It looks like I am steadily becoming a once (or twice) a week blogger. While it is true that I have been hecka busy, I blame the blog-lazy on the fact that our computer is currently in the basement and I don’t like to go down there. I either need to buy the netbook I am planning to purchase for our trip OR buy a wireless internet thingy because our internet connection is downstairs. Despite my adamant hatred of the basement, it doesn’t look like we are moving any time soon, so I need to find a better solution.
Anyway, we will do this week’s update bullet-point style:
- We had a big meeting with L’s school to discuss the results of the full spectrum of testing. The good news is she passed the cognitive, gross motor and speech/language sections with age-appropriate or above age-level skills. She ended up qualifying for services through our school district for sensory issues and social-emotional issues. The social-emotional issues are the obvious anxiety and withdrawal in the classroom which is impacting her ability to be a full participant in class. We suspect the sensory issues contribute to the anxiety and shutting down. We have another meeting next week to go over her IEP and goals for next year. Right now, I don’t have any idea what the school will do to address these issues. Can sensory issues be ‘cured’?
- More good news about L is the fact that she is very close to ending her vision therapy. We have also met most of our goals for the private occupational therapy, which means that the vestibular-ocular reflex problems are nearly gone. This week we will talk about what else (if anything) we should address there. I could go on and on about all the changes we have seen in L in the past two months, but it is hard to describe how significant such small improvements are. I will just say that new worlds are opening up for her and it is a pleasure to see it. I am very hopeful we can be done with all these (expensive!) appointments before summer vacation starts.
- I have been thinking about reading Bowling Alone again because I have been pondering my own social-connectedness. I am so very grateful to have found such wonderful friends who are also neighbors (in the broader sense of neighbor because we live in the same town). I am also pondering whether my own personal stand-offishness is a result of my parents, my own personality or the losses I have experienced in my young-adulthood. I am less stand-offish than I used to be, but I am still stunned to find myself a member of such a sweet little community. (And if you have ever wondered why I suck so much at replying to comments here, it is one more example of my inherent social-awkwardness. I wish I knew what to say in reply, but I don’t so I don’t reply. Lame, I know!)
- So far, our summer vacation is completely unscheduled. I am scared. Very scared.
- They lowered the price by $15k on the house I thought would be our dream house (but wasn’t). I still don’t want it, but it did give me confidence that I have a pretty good grasp on the prices for our town. I am beginning to suspect we won’t buy a house until we get back from China.
- Speaking of houses, Mr. A has gone to several open houses on his own when I have been busy with other things. He is convinced that every house is the one for us. He also seems to have adopted my “We can just add on/knock down walls/ renovate” attitude, but he doesn’t really have a good grasp of the economics or logistics of projects like that. For example, today he saw a house listed at $375,000 and wanted to add on and renovate. At least $100,000 of work, but a house that blinged-out would be out of place on that street (not to mention being WAY over our current budget). My new mantra is “A new kitchen would cost at least $50,000 and an addition would be closer to $100,000″ in hopes of scaring him out of these ridiculous schemes. Honestly, I don’t know how much those things would cost but I am not going to bother finding out until I find MY dream house.
Ok, I need to get out of this chilly basement now. Until next time….
Could you write more about your (and L’s) experience with vision therapy?
My oldest son just turned seven and is having trouble with reading. He’s a bright little guy, and his teachers are awesome but we can’t seem to help him figure it out. Specifically, he has to sound out every word every time he sees it. Yesterday he was reading aloud a book about skeletons (pretty distinctive looking word, and it occurred on every page multiple times), and he was still going, “Sss… kkk… eellll… eh…tun” almost every single time.
Through a weird series of connections, my brother in Minneapolis knows a doctor who knows a doctor who is in our area who does vision therapy. Sparkle has an appointment scheduled. I’ve always thought of vision therapy as kind of… quack-ish? I’m willing to give it a shot if it might help. But I’m not quite sure what to expect from the evaluation and not sure what “therapy” looks like, or how you evaluate progress.
I guess I won’t tell you that our kitchen renovation (knocking walls and replacing appliances) only cost $12,000…
I wonder if all of us feel socially awkward to varying degrees? I feel stand off ish too, and I never know what to say in person or on the blog. Putting Bowling alone on my list because I’ve never read it.
Yes, sensory issues can be “cured,” or at least “helped.” I don’t know what specific types of issues you’re dealing with, but I know at least two bloggers I read (Dooce and Amalah) have had/are having success.
Watch an episode of Holmes on Homes on HGTV – that will cure any desire to renovate OR give you a great education on what to do if you do renovate. yikes!
Oh thank goodness I’m not the only one with the social awkwardness. I feel like a sucky friend sometimes when an Internet or FB friend is going thru something. How many times can I say “hugs”?
Good luck with the kids issues. I believe sensory issues can be greatly improved. My sister has seen success with her kids.
As an adult with sensory issues, I would say yes, sensory issues can be cured. Well… *mostly*. There are some things I will always deal with, that will never go away, but with age, experience and therapy, I developed coping skills… kinda like someone with dyslexia who will always be dyslexic, but learns to read regardless. What I wasn’t able to develop coping skills for, I just learned to avoid. And that’s okay… children can’t get out of gym class, but – as an adult – I avoid participating in any and all team sports, plus I also avoid being a spectator at indoor sporting events. (It’s the fluorescent lighting.) Anyways, all of this to say that it WILL get better.
As an adult with sensory issues- I agree that with the right therapy and coping skills (that you learn over your lifetime) sensory issues can be diminished and managed, if not cured totally… there are things that I always will have to deal with, but have the skills to do so- so it’s not such a big deal anymore.
I would love to hear more about how you formed your friendships. I feel awkward to the extreme. I moved 2 years ago and still don’t feel I’ve formed any close friends here. It’s been a little hard.
A kitchen would be about $10000 to do everything. An addition that is just a first floor family room I would put it at 30-40K. If you want a second floor about the addition it could be $100,000 but depends on if you add bathrooms etc.
I’m pretty lame at email these days, too. I meant to respond to an email from you, probably in March, and still feel guilty. I actually started a mom’s group in my neighborhood to talk about sensory challenges and how to approach them, and I have formed lots of thoughts-no conclusions. Lucy Jane Miller is local here, and I am doing a free intake evaluation with her center. We are also starting equine therapy, and I am considering an expeditionary learning school as a way to play to S’s strengths, rather than forcing her to conform to traditional learning. Would love to chat more about this, but I do better without typing these days. Phone date in the future?
Did you know about a resource for special needs families (www.supportforspecialneeds.com) that I started with Dawn? Lots of sensory talk on the site (especially for being a new site!). Maybe you can find some information and support there for L.
And I’m laughing because our summer is very loosely scheduled and I am also very scared!
newegg has a great website for routers and they make it easy to access customer reviews – there are lots of search options for different features too.
Having done renovations, the price range is huge (as said above) – can you find a contractor who will give you some estimates for free? Worse than the price is the misery of living through them though.
I’m pretty lame at email these days, too. I meant to respond to an email from you, probably in March, and still feel guilty. I actually started a mom’s group in my neighborhood to talk about sensory challenges and how to approach them, and I have formed lots of thoughts-no conclusions. Lucy Jane Miller is local here, and I am doing a free intake evaluation with her center. We are also starting equine therapy, and I am considering an expeditionary learning school as a way to play to S’s strengths, rather than forcing her to conform to traditional learning. Would love to chat more about this, but I do better without typing these days. Phone date in the future?