Monday, June 29, 2009
Weekly Update -- 22 - 28 June 2009
Masinja had a pretty uneventful week. Since we don't have much of anything to report we figured we'd just share some pics that we took of him this week. Enjoy :o)
Dirt Bike Pic
Bird is the Word Elmo Pic 1
Bird is the Word Elmo Pic 2
Bird is the Word Elmo Pic 3
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Weekly Update - 15 - 21 June 2009
Masinja went to the ER this week. He wasn't doing better after the weekend stomach bug and started to refuse to drink anything, so we took him in at 0-dark-30 Monday morning. They gave him some pedialyte and some meds to help nausea. It took a little while, but he started drinking again and doing fine.
Masinja also had a neurology appointment this week. It's been almost 2 years since he's had a seizure, so we asked about taking him off the phenobarb. The doc suggested waiting another 6 months, so we'll go again in December and see what happens.
Last, Masinja had his 18th ECI session this week. It was with his regular teacher again. She was actually helpful and gave T.M.M. lots of suggestions for activities to help Masinja get to be a smarter boy than he already is.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.
Weekly Update - 8 - 14 June 2009
Masinja had his 17th ECI session this week. His regular teacher is still on vacation, so the speech therapist that is assigned to his team came instead.
The services coordinator came as well. We spent a great deal of time discussing Masinja's language development as well as the possibility that he has Central Auditory Processining Disorder (CAPD). Ironically, all three of us had researched the disorder prior to the session and we all agreed that Masinja does exhibit some of the characteristics. I told both the speech therapist and the services coordinator that we are just waiting for the referral to be approved and then we are going to have Masinja evaluated. The remainder of the session was spent discussing strategies to teach Masinja the concept of a conversation. The speech therapist suggested doing activities that require taking turns, as this will help Masinja understand that a conversation involves taking turns. Overall, it was a very eventful session. The remainder of the ECI sessions this summer will be with Masinja's regular teacher, so it should be interesting!
As I mentioned in last week's post, Masinja and I had plans to get together with some neighbors for a play date this week. We met up with them and went to the Early Childhood Center on Wednesday. The boys had a great time and I have to admit the Mommies did too :O) That evening we met up with them again and went for a long walk. Afterwards we spent a little while at their house.
I don't know for sure if he picked it up at the Early Childhood Center or if he got it at their house, but Masinja got his first official stomach bug this week. It started Friday night and my poor little man had diarrhea so bad that I had to go and buy more diapers!! While I was on my way to the store, I saw our neighbors out for a walk and I found out that the little boy had had a stomach bug the previous week :O( Poor Masinja has been sick all weekend long. His little tush is extremely raw also. We have tried every diaper rash cream on the market and nothing has helped. It is heartbreaking every time we have to change his diaper, because it hurts so much that he screams and cries. We went and picked up a different brand of diaper rash cream this afternoon and it seems to be helping a little bit. Hopefully this will only last a few more days. At any rate, we plan on taking him to the doctor tomorrow just to be on the safe side and to see if we can get something else for this diaper rash. I know children are supposed to get sick but it is just so hard to watch our little man suffer!!
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Weekly Update -- 1 - 7 June 2009
Masinja had a pretty eventful week this week. He had his 16th ECI session and his regular teacher didn't come, because she is on vacation. The occupational therapist that is on his team came instead. It was a very eventful session. She is very knowledgeable and observant. Masinja enjoyed playing with her.
We discussed his gravitational insecurity and she gave me some additional things to try to help Masinja get over that hurdle. She gave me some very good ideas as far as Masinja's feeding issues are concerned as well. In addition to broadening the spectrum of foods that he eats, we are also trying to get him to feed himself using utensils. She gave me some tips on how to accomplish that. All in all, it was a very good session and if we do decide to request a different teacher, I think we will ask for the occupational therapist.
T.M., Masinja and I made some new friends this week. T.M. and I took Masinja for a walk Thursday night and we met some neighbors, a woman and her son. The little boy is about Masinja's age and he has bright red hair. The boys seemed to get along pretty well and we are planning on getting together for some play dates next week.
The best part of the whole week was this weekend. T.M. and I took Masinja to the playground and he proceeded to climb up the stairs and then turn around and scoot back down on his butt! He must have done it about half a dozen times. He is definitely overcoming his gravitational insecurity. He still isn't very fond of the swings, but I'm sure that will change in a few weeks. He absolutely loves going down the slides though. T.M. and took turns catching him and then we all went down the really big slide a few times. We all had a great time and T.M. and I are so proud of our little man!
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Weekly Update - 25 - 31 May 2009
Masinja had a pretty uneventful week this week. About the only thing to report is the meeting that T.M. and I had with the services coordinator for ECI.
We wanted to discuss Masinja's teacher's attitude during his last ECI session, as well as our options. The services coordinator was shocked when I told her what Masinja's teacher said a few weeks ago concerning medically based therapies. She understood our position and agreed that we should use all the resources that are available to us. I was honest with her and told her that we had considered pulling Masinja out of the program but after careful consideration had decided not to. I also told her that we feel that ECI is beneficial to him ,but that at the present time we don't feel his needs are being met. We further discussed our concerns regarding language development and our plans to seek a medically based speech evaluation. I dropped several subtle hints about the possibility of replacing Masinja's teacher, but apparently I should have been more blunt about it. T.M. and I have decided to give it a few more months and if things remain the same then we are going to request a different teacher.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Weekly Update -- 18 - 24 May 2009
This week we found some videos that we forgot we had. Enjoy.
Cow Bum (Cheese Bread)
Sleepy Time in the high chair
That's all the excitement. It was actually a really boring week.
Peace,
T.M.
Weekly Update -- 11 - 17 May 2009
Masinja went to the dentist this week. He had to have his front bottom teeth cleaned because they had tartar build-up. He doesn't cooperate when T.M. and I brush his teeth so I wasn't surprised in the least. He didn't particularly like the cleaning though so maybe now he will starte cooperating! Other than that he got a clean bill of dental health. The denist also said that it is looking more and more possible that when his permanent teeth come in they will be white instead of yellow. Hurray!!
Masinja had his 15th ECI session today. He and I met his teacher at the Early Childhood Center. He had a great time in the gross motor room playing in the ball pit and playing with the matchbox cars. His teacher tried to get him to play on the little gym setup, but he really didn't want anything to do with it. She did manage to get him to walk down the stairs a few times though. We tried taking him into the reading room, but he didn't do very well in that environment. It was right in the middle of song time and he I think it was too loud and busy.
Based on a conversation that I had with Masinja's teacher while we were at the Early Childhood Center, T.M. and I are considering pulling Masinja out of ECI. I told her about Masinja's followup PT appointment last Friday and how his physical therapist was concerned about his speech and asked one of the speech therapists to sit in and listen to him. I explained to his teacher that the speech therapist doesn't feel that Masinja has an articulation problem but rather a phonics problem. I told her that he was on the waiting list to recieve therapy. She got really annoyed and said, "I hate the medically based therapies! They always do things so differently." This really surprised T.M. and I, because she has been telling us for weeks now that we are more than welcome to seek therapy outside of ECI and that in fact most families do. We haven't decided for sure yet what we are going to do, but we will let you know when we do.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.