In All Things Give Thanks

Apraxia has joined Benaiah's list of diagnoses.  I am not surprised but a little sad that we have to ad another one.  Benaiah received a gift from a friend of mine in the mail- 3 elephants.  He is in love.  On top of that he sang with the Toy Story theme song.  It made me cry as it was a big deal.  He now says he is a dude.  When Miss Niki gave him his homework yesterday, he said, "No, dog eat". The kiddo already has the homework excuse down.  She laughed and I did.  Then she really laughed when I told her that he did not have a dog here.  Then he said "kraine".  So his dogs in Ukraine are going to eat his homework.  I thought it was great.  It is time to hit the road as we are picking up his knee immobilizers today.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  His feet are looking better.

crazy schedule

So life has taken an insane turn.  Starting this week, Benaiah will have 9 therapy sessions a week.  He is really progressing and we hope to get him to the spot where I am confidant to work with him once we get back home to Ukraine in November.  It has really become apparent to me that I live in the state of denial at times.  It is bliss to think he doesn't have this or that wrong.  Now we know what I have feared all along, the cerebral palsy is causing problems in his legs.  The night splints are working great and last night I caught him trying to put them on. We also had to up his Lamictal because he had a breakthru seizure.  I find it amazing that when we upped his medicine then his speech took off.  I need to ask Mike W about that.  Benaiah has adjusted to all of his therapy and loves his therapists, he also is using proloquo2go and it is helping him alot..  Next time I promise to post pictures.

Proloquo2go, night splints and a trip up north

Benaiah is really taking off with the proloquo2go.  He was able to "say" bake a chocolate cake last night at bedtime.  He is also able to tell me that he is frustrated and he is finally getting the idea of proloquo2go.  I am excited and have great hope that he will be able to communicate with it.  Between signing and this app, we are making headway with his communication.  I am still amazed when I look back at how the Lord has led us.  Really, I shouldn't be amazed but this trip in Holland is hard at times but the Lord has been right there with us.  We are figuring out how to work with this apraxia.  

Last week Benaiah was retested in OT.  Mr Justin was amazed at the progress he has made.  He went from 25 percent to 50 in hand eye coordination and 5 percent to 8 in fine motor.  We obviously have alot of work to do.  But he is working hard.  He traced his name on a white board and he also traced a square.  All the while, Mr Justin says that he is vocalizing alot more.  

We had to take a break from the night splints because of redness and yesterday I watched him trip over his toes twice.  I will be writing Mike W and asking him about an orthopedic dr over there that can take care of Benaiah.  Speaking of Neuros, the Neuro here will be seeing Benaiah before we head back to Ukraine.  For a while it looked like he would not be seeing a Neuro till we got back to Ukraine thanks to insurance companies.  But the guy has proved he is a good guy.  

Benaiah got to meet his cousins this weekend at a family reunion.  He had a great time with Maya, Bryan and Brandon, but the most fun he had was with Copper and Baya.  Those 2 little dogs loved Benaiah and he loved them back.  But he could not handle their barking, he would cry and cover his ears.  By the end of the weekend, he would just cover his ears.  I would love to know what he felt when that was going on. At one point those 2 dogs knocked him down and were licking him in the face.  He said no to them meanly but then started laughing.  

Mrs Bower called me today and prek starts August 20, but Benaiah will only be going to school for services like he was last school year. Missouri really is a good state for special needs.