Unfortunately, the state where we live is behind in the latest private paid treatments and programs for kids with special needs, but thanks to technology we can have accesses to them. As far as education, our state is also behind nationwide. Its overall grade in education was a C this year, up slightly from last year's grade of C-. But I have found a balance in this matter, so as a parent I am deeply involved in Tommy's education and his personal growth as an individual. I support his IEP team in every possible way, regardless I work full time and I have kept going with personal goals I have set for Tommy. His team has even commented to me that they are not used to have parents so involved in their kids education as we are.
Regardless what I have planned for helping Tommy, he is the one who is building his own path. It makes me feel so good to know that Tommy has found a friend. It is amazing how they complement each other. It reminds me when I was a child because my first friend was actually my cousin who is about a year younger than me and it is a boy. Tommy is one year older than his friend and his friend is a girl. It is the first time both of them are interested in other kids rather than their siblings. When he hears her name, his face lights up and the same happens with her. Regardless the challenges they both face, they are finding themselves as individuals capable to build strong relationships.
At school, Tommy has done an enormous progress in a short period of time. Yahoo! This doesn't surprise me, because it is how it was before all this craziness. His teacher is very impressed how he is communicating wants and needs, being part of the group, enjoying to practice writing his name and participating in the class. His vocabulary keeps increasing! Currently, he keeps an IEP goal to maintain his speech skills because he still shows oral muscle weakness; but, Tommy will lose* his services for speech at some point because he can articulate words very clear with beginning and ending sounds, as well as articulate phrases with continue sounds, which means he has good speech fluency; howsoever, he will keep the services for language development. His gross motor have speedily improved recovering and surpassing all gross motor skills he lost in period of 4 months and he is now working on catching up. This kid is amazing!
We have a lot of work on Fine Motor /Self-care skills because most of the skills he lost haven't came back. But I found the cause, the reaction he had to the antibiotic that caused a massive muscle weakness it also cause ocular muscles weakenss —Vision and fine motor work together. Tommy began to turn his eyes in, one eye more than the other after the hospitalization. So we took him for a check up last years, and his former optometrist said it would go away. If Tommy won't have hypotonia, I would agree with this optometrist. But after a year, I didn't see improvement rather than getting worse, so I decided to take action. So we are working now with a developmental optometrist who was recommended for the Sensory Therapy Center where Tommy receives private paid services. Tommy was seeing for the Developmental optometrist on April 27, who determinate that Tommy's vision issues is because he has ocular muscle weakness that it is causing farsightedness. Before the hospitalization, his former optometrist told us his farsightedness had despaired –this another proof that the medication cause an overall muscle weakness. His new optometrist prescribed glasses for Tommy to avoid that his eyes keep turning, so his focus system doesn't get affected. We also are doing vision therapy exercises. His vision issues were affecting his performance at school, but his teacher agrees that Tommy knows more than what he shows, but his focus issues it is interfering with it. She is aware that Tommy can count in English and Spanish, saying his colors, but when it is time to test him, he chooses not to say a word. The glasses has been like a magic wand, his focused during structure activities improves while he is wearing the glasses resulting in better fine motor skills during structure tasks. When Tommy was a toddler, he had a period where he had an amazing attention span, even his former therapist were amazed of it. I have a good feeling seeing him going back as he used to be with fine motor activities.
We took a break from the swimming lessons for about 5 weeks, so we thought he could regress; howsoever, his best performance on the swimming pool was the day he came back. Tommy's love for swimming is amazing. He is now practicing free-diving, which is something he discovered on his own. He does use the breath-holding technique really good and practices in the bathtub every time he has an opportunity.
*Even when Tommy loses his services for Speech because he won't need it from the educational stand point, I have in my action plan an innovative oral motor treatment to treat tongue trusting because medical procedures are necessary to treat tongue trusting. A computerized test determinate how the oral structure (muscles and bones) is functioning; therefore, the specialist can find specific areas in the mouth that need treatment that are not usually spot with observation. This is an advanced treatment, which means is expensive; howsoever, this won't be until Tommy is about 7 or 8 years old so we have time to save money.
I couldn't pronounce his friend's name at first,
but I got it after asking him: What is your friend's name?
Watching them together is amazing!
The date we took this picture, we went over to celebrate Ezmae's birthday.
Tommy didn't show sensitivity to the sound of the happy birthday song.
Her birthday marked the beginning of Tommy starting
to overcome his auditory processing issues.
At school, Tommy has done an enormous progress in a short period of time. Yahoo! This doesn't surprise me, because it is how it was before all this craziness. His teacher is very impressed how he is communicating wants and needs, being part of the group, enjoying to practice writing his name and participating in the class. His vocabulary keeps increasing! Currently, he keeps an IEP goal to maintain his speech skills because he still shows oral muscle weakness; but, Tommy will lose* his services for speech at some point because he can articulate words very clear with beginning and ending sounds, as well as articulate phrases with continue sounds, which means he has good speech fluency; howsoever, he will keep the services for language development. His gross motor have speedily improved recovering and surpassing all gross motor skills he lost in period of 4 months and he is now working on catching up. This kid is amazing!
We have a lot of work on Fine Motor /Self-care skills because most of the skills he lost haven't came back. But I found the cause, the reaction he had to the antibiotic that caused a massive muscle weakness it also cause ocular muscles weakenss —Vision and fine motor work together. Tommy began to turn his eyes in, one eye more than the other after the hospitalization. So we took him for a check up last years, and his former optometrist said it would go away. If Tommy won't have hypotonia, I would agree with this optometrist. But after a year, I didn't see improvement rather than getting worse, so I decided to take action. So we are working now with a developmental optometrist who was recommended for the Sensory Therapy Center where Tommy receives private paid services. Tommy was seeing for the Developmental optometrist on April 27, who determinate that Tommy's vision issues is because he has ocular muscle weakness that it is causing farsightedness. Before the hospitalization, his former optometrist told us his farsightedness had despaired –this another proof that the medication cause an overall muscle weakness. His new optometrist prescribed glasses for Tommy to avoid that his eyes keep turning, so his focus system doesn't get affected. We also are doing vision therapy exercises. His vision issues were affecting his performance at school, but his teacher agrees that Tommy knows more than what he shows, but his focus issues it is interfering with it. She is aware that Tommy can count in English and Spanish, saying his colors, but when it is time to test him, he chooses not to say a word. The glasses has been like a magic wand, his focused during structure activities improves while he is wearing the glasses resulting in better fine motor skills during structure tasks. When Tommy was a toddler, he had a period where he had an amazing attention span, even his former therapist were amazed of it. I have a good feeling seeing him going back as he used to be with fine motor activities.
Tommy wears Miraflex glasses.
They are safe for kids to wear because
they are made by a flexible material that doesn't break.
I am putting all these things together for him, but he is the one finding his way.
This is just the beginning of a true and full recovery!
This is just the beginning of a true and full recovery!
THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!
_______________________*Even when Tommy loses his services for Speech because he won't need it from the educational stand point, I have in my action plan an innovative oral motor treatment to treat tongue trusting because medical procedures are necessary to treat tongue trusting. A computerized test determinate how the oral structure (muscles and bones) is functioning; therefore, the specialist can find specific areas in the mouth that need treatment that are not usually spot with observation. This is an advanced treatment, which means is expensive; howsoever, this won't be until Tommy is about 7 or 8 years old so we have time to save money.
