So when Mommy wasn't running errands today to get the financing in order for the sale of the house, we were at therapy. One of these was Dylan's Occupational Therapy (OT) appointment. Dylan goes to OT every other week and sees Eileen, whom Dylan seems to absolutely adore. Our OT appointments help Dylan specifically by addressing his low muscle tone issues. Low muscle tone is common in kids with Downs and is one of the major contributing factors to their slower pace at reaching those milestones that all kids reach. For example: holding their head up, sitting, crawling, pulling themselves up, etc. With Eileens help, she shows me exercises (or as I like to think of it, ways to play) to help Dylan gain the muscle tone needed so he can reach these milestones.
We have many "toys" that help Dylan gain these skills. For example, today he got to play on a swing hanging from the ceiling. Other times, it is sitting on an exercise ball to help his balance and stomach muscles. One of Dylan's favorites is playing in front of the mirror and reaching for toys with one hand while balancing his weight on the other.
We have had many successes with our OT appointents lately. This includes.....are you sitting down?....that Dylan is starting to get up on his hands and knees! AND, he is also getting to a sitting position from the "all-fours" stance! This is really big. He's not crawling yet, but still doing the "pushing himself backwards" thing. But it is certainly a step in the right direction. It means that all that hard work (or serious playtime) is paying off and he is gaining more muscle in his torso. Very exciting. He still needs assistance to get to the "crawling" stance but I'm sure it will be soon when he can reach it on his own.
We also had a visit from Meril today from the Whatcom Center for Early Learning which is the other place where Dylan receives his therapies. We were meeting to go over Dylan's goals for the last few months and then to set new ones. A big goal is for Dylan to gain more vocabulary in his signing skills. We would like to see him know 20 words within the next few months. I also am going to start offering him choices to help his decision making skills. For example, if I'm offering him a toy during playtime, he has to choose between a couple of choices for what he would like to play with. Same with what food he wants to eat, etc.
Dylan is still getting fed his food with the exception of breads. So we set the goal of trying to get him to take other foods to his mouth. In fact, I tried it tonight with steamed carrots....no success. But it is something for me to continue to approach with Dylan during mealtimes and hopefully, he'll catch on in the next few weeks or so.
A goal that I am pretty excited about is teaching him to point out things. So during story time, I'll ask him questions like can he show me the dog or where is Daddy? This will be a challenge but I'm looking forward to it.
Meril also gave me some good suggestions on assisting Dylan in his sleepy-time routine. We are hoping (no...praying very hard!) that Dylan will start sleeping through the night and be able to fall asleep on his own without having to take a bottle. This is definitely a priority and I've been working on this for the last couple of weeks but she gave me some great suggestions to try. If they work, Meril, I owe you a coffee!!! No, I'll buy you roses!
Overall, a very productive day for Dylan (and Mommy). Lots of "playtime" ahead of us with the new goals and the OT appointments. I can't wait to tell you how he is doing in the upcoming weeks.
1 comment:
Congratulations on all your achievements Dylan! You are a remarkable young man and your mom is pretty amazing too!!! :) Keep up the great work buddy!!! YOU ARE WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!! :)
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