In Which Li Li Gets A Pretty Palatable New Friend, And Connor Tries Out An iPad

So today went a bit better, I'm happy to say. 

Connor was a total crabby pants, but that may have been because instead of paying attention to him this morning, I was watching our new gerbil (who is as yet unnamed) and our old gerbil (Li Li)attempt to dig through the mesh divider I've set up in their cage so they can happily settle down to the business of fighting to the death, which is what gerbils do when they meet a "stranger."  Vicious little things, gerbils.  At any rate, I'll be rotating which side of the cage their staying on daily until their scents are mixed enough that they stop trying to kill one another and decide to be pals. Supposedly it usually takes about a week, but we'll see.  Signs that they're starting acclimate will include attempting to groom one another through the mesh, sleeping next to one another, and when Li Li quits trying to season our new gerbil with pepper and miniature lemon wedges. 

At any rate, Connor did fine this morning but I believe that the novelty of the new gerbil quickly wore off, and then he wanted to go play something instead of watching me frantically add more wire to the top of the divider to prevent Li Li from climbing over the top in an aerial pursuit of his dinner.  I mean new friend.  Yes.  But for Connor pretty much after 11:00 it was one giant meltdown after another, with a brief hiatus for Speech Therapy, where he did relatively well.  It was probably the gerbil combined with the seizure of yesterday and the fact that he didn't sleep well last night-- he cheered up considerably after his three hour nap late this afternoon.

Julie, our Speech Therapist, brought out a new toy for him to try out today-- an iPad!  They have a number of adaptive applications -- Robert Rummel-Hudson has discussed the topic much more elegantly than I'd probably put it-- and the thought was that Connor was more likely to do well with an iPad than a PECS system because there's less touching and manipulating to do.  We put up a cute little xylophone application for him just to get him used to using his hands to work it, and he caught on really quickly!  I'm pretty stoked; the iPad or another AAC might just end up being a fantastic way for Connor to communicate with those around him that don't understand his Home Signs-- the personal language he's made up with his limited motor skills.  So we're going to see how this goes.

Technology is awesome!

Public Service Announcement

Did you know that prunes are "full of natural sugar and vitamins that act as skin soothers - especially well suited for stressed or sensitive skin?" This is according to Janet Cox at the Dole Nutrition Institute, which I'm sure is an excellent source as Dole has an entirely objective, unbiased opinion about prunes since they don't, you know, sell them or anything.

Did you also know that in addition to being excellent for the skin, prunes make this great noise when you spit them out of your mouth? And they make fantastic shampoo and furniture paint as well!

Thank goodness we have Connor to enlighten us on these matters. In these tough economic times, it's important to get as much out of our resources as possible, and he's determined to find as many uses for prunes as he can. As long as those uses don't involve actually eating them. Because that would be gross.

~Jess

Therapy Sessions

Monday Connor and I went to his combined Physical and Speech Therapy session. We love Laura, his PT, and Julie, his ST-- they are awesome! Connor and I were sporting his new groovy FM system, which was much admired. After I told them about my grocery store newscaster fantasies, Julie told me it makes me look like a "diabetic spy"-- which, after looking at pictures of blood glucose monitors, makes perfect sense. Here's Connor's FM system:

And here's a blood glucose monitor:

So now apparently I look like I do undercover work for the ADA. I just need a trench coat and a fedora.

At any rate, Connor had a great PT and ST session. He is starting to recognize pictures as representations of objects, which is a huge step for him. Once he understands that pictures on cards can be symbols for things he wants, we can begin using a picture communication system for him-- possibly a modified version of PECS. He's already making choices between two pictures. He also did a great job standing up to play. We won't see Julie and Laura again until after Christmas as we'll be leaving for Texas soon-- it's crazy to think that our trip is that close!

When we come back from our vacation, Julie and Laura will begin administering the Bayley Scale of Infant Development to Connor so that we'll have that data for when he starts school in April. I'm glad that they will be giving the test to Connor so we'll have an additional set of data other than what the school's assessment will show. This is because Connor refuses to cooperate with developmental exams given by people he doesn't know. Connor reacts to strangers giving him developmental assessments like they are terrorists trying to get him to give up government secrets. In his case, name, rank and serial number are all represented by the sign "no," and that is the only thing the therapist will see him do during our two hour time together.

Therapist: Connor, can you see this ring?

Connor: No.

Therapist: Let's touch the ring. Can you touch this ring?

Connor: No.

What color is this ring?

Connor: No.

And that's if Connor's in a good mood. If he's in a bad mood, he'll stare at a fixed point about three feet to the left of the therapist and pretend she doesn't exist. If she tries to move into his line of sight, he'll look in the other direction. He was in a bad mood at his last assessment, and they placed his cognitive level at three months.

For the most part, I could care less about what the developmental tests say. Anybody who spends ten minutes with Connor in a setting he's comfortable with knows that he's got a cognitive level way above three months. If anything, it's nice that they assess him that way because then we are certain we can get all the services he needs without a fuss. The problem with this being the only assessment the school sees, however, is that we want Connor to split his time between the developmental preschool and the Deaf/HoH preschool, and if he's assessed too low, than there's a chance they won't let him attend the Deaf preschool. So we'd really like to have some data that shows he will benefit from being in a school with Deaf peers who are not developmentally delayed.

~Jess