Today Jordan met with the Psychologist and Neurodevelopmental specialist and was evaluated on her development. She weighed in at 26.5 lbs and was 35.5 inches.
During her psychological evaluation she did quite well and was found to be somewhere between what is considered normal and what is labeled low for intelligence and performance of verbal and nonverbal skills. He believes that she could make cognitive progress as she continues to improve in her verbal abilities. He noticed some anxiety that manifested itself with her perseverating* at times through twirling her hair or her hands on the table.
*Perseverating means they do certain actions over and over again, like repeating a phrase, shutting a door, twiddling fingers, lining up toys, rubbing hands together, spinning objects, etc.
Her neurodevelopmental eval went well and she encouraged us to continue what we are doing and focus on Jordan's speech therapy and oral motor/feeding therapy as her gross motor and fine motor skills seem to be developing quite well. When I questioned about her high sensory needs she recommended we have the school perform a sensory profile and discuss some sensory planning to help her function at a more calm, stable level.
This system was completely different than what has been done in the past. We used to have a 4 hour appointment where we would rotate meeting with an OT, PT, SLP, nutritionist, social worker, as well as the 2 we saw today. I don't believe that the evaluation is as thorough and I have always felt that the Neurodevelopmental specialist doesn't always give straight answers to my questions. I am somewhat disappointed that we were unable to see the SLP in particular because that is the area of greatest concern for Jordan.
Now I am preparing for tomorrow's appointments...Jordan's feeding therapy was canceled so she only has the group OT/speech tomorrow at school. I hope to have some video of her to post soon!!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Eval tomorrow...not sure what to expect...
Well, once again I failed to post yesterday...can I blame it on the fact that I spent the morning facing the crazies at Meijer and then came home to clean the house and make a HUGE pot of soup and 21 sandwiches for today's lunch and then had my home invaded by 10 wonderful family members?!?!? Well, it was quite a crazy day and I didn't even think about missing it until I was at church this morning. It was great to have so many people here this weekend, but I am now looking forward to what the week has to hold.
Tomorrow Jordan has an evaluation with her neurodevelopmental specialist, Dr. Burdo-Hartman and the psychologist, Dr. Pasternyk. In the past few years, this has been a HUGE eval by several different therapists and specialists, but they have altered things and now I'm not so sure what to expect. Tonight Derrick and I put together a list of questions and things that we are curious about and I am looking forward to their views. Plus, it will give me something fun to blog about tomorrow!!
Well, since we lost an hour last night with the time change, and my fabulous nieces dragged me to Wendy's at midnight to get french fries...after eating a ton of red vines and dark chocolate raisinets, I am now totally and completely exhausted!!! Oh yeah, and I have to leave the house with the 2 little ones tomorrow by about 7am!!!!! Therefore, I am going to bed!!!
Tomorrow Jordan has an evaluation with her neurodevelopmental specialist, Dr. Burdo-Hartman and the psychologist, Dr. Pasternyk. In the past few years, this has been a HUGE eval by several different therapists and specialists, but they have altered things and now I'm not so sure what to expect. Tonight Derrick and I put together a list of questions and things that we are curious about and I am looking forward to their views. Plus, it will give me something fun to blog about tomorrow!!
Well, since we lost an hour last night with the time change, and my fabulous nieces dragged me to Wendy's at midnight to get french fries...after eating a ton of red vines and dark chocolate raisinets, I am now totally and completely exhausted!!! Oh yeah, and I have to leave the house with the 2 little ones tomorrow by about 7am!!!!! Therefore, I am going to bed!!!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Failed already!!!
Well, the second day of lent came and went without me posting anything...FAIL!!! This is going to be much harder than I imagined! I suppose it was because it was a pretty boring day...nothing to report on. I know that I have lots to catch up on, but for some reason, I just never did.
This morning Jordan had speech at Century Park with her school speech path, JoAnne Hurley. JoAnne also worked with Conner a few years ago and is great! This year started off a little rough, but I think Jordan was just so difficult to work with that it took a while before Jo figured her out. Jordan now loves to go see Jo and there are no more tantrums or problems. Although Jordan doesn't always go along with Jo's plan, most of the time she is cooperative and participates. Today I asked about the communication device that Jordan will be trying out for the next few months - Jo was going to look into that and hopefully we will have that soon!
As I write this, Jordan is bringing every pair of shoes, boots, etc from her room and piling them next to me! Do I have a fashion queen on my hands?!?!?! maybe...
