I met with Dylan's school for his 6 month progress report. It is a bitter sweet meeting every time because I get to hear how awesome Dylan is and how much they love him and his cute little personality and that he is improving... but it is also pointed out at how far behind he is for his age too. That can be a tough pill to swallow but I have decided not to focus on the bad and instead to celebrate the good! The only skill he is right on target of his age group is his gross motor skills, so yay Dylan! Too bad for him is because of the head trauma this Momma won't be letting him play any high contact sports anytime soon, if ever, aaaahhh. I know but I just can't chance it causing a regression again. But I know he has much more healing to go before we even get to the "if" he will ever play. They said he is making great progress and they are very pleased with how far he has progressed in this past year. They said that his vocalization is getting really good and they are seeing so much more trying out of him and we are too. He has met several of his goals such as responding to sounds near and far, giving up requested items(sharing), Rolling and catching, requesting items with his AAC device(something we need to use at home but haven't tried because it overwhelms me of where to begin setting it up), and imitating play! I know they are all simple goals but he is improving and that is all we can hope for. He really does seem to be trying harder on talking so I hope and pray that comes soon! Here is his progress reports:
We really love the people that work with him and know he is in good hands here. I just wish they focused a little bit on education, like just the basics is all I ask, but they don't and so I don't know that this will be a long term solution for us. I know he is a smart kid and he deserves an education too. They have definitely pushed Dylan and got him to where he is today, and they deserve the credit. Lately some of the updates I get is that he is sitting through the whole 25 minutes or so of story time at the Library, we all know I can't get him to sit for 2 minutes so this school has its very good points and I don't regret sending him here at all. Now that he is getting to the age of school, I do think he needs to learn as well. So we will probably get him back in the school system next year, but the credit of him learning to sit through lessons will go to UAA!
Speech Therapy is going pretty well and the therapist seems to be impressed with the progress he is making as well. He has been saying his vowel sounds really well lately and even repeating many of the things she asks him. Pam had us order this Speech Buddy tool to help him learn the placement of where his tongue needs to go. She is focusing on the letters that you need to put your tongue behind your upper teeth right now because she notices that is where he struggles. She said a true sign of Oral apraxia is that when having him stick his tongue out he also moves his head, so if we can get his tongue working correctly she thinks we will be at a great starting point and could see him blossom from there.
Dr Goldberg has changed his Lexapro medicine to Celexa and had us increase that from 1 1/4 tablet to 1 1/2 tablet last week. He does seem to be a lot happier and more engaged lately! I just need to get myself out of this long, long, burn out mode and start working with him! I know we are a major part of his improvement but dang I just can't get myself to put in the work lately, with him or his younger sister that could use the help with her letters and numbers. We also need to really focus on EATING, which is another hard part for me and I have no idea how to really enforce it, but that is my next goal. We have to change this families way of eating and we need to do it now, so wish me luck!
We are really proud of Dylan and know that his life is a daily struggle but he is doing amazing at it! I tell him everyday that I am a lucky Mom because no one else gets to say that he is their son and I am the luckiest because of it! We make a great team and we will conquer!
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