Dear Friends,
I am so sorry that I have been so unfaithful to keep up this blog. I have let life and busyness keep me from taking the time to put my thoughts and feelings, as well as Aiden's on-going progress, down in print. Keeping this journal has been so very helpful in allowing me to plot Aiden's progress and my own personal growth.
To catch everyone up to speed I'll let you know where we are today! (By the way, it is Mother's Day :) Currently, Aiden is walking with great ease and with relative fluidity. He is not using his arms to turn/rotate his trunk as much as we were seeing several months ago. As well, Aiden is successfully able to push himself up from the floor to a standing position. When we left RHTC in November he was only able to get himself up if he had the assistance of a 3-4 inch platform. So being able to "Dog,Frog and Up" is quite an accomplishment!
Communicatively speaking (is that an oxymoron or is it redundant?), Aiden is still not speaking at all. It has become very obvious to both Dave and me that Aiden is very frustrated with his inability to successfully and easily communicate with us. This having been said, Aiden had an assistive technology evaluation done at Children's Hospital in Richmond last month. I thought that this would provide access to some of the voice recordable switches (like the easy buttons but different) like we tried in November. In reality, it was assessing the plausibility for Aiden to learn to use a computer. Guess what.....he can!!!!!
The assessment gave me the opportunity to see Aiden's little brain at work. I have wondered (and perhaps all of you have) whether or not Aiden had cognitive issues along with his physical limitations. When given the opportunity to identify pictures of objects with a touch screen computer, Aiden was able to successfully choose 8 of 10. In the world of education (especially special ed), 80% is great!!
To say that I was surprised is an understatement. We will be looking forward to getting a touch screen monitor and software to support Aiden's cognitive growth.
We are continuing to encourage Aiden to use hand over hand signing, PECs (picture exchange communication), allowing him to take us to what he wants, and we will try not to anticipate his needs so that he is forced to communicate.
For me personally, I have felt a lot like a desert recently. I have had to continue with graduate classes on line. I successfully completed on in April and began another one the same day. My new class will also focus on the processes the brain goes through while learning. (I am hopeful that maybe I will learn one or two things that will help me understand Aiden's learning process, or will help us to make more neural connections.) The classes, although not terribly taxing, still require time and thought, both things that I feel lacking at this time.
I was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder recently. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is the leading cause of hypothyroidism and is linked to a gluten sensitivity. The thought of taking on living gluten free is overwhelming, so I am attempting to work through this with supplements, and if that is unsuccessful, I will take some form of thyroxin. I mention this because it does help to explain my overwhelming exhaustion, foggy brain feelings and weight gain. (I would love to blame all of my weight issues on Hashimoto's, but I am sure that the 1/2 lb of chocolate yesterday didn't help!!) :)
I thank you all for your continued prayers. I believe that there are probably days when you think of us and pray without knowing why. Bless you for those. We will be embarking on a second intensive therapy session beginning the 25th of May. This will continue through the 12th of June followed by a dental procedure (requiring general anesthesia) on the 16th of June at MCV hospital. I will do my best to keep you all informed and up to speed.
As in other posts I have asked for your prayers for others. Our friend Shannon (Aiden's therapist in Richmond) is having some serious health concerns. She was diagnosed with Celiacs disease about 4 weeks ago. Shannon is feeling terrible with joint pain, brain fog, insomnia and nausea; she needs significant prayer support. Please pray that she will begin to find relief from this illness.
Blessings and peace to you all,
~Christa
PS. For all of the people who bless children (moms or ladies who are like moms--have a great day!!)
I am so sorry that I have been so unfaithful to keep up this blog. I have let life and busyness keep me from taking the time to put my thoughts and feelings, as well as Aiden's on-going progress, down in print. Keeping this journal has been so very helpful in allowing me to plot Aiden's progress and my own personal growth.
To catch everyone up to speed I'll let you know where we are today! (By the way, it is Mother's Day :) Currently, Aiden is walking with great ease and with relative fluidity. He is not using his arms to turn/rotate his trunk as much as we were seeing several months ago. As well, Aiden is successfully able to push himself up from the floor to a standing position. When we left RHTC in November he was only able to get himself up if he had the assistance of a 3-4 inch platform. So being able to "Dog,Frog and Up" is quite an accomplishment!
Communicatively speaking (is that an oxymoron or is it redundant?), Aiden is still not speaking at all. It has become very obvious to both Dave and me that Aiden is very frustrated with his inability to successfully and easily communicate with us. This having been said, Aiden had an assistive technology evaluation done at Children's Hospital in Richmond last month. I thought that this would provide access to some of the voice recordable switches (like the easy buttons but different) like we tried in November. In reality, it was assessing the plausibility for Aiden to learn to use a computer. Guess what.....he can!!!!!
The assessment gave me the opportunity to see Aiden's little brain at work. I have wondered (and perhaps all of you have) whether or not Aiden had cognitive issues along with his physical limitations. When given the opportunity to identify pictures of objects with a touch screen computer, Aiden was able to successfully choose 8 of 10. In the world of education (especially special ed), 80% is great!!
To say that I was surprised is an understatement. We will be looking forward to getting a touch screen monitor and software to support Aiden's cognitive growth.
We are continuing to encourage Aiden to use hand over hand signing, PECs (picture exchange communication), allowing him to take us to what he wants, and we will try not to anticipate his needs so that he is forced to communicate.
For me personally, I have felt a lot like a desert recently. I have had to continue with graduate classes on line. I successfully completed on in April and began another one the same day. My new class will also focus on the processes the brain goes through while learning. (I am hopeful that maybe I will learn one or two things that will help me understand Aiden's learning process, or will help us to make more neural connections.) The classes, although not terribly taxing, still require time and thought, both things that I feel lacking at this time.
I was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder recently. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is the leading cause of hypothyroidism and is linked to a gluten sensitivity. The thought of taking on living gluten free is overwhelming, so I am attempting to work through this with supplements, and if that is unsuccessful, I will take some form of thyroxin. I mention this because it does help to explain my overwhelming exhaustion, foggy brain feelings and weight gain. (I would love to blame all of my weight issues on Hashimoto's, but I am sure that the 1/2 lb of chocolate yesterday didn't help!!) :)
I thank you all for your continued prayers. I believe that there are probably days when you think of us and pray without knowing why. Bless you for those. We will be embarking on a second intensive therapy session beginning the 25th of May. This will continue through the 12th of June followed by a dental procedure (requiring general anesthesia) on the 16th of June at MCV hospital. I will do my best to keep you all informed and up to speed.
As in other posts I have asked for your prayers for others. Our friend Shannon (Aiden's therapist in Richmond) is having some serious health concerns. She was diagnosed with Celiacs disease about 4 weeks ago. Shannon is feeling terrible with joint pain, brain fog, insomnia and nausea; she needs significant prayer support. Please pray that she will begin to find relief from this illness.
Blessings and peace to you all,
~Christa
PS. For all of the people who bless children (moms or ladies who are like moms--have a great day!!)
1 comment:
Wow....so glad to have the latest update!!
Keep us posted and we'll keep on praying.
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