible School at our church. They are so excited! I really want to make the most of this summer before my "baby" heads off to school. It just absolutely doesn't seem possible that he could already be such a "big boy" and yet still my baby. I have already planned his first day of school to come home and cry ALL day. It was so different with Sarah. She's so independent and was ready long before they were ready for her. It's just so different this time. The first day of school will be here before we know it.

Long Overdue Update

For those of you who haven't given up on us yet, here is a loooooooong overdue update....

Thanks to those of you who have written with your interest in Alex's progress and concerns for us. Since my last post, Alex has continued therapy both privately and through his preschool program. During Christmas break, Alex had the flu and spent a lot of time out of his therapy routine due to illness, as well as being out of preschool due to holiday break. I began seeing quite a bit of regression, something we haven't seen in quite a while, and questioned our recent decision to go from two sessions of private therapy to just one. After we got back into routine after the new year, Alex got back on track quickly and has continued making great progress. We have continued private therapy once a week, with his preschool program being three half-days per week. We are in the hands of a wonderful speech therapist and have enjoyed working with her these past months. She is about to become a mother herself, through adoption, and we are so thrilled for her family. She's going to be a terrific mom. She's wonderful with children, and Alex just loves her! (She lets him win the games all the time, and play by HIS rules - so long as he participates cooperatively in his therapy!)

We have recently moved, although in the same hometown and school district, and my husband has taken a new job, both of which have brought many changes to our lives. We are in the process of getting everything taken care of with our new insurance. Hopefully we will not have to worry about Alex's speech therapy continuing to be covered through the new insurance. Although with our old insurance we were allowed unlimited speech therapy visits, and with the new insurance we are allowed only 45 visits per year, which is less than once a week. Looks like this will work out for us as long as Alex continues on his once a week therapy session schedule, between time away due to holidays, vacation, etc.

I've been having some concerns recently about Alex going into Kindergarten in the Fall of this year, just FIVE more months! He turned 5 last month and is going to be discharged from his preschool program upon completion of this school year. My concerns are if he is ready for full-day Kindergarten, as full-day is our only public school option. At this time, I don't think financially a private school is an option. Alex is a really smart boy, and I hate to admit that so many times I've underestimated just how smart he truly is. However, he still has significant signs of a speech disorder among other issues that would affect his ability to be successful in a mainstream school setting, with a big part of it being his extremly limited attention span. I realize he's a five year old kid, and a boy, and it's so hard not to compare him to where my daughter was at this age, but with her, there was no question about whether or not she was ready for school. She WAS. I truly want to do what is best for my boy, even if that means holding him back another year before starting Kindergarten. But, I strongly believe he needs SOME form of schooling, even if he waits a year to attend Kindergarten. At this time, I don't think I can handle the huge responsibility of relying solely on home-schooling him. I'm praying for God's guidance and wisdom. He made this sweet boy and He knows the plans He has for Alex. I trust Him with this little boy, even when I don't understand. I just want to feel certain that I'm making the best possible choices for Alex.

Anyway, it's one thing for me, as his mom, to have concerns about his Kindergarten readiness, but when others start mentioning their concerns for him as well, it really opens my eyes that maybe I'm not overreacting. Alex's speech therapist and I discussed this issue just today at Alex's therapy session. He had a really hard time sitting still and paying attention, and wound up just completely shutting down after about 30-40 minutes. I couldn't imagine at this point having him attending full-day Kindergarten, for 8 straight hours. She also mentioned that it would probably be a good idea to have him reevaluated for Occupational Therapy. He qualified for OT when he was originally evaluated at 3 years old, however, we wanted to concentrate more on the speech therapy at that time, so we passed up the opportunity to get OT at that time. He has been able to spell his name since he turned 3, although he struggles to write it, as his hands shake anytime he does anything fine-motor, such as cutting with scissors, writing, etc. Maybe the OT can help with this, as well as other things. He still deals with some sensory issues, although not to the degree he use to.

With life having been such a whirlwind for quite some time, I apologize for the lack of updates. Thanks for checking in on us! I hope to post an update again soon, or at least hopefully before Alex graduates from college! LOL Thank you all for all of your love and support, and your prayers!

Our New Therapist

Well, we've discovered we are now in the hands of another wonderful speech therapist! Alex is taking his time adjusting to the fact that Miss Kate won't be back, but he's participating well in therapy with Adrienne. She is such as sweet sweet person and we are so thankful to be working with her. You can learn more about Adrienne and her plans to adopt a baby (or babies) from Russia (how AWESOME!) at her own blog. Check it out at Our Journey of Love. You'll be hearing more from us soon as school starts next week! It's back into the preschool routine and therapy, five days a week! In the meantime, we're trying to enjoy the last few days of our summer break!

Where one door closes, another opens...

Alex's speech is developing beautifully, and he's doing so well recently at remembering to use his ending sounds such as /s/ (horse) and /k/ (book) and /t/ (hat), all on his own in spontaneous speech! This is major progress, yet he still has far to go on this journey. I would say at this point, strangers only understand anywhere from 40-50% of what he is saying, where at this age, they should be understanding pretty close to 100%. I am trying to stay positive as we continue this long road of rehabilitation. It is, however, a blessing that we, his family, are understanding so much more of what he is saying in our normal everyday setting. It is so encouraging to be able to understand his needs and wants. He has such a sweet disposition and cute sense of humor. I am so proud of my sweet sweet boy for all of the hard work he's done to get this far.

It has also been a great blessing to have had such wonderful people in Alex's life, such as our current speech therapist, Miss Kate, who is very dear to our hearts, and has been an important part of our lives for the past year. It has been a privilege to know her and we are so thankful for her support and encouragement through this journey. We find it time to say goodbye to her as she moves on to help other children in the school system, who very much need the dedication, patience and love that Kate has to offer in her line of work. We will miss her terribly, but we have hope and trust that God has placed us in the hands of another wonderful speech therapist. We will meet her tomorrow in therapy. I have learned that each new therapist that has worked with Alex has had something to "bring to the table" so to speak, so instead of being discouraged and frightened about the changes this will bring in Alex's therapy plan, we are trying to stay positive that this will be another wonderful experience in the time line of Alex's Journey with Apraxia. Where one door closes, another opens...