Mid-year review

Well, it seems the tummy bug in BC’s tummy has gone. I am pretty sure, seeing as the first thing he told me this morning was that the baby in his tummy really, really needed one of the chocolate biscuits that we made a few days ago .

On to other news, we had BC’s mid-year review at his early intervention centre on Monday. I was really pleased to see that he has achieved a few of the goals that we set out at the start of the year (making better use of both hands when doing activities, climbing into the car seat by himself and improving his ability to hold a pencil and attempt writing his own name). I was also pleased to see that we have set into motion quite a few of the other goals – such as the swimming/physio sessions, more focus on improving his use of AAC devices and using ‘Prompt’ to improve his speech/oral awareness and getting him to do more walking in his walker.

The only thing in the plan that we HAVEN’T done is look at getting him a modified tricycle, which we’ll hopefully be looking into soon.

We also spoke quite a bit about the need for him to have a more substantial voice output device. I mentioned a little while back about how excited I was about the new iPhone AAC application, and his speech therapist agrees that this will definitely be a useful tool for BC in the future. But not the immediate future. After mulling it over for a few weeks now, what the iPhone app has really taught me for the shorter term is that we DO need to get BC a more up to date device.

I mentioned in that earlier post that I believed a newer Dynovox device would set us back $7000. I was WRONG. Try $15,000. Wow.

Fortunately, the government will put in $4,500. UNFORTUNATELY, if he were already at school they would put in $7,000. I absolutely fail to see why there is such a disparity in this amount. Especially given the main reason we want to get the device sooner rather than later is so BC will already have confidence using the device when he gets to school. Makes a lot of sense to me! There will be a letter regarding this, be assured!

There are other funding bodies that we can apply to for funding. And we will be. I wish we were in a position to just find the missing $10,000 under the bed, but I am just quite sure it’s not there.

We will be aiming to hopefully have the device by the start of next year, to give BC a full year using it before he starts school.

THIS is the device we’re looking to buy (and in this colour, which was BC’s second choice after I suggested pink might not really be best):

You can find more information about it HERE.

I am excited. I think it will be great for BC.

We also got a new little tool to try and help with BC’s oral awareness. It looks like this:

It’s called an ‘Oral Screen’. The idea is that you place it between the teeth and the lips. In order to keep it there, you need to keep your mouth CLOSED – which is something that BC has a lot of trouble remembering to do. An added benefit is that with his mouth closed, his saliva can’t escape, reminding him to swallow.

I knew that he would either really love it or hate it. Fortunately, he LOVES it.  We play with it together, with him trying to keep it in his mouth (by keeping his lips together) while I try to pull it out. He thinks it’s a hilarious game. He’s also taken to playing with it, trying to keep it in his mouth and wriggling it about while he’s watching TV. It seems to provide him with some really good sensory feedback. All good. A handy little tool to add to the repertoire of therapy that just doesn’t feel like work .

There’s a little more info HERE and page 13 of this excellent ‘Saliva Control booklet‘ from the RCH in Melbourne has a couple more pictures of an Oral Screen in use.

So there you go. All in all, it was a really positive review and we have a few more goals to focus on between now and the end of the year.

And as a final proof of how well he’s doing, on the way home, we needed to stop off at the supermarket and do some shopping. For the first time EVER, BC walked the whole supermarket with me. I didn’t have to slow my pace once for him to keep up. He helped take some things off shelves and put them in the trolley. He had a ball. I am so thrilled with his increased endurance and confidence with his walker. The ‘Stroller’ that we got for him earlier this year, spends more and more time tucked in the boot of the car. Unless I know we’ll be doing a LOT of walking, I am now confident he can do it on his own, which is great.

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