Weight: Not sure, waiting til next Friday! It's a surprise!
Well it has certainly been one of those days where Tayden never fails to impress me! This morning we went for an assessment to see how he is doing not only with his speech but also with fine and gross motor skills, sensory skills etc. I admit I was rather nervous because Tayden doesn’t always react well to new situations or people and this was both!
Luckily he had a lovely lady do the assessment and she did all the right things – didn’t rush to him, didn’t make loud noises, sudden moves or try to be his best friend straight away – she just sat down and starting playing with some toys…and he took my hand and walked me over (made sure I was close enough for his liking) and then sat down and started to play with her. He drew circles, beaded laces, built puzzles, (tried in his own way) to name animals although I had to let Emma know with some whether he had it right or not, built towers and shapes, pointed out colours, shapes, named objects and body parts – I was so proud of him! After a while he started getting bored and with a mischievous little grin he started deliberately getting things wrong and then looking up to see her reaction! Luckily she was a step ahead of him all the way!
We still need to assess his gross motor skills but it seems there are definitely issues with this sensory skills which we will start working on first and of course the speech. But the course of action is still to be decided after the next assessment. The one thing I am very pleased about is that he on track and even ahead in some aspects of his intellectual development. The therapist mentioned that when children have been through as much early trauma as Tayden has, they tend to lag behind in intellectual development as well which is definitely not the case with Tayden. So granny, all those days of sitting in the hospital and entertaining Tay with books and blocks and puzzles have not been in vain! Thanks mom for being there when I couldn’t!
Speaking of granny, I must mention this story to you…Tayden is petrified of thunder, as he is of all loud noise. So granny came up with this cute little song that we sing to welcome Mr Thunder and show him that we love him. This is accompanied by a big smile that we give him (wish you could see the Tay’s facial expression of this!!!) At the moment it is working, I even had to sing it in the middle of the assessment as luck would have it, it started thundering!
“Hello Mr Thunder how do you do?
Hello Mr Thunder I love you!
Hell Mr Thunder how do you do?
Are you bringing rain for me and you?”
So, a good update from a rainy and wet PE! Yes, there is work to be done and I am pretty sure we will have a speech and OT therapy each week for quite a while to come but I feel we are now on the right track to helping Tayden become even more independent, healthy and happy!
We are sure that our paed visit next Friday will be just as encouraging! Below are some further photos from the recent photo shoot –and thanks Paige for being so patient with a little guy who wasn’t feeling 100% therefore the smiles were really few and far between! (see www.photopaige.wordpress.com for those in PE who need pics taken!)