October has been a very long month, both at work and at home. Elijah has been doing OK since we I last posted, but just OK. He has had some very good days and some other days that have not been so great. Overall, it is still better than last year, but we have seen a bit of aggression. I called the doctor this past week and we increased one of his medications by 0.5 mg. I am hoping that helps him a bit. I know a lot of this is his OCD and not being able to "let things go" once the thought is in his head. I have the same thing, but as and adult can deal with it a lot better!
Jacob is doing awesome right now. He is very aware of his grades and keeping them up. He earned money being a referee for soccer. He is participating in ROTC and enjoying that. He is taking more responsibility for his chores around the house and his manners have improved a great deal! Yesterday he earned $30 refereeing and after we picked him up we headed to Target. He usually puts all of the money he earns in his savings account, but today he asked if he could spend it. I told him he could and so he went off to look for what he wanted and we went and shopped. We met up at the front after we had all checked out. I asked him what he got and he said a belt. I was surprised he had not asked me to buy him a belt. He then said, "I also bought a small Lego kit for Elijah." He amazes me daily and he is growing into such a fine young man.
All of us are looking forward to having the week of Thanksgiving off. We do have a few doctor's appointments that week, but it shouldn't be too bad. We will most likely go to my mom's house for the day. We will then be on the count down to Christmas. I have already started with some shopping for the boys!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I think the switch was flipped back!
After a long weekend of grounding, it seems that Elijah is more his regular self. Thankfully, the switch was flipped back! I just wish I could find the darn thing and keep it flipped in the correct position! There was also no school yesterday, so this week is a short week, so maybe that will help too. He said he had a "green" day--Six greens and one red on his status sheet. Green means good and red means he had some issues....there is also a yellow! Of course, yellow is between green and red!
He gets to color in a block on our form at home for each green and one for two yellows. He gets one dollar for every seven blocks. Right now, he wants to buy a small stuffed animal at a local drug store, so he is also motivated! Let's just hope it stays that way. We continue to try something called "ON TASK". It is a magnesium and zinc supplement. The neurologist also prescribed some fish oil that I had to get at a pharmacy. He said some fish oils specifically go to the brain, and that is what we might want to try. It doesn't "fix" things really, but may help with impulsivity. We shall see!
That is about all from our end of things. Hope everyone else is doing well!
He gets to color in a block on our form at home for each green and one for two yellows. He gets one dollar for every seven blocks. Right now, he wants to buy a small stuffed animal at a local drug store, so he is also motivated! Let's just hope it stays that way. We continue to try something called "ON TASK". It is a magnesium and zinc supplement. The neurologist also prescribed some fish oil that I had to get at a pharmacy. He said some fish oils specifically go to the brain, and that is what we might want to try. It doesn't "fix" things really, but may help with impulsivity. We shall see!
That is about all from our end of things. Hope everyone else is doing well!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Who Flipped the Switch?
I swear, Elijah has a switch somewhere on him and someone just FLIPS IT OFF or ON, not sure which one and he turns into a different child. I guess this is life with someone with a neurological condition. It is something that I try to understand on a daily basis. I can usually wrap my brain around it the majority of the time, but some days are harder than others.
Today was one of these days. Elijah had an iffy day at school and there was aggression involved. He grabbed something out of a teachers hand and also took off and left the classroom. He kicked a desk and stuck his finger in another student's face. ARGH! We just went to the psychiatrist back on September 24th and the neurologist on Oct. 3rd and all was good. We had his IEP meeting on the first of this month and talked about how good he was doing. I swear this happens every time we go to any doctor or have a meeting at school. This time it was both!
I took away his electronics(Wii, iPad and nintendo) for the weekend and also no TV. I may give the TV back on Sunday, if he is good tomorrow. Things could have been worse at school, and I know this. They also had a different schedule today and that may be why he was "off". All I can do is take it day by day! I am also hoping someone flips that switch back to where it should be.
Today was one of these days. Elijah had an iffy day at school and there was aggression involved. He grabbed something out of a teachers hand and also took off and left the classroom. He kicked a desk and stuck his finger in another student's face. ARGH! We just went to the psychiatrist back on September 24th and the neurologist on Oct. 3rd and all was good. We had his IEP meeting on the first of this month and talked about how good he was doing. I swear this happens every time we go to any doctor or have a meeting at school. This time it was both!
