Typical Guy

Heh. He's so cute! We missed him doing yawns with Papa, but it was a cute 30 seconds!

Videos!

This is so sweet! Our little guy asks for "more!"

SLP Surprise

I started the day hustling Tyoma off to preschool, while Tennisfiend lounged in bed. Afterwards, the two of us took off for breakfast at our favorite coffee place, J Beaner’s. We ordered the apple pancakes, which turned out to incomparably delicious! The yeast raised pancakes, similar to crumpets in texture, were baked on top of luscious cinnamon apples. Beautiful to look at, delicately spiced with cinnamon (too much cinnamon=Big Red chewing gum) and best of all, theses pancakes were not overly sweet. Yummy! Tennisfiend smoozed me, asking about my dream kitchen and I rambled on for most of the meal. New paint, new dining set, hutch for Tyoma’s arts & crafts. Breakfast was so nice; we plan to bring Tyoma sometime.

We did a bit of browsing after, Tennisfiend searched for cross country skis and I hunted for school paste. Do you remember that sticky, sweetish smelling stuff, perfect for macaroni pictures? We plan to make Moses proud! My day took a turn when our speech therapist (Karen) called wanting to know if she could come over today instead of this coming Monday. I felt totally put out, but I said yes. I like to mentally prepare myself, type up notes for her and make the house sparkle (even more). But, why not get it over?

So, naptime was spent writing my report (I do this for Tyoma, so we have a good idea of his progress, especially since he has some developmental issues). Anyway, the session went fine for about ten minutes. I really believed we would have a productive session, since last time was such a success, but then the toys kept coming out of her bag, and she kept pressing him to talk. Tyoma shut down and turned into the hyper-monster. Session over. Well, not really over. We talked and talked about autism. Too much.

These sessions need to be all about Tyoma and not some diagnosis that has not been confirmed! I need to remember this, too. I warned her that she was over stimulating him, but she seemed not to hear. He is wonderful with us and dreadful with her.

Fortunately, Tennisfiend came home at the peak of the situation. The three of us tried a game at her suggestion, which made everything worse. Our SLP said, “If only he would sit still and engage for 30 seconds!” Ack!!! My hubby took psycho baby to the side of the room and gave him his alphabet. In less than five minutes he was calm and talking. In six minutes, he was spelling words. She about died watching him spell “open,” “six” and “star,” chatting all the while.  I could tell that she felt bad, but I was vindicated.  I told her, “The moment Tyoma ran off into the other room, you lost him.” Sigh.

For the twentieth time, I seriously debated firing our SLP and replacing her with the SLP I met last week (Cheri). Tennisfiend suggested that we be calm and give her another chance—she sincerely cares about our son and does try hard.  In the meantime, we have a session (not speech therapy) scheduled for December with the other SLP, if she connects, we have a new therapist. If not, hmmmm…

Until then, I will take over the sessions, and squeeze the appropriate therapy from Karen, especially when it looks like Tyoma is getting alienated. Tennisfiend thinks our SLP doesn’t seem to understand what she’s doing wrong and won’t change unless I teach her another way. This makes sense, the session I “took over” last time was fantastic; I guess expecting her to remember and implement my (brilliant! J) approach was too much.

So, now I am the self-appointed ambassador for my son and his SLP. It’s awkward, because I should be looking to her for the tools to reach and teach my boy. Nevertheless, I’m up to it. This probably won’t be the first time I “work with the system,” so I’m going to take it as an enormous learning opportunity. I secretly hope that a miracle will occur with Cheri, it would take a load off.

Speech Therapy

November 14, 2008

Tyoma’s Progress

Tyoma has been feeling well for the past few weeks, although he has been coping with a change of staff at KinderCare. On Oct 31, one of Tyoma’s teacher’s (his favorite!) was fired from her position. Although a staff member has filled her position, a few other temporary workers have rotated through the classroom—it was a chaotic week. He is adjusting to the situation, but I am uncertain if they have “settled” on a new girl. His meltdowns have practically vanished and are greatly reduced in intensity when they occur. 

