So this season, the whole summer and fall, in fact, have been really good to Jace and I. We finally got his SSI approved in July after 1.5 years of waiting; He received his second cochlear implant in August and connected with it almost immediately, which helped him connect to his original he'd received nearly a year prior; He began preschool at a wonderful d/hh-integrated school in a classroom that has an interpreter, an OT, a SLP, and a teacher who knows Spanish, English & Sign Language; We began receiving his SSI payments in October which allowed me to quit working and focus on finishing my Bachelors and take care of Jace; We've been allowed to live with my parents who have been absolutely wonderful about us being here, staying as long as we want, and who even hint at me having another baby about as frequently as they know I can stomach it (Immaculate conception, anyone? No? OK, not happening anytime soon, then!).
We are blessed. Even if it can be very difficult at times with Jace's OT & D/HH issues and dealing with pretty much no income (SSI is only $440/mo if anyone cares to know... Thats about $100/week, and I AM responsible for my own bills, my and Jace's needs, and our food still), we are very blessed to have a warm home, comfy beds, a loving family, and no major concerns.
We made out pretty well for Jace's birthday with a toy kitchen, a train table with train set, an activity table (easel and white-board) and a set of play tools. For Christmas, I really want to beef up his manipulative toys and things that can be used for learning routines and boosting language. We truly have hit a language explosion, and I want to capitalize on that as much as possible.
So, all of that said... Here is my son's list, which I've pretty much filled already:
M&D See and Spell Puzzle
M&D Bear Family Dress-Up Puzzle
M&D Food Groups Food Set
M&D Decorate-Your-Own Teddy Bear Bank
M&D Puzzle Storage Rack
LeapFrog Leapster Explorer Learning Experience - Green (will have to get the camera attachment, carrying case and charging base next month)
Circo Boys Will be Boys Bed Set
Learn to Dress Jake Doll
Pretend and Play Cooking Set
M&D Magnetic Pattern Block Set
The last three items are "I hope we get those from family" items. I'm pretty sure that if we don't we will be buying them the day after Christmas ;) I've asked for no "junk" gifts, and made it quite clear that if any toys come that make lots of noise, they will be sent home with the giver with the power switch stuck in the "On" position and a fresh set of batteries super-glued in. :) :) :) My parents are lucky enough to live with us, so they have reinforced this request. Haha!
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Now for the un-Christmas-related stuff:
I just finished all of my finals, term papers and projects this weekend. It felt so good to be done with classes and be able to sit around watching the Indiana Jones marathon. I've never seen those movies! I found out today that I received all A's, which I am unbelievably ecstatic about! I even have a 99.25% in one of my courses!! I have a 96% and a 91% in the other two courses. I'm hoping this helps me get more scholarships next year, although I don't believe online courses are eligible for scholarships. I'll have to chat with my guidance counselor about that. I'm very excited to have only 5 courses left after this Spring. I will be applying for entrance into my Masters program in just one year!! If I keep up all A's, I don't think it will be too difficult to get in. Just need to write a couple of killer essays.
I don't plan to be on here again anytime soon. This week is Jace's final week of preschool until January 4th, so we're going to spend some serious one-on-one time together before my unbelievably packed schedule next semester takes over my life and keeps me from spending good time with him. Its only one semester. We can do this!
Until next time.... All the Best!
mom2jace
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
What You Accept, You Teach.... Riiiiiiight.
I just read the first example from "The Out-of-Sync Child" on Amazon and I started crying. That is my son, to a "T."
My 3yr old was born with progressive hearing loss. We spent the first 5 months of his life dealing with "Colic" and I even had his pediatrician suggest that I was just suffering from PPD. My son wouldn't sleep. He was only happy when we would swing him jettison style those first 5 months. He wouldn't lay around much, always had to be swaddled and/or held, and was a constant nurser. He didn't like food when we introduced it, but loved the bottle especially after he got teeth.
As a toddler, my son remained a severe fuss-pot. We picked up the term "spirited child" around 1yr old, and it stuck for over a year. Jace was quick to stand, around 4mo's, but was slow to crawl, sit up and walk. He received hearing aids around 14mo's old and hated them, always taking them off and hiding them. He received his first cochlear implant in Sept, 2009, and hated it. We even lost one because he refused to leave it on. He wouldn't eat solid foods, especially those that required chewing, until well past his 2nd birthday.
It wasn't until we began working with a speech therapist almost a year ago that we had any inclination from ANY of his providers or evaluators (he'd been eval'd by the local school board for early intervention services and eval'd by the state for disability benefits) that we had our first suggestion of potential OT issues. In fact, she was certain he had sensory integration issues, and consulted her pediatric OT husband for further information. We moved 5 months later, and my son had a second implant, so the sensory issues were taken off the burners completely over the next 5 months.
Now my son is in preschool, and we have had our second comment about sensory issues, partially because I brought up our prior SLP's thoughts on the subject. We had another eval by an OT, who said that other than low core-muscle tone, my son seemed fine. "just work on the W-sitting, and other than that he seems OK. No follow up required." Two weeks later I got an email from my son's preschool teacher telling me he has been throwing himself on the ground, banging his head, and biting his hands. She said they'd started putting him in time out, but wanted to know if I was seeing this behavior, and if I was, how was I dealing with it? My first instinct was panic: these people are going to think I beat my child! I thought. Then I reflected, and let the teacher know that I think this is just another phase of my son's sensory issues. As an infant he needed to swing and would flail out with his back like a steel rod when he was unhappy (all the time!); as a toddler he would head butt and body slam a caregiver; now he has turned to the floor/wall/himself for that deep-pressure input he needs. He loved to stack cups and blocks, we call him our little engineer because the manipulative and sorting things are his specialty. However, all other toys are played with aggressively, with lots of banging, slamming, running into things, and other hard-use ways of playing.
