I can’t remember a time since I learned to write that I stopped writing. I was the girl with diaries, journals, writing pads, and notebooks filled with writing. Obviously now, I continue to write. There was a time though my writing was noticeably absent. I recently scoured my notebooks and old blogs searching for what I wrote around the time of Ashlynn’s diagnosis and came up empty. I had many
Apraxia is a journey. Speech apraxia is a journey, but global apraxia? Even MORE SO. So many skills to work on. So many things to improve. So many negative prognostic indicators to plow through. The good news is that Ashlynn doesn’t know anything about prognostic indicators. She doesn’t know how heavily loaded she is in the negative column. Not yet anyway. When I first had her receive services she was
I was finally able to make a new game for my kiddos with enough time to spare for St. Patrick’s Day! This game follows the same idea as my other repetitive games. Kids have a game board, in this case, a black pot: The kids draw a card from the card deck. If the card contains a shamrock with gold coins, the child collects the amount of coins
Professional development today found me in a room full of teachers checking boxes about our personality characteristics. In the left column, characteristics were decidedly rigid, black and white, and defeatist. On the right were characteristics that spoke of resilience, “can do” attitudes, and a try again spirit. I felt a little bad going through my own (private) personality. I marked off mostly a “mixed” personality which was in the middle.
Cognitive testing, psychological evaluation, IQ, psychologist, neuropsychologist. What do all these have in common? What do they have to do with a child who has a speech delay? What does it matter? Tests of intelligence, commonly referred to as “cognitive” testing in the schools, are standardized measures usually administered to children as part of a complete battery of testing a child will receive when being considered for special education services
I always say they aren’t any easy answers, only tough choices in this game of parenting. Sometimes, I think I know too much. The special education teacher approached me yesterday about placement for Ashlynn going into Kindergarten. Her attention is such a problem. It could be related to the apraxia and sensory processing disorder, or it could be something else. Who the hell knows. I know she was giving me