I took away his electronics(Wii, iPad and nintendo) for the weekend and also no TV. I may give the TV back on Sunday, if he is good tomorrow. Things could have been worse at school, and I know this. They also had a different schedule today and that may be why he was "off". All I can do is take it day by day! I am also hoping someone flips that switch back to where it should be.
Monday, October 1, 2012
IEP Meeting Today
We had Elijah's annual IEP meeting today! I have to say, it was not stressful and went very well. This was not always true in the past. Everyone agrees that he has made a great deal of progress in his behavior. There has been no aggression and when he does act up, it seems to be more vocal and less physical. We all agreed that we just have to take it day by day, plan what we can and tweak things when we have too. He matured a great deal over the summer and we hope that continues.
I found out his scores from last years state testing. He did not do well on the reading at all, but we think he just rushed. He did better on the math and science, much better, so we know he is smart! He just doesn't like taking tests, and it could have just been ONE OF THOSE DAYS on the day he took his reading test.
We will meet again in the Spring for another IEP meeting(called an ARD in Texas) to plan for his transition to Junior High(OMG, really??) and invite the teachers from that school over for the meeting.
He has a new deaf education teacher who has been getting to know him. He has given her a bit of a hard time, but she is learning him. He is in the complex sentence portion of the Cottage Acquisition of Speech, Language and Listening so I am quite pleased by that!! He still has a lot to accomplish, but he will get there.
I found out his scores from last years state testing. He did not do well on the reading at all, but we think he just rushed. He did better on the math and science, much better, so we know he is smart! He just doesn't like taking tests, and it could have just been ONE OF THOSE DAYS on the day he took his reading test.
We will meet again in the Spring for another IEP meeting(called an ARD in Texas) to plan for his transition to Junior High(OMG, really??) and invite the teachers from that school over for the meeting.
He has a new deaf education teacher who has been getting to know him. He has given her a bit of a hard time, but she is learning him. He is in the complex sentence portion of the Cottage Acquisition of Speech, Language and Listening so I am quite pleased by that!! He still has a lot to accomplish, but he will get there.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Mansions Have Ghosts!
Elijah and I have the house to ourselves this weekend. Jacob is away for two nights on an ROTC field trip and my honey is out of town until Monday! I had a dinner mystery shop, so Elijah and I set off for a 20 minute drive to eat dinner! We had a pretty interesting conversation driving there and then driving back!
Most of the drive is on a two lane road that has a lot of nice homes on it. You can even see a large lake! We discussed some of the homes and other things we saw as we drove there. We had a nice dinner and much of the conversation on the way home was on what we saw. We had seen a three story house and Elijah was looking for it again, because he had never seen a three story house. We saw it again and then we came upon a LARGE house up on a hill. There is even a gated entrance to this house. I pointed it out to Elijah and he said, "that's a mansion!" I was quite impressed he knew that word! I wouldn't say this was a HUGE mansion, but just calling it a house was not appropriate. Plus it sits on top of a hill and has a gated entrance. I told him he was correct, that was a mansion! He then said, "mansions have ghosts!" He laughed as he said it. I asked him why mansions have ghosts and he said, "because they are OLD!" I started laughing at that one! He told me the house was one thousand years old, so then I told him how old I thought the house was and we talked more about houses! I wondered where he might have heard the word mansion and realized it was probably from "Scooby Doo" cartoons and of course, in that cartoon mansions usually did have ghosts!
I still marvel at my son and how well he has done with learning language and using his cochlear implants. Today was a day that I realized how lucky I am that there is this technology out there and good therapists to work with us! I wish parents would realize that implants do work, but there is a LOT of time and effort that must be put in. It is not an easy fix. I look back at all of the therapy sessions we attended when he was first "turned on " and wonder how we did it all. How we drove back and forth to Dallas once a week for me and then David too him once a week. Jacob went with me when I took Elijah and we were after 6:30 getting home most days, after sitting in traffic for at least 90 minutes. All of those sacrifices were worth it though and as I watch Elijah today, I am thankful that we did put all of that time in with him. He is a joy to me, as is Jacob.
Things are not as hard these days. Tourettes, OCD and ADHD seem to get in the way some days, but for the most part things are going well there. He has had good days at school, with some minor issues, but nothing serious. I am glad he and I have had this time and still have time until Jacob comes home tomorrow afternoon/evening!