I never had a name for what he was dealing with until now. Proprioceptive Dysfunction, a type of Sensory Processing Disorder, which is characterized by sensory-seeking behavior. I never had the time to deal with the sensory issues during our battle with the hearing loss but now the sensory issues are at the forefront, and I seem to be the only one taking it seriously. To his providers, I'm overreacting. To my parents, I'm giving him the attention he wants. In fact, I just got into an argument with my dad yesterday because he told me "what you accept you teach" in response to my worriedly venting about the head-banging and hand-biting. I asked him what he thought I should do, spank him (sarcastic!), and told my dad that I would not hit to teach that hitting/biting is not OK. He claimed that I should simply walk away; that the banging/biting would hurt and my son would naturally stop if he wasn't getting that attention. This was an idea I could agree with...
So today, in Target, I walked away the instant my son threw himself on the ground. Guess what... my son banged his forehead so much and so hard in that 1-2 minutes that he now has cuts and rugburn on his forehead. My parents' response? "Bet he won't do that very many more times." No, because I won't let him. He would have gone on and on until he was bloody, and they just do not understand that. They seem to have given up on the "mommy factor" (he throws fits more for me because I'm mom) and now they think that it's because I accept this behavior. Maybe they are right, but I refuse to let my son hurt himself. I refuse to walk away from a 3yr old who can't communicate feelings yet (still working on speech/language). I have to believe that trying to reason with him and help him deal with his feelings WILL prove to be the better alternative to pain or spankings.
But am I wrong?
My 3yr old was born with progressive hearing loss. We spent the first 5 months of his life dealing with "Colic" and I even had his pediatrician suggest that I was just suffering from PPD. My son wouldn't sleep. He was only happy when we would swing him jettison style those first 5 months. He wouldn't lay around much, always had to be swaddled and/or held, and was a constant nurser. He didn't like food when we introduced it, but loved the bottle especially after he got teeth.
As a toddler, my son remained a severe fuss-pot. We picked up the term "spirited child" around 1yr old, and it stuck for over a year. Jace was quick to stand, around 4mo's, but was slow to crawl, sit up and walk. He received hearing aids around 14mo's old and hated them, always taking them off and hiding them. He received his first cochlear implant in Sept, 2009, and hated it. We even lost one because he refused to leave it on. He wouldn't eat solid foods, especially those that required chewing, until well past his 2nd birthday.
It wasn't until we began working with a speech therapist almost a year ago that we had any inclination from ANY of his providers or evaluators (he'd been eval'd by the local school board for early intervention services and eval'd by the state for disability benefits) that we had our first suggestion of potential OT issues. In fact, she was certain he had sensory integration issues, and consulted her pediatric OT husband for further information. We moved 5 months later, and my son had a second implant, so the sensory issues were taken off the burners completely over the next 5 months.
Now my son is in preschool, and we have had our second comment about sensory issues, partially because I brought up our prior SLP's thoughts on the subject. We had another eval by an OT, who said that other than low core-muscle tone, my son seemed fine. "just work on the W-sitting, and other than that he seems OK. No follow up required." Two weeks later I got an email from my son's preschool teacher telling me he has been throwing himself on the ground, banging his head, and biting his hands. She said they'd started putting him in time out, but wanted to know if I was seeing this behavior, and if I was, how was I dealing with it? My first instinct was panic: these people are going to think I beat my child! I thought. Then I reflected, and let the teacher know that I think this is just another phase of my son's sensory issues. As an infant he needed to swing and would flail out with his back like a steel rod when he was unhappy (all the time!); as a toddler he would head butt and body slam a caregiver; now he has turned to the floor/wall/himself for that deep-pressure input he needs. He loved to stack cups and blocks, we call him our little engineer because the manipulative and sorting things are his specialty. However, all other toys are played with aggressively, with lots of banging, slamming, running into things, and other hard-use ways of playing.
I never had a name for what he was dealing with until now. Proprioceptive Dysfunction, a type of Sensory Processing Disorder, which is characterized by sensory-seeking behavior. I never had the time to deal with the sensory issues during our battle with the hearing loss but now the sensory issues are at the forefront, and I seem to be the only one taking it seriously. To his providers, I'm overreacting. To my parents, I'm giving him the attention he wants. In fact, I just got into an argument with my dad yesterday because he told me "what you accept you teach" in response to my worriedly venting about the head-banging and hand-biting. I asked him what he thought I should do, spank him (sarcastic!), and told my dad that I would not hit to teach that hitting/biting is not OK. He claimed that I should simply walk away; that the banging/biting would hurt and my son would naturally stop if he wasn't getting that attention. This was an idea I could agree with...
So today, in Target, I walked away the instant my son threw himself on the ground. Guess what... my son banged his forehead so much and so hard in that 1-2 minutes that he now has cuts and rugburn on his forehead. My parents' response? "Bet he won't do that very many more times." No, because I won't let him. He would have gone on and on until he was bloody, and they just do not understand that. They seem to have given up on the "mommy factor" (he throws fits more for me because I'm mom) and now they think that it's because I accept this behavior. Maybe they are right, but I refuse to let my son hurt himself. I refuse to walk away from a 3yr old who can't communicate feelings yet (still working on speech/language). I have to believe that trying to reason with him and help him deal with his feelings WILL prove to be the better alternative to pain or spankings.
But am I wrong?
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