Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Computerized Therapy Assistant

Judah's speech therapy was spotted with bits of progress today. I do wonder if he's going to go off on her at some point. She is so loud & in control that he doesn't even have a moment to be frustrated. He is progressing more there than the last place though. We really have no other options right now. So here we are, with this lady who is about as personable as insect repellent. When I walked in and apologized for being 10 minutes late, she completely ignored me. I told her that I had forgotten what road to turn on. I didn't have the GPS. She just looked at me & turned around to do something. Every time we go into therapy there is only enough seating for Judah & the therapy assistant. She prefers to do therapy without Scott or myself in the room but we won't allow it. Thus, there is never a chair for me. I have to hunt one down, by myself, every single time. I'm not a distraction to Judah. Every once in a while he looks back to make sure I am still there. I don't say a word. There is absolutely no reason for her to want to do therapy behind closed doors with my kid who can't talk. Red flag.

Like I said earlier, his session went well progress wise. He likes playing with her. Today she fell back a bit into not letting him make his own choices with the toys. If that goes back to how it was on day one I will say something. There is absolutely no need for that either. It's not good for him or helpful by any means. Every time we have been there she has had new toys for him, and cool ones at that. They are a brand new company, which means the toys are brand new as well! She gave Judah 37 minutes of therapy (I checked my phone) & then literally pushed him out of the door. He wanted to sit & bond with her for a minute without doing therapy. He was trying to show her his Thomas DVD case that he had brought solely for her to see. She comes to life during the session & Judah shows bits of progress. But as soon as her mental session timer shuts off, she shuts off with it. All this time I thought she was still mad at me for asking so many questions on the first day, which could be true, but I really doubt it at this point. She's a computerized therapy assistant disguised as a human.

Papa came to watch the kids while I took Judah to therapy. They built a cool train track.  Judah did not want to leave for therapy because Papa was here. But I snatched him up, distracted him with tickles and kid talk. That got us out of the house, but getting into his car seat was another matter. I used the same trick I used to get him into his car seat on the way to his last session (when Grandma was here & he unfortunately witnessed her taking the other 2 kids away in her car). I brought out the portable DVD player & a Thomas movie. Then I realized there was no cord. And of course it wasn't charged. I scrambled through the house looking for the cord, found it, plugged it into the car charger & it still didn't work (turns out the cord was frayed). So this didn't help matters. I toyed with the DVD player & cord on the drive there & got it working. However, on the way home the cord finally went kupootz. We must buy a new one soon.. before his next session on Thursday!

Robin, the lady we visited at the farm, is assessing Judah at her office tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does with her there. He did great with her at the farm, fantastic actually. Tons of progress seen in just a short visit to the farm!

Judah's classroom has different activities that the teachers & aides have made very cheaply. Today I saw a really good one. They utilize laminating a lot - it makes things durable! When Judah came in he found his cubby marked with his picture & put his things away, attempting to hang his backpack. The teacher told him where to sit & handed him markers. She brought out a laminated sheet of paper that had 3 large shapes on it. They were made out of broken lines, meant to be traced. Since the paper was laminated he could use the marker & trace the shapes to his heart's content! He did well, was very focused & even picked out the green marker, saying "green".

Tonight I went to Target to check out what was left of the Halloween clearance. I grabbed some costumes for the kids, nothing over $6. This year they wore the ones I bought on clearance there last year & loved them. Fingers crossed for next year!!! If it works out we will have 2 little boy skeletons, a Jake & the Neverlands pirate girl & a pirate mommy. Scott asked to pick his costume for next year, no word on what that will be yet. ;)

 

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