I just wanted everybody to get a little insight into my feelings and thoughts about Brycen's newest speech evaluation tomorrow. Going to these types of things are bittersweet...while I am excited and looking forward to hearing he has made enough progress to rate past the 16mo old level he was last August in Iowa City...I also am already feeling the grieving process pushing it's way in again. I want to hear what SLP's that are not funded by the school district have to say about what he really and absolutely needs in order to start progressing again. I really think the SLP's in the school district are a little skewed in their recommendations for speech in school. Obviously since they only recommended ONE HOUR per month for a child that was 3 and mostly non-verbal last year. One would think they can't deny the fact that his progression has been slow and actually has stalled the last couple months...but then again I know they have budgets to stick to. I just wonder how much speech a child that is completely non-verbal would receive in the school...1 1/2 hours per month?! That's ridiculous!
Anyway, need to get off the subject of the school because it has obviously been a sore spot lately. Back to tomorrow...the low feelings of doing another speech evaluation by different people is once again hearing how far behind my child is. Not that any SLP has ever put it to me in a negative way...but seriously, how many parents get to hear their almost 4 yr old is still communicating half of his age or less?! Well, that is what I am going to hear tomorrow...and though once again, I am excited to hear that he possibly is further than 16mo old level, I want to be realistic with the fact he may have inched up to the 18mo old level.
Though this cycle of the grieving may hopefully be short lived, I do realize it will happen all over again next week when we have his IEP. That would be the reason Mike and I have asked Mallory to stay later following his IEP so we can go sulk and grieve with an alcoholic beverage in our hands:)
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
Helen Keller
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Autism and Our Family
"Autism"----It's one word that can change the life of a child and family in so many ways. Autism Spectrum Disorders are being diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 68 children currently. If you do not already know someone that has been diagnosed, the statistics say it won't be long before you do.
Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!
Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.
Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.
Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!
Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.
Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.
No comments:
Post a Comment