• Tyoma communicates some internal states to us. He now consistently indicates when he is cold—I’d say almost 100%. We’ve gotten some “eat-eat-eats” out of him when he’s at the table, although I’m relying on schedules to keep him fed/hydrated.
• I have totally changed my focus regarding his speech—it’s now geared towards sharing and having conversations. This really works! He finishes sentences from his favorite books and songs and will answer some simple questions. I let him initiate conversations when we look at books or play. It’s generally a one or two “word” commentary.
• He’s been spelling words like exit, start, six, and open with his alphabet letters for about a week. He can sight read from some of his simpler books.
• His pronunciation of words remains about the same, with modest improvements, and nothing seems to improve it but time and repetition.
• Tyoma is using the word “where” appropriately.
• We started a gluten free/casein free diet Oct 31. We’ve noticed some improvements (25%) with his speech/play, but it could be incidental.
• He’s spending less time “organizing” the alphabet/numbers and playing alone. He’ll play alone for 10-15 minutes during the day before seeking me out, usually to show me a letter/number/book. He still has 30-45 of imposed quiet time in the evening, but will knock on his door to cue companionship.

Friday, November 7^th, I observed Tyoma in the playground for about 15 minutes. He spent most of the time running around by himself, or jogging by his peers without noticing them. Miss Ronda stated that this was fairly typical of him (70% time), although he does have “good” days when he runs along with his peers.

This Monday (10^th), I had my first official parent/teacher conference at KinderCare. Although I speak to the staff at least once a week, it was good to have some focused time without distractions. On the top of the list of my concerns was Tyoma’s social behavior. During our meeting, she said Tyoma has a “friendship vibe going on” with a boy named Vinny. Tyoma will run with him often and shows a preference to being next to him.

When asked about his participation, she mentioned that he does not like loud music or to play with musical instruments—he will leave the area when these activities take place.  This was a surprise to me since I have never noticed sound aversions at home, but in his defense, the music at daycare is thunderously loud. Miss Ronda also said that Tyoma does not seem to “get” painting. He goes through the motions but does not “engage” like his peers. I have noticed similar problems at and I have a plan to get him more involved.

Miss Ronda said that Tyoma has made great progress in sitting with his peers during snacks/meals. He is cooperative and will remain seated while eating. He also joins in circle time and “seems interested” in what is going on although he does not usually sing/talk/dance like his peers. Miss Ronda made one significant comment, “He is very compassionate.” She elaborated by saying that he notices when a classmate is crying or upset and that he seems concerned. He does do anything but watch intently until the situation is resolved.

Target Verbs

Eat        Sleep        Shake     Touch     Sit

Read     Smile        Play        Draw      Crawl

Drink     Jump        Kick        Pet         Walk

Clap      Bounce     Brush      Hug        Tickle

Lick       Paint         Pull         Wiggle    Roll

Whisper Chew        Go          Run        Open

Peel      Fly           Write      Turn       Wave

Smell     Close        Cry         Lift         Bang

Spell

Target Nouns

Body

Nose     Eyes         Ears        Cheeks   Chin

Mouth    Teeth        Tongue   Feet       Hands

Fingers                 

Giraffe   Fingers      Tub        Crayon    Monkey       Clown

Bicycle   Penguin     Girl         Candy     Pizza   Table

Tractor  Dress        Toes       Merry Go Round Puzzle        Hippo

Vacuum Button      Boy        Ice cream Tree   

Motorcycle            Egg        Watermelon      Sweater     Woman

            Potty        Pajamas  Umbrella Carrots        Mouse

Tummy  Turtle       Sand       Glasses   Man    Tiger

Alligator Juice         Frog       Rollerskates       Hair  

Lion       Bird          Feet        Bib         Balloon        Apple

Truck    Blocks       Bowl       Boat       Elephant      Key

Doll       Horse       Stroller    Hand      Clock  Blanket

Drum     Bear         Swing     Hat         Hammer     

Train         Pig            Dog           Nose         Mouth           Shoes

Plane         Cow          Cat            Ear            Eyes             Bus

Ball           Bottle        Book         Cup           Car              Flower

Baby         Banana      Spoon        Fire truck   Teddy bear

Rabbit        Broom       Bulldozer    Comb        Slide             Shirt

Fish           Cookie       Bubbles      Duck         Brush           Phone

Wagon       Water        Tricycle      Pants         Squirrel         Legs

chair         Boots         Helicopter  Arm          Orange                      

These are the words that I have chosen to help Tyoma say.

Speech Therapy

Well, another day has passed and again the speech therapist seems to think Tyoma’s autistic.  She sweetened it with a “But he would be clearly a very high functioning autistic”. 

