The 3s are much worse than then 2s

It was almost like clock-work. Oog turned 3 and the hitting and biting started. I think it's a huge combination of being 3, not being able to communicate his feelings, having no control over his impulses, suddenly being sent off to preschool and seeing a new speech therapist. That's a lot going on for a little guy.

He's been to preschool 4 times and I've been called to pick him up early twice. Each time was because Oog hit other children. During the first incidence, Oog also bit his teacher when she tried to put him in a time out. I don't know the whole story, but it sounds like two things happened to cause this- 1) Oog doesn't know how to share toys; 2) another child tried to take the toy he was playing with.

It's only natural for a child who is fairly non-verbal to have a problem expressing his feelings. But, this is getting ridiculous. It's not just these incidences. He lashed out at his occupational therapist, at his new speech therapist, at me...pretty much at everyone.


I hear rumors that the 4s are even worse than the 3s.

Frustration rears it's ugly head...

Tonight Oog had a bit of a tantrum after I asked him to say "Pig-let" instead of "Peh". He frowned at me, slumped over and said no (ok, he screamed it at me). I feel bad because without telling him how to say something, he won't get it, but on the other side, he's obviously aware that he speaks differently.

I feel terrible that I have to say things like "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are saying" a hundred times a day.He gets frustrated that I don't understand (and I'm the one person that usually understands him), I get frustrated that I don't understand...it's hard.

On the bright side, he is attempting more and more speech. He is trying to string words together in sentences and even tell stories about what he did today. Obviously the language capability is there- which is huge. But, it is also just as obvious that he is struggling to find the right word, struggling to form the word, and struggling to string the words together.

We are working on expanding his ASL vocabulary. He attempts to say words that are hard, like friend ("huh") but he uses the sign with it so we know what he means (thank goodness). Unfortunately, as we attempt more complicated signs, I'm seeing that the apraxia may affect more than just his speech. It stands to reason that things like this are going to crop up since apraxia is a neurological disorder, as is sensory processing disorder (and then you got the hypotonia messing with his muscle tone). And since we don't know what in his brain is causing these things, it's hard to say what is going to be affected. Clearly his speech is, and apparently the little guy is going to have to work extra hard at certain other things - like holding a pencil and signing (and learning to use the big boy potty!).

Fidgety

Fidgety doesn't really explain how much my son wiggles around. He's constantly on the move, even in his sleep. This makes it very hard for him to concentrate for very long on anything, like speech therapy. In a desperate attempt to help him, I tried a wiggle seat.

To my amazement, it worked. The speech therapy said she'd never (in the 9 months of working with him) seen him remaining sitting in the chair for the full 45 minute session. He still wiggles around, but because the seat allows him to get more wiggly than without it, he stayed in his seat.

This got me to thinking, maybe there are other toys and tools that would work to help distract him so he can pay attention and concentrate. In my search, I came across quite a few different fidget toys and put them up on a Squidoo lens. So, here's a link to the best fidget toys available!

I can knit!

Probably not a big deal to most people, but I finally managed to knit a hat that not only looks like a hat, but that fits on my son's head! I bought Provocraft's Knifty Knitters the other day, and after a couple trial and errors, I managed to knit this hat in about 4 hours!

This is a big crafty achievement for me, since I have all the creativity of a goat. I've tried knitting and crocheting before, but I couldn't understand the instructions for the left-handers (which I am). That was years ago...and now I have crafty people on youTube just waiting for me to check out their videos!!

I'd love to knit hats, scarves, leg warmers, and hand-arm warmers (otherwise known as fingerless gloves) for everyone for Christmas. I'm starting a bit late, but maybe I can finish a hat for everyone.

Tacky, cheap Christmas presents...so much fun! It's the thought and effort that count, not the looks or utility, right??

First IEP Meeting

I went to Oog's first IEP meeting. For those that don't know, it's basically a meeting with the school district to hammer out what services they are going to provide. For now, Oog's just getting speech therapy twice a week. Depending how he's doing in kindergarten, he may need an aide or some such thing to help him communicate in class. But, for now, speech therapy. I think the meeting was about 15 minutes long...they said it was a record. What else were we going to say other than to agree with each other than Oog has a severe speech and language impairment??

Oog is attempting more and more words. He has recently started adding an ending "p" to some simple words, like yep and nope. This is a big step- adding an ending to a word. It's not consistent, but the fact that he can do it sometimes means that with lots of practice, his muscles and brain will remember to do it most time eventually.

I'm trying to teach him more sign language, so that he can communicate those bigger words and concepts that I know he has in his head. He's sort of refusing to learn any new signs- which is a far cry from when we first started with the Signing Times videos last year. I think the difference is that back then, he realized that the signs were a way for him to communicate, and now he just wants to talk like everyone else. I'll just have to keep after him...because I don't see him saying words like kitchen, groceries, lasagna, sandwich, or teacher any time soon- at least not so they are recognizable.