Monday, October 6, 2014

Overdue update

This was a post to facebook, and I apologize that I haven’t kept up well. I summarized last week by telling someone , “I’m drowning in life right now.”  I’ve not been feeling well, and I think it’s just the overwhelmed state of my schedule with three jobs and the kids and volunteering.  I need to reorganize once again….thanks for your prayers and your patience.

Several have asked for an update on things...just all the many things going on with us. I'll try to be brief. (yeah, I saw that chuckle...don't laugh.)

•Braska's school reports have been increasingly disappointing, and we're having trouble determining what the source is.  She's showing behaviors that have not been part of her norm. We're not sure where they're coming from. But we believe much of it  is sensory related, according to the pros we talk with and the team in CT. We're thankful to still have access to Lori up there to coordinate.
•In the midst of the frustration of her school situation, we're encouraged by many things that she's doing SO well, so we're celebrating those.  Things like much-improved sentence structure, appropriate expression of her feelings, and increasing independence in some self-care elements.
•We've arranged for a new aquatic PT situation weekly that looks very promising for B. We're excited (she is especially. she loves "pool therapy.")
•We hope to start sensory-focused OT this week as well.  Her sensory struggles are currently causing her the most problems. So we need to get her some help and ways for us to help her get what she needs, regarding input. (may sound like gibberish if you're unfamiliar with sensory issues. sorry)
•M's car, that has been parked for a while after we found that it needed $1000 in repair was taken to a place on Saturday where we got a less expensive quote, and we were hopeful....unfortunately this morning, we have been told that there's another issue that was missed before, so now it would be $1900 to repair.  Not gonna happen.  We'll be figuring out how to get something soon.
•We've been driving my parents' extra van. Thankful we have that option. But it has another home to get to soon, so we'll be looking for something else.
•We have some big decisions to make about school, our jobs, how to reorient things to be available for what might be some big changes on the horizon if we can't seem to get the help we need for B here. (possible return to CT for an extended period is on the table). We appreciate your continued prayers as we seek to make the right choices for our family.
THANK YOU for being part of our team of encouragers!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update. Been thinking about you all. Sending up prayers.

    Could she be picking up the behaviors from other children in her class? I had this issue with Dominique when she was in a Spec Ed Pre-k part-time. But no behavior issues when she went to a regular daycare Pre-k with all typical children on the other days.

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    1. I think this may be part of it, and we've been struggling with how to react to that part. She's in sped most of the day, but apparently it's been happening some in gen ed in the mornings too. (report came home "she hit her friend with a paper.") What in the world do I do with that?!? I'm just frustrated.... I need to go in for an observation day.

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  2. I am wondering if Braska has a sensory diet stablished in her IEP. This helps a lot! Maybe there are noises in the environment that she hears lauder than the rest of the people around. Nobody else can listen at the same pitch than her, so it passes unnoticed. We switched Tommy from school and in his new school there are less kids with special needs and he is the only one who has more challenges. This is truly helping him because he is mainly with typical kids. He also gets adult attention and lot one on one, too because there are not many kids with special needs. So the way that I see it is that switching Tommy to the new school has been beneficial because the environment itself forces that he gets more adult attention, which is what he needs; he mainly has typical kids as role models and typical kids are really good at supporting their peer with special needs, which helps the child with special needs to mature. In my experience, I have observed how typical kids respond when a noise batters Tommy, they all cooperate to remind quit because Tommy is upset. Environment plays a big role on how our kids with sensory issues behave.

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Thanks for your comments! I love the feedback!