Sad!

Poor Tyoma looks sadder and sadder as a video palys on Youtube! He's watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MdS3yQfRxI Whe he sees Grandma cry over her missing geese, his face droops. He'll even say "Sah" mournfully as it plays.

Tyoma’s Progress

The past two weeks have been difficult for Tyoma, primarily because he has been ill. He has missed daycare and been more sensitive and prone to meltdowns. Intense speech therapy was sometimes put on the back burner while I coped with my tearful son. Nonetheless, here’s our progress:

·   Tyoma seems to have great difficulty communicating internal states to us. He does not consistently indicate when he is hungry, thirsty, hot, cold or in pain.  He also uses no words or signs for his emotional states. Recently, he has said “brrrrr!” when cold and will clack his teeth to indicate tooth pain. We are working with him intensely to use gestures (sign) to show hunger/thirst rather than bringing me his cup or booster seat. Since he has been feeling unwell, this has been a major priority and we could really use some good advice.

·        I have been focusing not on the addition of new words (which he accomplishes easily), but the pronunciation of existing words. He has not regained the improved pronunciation that he had when my mom was here. Tyoma typically utters the first syllable of a word and does not bother with the rest. He can, however count to 12 with clarity.

·        Tyoma now completely “gets” the word mine, which is has become a source for meltdowns of late. Auuugh! He also says “where,” but it is unclear if he “gets” the meaning of the word or is just repeating it as part of a game.

·        He uses two word combinations regularly, but is reticent when pressed. He has begun to string together three words; such as “want…bath…open” (open the door to the bathroom). His “I want that!” from a few weeks ago has vanished.

·        Tyoma’s  pronunciation has slipped a bit—he has gone back to good days/bad days. I’d say he has about 20-30 words that he speaks clearly and consistently now. More, star, car, want, pop, no, zoo, white, the numbers 1-12, 23 letters of the alphabet, and a few more I can’t think of as I write this. A definite pattern exists, most of the words are nouns and most of the words relate to things he is profoundly interested in. The rest of his speech is about 25-30%  recognizable to a stranger.

Verbal reports from daycare staff indicate that he continues to do well there, the director commented on “how far he has come” and “how quickly he has adjusted.” I have begun to leave Tyoma for the full four hours so that he can have the experience of sitting and eating lunch with his peers. He is finicky about the food, but otherwise he is adjusting nicely. At home, we have playing social games like chase and hide and seek. Tyoma has been imitating Papa as he rakes leaves and quickly followed Papa’s example in learning how to fall in a pile of leaves. We have also been playing “airplane” with him (where we pretend to be airplanes flying) and he mimics us with gusto. Physical games engage him and bring out cooperative behavior and a few words.

Speech Therapy

Tyoma’s Progress

·        Tyoma consistently uses about 50 words each day. He continues to add new words quickly and has been learning positional adjectives, exclamations and more verbs.

·        Although he has successfully said a few words with multiple syllables, his frequency of correct pronunciation has dropped off.  

·        Tyoma is beginning to understand more personal pronouns such as “me,” and “mine,” but he uses them infrequently. He seems to be a bit confused between “your” (as in “Show me your nose.”) and “my” (“Show me my nose.”).

·        He uses two word combinations several times a day and has even said “I want that!” a few times.

·        Tyoma’s  pronunciation is about the same—some improvement on  his more familiar words while about 25-30% of his regular speech could be understood by a stranger.

·        While looking at books, Tyoma has started talking to himself, naming objects in the book and even describing simple activities taking place. As I read to him, he continues his descriptions, and is delighted to count and make animal/vehicle noises.

·        Tyoma is grasping the concept of time. He can ask for five more minutes of a favorite activity and understand that story time is for thirty minutes.

Things have leveled off speech-wise for Tyoma the past two weeks.  Although he has not made any extraordinary language advancements, he has made tremendous progress socially at day care. He is more cooperative, friendly and engaged than ever before. In fact, we have just upped his attendance by one day a week!  He has begun to play more imaginatively and creatively, adding more words in the process.  

Speech Therapy

 

Tyoma’s Progress

·        Tyoma consistently uses over 50 words each day. He speaks about 80-125 words regularly and seems to add new nouns and adjectives as quickly as you can teach him (over 10 a day).

·        Tyoma now uses “Bye” and “Hi” regularly with family, preschool members and neighbors.

