We have a lot of reports, analysis, evaluations, goals, treatments, therapies, etc, but I think it's important to also document our impressions of Deane's progress. I wrote the briefest of posts on the day we went to our all day evaluation. During this time of our lives we were desperate for information, feeling completely isolated, and holding tight to God and each other.
When Deane went for evaluation, I listed his vocabulary as approximately 50 words. Now I would guess it's around 200 words. It's hard to know exactly what is acquired and what is just repeated. I have to stop and enjoy this progress while still having really high goals for him. He wasn't saying any two word phrases and now he says several plus many simple sentences.
At the time of evaluation, we didn't have much of a handle on his sensory issues. Tomorrow we will visit a developmental optometrist to see if his need to run things close to his eyes, hesitancy in jumping, toe walking, and clumsiness when running is vision related. He has been improving on crossing midline, fine motor skills, and tolerance of different textures. We introduced a weighted blanket which has changed our sleeping life. Until three months ago, Deane was waking 2-3 times each week in the middle of the night, upset. The blanket really seemed to be the key. (Of course, last night, he woke up from 12-1AM so I hope this is not a new trend.)
Deane and Kate interact regularly especially since has started crawling and she is in the middle of his business. She actually fell asleep on the way home from Muscatine this morning and he wanted her attention so badly he was calling her name and kicking her seat. Needless to say, discipline remains a serious challenge in our lives. I know some of these areas are totally typical, but I feel our communication challenges and Deane's sensory issues amplify his responses.
Deane receives about 21 hours of services each week now. I'm looking to dial back that number to get back to enjoying our family life a bit more. I have a better understanding of what is most efficient and have started to feel less concerned that I'm going to keep him from some successes by not doing every single thing available. I'm trying to take it a day (or maybe a week) at a time.
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