Xavier's Turtle
Greetings to everyone.
One of the things the Turtles (Xavier's preschool class) do is explore various textures, usually as part of an art project. Today, as Xavier arrived (he was a few minutes late), the class was creating turtles.
This consisted of a turtle body cut out of green construction paper, a Styrofoam bowl, two staples and a length of orange string.
His teachers stapled the bowl to the turtle, then let the kids "have at it" with painting the bowl which made the turtle shell.
After painting the shell, a length of string was added to make a leash for the new pet.
When I came home from work, I saw his art work. I thought "how fun and inventive." I would not have guessed this would become one of Xavier's favorite toys.
He walks it outside. He walks it inside. He carries it around so he can walk it some more. Often, he will pick it up, then point at a door so he can take his turtle for a walk outside, especially out front. I guess he learned that from helping walk the dog; after all, that's where Lena gets walked.
Pillow Forts
Greeting to everyone.
Last weekend was Rebecca's Reserve Weekend for September. That, as always, means Bachelor Weekend for Dad and Xavier!
These past few weeks, Xavier has been playing Hot Wheels on the couch in Middle Earth, driving his cars up and down the back and arms of the couch. Saturday night started out the same way, until...
Xavier did not like a pillow lying in his way. He tried moving it, but it proved too cumbersome without letting go of one of his two Hot Wheels. That's when Dad stepped up.
Dad moved the offending pillow to lay across the gap between the couch and the coffee table. That drew Xavier's interest, enough for him to put down the Hot Wheels and climb down the couch to check out the space under the cushion.
He giggled. We added more pillows, creating a cave. Thrilled with the construction, Xavier ran into the other room and returned with a blanket and pillow. The fort/cave was a perfect nesting place!
Xavier also discovered he could "pop up" through the pillow roof and yell "Arrrr!" That, of course, brought a collapse to the flimsy pillow rooftop.
We spend much of Saturday night and Sunday morning improving our fort designs. We found that using a bed sheet or blanket, we could make really large, if not short, forts. Xavier had a time running in and out and being chased back in to his forts.
Now, we have a fort in Middle Earth most of the time. Sometimes it is in tact, other times not so much (Xavier discovered he likes jumping down from above onto the pillow roofs).
Apraxia
Greetings to everyone.
Over the last several weeks we have been working diligently with Xavier to get him speaking better. Miss Robin noted Xavier is six to eight months behind in his speech skills.
He and she have been meeting once a week. Xavier is determined to speak, so he engages diligently with Miss Robin the whole hour. At home, we have flash cards and we work with him in many other ways on a daily basis.
Before today, one of the things we noticed with Xavier is his struggle to get simple words to form. The most notable one so far is the word sit. This word seems to be one which typifies his struggle with words in general. He must concentrate to say the word, as if squeezing it out of his brain. He starts out with a hard and protracted "Sssssss" then works to force out the "it" almost as a short second syllable ending in a very hard T.
Xavier has a vocabulary, but he often slurs his words when he uses them (this is not the same class of slurring and cutsie pronunciation most might expect from a two year old). He will speak some words clearly and with great ease, then go for weeks before saying the word again with such clarity and control. He can babble and speak structured sentences in Xavierese all day long, but English for him is a big challenge.
Apraxia, or in this case, CAS, is a poorly understood neurological condition, fairly rare in children, and seen in many adults who suffer brain injury. In its most general definition, it is a condition making it difficult or impossible to make various motor movements, though the muscles are fully capable.
Today, that is the name Miss Robin gave to Xavier's speech difficulties. "Don't Google apraxia," Robin warned Rebecca. "What you find will scare you." She was right, apraxia can be scary. However, Robin confirmed that Xaiver has a mild case of it. With therapy, he will be able to overcome it.
The biggest potential problem will be his parents, but we are doing everything right, we are told. The problem from the parents would be forcing Xavier into making and sounding his words perfectly—to obsess over him getting every attempt correct. That will frustrate him and he will shut down trying, the very thing that will derail his healing. Our work will be to keep him engaged and excited about speaking as we work with him.
Though this news disturbed us a little, we know Xavier will come through it victoriously. We will keep him in therapy and diligently work with him at home. We have even researched preschools which offer appropriate therapies. As it turns out, the highly coveted school just down the street has such a program. Because we live in the district, we don't have to be on a waiting list. Glory to God!
Though we are doing much with therapy and exercises to help Xavier train his brain, we do not leave such things to chance and Human effort alone. We are praying over Xavier, asking Father to heal our son. We know that great is our God, Who has not brought Xavier this far just to let him stand outside the promised land. Like all Xavier's obstacles in his past, this wall will fall also!