·        New sounds include W and Wh. At last he says “want!”

·        He has been successfully saying a few words with multiple syllables. Generally, he either pronounces the first syllable correctly (not bothering with the rest of the word) or he utters the cadence correctly. However, he can intelligibly pronounce a few words like potato, pumpkin, carrot, and ice cream.

·        He uses two word combinations several times a day.

·        Tyoma’s  pronunciation has improved on some of his more familiar words. Nevertheless, about 25-30% of his regular speech could be understood by a stranger.

·        Tyoma can finally say the numbers 1-20, which he uses to name his flash cards. He also uses numbers to describe things, like “two cars” or “five” in referring to the number of times he wants to be swung in the air.

The biggest change in Tyoma the past few weeks has been the absence of “bad talking” days. Virtually every day he has a great deal to say and speaks spontaneously. His frustration level has dropped since he is able to request which books he wants read, which toys he wants to play with and which activities he wants to pursue. We no longer need to coax words out of him, although he can still be shy and not always intelligible. He has begun to play more imaginatively and creatively, adding more words in the process.  

 The day after the last therapy session, he was able to categorize objects by color in a game similar to the teddy bear cup exercise. He can easily categorize by color, shape, or function, but he is often quickly bored and prone to mischief. We have been regularly singing nursery rhymes to him. Although he does not join in the song, he genuinely enjoys the songs and will repeat words from the songs afterwards (E-I-E-I-O!).

Last week Tyoma’s Grandfather visited. Tyoma was not bothered by the switch to Russian (previously the switch distressed him). He not only understood Russian, but he spoke a few words and seemed very comfortable with both languages.

Speech Therapy

 

Tyoma’s Progress

·        Tyoma is saying up to 48 words each day.

·        He is adding 2-7 new words a day.

·        Tyoma will now spontaneously name/describe objects.

·        New sounds include a long I and O as well as the consonants F and J.  He can clearly pronounce the consonants sounds B, D, G, H, K, M, N, P, S, T, Z and ST. The vowels he can pronounce are short A, E, U and Y. Emerging sounds are short I and R. He does not seem to be able to say L, Q, W, or X.

·        He is beginning to use adjectives like stinky, dirty, soft and fuzzy.

·        He has not been using many two word combinations; they crop up once every two or three days. 

·        Tyoma’s  pronunciation is modestly improved. About 25-30% could be understood by a stranger.

Tyoma has really had a speech explosion this past week. Although every day is not a “talking” day, the frequency of his words has picked up so much, it’s difficult to keep track of. We continue to follow recommendations for therapy and have been taking him out for stimulating activities daily. He still has his binky around bedtime and for brief periods (10 minutes here and there) during the day, but he is becoming less attached. He is less reluctant to give it up and permits his teachers at preschool to take it from him.

My Speech Therapy Report

 

Tyoma’s Progress

·        Tyoma is saying 15-20 words each day.

·        He is adding one-two new words a day.

·        He uses the words more, help, draw, bath and enough consistently to get his needs met.

·        Sunday the 25th he used his first two word combination, “help pop” to get me to blow bubbles for him. Monday he said “more draw.”

·        Friday the 22-Sunday 25 he named the letters of the alphabet clearly and correctly.

·        Overall, his pronunciation has drastically improved. His words are finally becoming clear enough that a stranger could understand them.

We’ve followed your recommendations for therapy play and oral motor exercises, although he still has his binky around bedtime and for brief periods (10 minutes here and there) during the day.

Here are a few target words we are working on:

Want           Hungry                  Sleepy                            Hurt

Open           Close                    Mine                     Bye-Bye

We could really use some suggestions for teaching two words in particular--want and hungry.

He uses the words “more” and “help” plus his usual gestures and vocalizations get the idea of want across. What to do?

We are having a hard time getting the concept of hungry across. I almost suspect that he does not recognize being hungry until he is already in meltdown mode, which makes teaching the word even more difficult. I’ve had moderate success getting him to say the word, but not to use it appropriately. Suggestions?

Dr. Dobbins

I took Tyoma to meet his new pediatrician today.  He was pretty squirmy in the office as we waited, so I was glad to have brought books for him.  I chose Dr. Dobbins for her extended experience and pleasant face.  Does it make sense that she looked like a cross between Dr. Bass and my dear sweet Grandmam?