This morning Jordan had speech at Century Park with her school speech path, JoAnne Hurley. JoAnne also worked with Conner a few years ago and is great! This year started off a little rough, but I think Jordan was just so difficult to work with that it took a while before Jo figured her out. Jordan now loves to go see Jo and there are no more tantrums or problems. Although Jordan doesn't always go along with Jo's plan, most of the time she is cooperative and participates. Today I asked about the communication device that Jordan will be trying out for the next few months - Jo was going to look into that and hopefully we will have that soon!
As I write this, Jordan is bringing every pair of shoes, boots, etc from her room and piling them next to me! Do I have a fashion queen on my hands?!?!?! maybe...
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Lent
I'm not much for giving something up for Lent. But for some reason, this year I am going to try something new. I am going to attempt to blog about my journey with Jordan for the next 40 days...every day. I know it will involve sacrifice...maybe I will have to get up earlier to do it...maybe I will have to do it when all I want to do is sit down and relax and not do anything. The point is that I will force myself to have the discipline to spend time every day documenting our life and processing through my thoughts and feelings and putting them into words.
The upcoming month is full of lots of therapy (speech, OT, feeding), some big appointments (multidisciplinary neurodevelopmental eval), as well as just daily life. I'm sure in the midst of it all I will find many things to share. I will attempt to spend the next day or so summarizing the past few months and then move forward day to day.
When I look at my last post...November 8, 2010, I realize that I have been AWFUL in keeping up with this blog! Since Jordan is my third child, I actually have no baby book for her and although I have recorded much of her medical information, I seem to be failing at recording the normal milestones that children reach. That was part of my intention of starting this blog and now I intend to make it a priority.
I pray that this experience helps me to really dig deeper into discovering the impact that this amazing little girl has on my life and share that with others in hope that they will see just what a miracle she is.
The upcoming month is full of lots of therapy (speech, OT, feeding), some big appointments (multidisciplinary neurodevelopmental eval), as well as just daily life. I'm sure in the midst of it all I will find many things to share. I will attempt to spend the next day or so summarizing the past few months and then move forward day to day.
When I look at my last post...November 8, 2010, I realize that I have been AWFUL in keeping up with this blog! Since Jordan is my third child, I actually have no baby book for her and although I have recorded much of her medical information, I seem to be failing at recording the normal milestones that children reach. That was part of my intention of starting this blog and now I intend to make it a priority.
I pray that this experience helps me to really dig deeper into discovering the impact that this amazing little girl has on my life and share that with others in hope that they will see just what a miracle she is.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Today My Heart Broke for My Baby Girl...and Therapy Anger Rant
Today I found I faced an emotional place that I don't go very often. Jordan had a rough morning. I'm not sure if it has to do with the time change this past weekend or if it was just a rough day. She was pretty much in a state of constant whining, crying, fussing and there was nothing I could do to help her.
I put her in her chair this morning for her feeding and she picked out her video (as usual) and I put it in and went into the other room to do devotions with Conner. Within minutes she was whining and fussing and crying and yet said she didn't want a different movie and didn't want to get down. I left her there and finished with him just to hear her continue to whine.
After she was done eating, we went downstairs for school and she seemed to go back and forth between playing nicely and crying. Eventually, I had her in her swing doing her listening therapy so Conner could focus. Finally, we moved upstairs for her feeding and Conner and I read a story in the bedroom. By the time her feeding was done, I was hoping for a short playtime before lunch.
However, for some reason, Jordan started crying. I tried to hold her, hug her, talk to her, play with her, read to her...but nothing helped. I finally sat down with her and asked her "what is wrong?" She just cried harder...and my heart broke.
See, here's the thing, I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who understands and comprehends like any other 3 1/2 year old child...but she can only communicate on the level of about a 15 month old. Can you imagine?!?!?! What if you understood everything that was being said and asked of you, yet you were unable to put your thoughts into words to tell the world what you wanted or needed. I know that this morning, Jordan knew what she wanted, however, she was so limited by her disability that it broke her heart...and mine.
I know I haven't posted much about her therapy recently, but we are facing a difficult dilemma. Last spring, we thought Jordan would be in the Early Childhood Special Education classroom for Grandville, but the teacher was not comfortable with her in the class (and neither were we) due to the fact that she put EVERYTHING in her mouth. We decided on itinerant speech 2 times a week for a 1/2 hour - it's basically outpatient therapy with the school speech path. We are working with the same one who worked with Conner only 2 years ago with tremendous success, so we anticipated a great experience. However, this is far from our current reality.
