Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Feeding the Ducks
Cousin McKenzie is spending the afternoon with Gramma today. We decided to take the girls to feed the ducks at a nearby Veterns Hospital that has beautiful grounds with a little lake. Rachel was a riot to watch. She was squaking and yelling. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't scare off the ducks. LOL. She has no fear of the ducks that would waddle pretty close to her. She just kept squaking and clapping her hands in excitement.
Friday, March 24, 2006
All Packed and Ready to Go...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Speech Evaluation
Today was Rachel's speech evaluation with the speech pathologist from our craniofacial team. It went well. It was pretty interesting the things she did in order to see where Rachel is in her language development.
Adrianna, the speech pathologist, had a box of objects that she introduced to Rachel. She asked her to do certain things with them and observed how she responded and reacted, also watching for any vocalization or sounds Rachel made. Her observations were that Rachel is a little delayed in her receptive language. This means her ability to take in what she's being told, or being asked to do. And obviously she's delayed in her expressive language...her being able to verbalize or sign.
The plan is, once her official report has been written and submitted to the board to review, to start speech therapy, once a week for an hour. Therapy will more than likely start the second week of April.
She also suggested that we pursue Early Start, California's Department of Developemental Services. In Rachel's case, because she was born with a cleft lip and palate, she most likely is eligible for speech therapy through the State of California. Involvement in the two programs will only reinforce one another and make each more beneficial. Unfortunately, I've tried contacting the local office a few months back with no success. But I recently discovered there is a mother of one of Hannah's classmates who can help get my information to the right people as she works in the system.
Meanwhile, while we wait for official therapies to begin, we just need to keep on doing what we've been doing...reinforcing words and signs.
Adrianna, the speech pathologist, had a box of objects that she introduced to Rachel. She asked her to do certain things with them and observed how she responded and reacted, also watching for any vocalization or sounds Rachel made. Her observations were that Rachel is a little delayed in her receptive language. This means her ability to take in what she's being told, or being asked to do. And obviously she's delayed in her expressive language...her being able to verbalize or sign.
The plan is, once her official report has been written and submitted to the board to review, to start speech therapy, once a week for an hour. Therapy will more than likely start the second week of April.
She also suggested that we pursue Early Start, California's Department of Developemental Services. In Rachel's case, because she was born with a cleft lip and palate, she most likely is eligible for speech therapy through the State of California. Involvement in the two programs will only reinforce one another and make each more beneficial. Unfortunately, I've tried contacting the local office a few months back with no success. But I recently discovered there is a mother of one of Hannah's classmates who can help get my information to the right people as she works in the system.
Meanwhile, while we wait for official therapies to begin, we just need to keep on doing what we've been doing...reinforcing words and signs.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Always into Something
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Speech Update
Last month at Rachel's yearly Craniofacial Team appointment, it was determined that Rachel needed a speech evaluation and speech therapy. After having left several messages on various voice mails over the past week, the speech pathologist finally returned my call today to let us know that our insurance approved the initial evaluation and 19 sessions of therapy! I assume after 19 sessions she gets reevaluated at which point the insurance will approve for more visits. Anyways, Rachel will have her speech evaluation next Thursday, March 23. Should be interesting to see how they test her!
Friday, March 10, 2006
One of the Big Girls
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Cousin Kym's Wedding
This evening my cousin got married. It was a beautiful wedding and we all had a great time. Here, Rachel sits...quietly...and breifly, looking around at where she could possibly go next.One of the added touches at our place settings were the goodie bags placed on the girls chairs. Inside were things to keep them busy during the reception...a miniature My Little Pony, a slinky, a silly straw, some bracelets, and a Wooly Willy (you know the picture of the bald man and you use the black magnet dust to give him some hair and a beard). I was excited to see the Wooly Willy because we have something similar where you make pictures using a magnetic wand and magnet balls to make pictures and Rachel absoultely loves that thing. So she had fun with the Wooly Willy. Rachel was all over the reception. She just kept walking around, checking things out. And when it came time to dance, the dance floor is where you could find Rachel! She was having a good ole time dancing around and being silly. She was hilarious to watch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)