She was not a touchy feely doctor like Dr. Settles, she was a no-nonsense sorta gal. I liked her although she disparaged me calling her "Mam" all the time.  I will make it a point to call her "doctor" in the future.  It's odd what can get under a person's skin, I was nervous and trying to be polite.

Anyway, yes Tyoma has a speech delay, enough to be evaluated for speech therapy.  I was pretty shocked, actually.  she made it sound like no big deal.  She also said that the change in our living arrangements was what was causing the sleep problems.  She said to do what I always do, regardless of the mother-in-law.  He might scream, but he will feel more secure with a return to my way of doing things.  Boy, was I relieved to hear that. 

I was a bit surprised to hear of the self-care stuff that Tyoma should be doing. We still feed him, except for finger foods, and I'd only give him a real cup if I wanted to spend the day changing his clothes.  He can do many things, but some time he just won't and you can't force things on him.  Well, not easily.

Words

I feel like I am the only one who is concerned that Tyoma is not speaking much.  They say that mothers just know when something is not right with their child. So I wonder. Is his pattern of losing words and not saying much a big deal? Is he not learning to speak because I get and do everything for him?

Still,  when I consider my neurotic, imaginative disposition, I realize this is probably nothing. Mom thinks it's nothing. Tanya thinks it's nothing, too.  When we were in 'Cruces she said that E didn't speak until he was older than two.  Now she says she can't remember,  but boys always talk later.  She has dozens of anecdotes about it. I need to chill.

But!  When I consult google, I realize that he is behind. He is nowhere near using two word sentences, he barely uses one word consistantly.  It is so strange.  He'll blurt out some random word and it sounds incredible, but then its gone into the abyss.  I should not be too worried, though.  He knows what things are.  We have lots of picture books and he can point to the pictures correctly.  He also knows at least 12 colors--he can pick them out across a variety of places. He knows the letters of the alphabet, especially X which he points out with much enthusiasm everywhere we go.

Well Visit

Today we caught up with our pediatrician before the move. Since she was unable to make our November visit, this will serve as our 18 month well-visit. I expressed my concernes over Tyoma not speaking very much. But she said about four words is okay for now.

 

He has spoken many words, but he seems to loose them--he used to say “mama,” “boo-ah” (papa), and “gaa-a” (our dog) frequently, but these words vanished. Other words have appeared, "aaah" for apple, and other little phonemes for food or favorite activities, but nothing seems to stick.  He gets what he wants by pointing and fussing.

 

Our pediatrician reminded me that children in dual language households often talk later. She had mentioned this earlier, but I forgot. She also stated that at 18-19 months Tyoma would have a developmental “language explosion” and everything would level out—he would learn a few new words every day. She said that some children do loose “mama” and “papa” at this age but it will return soon--don’t worry until closer to his two year well visit.

 

Tyoma liked the visit, especially since there were no shots.  He kept pawing at Dr. Settles hair.  I think long brown hair in an oddity to him. I worry about finding another doctor in NH. I won't know anyone!  It's so nice to have someone you trust to connnect with.

Baby Shots

After rescheduling THREE times, we finally got Tyoma's 12 month shots. He was a very good baby and passed all the Doctor's developmental tests. I was a bit worried since he says and losses so many words, but he is right on track.

Yay! Natuarally, his post-shot cries were earth-rattling, but at least Papa was there to help out. Tennisfiend took the Lexus to CSR to check it out. We will hear results later.

Get Out of Here!

About four weeks ago, Tyoma started his essential vocabulary list. The words are:
1. Mama
2. Bua (Papa)
3. Grrlll (gorilla/Misty)

He seems to think that our dog Misty is a gorilla. Why does he think Misty is a gorilla? Well, we read him "Goodnight, Gorilla" and show him fuzzy baby animal books with gorillas in them. Their black fur matches Misty's, plus, Misty's nickname is "Girlfriend." After weeks of "gggrrrll-aaah's" Mom has decided to make his birthday a Jungle Affair:


Can you believe this?Holy-Moley! Is this not the weirdest/coolest thing you've ever seen?! Little Tyoma will be the olny kid on the block with a gorilla rocker. Thanks folks!

"Mama"

While Tennisfiend was out playing on league night, I was home with Tyoma, who said "Mama" for the very first time. He said it twice in a row, at about 9:00 p.m.. I doubt if he understood what it meant, but I became quite teary-eyed and called my own mom.