Feb. 19, 2009 - Updating the Children
How to tell it's been a ridiculously busy two months? Three update posts to get through it all!! Here is an update on each of the children, warts and all.
Big Man (9) has braces, pictures to come once I can get the kinks out of our new computer. He also had some stitches just above his eye brow after a pool noodle light saber fight with Peanut (4). Note to all who make the very fun pool noodle light sabers: don't allow anyone to put small metal balls in the hole at the end of the pool noodle. When the noodle is swung, the metal ball becomes a deadly object!!! Big Man is happy he now has a manly scar on his face. The basketball season wraps up this weekend, and Big Man continues his Karate. If he keeps going to the classes, they will test him in June to see if he can go from white belt to, I think, a yellow belt. Big Man has started speech therapy again for his stuttering. He graduated from therapy a while ago, but his stuttering has come back with a vengeance. The therapist he's going to was recommended by our audiologist because she also works with kids who have processing disorders. She will work with him on some of his weak areas related to that as well as his stuttering.
Little Monkey (6) has been doing well over all. I'd love for his "r" sounds to come along so he doesn't need to start speech therapy as well, but I'm beginning to doubt it will happen without professional intervention. He's been keeping up with his big brother in Karate, and can test in June as well if he wants. He's eager for spring, since the kids got a trampoline for Christmas. He asks almost daily if it is spring yet. 
He has also begun to care about his baby brothers eternal soul. I can hear them talking during their afternoon room time.
Little Monkey: "(Peanut), do you believe in God?"
Peanut: "No" (this is a common answer, no matter what the question)
Little Monkey: "(PEANUT)!! You need to believe in God or else you'll go to Hell when you die. And that's a very bad place, you don't want to be there!"
Peanut: "No."
Little Monkey: "(Peanut), please tell me you believe in God, then you can go to heaven."
Peanut: "No"
And on, and on, and on. This is greatly disturbing to Little Monkey! It's very sweet, but he doesn't seem to understand that it takes a little more than telling your big brother you believe in God before you will go to heaven. We're working on him 
Peanut (4) has started speech therapy as well. He is quite behind developmentally, which we knew, and she will work with him on those things as well as his articulation problems. He is a little more behind than we had thought, but I'm hoping to see great improvements over the next year. I'm really hoping that he only has to go to speech once a week, but I have a feeling he'll need to go more than that. Ugh.
Unfortunately, the speech therapist also noticed many warning signs pointing to Sensory Integration Disorder. My head started spinning when she began to talk of sensory problems with Peanut and I felt a little like I was having an out of body experience!! Is there anything else people would like to throw at us with our kids? Maybe I don't want to ask that. Truthfully, I was really upset with myself for not seeing the symptoms in Peanut. I mean, after all we've been through with Little Monkey, I thought I would really be alert to the warning signs. Once the speech therapist started listing off the things she was seeing, I knew she was right on target. I could just kick myself. This means, of course, more therapy. I'm going to see if we can get in with the Occupational Therapist who helped Little Monkey. We loved Mr. Steve, and Little Monkey still talks about how fun it was to go play with him.
Also, she has found significant auditory processing problems. The Occupational Therapist will work with him on that as well, then we'll start Earobics at home like his brothers. The speech therapist wanted to remind me that processing problems tend to go hand in hand with dyslexia, and we have a solid family history with dyslexia. Yeah, I know. Thanks for the reminder. 
As far as learning, I've been playing games almost daily with Peanut that help him with his letters. He's showing lots of warning signs for dyslexia, as I mentioned a tiny bit above, I don't remember if I've mentioned that here any other time. Things take a long time to "stick" with him, and letters are no exception. He used to know his letters when I reviewed them daily with him. Once I neglected that, much of the information was gone. He absolutely refuses any type of paper type work, so I stick to games. I'll do whatever is necessary to get the information in there and make it stick. I think he finally has most of his colors down, and he's doing well with shapes.
All of this has been very trying for my husband and me. We are leaning on God to get us through all of this junk. I will admit that there are days where I just feel weary. There's no other good word for it. We have a really long road ahead of us, but we're so thankful that God lead us to homeschooling before the negative effects of these problems began in our children. Every "expert" we've been to fully supports homeschooling, and they have told us repeatedly it's the best thing for these of children. It doesn't mean our job is easy, in fact I have days where I fight major envy of people with "neurotypical" kids. (That's my new favorite word, neurotypical 
) I get really envious when I think of the people that just shove all of the educational things off on others and blindly go about their easy days, doing fun things with their kids and saying, "Oh yeah, did you get your homework done?", while we toil day in and day out to get the basics in our children. Or people who homeschool their neurotypical kids, eagerly meeting educational goals hand over fist. They haven't got a clue how fortunate they are. On the other hand, I shouldn't let anger build up in me over this. I would be treading on dangerous territory, being angry over what God has given me, trusted me with. I need to be thankful and content. He blessed us with three beautiful boys who He made exactly as He intended. There isn't a hair, cell, or gene out of where He ordered it. God has provided every need we've had through this whole journey at the time we needed it. He has provided for us financially, so we can provide therapies and specialized curriculum when we need it. He has given us a support network through our care group at church, who sit through our crying when we need to vent, and who love our children. But it's still hard. Really hard.
Comments
Feb. 27, 2009 - Praying for you
Posted by Anonymous
Love you, Kathy, and your heart for your boys. Sounds like you are right on track. Hang in there, hon.
Lisa French
Mar. 1, 2009 - Sensory & speech issues
Posted by basketflat
I have a sensory challenging child who also had minor speech issues, but she seems to be outgrowing it for the most part. I just think that years ago you wouldn't have had stuff thrown at you because they wouldn't have caught it.
My daughter has other issues where I just thank God he moved on me to take the homeschooling route because public school wouldn't be doable. Yet she is normal. She'll turn out fine.
I bet your kids are just fine too and I bet it's not such a big deal in regards to doing everything perfect. Just love them, take them to their therapy, give them lots of outlets, and they'll be fine. My personal opinion is that tweaking the diets of these kids including getting rid of food additives, can be helpful.
Wishing you the best,
Cathy
Mar. 20, 2009 - I am right there beside you!
Posted by gfcfmomofmany
Thanks for the nice comment on the Company Porch I am so glad that I am able to help. I have a house full of kids with learning issues. Everything from dyslexia to CAPD(central auditory processing disorder), speech problems to cerebral palsy and more to kick me in the teeth occasionally. BUT you can do it! I won't lie there are days when I cry at the lack of progress. Then there are many more when I smile and I thank God for the opportunity to be with my kids everyday and watch them grow and flourish. Feel free to stop over or send me an email and chat!
God bless
Heather L
|
|
This site owned by Enter name here |
|
|
|
