I can't believe my little baby was 2 yesterday! Where on earth have those last 2 years gone! He had a lovely time, 2 parties and loads of presents! First off was his swimming party at the hydrotherapy pool with his buddies which he seemed to enjoy. Then the following day it was party time with the family and he got spoilt rotten! Loads of new books, toys, clothes and money - he is actually much better off than me! And he loved his home made chocolate birthday cake!
His birthday is a bit emotional for me as although it is supposed to be a celebration it also reminds me of the awful time we had when he was born and emphasises how many things he can't do that he should be able to do at 2 years old. So a few tears were shed but all in all we had a lovely time!
We had a look around Palatine school last weekend and were very impressed, it seemed like a lovely school and the facilities were fantastic, swimming pool, sensory rooms, music rooms, soft play rooms and all sorts! The staff we met seemed really good and they only have small classes which focus on life skills rather than the usual things that you would learn at school - I don't think William will need to learn algebra will he! William isn't due to start school until September 2013 but I know the time will fly by so probably best to start thinking about it now!
William had a visit from the speech and language therapist yesterday which I found very positive (for once!) She had a "switch" toy with her which is basically a toy adapted to work on a large switch that William can push down to make it work. The toy was one of those pigs that walks and oinks so when he pushed the switch down it made a noise and moved, after a few tries he seemed to understand it I think, he found it hard to press the switch so we had to help him but hopefully we can work on that with the occupational therapist as if he can master switches he will be able to do all sorts of things including communicate which would be amazing. I'm hoping to find out if Portage have any switch toys we could borrow, otherwise we might have to spend some of his birthday money on one!
She also showed him a book of farmyard animals and said that she wanted him to find the piggy, well after a few pages the pig appeared on the page and William immediately made a noise and turned to look at the toy pig he'd been playing with. I was a bit worried that it was my imagination but the therapist was impressed and insisted that he had recognised it and had looked at it on purpose! Yay William!
Speech and language therapists also work on eating and drinking skills and after seeing William struggle with his water she tried it with some thickener which basically gets added to any drink and thickens it to a syrup like consistency, he seemed to be much better able to manage it after that and although he still spilled a lot of it, he was swallowing a lot too. So now we have to wait for her to get us a prescription for it but I think it may be quicker to see the GP!
Good news is that we have finally got the head support for the standing frame, bad news is that we cant use it as it doesn't fit as we seem to have lost a bit so we need to wait for another bit to be sent! And we're still waiting for another appointment about his seating so we're no further along on that front! But we came across another chair which is more like a bean bag with a special moulded seat on it and we thought that might be a suitable option for at home so we have arranged an assessment with the company next month.
Great news on the sensory room we're hoping to have for William, my wonderful Aunt & Uncle have been working hard to fund raise before a special race night that is being held in April for William and they are doing really well so fingers crossed we will be able to get William a lot of the things that would make his room a lovely sensory wonderland for him to enjoy for years to come! If anyone would like to come to the race night let me know and I'll forward you the details.
No comments:
Post a Comment