Speech & Lynn

Conner went for his speech evaluation at the Children's Rehabilitation Center this morning. When they called to confirm yesterday I asked how long it would take. The lady said 90 minutes. She was exactly right. We arrived at 8:30am and walked out the door after the evaluation was complete at 10:00am. The therapist that did the exal was named Shannon. She was surprised to hear that Conner has a little sister named Shannen too. I wasn't too sure how theevale was going to turn out when she put Conner in a chair buckled a strap and then put a tray in front of him(kind of like a high chair but he hasn't been in one for months). She gave him different toys to explore and every time he was finished he would throw the toy on the floor. After asking me a lot of questions and interacting with Conner she is recommending speech therapy twice a week. Now I just have wait for our case worker to set up a review meeting so that we can put that in his plan as well.

This afternoon, Conner's ITDS(Infant/Toddler Developmental Specialist) came to visit and give more suggestions on how to increase communication and decrease tantrums. Her name is Lynn and noticed right away that Conner was doing less throwing than last week. She asked how time outs were going and I said he doesn't like them. She said good you should have to use it less and less if he doesn't like it. She is right most days we have gotten through without a timeout. Lynn recommended getting a book called 1, 2, 3 Magic by Dr. Thomas Phelan. I haven't gotten it yet but plan on stopping by the library soon to pick it up. Other things she suggested trying are teaching Conner signs for simple requests in addition to pairing it with words. A great resource sight to use is the ASL Browser by Michigan State University. I have started with eat, drink, and help. Conner already knows how to sign more but doesn't always use it. Repetition I think is going to be key to getting him to communicate more with signs until he has more language.

My friend Jenny has been using some sign language videos with her kids to increase communication and she suggested several for me to try with Conner. I guess I really need to get to the library.