Hope Writes Its Own Story

In early January Julie (Simon's teacher) called to say that Simon had been doing so great that we needed to re-do his IEP.  He had met all his goals in just about 8 months.  His last IEP was in May 2009.

He has three main goals with sub-goals under each one.

The first is eating and drinking.

His oral motor has been very good!  In fact, Sharon (OT) was giving him a sucker and he was doing tongue lifts around the dum-dum while we were meeting and slurp-slurp-slurping on it. No drool or anything!   He is also starting to do more munching.  He is starting to use a chewie bag.

The second is lower body movement and control.

His upper body strength is growing and he is starting to weight bear. Mostly on the legs and his trunk just bends right forward. I want to buy a Wingbo for him, but as usual it's cost prohibitive.  But here's great news!!  They're starting to work with a gait trainer!!!  I honestly didn't know if we'd ever reach that point with him.  It's going to be very slow going (he can't even support his trunk!) but they know what they're doing   Hurrah!

The third goal is understanding cause and effect relationships.

Simon is doing much better with this!  He is also hardly ever chewing on his hands anymore. He's keeping them midline and doing more exploring and touching with them. This is huge—right now he has no idea there is anything outside of his body.  I cannot wait to get his new seat so he'll have a tray for toys, etc.  This is the one we're getting. 

Overall, every teacher/therapist said they were amazed by what he's been doing--largely since he turned 5 in December.  They all adore him and snuggle him during the day when they have the chance.  He's quite popular!!