Lots of progress being made around here! I had two meetings today- the first with all of Evan's therapists for his annual review to see where he is with meeting his goals. The second was at school for Justin since he is graduating from receiving speech services. Yay! :)
Evan's therapists have been happy with his progress, too! Even though he is charting at around a 16 month level in most areas, he has definitely made good strides in the right direction in each of his areas of development. Go, Evan! It is around now at two years old that we really see a difference in the pace of development as far as comparing a "typical" child to a child sporting designer genes. And Evan would have scored higher in different areas had he been able to achieve a specific task here or there such as walking or stacking 1" cubes (which he did quickly after the therapist was finished working with him and we were discussing adoption stuff! Little stinker).
For the past several months, he had been receiving physical therapy twice a month, his occupational therapist and speech therapist were coming together three times a month- once being specifically for feeding, and his general educator was coming once a month. Upon their recommendation, we are bumping back to just once a month for everyone. I have to say I'm a little nervous about backing down, but I trust their judgement and understand their opinion. At this point in Evan's development, he has learned a lot of skills and is learning mostly from imitation. He is going to learn that from us (me mostly since I'm home with him all day) and from participating in activities out and about, such as going to playgroup which we've been doing once a week, and going to the library etc. His speech therapist even recommended we meet at the library or McDonald's for therapy sessions now and then to increase his socialization opportunities with other kids. This should be fun! :)
Evan's main goals:
Physical therapy- walking. Plain and simple! He is getting closer and closer- he is able to stand up by himself in the middle of the room and take a few steps- maybe 4 or 5 at a time, and then he goes down.
Occupational therapy/feeding- self-feeding with a spoon, controlled bite (being able to take a bite off something instead of everything being cut into small pieces), drinking from an open cup.
Speech therapy- working on getting Evan to TALK- so far he has over 50 signs that he knows but he really doesn't say any words. He also doesn't use many signs spontaneously for conversation/requesting- he will give a sign if you ask him a word and that's the majority of his signing. He will sign "baby" to request his Baby Signing Time/Signing Time videos, he will sign "eat" occasionally if he's hungry, and he will sign "all done" if he's finished. The rest is simply producing a sign when given a word.
Cognitive development- imitating play like pretending to feed a doll/animal, imitating cars driving on a road, imitating cleaning etc.; pointing to pictures (touch the horse, etc), matching shapes.
Overall, Evan's goal is to increase his independence to prepare him for preschool. My plan is for him to begin in August, and my intention is for him to attend a "regular" preschool twice a week and a special ed preschool a couple days a week. Fingers crossed that my plan will be achievable and all will go smoothly!
Evan's therapists have been happy with his progress, too! Even though he is charting at around a 16 month level in most areas, he has definitely made good strides in the right direction in each of his areas of development. Go, Evan! It is around now at two years old that we really see a difference in the pace of development as far as comparing a "typical" child to a child sporting designer genes. And Evan would have scored higher in different areas had he been able to achieve a specific task here or there such as walking or stacking 1" cubes (which he did quickly after the therapist was finished working with him and we were discussing adoption stuff! Little stinker).
For the past several months, he had been receiving physical therapy twice a month, his occupational therapist and speech therapist were coming together three times a month- once being specifically for feeding, and his general educator was coming once a month. Upon their recommendation, we are bumping back to just once a month for everyone. I have to say I'm a little nervous about backing down, but I trust their judgement and understand their opinion. At this point in Evan's development, he has learned a lot of skills and is learning mostly from imitation. He is going to learn that from us (me mostly since I'm home with him all day) and from participating in activities out and about, such as going to playgroup which we've been doing once a week, and going to the library etc. His speech therapist even recommended we meet at the library or McDonald's for therapy sessions now and then to increase his socialization opportunities with other kids. This should be fun! :)
Evan's main goals:
Physical therapy- walking. Plain and simple! He is getting closer and closer- he is able to stand up by himself in the middle of the room and take a few steps- maybe 4 or 5 at a time, and then he goes down.
Occupational therapy/feeding- self-feeding with a spoon, controlled bite (being able to take a bite off something instead of everything being cut into small pieces), drinking from an open cup.
Speech therapy- working on getting Evan to TALK- so far he has over 50 signs that he knows but he really doesn't say any words. He also doesn't use many signs spontaneously for conversation/requesting- he will give a sign if you ask him a word and that's the majority of his signing. He will sign "baby" to request his Baby Signing Time/Signing Time videos, he will sign "eat" occasionally if he's hungry, and he will sign "all done" if he's finished. The rest is simply producing a sign when given a word.
Cognitive development- imitating play like pretending to feed a doll/animal, imitating cars driving on a road, imitating cleaning etc.; pointing to pictures (touch the horse, etc), matching shapes.
Overall, Evan's goal is to increase his independence to prepare him for preschool. My plan is for him to begin in August, and my intention is for him to attend a "regular" preschool twice a week and a special ed preschool a couple days a week. Fingers crossed that my plan will be achievable and all will go smoothly!
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Evan is doing great in so many areas, loved reading this little update!
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