Hi all! Its been another eventful week here at the Burchett home. Maybe I should write a book? not! Where would I find the energy time? Lets start off where we left off last Tuesday afternoon. I picked up Isaiah from school and we came home for an hour to eat a snack and then we went to Speech Therapy with Tahnee. He did well with her again. She is working on getting him to round his lips and blow as if he was going to blow a bubble or a candle. She has this neat whistle that has a circular tip that whistle when you blow air in. He got it to whistle a couple of times! He is still working on “p” “d” and “b”. And we actually saw her again today and he did more “b” sounds with her today, yay! Today, she did the “if you’re happy and you know it” song with him to have him imitate hand gestures. And when he made an attempt, she gave him a smarty 😉
Anyways, back to last Tuesday. I had a curriculum information session with Isaiah’s teacher. She talked about what she does everyday with the kids and what their schedule is like. She gave me a copy of the songs they play during music time too. I scheduled a “conference” with his teacher so we could talk one-on-one about Isaiah. That conference was today and she told me that Isaiah has improved with accepting the word “no” especially when it comes to climbing things. She said that he use to just climb everything but now he doesn’t. He knows the schedule and he sits down for circle time every morning. They reward him by giving him “tickles” on his arms. She found this was more reinforcing than getting a toy from the treasure box. She talked about how he is constantly seeking sensory input so they try their best to give him what he needs so that he can complete a task. He does the best on the playground….not surprised. She said that he is very advanced. The regular education preschool class goes to the playground at the same time as them. All those kids are 4. They all wait in line to walk across the balance beam. Isaiah’s teacher says he is the only one in his class that waits in line and walks across the balance beam with the 4 year olds. He is just too stinkin cute!! But, she talked about how he doesn’t always respond to calling his name and how he can’t follow 2 step directions. He looks off into space instead of the task at hand. In speech therapy at school, he is very frustrated because she wants him to say “pig” and he struggles. That’s where “apraxia” comes in. In the end, I told her that next Wednesday was going to be his last day and she thought that Princeton House would actually be a better fit for him. They will have more resources and be better equipped to deal with apraxia and sensory processing disorders. She did say that she’s not sure if Isaiah is really “looking” or “watching” other kids in order to imitate their behavior. Isaiah just constantly needs one-on-one guidance. But today when he saw me he ran up to me with the biggest smile ever, it was so sweet!
Ok so back to last week…. On Wednesday we were supposed to go to his other ST Beth but we cancelled. Actually, on Tuesday night he fell asleep at 5pm and sleep till 7pm. He was exhausted and a little sick too I think. Then I decided that we will see Beth only once a week on Mondays. But this week we will see her tomorrow because they were closed on Monday due to Labor Day. So Wednesday and Thursday were relaxed days but then on Friday morning we headed out to our mini family vacation. We drove to the Marriott World Center in the morning and used their pool/waterpark all afternoon. Of course, I had a cold that day which eventually turned into Laryngitis. Perfect timing! 😉 We stayed the night there and then went to the pool again on Saturday morning/early afternoon. We headed out to Disney’s Boardwalk at around 2pm and then headed home. Both kiddos fell asleep in the car. On Sunday, I stayed home with Trin while Isaiah went to church with daddy. Then, a friend hosted a fellowship at hour house that afternoon. On Monday, we went to the pool with a family from church and then had a late lunch with them before heading home.
So today feels like Monday hah! Isaiah went to bed late last night because she took a nap yesterday afternoon. He woke up late and was pretty much half asleep when I dropped him off at school. His teacher said that at about 11:30am he’s pretty much done lol. 8:30-11:30 is pretty good though! So tomorrow is early day so I’ll pick him up right after bible study at 12:30. We have ST with Beth at 1:30pm so we will probably go straight there. Isaiah will have OT on Thursdays at 2:30pm starting this Thursday. I plan on taking him to A Kid’s Gym on Friday evening and then on Saturday we will be going to LEGOLAND one last time before Isaiah turns 3 next Thursday and he will cost money. On Saturday evening we have a birthday party to go to for our precious friend just 2 days older than Isaiah who also has autism. Check out his mama’s blog here.
This week:
- I applied “Barielle” to Isaiah’s entire finger tips. It is a nail polish that is supposed to help you to stop biting your nails. I have seen a huge decrease in mail biting. I just pretty much need to reapply everyday.
- Isaiah said that the “m” sound with the “k” sound when he wanted milk. He wanted it pretty bad. I have seen him use his sounds consistently. He has very good eye contact and has initiated communication a few times.
- Isaiah consistently comes up to me and signs “movie” while looking into my eyes. But last week he came up to me grabbed my leg to turn me around and signed “water” because he wanted a drink 🙂
- Isaiah pretty much gets out of his crib almost every morning by himself. He goes straight to the table signing “cereal” and saying the “s” sound.
- When we went to McDonald’s on Friday, Isaiah was drinking a cold drink. His hands were little icicles. Isaiah looked at me and signed “cold” and I never even said the word. I’m shocked that he knows what “cold” means. Its such an abstract term, I can’t show him a picture of cold because its a feeling. He’s pretty smart 😉
Have a great week!
Zay Man's Journey 