Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Brighter Side

Jacob's speech therapist mentioned to me last week that he is blowing her away with his sentences. He still reminds me of my Russian grandmother's broken English but he's got ideas, memories, suggestions, and jokes. He was using the word "gammer" for about a month until I realized he was saying remember. To me this was significant because I was never sure if he had a concept of time, past or future. Jacob also had his evaluation for aquatic therapy and the Hasbro PT remarked that his balance was very good. He will primarily work on activating his right arm and hand to hold onto the edge of the pool and to move through the water. Once a week for six weeks. While I was there, I started to feel nostalgic about the constraint therapy program and put in an inquiry about next August. I still believe... Matthew had his first MANicure and pedicure this summer and loved it. He's also taking swimming, gymnastics, and karate. His behavior is always a challenge which I am managing with greater and varied experiences as well as with screaming until I fear the baby will go deaf.

2 comments:

  1. LOL...we have screaming here too. I'm patient. Until I'm not anymore. :]

    About swim therapy though...will they work on teaching swimming skills? I'd love for Trevy to be able to swim without a floaty device but clearly lessons at the Y are not in his future. :)

    ...d

    ReplyDelete
  2. I refrained from using the word swimming so they would not question my intentions. Instead I told them what skills I would like him to work on while in the water, which happen to include some of those required to swim. Jacob's lessons at the Y ended when he could not hold onto the edge of the pool so that is goal 1 for aquatic therapy. What is safe and what is practical for him to function in the water basically. I was told that it is not as effective as land therapy, but I disagree in terms of motivation for Jacob at least. He will use his arm in the water, given appropriate support and motivation. So, no,I don't think Jacob will learn to swim from this, but he will have greater skills to use for private lessons some day.

    ReplyDelete