Team Luke…

Hi Dear Ones..

 

I thought I would share with you the team of people who are involved with Luke’s weekly development at the moment!

 

Order is not special…as everyone is!

 

Jennifer –  Abilities United – Early Interventionist

Mayra – Speech Therapist

Cassie  – Occupational Therapist

Janelle – Physical Therapist

Sara – Educational consultant

Emily –  ABA Therapist

Melanie – ABA Therapist

Carrie – ABA Director

Pat – Social Worker  Golden Gate Regional Center – not weekly but oversees services!

ME!

 

Wow – eight people a week – as you can imagine, with each person having a set of just 2 goals for us to work on each week, that becomes 18 goals! Phew. This of course is not truly the case, but there have been times when I have felt so overwhelmed with the number of things I have been advised to with him.  Anyway, as Mayra has been seeing him twice a week for some time and just gets so in touch with him, and sees things that I cannot, she has been nominated by me and herself to run what is now called ‘Team Luke’ I have ‘snitched’ her report to the lovely team above and thought I would share it with you! (Hope you don’t mind Mayra!)

 

Here it is….

 

In speech this week Luke has been working on the following:

-oral motor and oral sensory (you will see this pretty much every week)

-initiating intentional communication via gestures, sounds, or any way he wants

-imitating facial postures-lip purses and kisses

-starting and stopping his vocalizations (vocal vibration) we do this by back patting and drum on tummy
-attending to pictures on a screen

-using a keyboard for cause and effect

 

What I’ve seen this week includes the following:

-Luke has an ever-increasing awareness of his lips and tongue in space

-resting posture for tongue is in a better neutral starting position for speech 

-increased vocalizations that vary in vowels ah-eh-oh

-less drooling

-improved attention to pictures (looks at images longer)

-cause and effect skills on computer are getting better

-he is imitating more facial movements and occasionally sounds (oooo and ma)-this is not consistent but he was never this interested before and now he is making an attempt!

Overall, I have observed a noticeable improvement recently in object permanence. He picks things up when they fall (wow! I never noticed him doing this before PALS 🙂 Attention is longer and getting it, isn’t as hard; He is seeking out novel toys and asking me to open boxes that previously did not interest him. I am so excited by this curiosity and he seems so happy, it’s contagious. Social skills are also on the rise. He looks around for me when I am not right next to him and has started bringing objects to me if I do not follow him.

I am looking forward to our on-going collaboration. I welcome questions and any feedback.

The End…

 

I think this a great email,l as I get to really comprehend what he is doing. Obviously some of the things seem so small and fleeting, but in his world they are huge. I was so excited the other day as he bit off a piece of my toast to eat – which was just so hard for him to do until recently because of the weakness in his jaw.

 

We were at an indoor play center this morning pretending to do PT  (Janelle is in Europe) and he became so alarmed when a small child next to him started screaming – the look of shock on his face as he literally leapt into my lap, was an emotion he just was not capable of 12 months ago. Funnily enough at dinner on the weekend – one of those lovely family moments, Nathan was bawling about something (probably about having to eat)) and Luke was bawling in sympathy! I was laughing – as it was crazy!

 

On a different note…I had the best laugh this weekend as we went to Rebecca’s dance recital. She was on stage for a whole 2 minutes, (and was brilliant) but we had to stay for 2 hours watching the most terrible dancing of middle-aged men and women. Well, at one point I just lost it and could not stop laughing! Simon had to hand me a tissue as the tears were streaming down my face, even now – I just cannot stop laughing. I mean – I give them credit for the courage they had, and it is easier to be in the audience than centre stage – but that did not stop the shear hilarity of watching senior citizens in hula skirts, with tattooed flabby bellies bouncing about! Honestly, laughter is the best medicine EVER!

Rxxx