Meet PECS

Meet PECS.
PECS is a communication system that uses pictures to communicate. This is a page from the inside of a binder. The goal is that Micah could use this to tell others what he wants. At first they start small, but many pages can be added, arranged by topic. This is how our first day of speech went w/ the new therapist.
(she has a toy he wants)
1) Open the binder
2) Find the picture of the toy he wants
3) Pull the pic off the vertical velcro strips.
4) Close binder
5) Put pic on sentence strip (the blue thing at the bottom, but ours is not on the same page as the pics.)
6) Pull the sentence strip off the velcro it's attached to.
7) Give to therapist
8) Point to pics "i want" "fire truck"
9) Get toy.

Do i even NEED to explain why this had me in near tears after 45 minutes? i did remind her he is in fact, 2 1/2 years old. Not to mention the challenges from a occupational therapy perspective (fine motor)... MAN.

At least it's sunny, amen? We had a great play date today w/ Micah's "cousins" :)

New stuff...

So today we go see a new speech therapist (we have the old one still once a week) The new one will be seeing what type of alternative communication he can use. Speech isn't coming anytime soon (well, it may veeerrryyy slowly) and they insist giving him something he can use that will talk for him will let him communicate with those who don't use sign. Not sure i buy it entirely. The low tech systems will only help with adults, and the high tech things are a stretch at this point. He needs to understand sequence (if i push this icon, this page will come up, then i can choose another icon) and have the dexterity to push small icons on a screen. We've tried with our Nook color and he's not there yet, for sure. Really hoping this isn't a waste, because our other speech therapist has more than she can do in 2 hours, let alone one.

Now the poor kid has 4 therapies at different times throughout the week. 9:45, 11:45, 1:00 and 2:00. Where's the nap consistency? Yeah, that's what i thought too.

The pace

The pace is picking up around here lately. Can't say i'm ever a fan of that, really. We're adding the following between now and mid-March.
1) Orthotics eval for SMO's (the what for the what? these: SMO's He may or may not need them, it's been up in the air for quite some time, but always got on the back burner due to... Micah being Micah :) i finally decided to get him evaluated so i can stop feeling guilty about it. The goal would be to stabilize his foot so he can do some of the things that he's been behind on from a gross motor perspective. Unfortunately, they're a pain in the toosh, and they have to wear them all the time w/ socks and shoes. And if you've met me, you'll guess socks and shoes aren't a priority around here. Lets hope he doesn't need them.

2) Neurology consult- it's a load of poo, in my opinion. We got a letter from insurance saying he needed a consult. They won't tell me why, but we have to do it. My guess is they're trying to disqualify him from something, i'm afraid to guess what.

3) A new speech therapist- to compliment our current one. Our current will have him once a week for feeding, and the new one will have him 1x week for communication. Can't say i'm thrilled, but whatever. They're trying to push an AAC (see here)device, saying his dexterity isn't good enough for signing and that signing isn't functional for the long term. i've been fighting this fight for about a year now... Blah, blah blah. i can see the merits of both, but i'm not giving up signing anytime soon.

4) A new doc/surgeon: He's going to hopefully enlighten us on the many issues in our little man's mouth. That's part of the Cincy plan for next week

5) The school system. There's not enough time for this one now, maybe ever, LOL.

Micah did well w/ feeding therapy today, he ate an ounce and a half! That's the most he's ate since summer, and maybe ever. Wasn't so cool when he held the last two bites of yogurt in his mouth for an hour or two, then almost threw up everywhere, because... EWW! Overall, since his video swallow study, he's been a different man, all because we found out what he needed.

Phew. i'm tired even typing this out. So, if it seems we've fallen off the face of the earth, it's probably because we have.