Pumpkin fun!

It's halloween this weekend but I'll be at papa's house, so mommy and I had our own little halloween and carved a pumpkin. Emma came over to help us. Mommy cut a hole in the top and we both scraped out all of the seeds and flesh. Loved it, so messy! Then we drew a face on the pumpkin and I watched her carve it, I helped remove the bits that she'd cut. She made a bit of a boo boo on the nose though, so I pulled the loose bit off so our pumpkin's nose and mouth was one big hole.. but it still looked scary, which is the main thing.

Flushed my poo down the loo

Still haven't quite got the hang of the whole toilet malarky. I was in the middle of doing a poo when papa quickly put me on the toilet. I finished it, then flushed the toilet and watched it vanish... I wonder where it goes?

Show me the puzzles!

Visual perception and cognitive are where I've struggled the most. I only have 3 puzzles, I'm not usually a fan so mom didn't buy too many of them. Today she suggested I try one, it was dead easy... so I did another, and another! At my recent developmental assessment I couldn't do them so I've really come on a lot since then. There was lots of celebrating going on and I have a sneaky feeling I'll be getting puzzles for Christmas.

New comment

I'm so sorry. Someone left me a comment not long ago, which I published. But now I can't find it and I think you were looking for information. Please comment on this post and I'll see what I can do to help. Thank you!

Aunty Elisa visits :)

Baby poo poo bum bum

There seems to be a common theme at nursery these days. We call eachother baby poo poo bum bum. When I'm waiting at the bus stop with mommy and I see someone, I say 'hallo poo poo'. Sometimes I like to say 'you're a baby'. People don't seem to mind, but mommy does?

Oh my God!

I'm not so sure what this means or where I picked it up from, but I know it's meant to be said when something outrageous happens, or something unexpected.

IEP

My toilet training (or lack of) was mostly discussed today. Nursery have been taking me to the toilet every hour, to sit there and hope that something happens. Well, I'm going entire days now without going to the toilet which is not very good or healthy. Goals are to try and increase my fluid intake during the day and not to take me to the toilet every hour, but to let me go on my own, if I want to. It's about me having some control over it. I don't like going to the toilet at home, so mabye this goal will change that.

My rough play is still an ongoing issue. Well, I'm not rough intentionally, I just love physical contact. I'm quite a big boy for my age so I tend to hurt people without realising. I am very sensitive though, if they are sad I will cuddle them. But if I see someone kneeling down outside, that is a green light for me to run and jump on them and tackle them. Some of my friends enjoy that, but not everyone does. I have to learn to respect people's space a little more.

Nursery will be in touch with my primary school to arrange a visit, nearer the transition time. The SENCO at my primary school will also be invited to my final IEP, this will also give her a chance to observe me.

My speech is coming along well. I've now got the hang of the colour blue, now I'm going to learn all about the colour red.

Picnic on the heath

Such a beautiful day today so we went to the heath for a picnic. Had lots of delicious food.. a roast chicken, salads, cheese, olives, bread. Mommy had just dished me up some chicken when a tearaway puppy came and put practically the entire chicken in it's mouth. Very nearly got away with it so had to go in the bin anyway. We should've just given it to another dog, someone may as well have enjoyed it if we couldn't?

Autumn fun day

Once a year nursery has a fun day for all the children in the local community. There's always a lot to do, bouncy castles, face painting (I would NEVER sit still for long enough so don't bother), beat the goalie, cakes, burgers and madness! Had fun, didn't stay in any one place for longer than a minute.

Statement for school

I start school in January 2010 and my statement is soon to be finalised. Everyone submitted their reports about what support they thought I'd need. Mommy wrote one, the CDT wrote one and nursery did too. Mommy and Papa met with the council to discuss the statement. He told them that he sees many statements and feels that I seem to be one of the few children that has improved so much and will continue to, which can only be a good thing. He summarised the report and this is the support I'll have on a weekly basis:

A language development programme which is drawn up with advice from the Language and Communication Team. I need a sctructured approach to communicating using a total communication approach, including Makaton, photos and pictures to support my understanding and expression as appropriate.

Support for the development of my early basic skills including literacy and numeracy. There should be adaptation of the curriculum to meet my specific learning needs. Tasks will need to be broken into small steps with the use of repetition, visual cues and multi-sensory learning to reinforce information.

