Even though this month has been busy for us, Lauren has had a whole month off from doctors appointments. Next month she has 3. She did have her 6 month evaluation with Early Intervention. We met with our service coordinator, her occupational therapist and her speech therapist. One of the goals we set in January for speech therapy was that she would be able to identify simple objects, pictures and body parts. She is emerging in this area. She is able to recognize objects and will help in clean up if I ask her to go pick up the ball, shoe, book, etc. She still does get confused and sometimes brings the wrong object. If you ask where her nose, eye or mouth is, she will point to them. She loves books and can recognize babies, balls and ducks in the book. I have some flash cards that I have been working with her on and she loves to look at the pictures on them. We also wanted Lauren to say 10-15 words and to call us by name when wanting to get our attention. She is emerging in this area too. I would guess she says around 10-15 words. She definitely attempts anything you say, of course it comes out very soft and you have to really listen to in order to hear it. However, she is not even attempting to say our names to get our attention. She just grunts, which has been effective because I still give her what she wants. That is an area I have to work on and will be more conscious of it over the next few months. Another goal was that she will focus on a one toy during play and finish the toy out before moving on to another toy. She will also problem solve with toys that she doesn't understand. She is emerging in this area too. She gets very frustrated when she can't get something and will move on very fast. She has a piggy bank that plays songs and counts when you put the plastic pieces in it. She loves this toy, but when I turn the the piggy so that the slot is up and down she gets very frustrated because she cannot figure it out. Even though I get her to ask for help and then show her, it always results in her just throwing the piece across the room. We are working on her finishing a task with help, even though it might be hard and something she doesn't want to do without getting angry and throwing things. The last goal we set for speech was that she will be more independent in eating and will use a spoon to feed herself at each meal. One thing I have figured out about Lauren, is while she does eat on her own, if I feed her the meal she will usually eat most of what is on her plate. This was an ah ha moment for me because from a feeding standpoint I thought, if I feed her the meals maybe we can get the feeding tube taken out. However, on a developmental side, she needs her independence. While I feel she is making progress with eating with a spoon, she is not there yet. She does enjoy trying and gets really happy with all the praise we give her for her success. Even though she hasn't technically "met" all of her speech goals, I do know that they will be accomplished and for that I am grateful. We are talking about a little girl who we thought would never be able to do anything and to set a goal for her to feed herself with a spoon is a major accomplishment!
On to the occupational therapy side. This focuses on cognitive (thinking) skills, comprehension skills and coordination. I am VERY proud to announce that Lauren has met ALL of her goals we have set for her in the area. We wanted Lauren to go into and out of a sitting position during play, consistently get into hands and knees position and take steps to reach her parents or a toy, pull herself into kneeling and pull up to stand to reach her parents each day, stand at a supported surface to free up her hands to play with a toy, cruise the length of the sofa to reach a toy and to push a push toy across the room to explore throughout the day. She has done more that we set for her. I can't tell you how happy I am. God is so good!
I would say this evaluation was one of the best we have had. Our paperwork is being sent to the school system for Lauren to start with the head start program through the school system at age 3, so if she gets accepted she will be going to school next September for 4 full days a week. I at first thought she's not going to get accepted since she is meeting all of her goals, but I have to keep in mind that, while she is doing very good, she is still delayed. I don't really realize it until I see someone else her age and the things they are doing. My goal is for her to be caught up by kindergarten. I am a little concerned because she seems so small (she still only weighs 17 lbs and wears 6-9 month clothes). I do hope she doesn't get lost somewhere or hurt. She is a tough kid and will bump her head, slam her finger in something or just fall and hardly ever cry. On a side note she did move up in Sunday school classes at church. She was in the nursery and now she is in with the 18 months-3 year old. Kristen absolutely loves it and made sure Lauren stayed on task during class. I was a little concerned that Lauren wouldn't follow directions and would be a disruption. Not that I thought she would be loud because she is very soft spoken, but I did think that someone would end up having to chase her since she loves to go..go..go. But, she did very good.
They are also going to bring in an educational therapist to work with Lauren. They will come out every week and will take the place of her speech therapy. They will work with Lauren as a whole and not just focus on certain areas. While we are sad to see her speech therapist go, we are happy for this next step. I have to say I was a little concerned that occupational therapy would get replaced too once they explained to me what an educational therapist did. Debra her OT has been with us for a year and a half and we absolutely love her. Kristen loves her and Lauren loves her too. As soon as she walks in Lauren starts laughing and falling down trying to be funny. I actually enjoy my time talking with her. She is such a nice person and makes therapy fun. She also includes Kristen which makes her feel special. So, instead of Debra coming out weekly, she will come out every other week. We set some new goals for Lauren and my prayer is that in January we will be able to report such great progress again.
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