Always learning

Life is happening.  Every day life is happening, and I am grateful for all the little things along the way.

Playing with new friends and did a self introduction!

I update on the facebook page with the day to day things that happen in Nea's life.  However, today it just felt like a day to do an actual post.

As I stated before, we decided to put Nea back in private speech therapy.  Her Poppa, myself and the private OT felt that she was stalling in the area of speech.    She still gets speech services via her IEP at school but I have a feeling that I may have to advocate for something a bit different for the next school year.  Chopping it up in 15 minute increments just doesn't work for her and we'll need to brainstorm other ideas.  (of course that all could be an interesting conversation when all 17 of us sit down to discuss it!).

Waiting in the lobby for therapy

When Nea has her private OT appointment (every Wednesday morning) I usually sit in the waiting room.  There is not an observation area, and I'm too distracting to be present during a session.  Usually I use it as good "Mommy time" by reading a book and enjoying my favorite chai tea.  After about 30 min into the session, the therapist came to get me.

"You have to come see this."

 Remember when I talked about the OT rumpus room?  There were so many things in that room that terrified Nea.  Swinging was a nightmare, going through tunnels caused panic, odd textures made the tears come.  All her sensory issues manifested in this room as we identified them one by one.  I always felt bad for her because it just seemed so torturous!

And so I went to the OT room to see what A wanted to show me.  Nea was sitting in one of the tunnels.  Let me say it again.  Sitting in one of the tunnels.

"Hi Mama!  Watch!"

She crawled out of the tunnel, onto a platform, up a tube, and shimmeying down into the tube.  The therapist gave her an instruction "hand me the blue hand."  Out she popped with the blue rubber hand and gave it to her!  She then shimmied down the tube onto the big pillow and then had to crawl onto tiny stools on her hands and knees.  The therapist would say, "Okay, move to blue" and she would move her hands, then knees to the little stool.  "Okay, now yellow" and she would do it again.  The therapist had to steady her knees or she would tip over, but she did it!  Her upper body still has low tone and balance remains an issue.  But with a sturdy hand she is very proficient!

The dreaded obstacle course

Nea then had to stand up and hop on the rubber feet placed on the floor.  To my amazement she hopped  with a spin when the foot pattern changed.  I'm pretty sure I can't do that myself!  When she was done, she looked at me and beamed.
"I did it!"

Can YOU hop this pattern??

Proprioception (knowing where your body is in space), multiple terrains, upper body strengthening, listening to direction, leaning forward without falling, balance, fine motor skills, gross motor skills.....all pulled together in a 3.5 minute obstacle course.  I couldn't believe I had seen what I just did.

Nea spotted Diana (speech therapist) in the hall and said, "Oh!  There's Diana.  I have to go Mama.  See you later!"  And off she went.

I'm still gobsmacked in the OT room watching her walk away.

The OT said to me...."remember when she couldn't even come in here without screaming? Remember when everything about these obstacle courses made her shake with fear?  Look at her now!  You guys are doing such a good job!"

Us?  Uhm..... I don't think so lady.   I don't have an obstacle course like this at home!  Her therapists are top notch and give her so much patience with love.  They push her, they hug her, the meet her halfway.  Nea didn't get this far by herself....it's taken a village and that will continue to be true.

 I'll admit it.  I cried as I sat there thinking about what progress she continues to make.  On her timeline.  In her own way.

It's a lesson I constantly have to learn and remember every single day.

Nea did just as well in speech therapy.  Diana is working diligently on auditory processing.  She gives her lots of exercises that require her to listen, process information and make decisions for answers.  You can tell it's taxing and requires a ton of focus.   We've started to notice that when she needs to concentrate she holds the object up very close to her eyes.  Is she doing that because of a vision issue or is she doing that because she has to narrow her field of vision and let nothing else in?  It's a mystery that's not solved today, but it's something we're going to have figure out with the help of OT.

I also learned a great tool today!  When Nea says her own name, she says, "I'm Mia"  I correct her every time, but it doesn't seem to stick with her and she just can't pull that "n" sound out.  Diana noticed her doing it today as they were playing a game.  Nea would say, "It's Mia's turn"  Diana stopped her, had her look at her mouth and gave her a visual and verbal cue.  "Not Mia, Nea"   She used the cues that she uses with kids who have apraxia, which is a motor planning issue.  Basically, she holds her finger to the side of her nose, crinkles it up and says the "n" sound.  Nea got it right with that cue every single time.   I'm so happy to have this tool now!!

It took me a full hour to get her out to the car!  Why?  Because if we don't need to veer from the routines, then really we shouldn't.  She's just happier that way.  She had a pretty busy morning in therapy and certainly functioning outside her comfort zones.  Ritual and routine are comforting....that's true for all of us.

Jamba Juice silliness

So off to Jamba Juice for a snack.  And then the busy beads for some brief play.

Busy beads!

 And then to the lobby to look at books.  To her delight there was another kiddo with his family in the lobby.  She said to me, "Look Mama.  There's a boy."  And so I helped her with the introductions...."Tell him your name" "maybe he wants to play....you should ask him."   And so they did.  They played together for a good 30 minutes.


I'm quite sure her bff, Eli will be insanely jealous if he ever finds out.