Most of the drive is on a two lane road that has a lot of nice homes on it. You can even see a large lake! We discussed some of the homes and other things we saw as we drove there. We had a nice dinner and much of the conversation on the way home was on what we saw. We had seen a three story house and Elijah was looking for it again, because he had never seen a three story house. We saw it again and then we came upon a LARGE house up on a hill. There is even a gated entrance to this house. I pointed it out to Elijah and he said, "that's a mansion!" I was quite impressed he knew that word! I wouldn't say this was a HUGE mansion, but just calling it a house was not appropriate. Plus it sits on top of a hill and has a gated entrance. I told him he was correct, that was a mansion! He then said, "mansions have ghosts!" He laughed as he said it. I asked him why mansions have ghosts and he said, "because they are OLD!" I started laughing at that one! He told me the house was one thousand years old, so then I told him how old I thought the house was and we talked more about houses! I wondered where he might have heard the word mansion and realized it was probably from "Scooby Doo" cartoons and of course, in that cartoon mansions usually did have ghosts!
I still marvel at my son and how well he has done with learning language and using his cochlear implants. Today was a day that I realized how lucky I am that there is this technology out there and good therapists to work with us! I wish parents would realize that implants do work, but there is a LOT of time and effort that must be put in. It is not an easy fix. I look back at all of the therapy sessions we attended when he was first "turned on " and wonder how we did it all. How we drove back and forth to Dallas once a week for me and then David too him once a week. Jacob went with me when I took Elijah and we were after 6:30 getting home most days, after sitting in traffic for at least 90 minutes. All of those sacrifices were worth it though and as I watch Elijah today, I am thankful that we did put all of that time in with him. He is a joy to me, as is Jacob.
Things are not as hard these days. Tourettes, OCD and ADHD seem to get in the way some days, but for the most part things are going well there. He has had good days at school, with some minor issues, but nothing serious. I am glad he and I have had this time and still have time until Jacob comes home tomorrow afternoon/evening!
Monday, September 17, 2012
I Am So Confused!
I vented last month about how Cochlear Americas didn't have an option for people who had CI processors with warranty coverage, but not loss/damage. ESCO is no longer covering Cochlear America's CI processors. I remember calling Cochlear last month and the person on the phone telling me that Elijah's processors only had a warranty. Fast Forward to now and we get a letter from Cochlear saying we should call them and check on coverage. I called this morning and they are now offering loss/damage on its own with no warranty. The woman told me to call back with Elijah's serial numbers and we could take care of it. I called back this afternoon and was all set to pay for the loss/damage with the person told me Elijah's processors were covered under loss/damage until June 2013 when the warranty expires too. I AM SO CONFUSED! I am glad I don't have to pay, but what changed or why did it change. I am going to call back again in a week or so and just double check to make sure that Elijah has loss/damage on his processors!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Well No Wonder....
Elijah has had a pretty good start to school this year. He has had some issues when there are substitute teachers at school, but nothing too bad. The principal mentioned in an email that Elijah's schedule changes each day and that may be part of the issues. This was due to all of the services he receives. She said she would work on his schedule and send it out to me and his teachers.
Well, NO WONDER he has is all over the place, because EACH day his schedule is different. He has sever periods, but he also has Speech and services by a deaf ed teacher as well as social skills. Each day he has his core classes--English/Reading, Math, Social Studies and Science. He also has PE, Art and that Social Skills time. Well during all of this he has Speech one day at one of those elective times, then for three more days he has deaf ed. time during an elective and then social skills is thrown in there. He has a different schedule each day and that is not good for him.
The principal typed up a schedule for each day and I printed it at home. I put it in a clear protective sleeve so he can pull it out and keep it from getting all torn up. If it does get torn up, then we print another one. He really has done well, even with all of this craziness with his schedule, so hopefully things will just improve from here!
Well, NO WONDER he has is all over the place, because EACH day his schedule is different. He has sever periods, but he also has Speech and services by a deaf ed teacher as well as social skills. Each day he has his core classes--English/Reading, Math, Social Studies and Science. He also has PE, Art and that Social Skills time. Well during all of this he has Speech one day at one of those elective times, then for three more days he has deaf ed. time during an elective and then social skills is thrown in there. He has a different schedule each day and that is not good for him.
The principal typed up a schedule for each day and I printed it at home. I put it in a clear protective sleeve so he can pull it out and keep it from getting all torn up. If it does get torn up, then we print another one. He really has done well, even with all of this craziness with his schedule, so hopefully things will just improve from here!
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