Friday, February 5, 2010

Therapy updates










Interim services for Chloe have been going really well. It has been so nice to have another team of therapists in place to help us along. Chloe has done well forming relationships with her new friends. They all come to the house so we are not asked to drive all over town for her services.

Speech and feeding come three times a week and Chloe has gotten along well with her therapist, Anastasia. She allows her to touch around her face, particularly her lips and mouth, without too much fuss. We have learned more oral stimulation exercises for Chloe and have found some success. Chloe lets us play much more with different spoons and textured toothbrushes to help wake up her mouth muscles. As a result, Chloe continues to do well with tasting some rice cereal, applesauce and applejuice. She did not regain her sucking reflex but her swallow seems to be fine and she is able to clear her mouth when we give her tiny tastes of food. Also, Chloe has been making tons of new noises and coos. She has been able to express herself with nice oohs and aahs and we are learning her new cries to let us know if she’s hungry or tired. Chloe is definitely much more playful in moving around her tongue and making different curls of her lip.

PT and OT come twice a week and they too have done great work with Chloe. Over the past couple weeks since interim services have begun we have seen Chloe’s strength continue to build. Chloe shows preference now to sitting up rather than lying on her back. We think this is also because she is able to see more and she is showing interest in her environment again. Chloe works very hard to keep her head up while we hold her trunk tightly. She does not need as much head support to keep her head from snapping forward and back; she is able to hold herself for longer periods of time. Tummy time has definitely seen much improvement. Though she still whines and cries, Chloe is able to do much more. She lifts her head up for more than a few seconds and continues to show that she can move her head from side to side so that she clears her airway. During an OT session last week, Chloe was able to hold her head up on her own and put some pressure on her elbows and hands for about a minute. While her OT held her in place, I sat in front of Chloe, cheering her on and when she looked up her eyes were so wide when she saw my face – it was so exciting! When I held up a mirror so that she could see herself, her eyes grew even wider and she seemed to calm a bit more.

Chloe also endures her sidelying position a bit more. She has started to tolerate more naps on her right and left side. Now that she shows more mobility of her head, we see that she is able to bring her head and neck up and back as if to roll over. With little nudges she is able to give herself from her left side she is able to bring about half her body over to go for a roll. Her legs sometimes lack the strength to bring themselves over but with a little help she can bring herself over and roll onto her belly. Her right arm is still a bit stiff so she has trouble moving it out from under her but we’ll get there.

Early Intervention, for those who are not familiar, is a program for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Because Chloe has many needs and shows many developmental delays at this time she qualifies for different services of the state. Right now, our interim only gives us speech with feeding, PT, and OT. Our official IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan) will take place on Monday. For the past month, we have been working with different people to gather evaluations of Chloe’s delays and with their written recommendations and with my story about Chloe, we will ask that state to grant our family more services and with higher frequencies. Our hope right now it to continue speech, PT, OT and add vision therapy and special instruction. We are also hoping for respite to be granted so that I will have even a couple hours a week to myself to run errands or simply just sit and take a moment. Chloe needs all the help we can give her so that she can have the best chances of recovery so let’s hope that our city official will listen to our needs and give us the most of this program.

Keep you posted.

Much love,

Michelle, Rethier, Olivia and Chloe

2 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle- I'm not sure if you remember me, but I am a friend of Katie Kinnell and have been following your blog and praying for Chloe. My son, benjamin, has been through early intervention and I have seen it work miracles. I read about the different services that you're getting for Chloe and wanted to make sure you know that there is an option through EI for you to get a social worker. I worked with a wonderful woman, named Jamie, and she helped me tremendously. Basically the social worker is merely for you and helps you deal with the stresses and obstacles that you face everyday. I met with her once a week for an hour (or had a phone session) and always felt better afterwards. Although I was dealing with very different obstacles than you are, it helped so much to have someone to talk to as part of Ben's EI team. Just an idea though. Wishing you and your incrdible family only the best!!! Please let me know if you'd like the name and number of the social worker I used. SSincerely, Lauren Scharfstein

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michelle and Reth --
    It was wonderful to see you the other day, and catch a glimpse of Chloe in her car seat. Her beautiful, bright eyes bring a smile to my face. Your blog continues to inspire me, and I am sending much love your family's way.
    All my best,
    Chani Traube

    ReplyDelete