Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas Break

We were sort of on PWS vacation over Christmas. That just means no therapies which means no therapy 'homework'. Once Ayden Jane sort of finished up her language spurt, we just played with our new toys, enjoyed having all the big kids home and hung out. Our schedule was wide open and it was good to relax. It is definitely time to get back into action though. We have really not kept track of food quantities at all, just kept up with the appropriate choices. The big kids are great with knowing what she is allowed to eat and what is off limits. They are also great about asking if it is okay to give her_____ at that particular time. They just seem to get it that I keep a running tab of about how much she is getting of fruit, protein and good fats in my head. No arguments from them. I do my best to make sure she has eaten very well (I mean quality not quantity) if I leave her with them and give them the 'easy' foods for choices to give her. So far it works well. Just seems that planning ahead is the biggest key.

We did attend a party over the holiday. I really thought that Ayden Jane would pull her shut down and observe routine. It was primarily adults and not too crowded, but there was a band and dance floor. Food was, of course, a buffet but AJ was really too distracted to care about the food. She ate one chicken finger and a slice of pork and when I thought she was heading for the cake, she just wanted to see the Christmas tree and never even noticed the cake. It only took her about 10 minutes before she was on the dance floor with about 7 other kids and she was dancing away. It was adorable! The party was for the husband of our PT (not because she is our PT, but because our families are close friends). One of the PT's that work for her was also there and remarked at how great Ayden Jane is doing. She was wondering how she could still need services! It is always so great to hear people that really know what they are saying to say how great she is doing.

We did have a 90 eval for PT this week. It was funny, because Jen asked me several questions about whether or not she could __________. They were goals we were working on before that crazy language leap. For several of them I had to say she WAS able to do it, but was NOT able during that couple of weeks. As for today? She is better than during the spurt, but has lost some skills she had obtained before it. So strange how it seems to take so much effort when obtaining new skills that her little brain just cannot keep up with everything.

Then Friday we had ST. I realized just how far that spurt took her when Nicole started with, "is she getting more consistent with 2-3 word phrases?" I chuckled and told her that we were now easily connecting 4-5 words and often using total complete sentences. Of course, Ayden Jane then proceeded to be totally quiet for the first 30 min. of therapy. UUUGGG. Actually, we sort of figured out (I think) what some of the problem is. Nicole brings new very interesting toys which would cause most kids to get excited and talk to her. Instead, Ayden Jane just gets quiet and thoroughly investigates them. She totally takes in everything receptively as I will hear her use words that were part of the 'new' therapy toy. For the last 20 minutes, Ayden Jane began to show Nicole all her Christmas toys. As she showed her and played with the familiar, she began to talk up a storm. She was telling her a story about something that happened previously, she was narrating as she played, she was telling Nicole how to do it.... We will have to work on the best way for her to work with Ayden Jane.

No comments:

Post a Comment