Individual and small group work to develop my attention control. I need a teaching environment that provides a consistent and structured approach to learning, with the use of visual cues and timetables to support my understanding. There should be consideration of the environment from a sensory perspective, such as limiting the amount of noise to improve my ability to concentrate and offering regular movement breaks, in order to maximise my learning.

Regular opportunities for individual and small group work to develop my social skills. I need adult support for the development of my play skills and to guide my social skills.

Activities and exercises across the curriculum to further develop my self care, motor and co-ordination skills which incorporate the advice of the occupational therapist and physiotherapist as appropriate.

I did it!

I slept in my own bed at mummy's last night, for the first time. It's taken a little while to get used to the new rules, I've tried everything to stay in mummy's bed. I've said I want milk, have a sore finger, hurt my head... nothing worked though. But now that I'm in my own bed I feel very proud of myself and enjoyed self-soothing when I woke up through the night. It's very important for my self-awareness, after all I'm starting school in January so am preparing for that. I know mummy will let me into her bed every now and then, just not every night and all night, and that's ok.

Italy with papa

Back from Italy

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I've been in Italy with Papa for a couple of weeks. I'll upload some pictures soon. Spent last night with mommy and she let me sleep in her bed. I wanted to sleep with all my favourite things, so I took my football, High School Musical dvd cover, upsy daisy, elephant, winnie the pooh and tiger to sleep with me. There wasn't much room in the bed for mommy, but we managed ok.

Went to see my paediatrician today. She didn't do much, just asked how I was doing, listened to my heart & weighed me. She thinks I'm doing pretty well and only need to be seen again in a year, if necessary. :)

The colour blue

One colour at a time. The one I'm focusing on now is blue. Blue for the sky & blue for my eyes. It's also the colour of the inter Milan football shirt.

My new obsession

I'm officially a 'High School Musical' fan. I sing along to all the songs and dance too. I love it so much I even take the dvd cover to bed with me. It's also one of the first things I say when I wake up in the morning, because I dream about it. Aunty Kir bought it for me for my birthday, thanks Kir!

Happy birthday to me !

I turned 4 today, but when you ask me how old I am I say 3, 8 or 9... never 4. I got lots of presents and even got a bike... but think it'll be some time before I learn how to ride it. I wish people wouldn't sing happy birthday to me, it freaks me out... find it too overwhelming. I didn't like it last year either. Thanks to everyone who came, I had lots of fun and loved having an audience when I was breakdancing.

Speech therapy

My therapist comes to see me at nursery school once a week for speech therapy. At the moment we are working on the “voicing” process using a therapy technique called “Metaphon”. This technique starts by teaching the concept of noisy and quiet. We have been talking about noisy and quiet animals, noisy and quiet sounds etc. I'll need to do this at home too. Some things I'll be doing...

Making noisy sounds (banging drums, clapping hands loudly, shaking maracas).

Making quiet sounds (rubbing hands together, softly hitting the drum, blowing air).

Talk about which animals are noisy (lions, elephants, dogs).

Talk about which animals are quiet (fish, snakes, spiders).

If I hear a noisy sound comment on it, and the same for quiet sounds.

The next step in this therapy is to start talking about noisy and quiet speech sounds.

My vision is perfect

I had thorough tests today and have been given the all-clear. They tested my vision first which is perfect. To test if I was colour blind they showed me pages in a book that showed images that were made up of lots of small coloured circles. I had to find a dog, a butterfly, an elephant, a flower, a rabbit etc. I got 8 out of 10 correct which means I'm not colour blind.

My visual perception will more than likely be a cognitive issue so will be working on that more and I'm sure I'll get the gist of it, with a little effort and support.

Speech assessment

I have a new speech therapist and she came to nursery to observe me. The good news is that there is no sign of a 'disorder', only 'delay'. It's just a matter of time before it comes together, I will be having speech therapy in blocks of around 6-8 weeks and should respond very well to this.

I am able to produce all the sounds expected in a child of my age. This shows that I don't have an articulation disorder (inability to say sounds).

I use some delayed phonological processes; therefore I have a mild phonological delay.

I have a good ability to combine sounds in different combinations.

I have a moderate reduction in speech intelligibility (how easy I am to understand). My speech intelligibility is impacted on by reduced speech precision, reduced voice volume, hypo-nasality and reduced intelligibility with increased length of utterance. I appear to have reduced breath control for speech.