A little bit of everything!

Nick working with Tam













This post might just be a little crazy and all over the place, so bear with me. The photo to the left is from today's session. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Nick works with Tam in a one-on-one social/play skills session. She concentrates on getting Nick to make eye-contact, to imitate, and to play with toys properly. The group session he has also works on these skills, but they work on them in a group setting with 4-5 other toddlers so Nick gets used to having to share and take turns. When he first started with Tam (back in March!) just getting him to sit in a chair was a big step. Now, he goes in the room and readily sits in the chair! He also would get very upset when she took a toy away that he wanted and tried to get him to "work" to get it back. Now, she has him matching items like bowls, and imitating her before he gets rewarded with his fave toy. He has also made huge progress with giving the toy back to her when she requests. He does this now with no fuss at all!! The smallest steps he makes are duly noted...like using utensils correctly(instead of twirling) or even smelling a raisin(last week he just threw it on the floor,this week he at least brought it to his face)...these are all big steps forward for him. Today I also met with his Speech therapist to discuss our goals for him as far as that goes. He still does not gesture to show us what he wants or bring anything to us--so that is one goal we set. We also talked about his eating. He only eats foods with certain textures(mashed, or soft like noodles, or crackers). She will help us to get him to develop his muscles in his mouth more,and that could maybe lead to trying more foods. Since he is doing so well with the hour long sessions,they want to increase it by 30 minutes on Tues and Thurs. We are wanting to get his Speech and OT to be in conjuction with his other sessions so we dont have to travel so much. It could mean half of his days are spent in therapy,but I think it would be best this way. With all this going on with Nick, it is easy for Michael to get "lost" in the shuffle. Yesterday him and I just took a day to spend together. We went to see a couple of movies, and just had some nice "mommy and me" time. It was nice to get to re-connect with him, as I dont want him to feel like he is forgotten or unloved. He is a huge part of this family and he was our first born, so he will always be special.