I've spent the last few days playing with Daniel's new ipad. There are so many cool programs, and after spending hours shifting through reviews and different functions I went with the app. icommunicate for Daniel's main communicating needs right now. I wish you all could see this thing! I'm so excited to give Daniel a voice!!!! :)

Now for a few pictures...

Matt is endevoring on building a top secret project that has to do with a speed boat... Elijah thinks it's pretty cool...






It's a good thing that our chickens are so friendly and don't mind the boys...



I hope you my reader are having a great weekend..

until next time...

results

Today went very well. we were up and out of the house at 6:15am. Both of us are not morning people so it was a miracle that we were as functioning as we were this morning. We hit some traffic but found where we needed to be in time. I'm not going to go on and on about the little details because i just don't want to bore you with all of the language, so I'll give you the basics. After a day of testing and asking me questions the experts have officially diagnosed Daniel with the following...

Developmental Coordination Disorder- Basically children with DCD have difficulty mastering simple motor activities, such as tying shoes or going down stairs, and are unable to perform age-appropriate academic and self-care tasks. Some children may experience difficulties in a variety of areas while others may have problems only with specific activities. Children with DCD usually have normal or above average intellectual abilities. However, their motor coordination difficulties may impact their academic progress, social integration and emotional development. You can read more about DCD here.


next we have...


Global Developmental Delay

Simply put Global developmental delay means that a child is developing more slowly than other children of the same age in all areas of development. So really it's just a fancy term to say that Daniel is developing behind his peers.

And lastly ...

Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
Basically a fancy term for saying that Daniel is delayed in his speech communication and his understanding of language adn they have no idea why. Here is a website that explains it.

As for the childhood apraxia of speech, otherwise known as dyspraxia, the speech therapist said that Daniel does exhibit signs that that disability could very well be the issue, BUT he is to young to really give him that label just yet. They did encourage us to pursue the route of treating him like he did have apraxia. But they did say that at his age it's just to hard to diagnose properly.

So what does it all mean and how are we going to approach the next step? So the experts recommend more speech therapy and also that we need to add occupational therapy to his routine. They said that OT will help develop his fine motor skills as well as other areas that need strengthening. The also recommended that we get him into rock climbing! I wonder if insurance will pay for that since it is therapy. :)
On the speech front the next step is to introduce an electronic communication device to augment his speech. The speech therapist HIGHLY recommended that we get him a IPAD as they have many apps specifically for speech development. She showed me a ton of programs and i was convinced. Daniel's teachers at his school are already starting to implement it into his therapy there, so it just makes sense. Here is an article that talks about using the ipad as a speech therapy resource. I'm excited... i really think Daniel is going to really advance with something to help him communicate and he already does so well with electronics and figuring things out. God totally blessed us and we are being provided with one for FREE! THANK YOU JESUS. Because they are not cheap!

How am I feeling? Actually pretty good. It was funny because through the whole thing and them asking me questions, i just reminded myself that they don't know me, or how hard i work with my children or how much i love them. So i wasn't offended at all through it. And when it came time for them to tell me their findings, i was not surprised at all (i didn't think i would be because i already know he is behind) and it just gave me more confirmation on how to proceed. Though i always walk away from the specialist feeling sad that they really won't ever get to see the depth of beauty that my child possesses that i get to see. Nor do they look at his spirit and who he is in Christ, because really, that's the biggest part of the picture. And when I am thinking about Daniel and thinking about who he will be as he grows up and the people he will meet I am thinking about who Christ has made him to be and what great things God has planned for him. :)

What about schooling? Are you going to homeschool him? How much therapy will he be in? I love the program he is in right now and he will be able to stick with it until summer next year. After that there is nothing that i have found that i like therefore we will be full time homeschooling. IN all honesty they recommended that we seriously UP his therapy, but i disagree a little. I think it would be worse for him to be running ALL OVER the place to different "specialist" when a lot of what they do i could implement at home on a schedule and less stressed basis. I will be pursuing more therapy options for him but they will be home based as in the therapist comes to us at home and i just learn more about what needs to be done to help him myself. No i am not an OT or ST.. BUT if given the tools i can do a lot of work with him on a consistent and fun basis while still working with the specialist.

One more thing they recommended is that they want to send him to another clinic that will do even more indepth testing to rule out the possibility of autism. So they are sending in a referral for that and it will be about 9 month until we can get in for that. We are going to go through with it unless we change our minds before the 9 months comes up!

