Speech Therapy and Horses

Ayden Jane has been involved in Speech therapy since she was 15 months old. It is a little hard to tell with ST just how it is helping. Our original ST was great with AJ and helped get her going. Since AJ turned 3 she has been going to ST at our local school and seems to love the switch. It has been a change for me too as it is our first therapy where I drop her off and pick her up. Nope, I don't even stay. (Of course, it helps that I have worked with Mrs. R before and am completely confident in her.)

So, is it helping? Today we did ST at 8:30 before we headed over to AJ's preschool. As AJ climbed into the car after school her teacher said, "she was sure chatty today and I could understand most everything she was talking about." I guess we will keep ST! (As if there was any doubt.)

Now it will be interesting to tell over time whether these new language skills are from the speech therapy this morning or if they are a grand result of our latest sensory spurt.

We did not have horses last Tue. so it feels like it has been a really long time since we have been there. A couple of days ago AJ decided it was time to go see Zip. We spent about 15 min. in a 'discussion' about how it was not our day to go ride Zip and that Mrs. Rona was not at the barn and how Zip was sleeping... anything and everything I could think of. Of course, that simply made AJ inform me that I should call Mrs. Rona, wake up Zip, get my keys to unlock the barn... I think her little body just knows sometimes what it needs and that is a great thing. She is also tenacious and is willing to work incredibly hard to satisfy that need which is a quality that has helped bring her so far. It does not mean, however that I can always accommodate her! It is hard to be 3 and know you are right and not be able to get anyone to listen.

Tonight we have horses. The interesting thing is that Mrs. Rona switched Ayden Jane from riding Zip to riding Tamara last time. I have tried to tell AJ that she is riding Tamara tonight but she just 'informs' me otherwise. I told her that it is up to Mrs. Rona so she will have to talk to her about it. She says she will tell Mrs. Rona she is riding Zip. Let's just say, Mrs. Rona has a huge heart, but even the horses know better than to take her on head to head. I am almost looking forward to it.

Hippotherapy and Eyes

Mckenna came to horses tonight and she loves to take pictures. She got a few cute ones. The puzzle piece border is just a little bonus from Mckenna



Here Ayden Jane is showing off her skills at riding backwards.



Yep, Ayden Jane loves to live on the edge. Here she is showing off her tricks for the camera.



We also had a check on her eyes. The doc gives her a good report. She is apparently slightly far-sighted which is perfectly normal for her age. He says no need to see her for a year. Sounds good to me.

Well this week brought several things I have been slow to write up. Lets start with Tuesday's horseback riding. We took 2 weeks off over Christmas and New Years, then the cold weather extended it one more week. This was definitely the longest break we have taken since we started last April. I know that riding is good for Ayden Jane and she loves it so it is a therapy we never considered dropping, but this week my support for it flew through the roof! Ayden Jane came home from therapy and was a crazy woman. I mean that in a good way. She was all over the house, climbing, playing with Noah and Mckenna and chattering up a storm. It was like she suddenly felt GREAT and just could not use her body enough. She kept on rocking and rolling for an hour and a half beyond her usual bed time and then slept very sound for the night.

Wednesday brought physical therapy. Now we have basically had the same length break from PT because we took the two weeks over Christmas and then did a 90 eval where we mostly just chatted. This means this was the first time Jen worked with Ayden Jane since that crazy language spurt... She was very excited that she feels AJ is beginning to combine the motor portion she was great with and the language piece into complicated activities. For example, she had her doing activities like going from seated on a stool to stand in a saucer which was challenging to balance in to reach for puzzle pieces. Then she had to place the pieces in the puzzle while still standing in the wobbly saucer. Now, AJ likes puzzles, but matching where they go, having the patience to twist them and make them fit and have part of her brain working hard to keep her balanced has been an over load in the past. Wed. she did it all and was talking with Jen about the puzzle at the same time.

Now for the 'bad' news. We have seen AJ sort of cycle through the same challenges. Currently we are finding that the OT portion needs to come to the fore front. When Ayden Jane was tiny she had some issues with texture. She had a period where she did not like to touch things with her hands and then went through a time where she just wanted to rub everything all over herself. The hands seem to be the main point of tactile defensiveness. Even when tiny, she would want to touch something so she would rub her feet on it first and then move to her hands. Jen was working on drawing lines. Line down. Line across. She was also trying to get Ayden Jane to cut with scissors. Mostly, she found that Ayden Jane did not want to grasp tightly and really did not like the pressure needed to cut. When Jen went hand over hand with her she really resisted. I told Jen how Ayden Jane does not like to hold hands either. She has to work up to high five... You can see this because when she holds your hand she will grasp your finger, but as soon as you put some pressure back she will pull away and tell you "I don't like". (Not good in parking lots) As for high five, she will reach and not touch the first time. Then tap a little... eventually it is a good hit. Every time she has to work up to it. You can just see in her face that she wants to, she just.... Jen's words, time to desensitize those hands again.

Great stuff, just always a reminder that there are growing pains. One area improves, there is likely another that is 'not connecting' like it needs to. Jen is so amazing at getting them all to come together and work it out.