Whew.. so that's it for now.. I am tired and ready for a nice hot bath and maybe a little down time! NIGHT ALL! and THANK YOU for all of your prayers. I will most definitely keep you updated on how everything is going!

Tomorrow

It's the big day tomorrow... the day that the professionals tell us exactly why they think our 5 year old son is still not talking... So if you think of us, pray for us tomorrow. It's going to be an all day thing and it will just be me and Daniel, so i could use the extra lifting up in prayer.

Kid History

We were over at a friends house and they showed us this hillarious video... seriously.. the most funny thing i've seen in a while.

questions, and waiting for answers

Do you have to put a barrier up when your children eat so they can't see each other?



I know this seems a little extreme but for some reason whenever Daniel looks over at Elijah eating he gags and starts to throw up and cry. I think it may be because Elijah is SO messy when he eats...

Something that I've really had to remind myself of lately is that mothering is a high calling and the way that i raise my children can bring many people to Christ. John Wesley said: “I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.”

I'm looking for a good book on mothering to read. Anyone have any suggestions?

The other day i was going though my closet and I pulled out a doll to help teach my little sister how to change diapers before her baby is born. Elijah saw the doll and picked her up and said " it's my baby!" And then he laid the baby down and said " You're poopy, it's time to change your diaper." It was just so interesting to watch because neither of the boys have been interested in babies before. I mean i guess i never really encouraged it because they are boys and we really don't have dolls around.. more like super heroes. After being excited about Elijah playing with a doll "typically" (as in a child normally developing) I had to ask myself if it was okay that he was playing with a doll. I mean after all.. he is a boy... is that okay for him to be playing with a baby doll? I decided that there was really no harm in it in, though i was concerned that Matt would be against it. To my surprise he was alright with it (this is the guy that won't let me spike the boys hair) and said that it would help him be a good dad someday. It's not like he is dressing the doll up and trying to feed it. He was more like wrestling with it and smacking it's head on the ground as he drags it around. What do you think about boys playing with baby dolls?


Daniel's test next week for an official diagnosis. I got a call today for a confirmation of appointment time and they told me to be there at 8:15 am and not expect to be out of it until ,at least 2:15pm. 6 hours of testing! OY!!!! I'm gonna need some strong coffee that morning because in order to get there we are going to have to leave at 6:15am!!!! And Daniel is not an earlier riser. He is my only child who would rather sleep in any day then get up early. I think he takes after me in that aspect. My other two boys pop out of bed like daisies! I know this sounds strange but I'm looking forward to the day. It will be good to get professionals opinion on Daniel's struggles. I'm ready for it. On anther note related to the diagnosis day, it is over half of what we thought it would cost, AND our insurance is paying 80 percent of the cost, so that's a relief.


On the subject of Daniel, we've been working on visual aids with him lately. It has been going really well and he is picking up on it. I've done then on and off over the years with no real success and just frustration and extra work, but it seems like this time it is cutting back on work and making communication easier. And working on the visual aids now (commonly known as the picture exchange system) will help him in the future if he is physically unable to speak and he needs a communication device. You can read about communication devices and how they help here.

Joshua's homeschooling is coming along well and he is picking up on so many things! I am just so proud of him!!!! :)

Lately we've discovered that Elijah loves puzzles! He will sit for hours putting puzzles together and singing and talking to himself. It's so fun to watch him!




Though he has been a bit of a whiny child lately... for instance he took out daddy's tools and was told very kindly to put them away and it turned into a dramatic experience for him.




There is a season of uncertainty coming up soon with the birth of my little sisters child. Prayer would be appreciated that God would give us wisdom and counsel on how to best do what he wants us to do in such a unique situation.


And the last thing i have for you tonight is for Maria... a picture of Dottie

I love when she comes to visit. I couldn't have asked for a better mother. We all love her so much.

More weekend fun

Renegade ended up tasting pretty good for our Canadian thanksgiving meal...



home grown yumminess


More hiking pictures... we were pushing over dead trees.. so i showed off and knocked over this huge tree... :)



well maybe not but it made a fun picture! There is a funny video of me trying to push over a tree and needing matt's help... but maria has that in her camera!

And of course.. love my man!


and who could ask for a better friend!