This summer we received therapy at an amazing private center. The Center for Childhood Development is located in Jenison (only 5 minutes from our house!) and provided me with an opportunity to see how Jordan should be treated - as a whole being. Instead of separating all types of therapy, she received physical, occupational, speech and sensory therapy all together and LOVED it!!!! Jordan made AMAZING progress and began using new words and sounds. We even heard her start to babble during imaginary play!! It was so reassuring to see that Jordan could make such progress in such a positive environment.
There was only one problem...cost. We paid, on average, $110 per week for Jordan's therapy. That doesn't include evaluations, special therapy sessions, and the headphones we purchased for listening therapy. Well, I submitted the paperwork to our insurance in the beginning of August to see if they would cover any of her therapy...and I am still fighting them!! Last week, I received a request to show a medical diagnosis, any previous treatment received, and the reason for referral for therapy. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!?!?!?!? After 3 years of doctors appointments, evaluations, tests, labs, and therapy, they want to know why????
Unfortunately, this is putting a delay on treating Jordan in the way she deserves to be treated. We are keeping her in the school therapy, although she is having major temper tantrums at every session because she doesn't want to do what they are making her do! Their recommendation is to put her in the classroom so that she will do what the other kids do! Seriously?!?! My daughter has made incredible progress in the past 3 years in all areas except speech and swallowing because of her strong will and determination...and now they want to her to follow what others do?!?! They have offered to drop her to only 2 days a week, put her in the other school (since one teacher rejected her), have her in a smaller class size, still meet with the therapist one-on-one for both of those days...everything. However, I just don't think their approach works for my little girl.
All I want is for our insurance to cover 80% of private therapy so I can help my daughter learn to speak in a non-threatening, positive environment. Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?
Please pray that Derrick and I can receive wisdom on the best direction for Jordan. I love my baby girl with all my heart and it breaks when I can't give her what she needs.
I put her in her chair this morning for her feeding and she picked out her video (as usual) and I put it in and went into the other room to do devotions with Conner. Within minutes she was whining and fussing and crying and yet said she didn't want a different movie and didn't want to get down. I left her there and finished with him just to hear her continue to whine.
After she was done eating, we went downstairs for school and she seemed to go back and forth between playing nicely and crying. Eventually, I had her in her swing doing her listening therapy so Conner could focus. Finally, we moved upstairs for her feeding and Conner and I read a story in the bedroom. By the time her feeding was done, I was hoping for a short playtime before lunch.
However, for some reason, Jordan started crying. I tried to hold her, hug her, talk to her, play with her, read to her...but nothing helped. I finally sat down with her and asked her "what is wrong?" She just cried harder...and my heart broke.
See, here's the thing, I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who understands and comprehends like any other 3 1/2 year old child...but she can only communicate on the level of about a 15 month old. Can you imagine?!?!?! What if you understood everything that was being said and asked of you, yet you were unable to put your thoughts into words to tell the world what you wanted or needed. I know that this morning, Jordan knew what she wanted, however, she was so limited by her disability that it broke her heart...and mine.
I know I haven't posted much about her therapy recently, but we are facing a difficult dilemma. Last spring, we thought Jordan would be in the Early Childhood Special Education classroom for Grandville, but the teacher was not comfortable with her in the class (and neither were we) due to the fact that she put EVERYTHING in her mouth. We decided on itinerant speech 2 times a week for a 1/2 hour - it's basically outpatient therapy with the school speech path. We are working with the same one who worked with Conner only 2 years ago with tremendous success, so we anticipated a great experience. However, this is far from our current reality.
This summer we received therapy at an amazing private center. The Center for Childhood Development is located in Jenison (only 5 minutes from our house!) and provided me with an opportunity to see how Jordan should be treated - as a whole being. Instead of separating all types of therapy, she received physical, occupational, speech and sensory therapy all together and LOVED it!!!! Jordan made AMAZING progress and began using new words and sounds. We even heard her start to babble during imaginary play!! It was so reassuring to see that Jordan could make such progress in such a positive environment.
There was only one problem...cost. We paid, on average, $110 per week for Jordan's therapy. That doesn't include evaluations, special therapy sessions, and the headphones we purchased for listening therapy. Well, I submitted the paperwork to our insurance in the beginning of August to see if they would cover any of her therapy...and I am still fighting them!! Last week, I received a request to show a medical diagnosis, any previous treatment received, and the reason for referral for therapy. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!?!?!?!? After 3 years of doctors appointments, evaluations, tests, labs, and therapy, they want to know why????
Unfortunately, this is putting a delay on treating Jordan in the way she deserves to be treated. We are keeping her in the school therapy, although she is having major temper tantrums at every session because she doesn't want to do what they are making her do! Their recommendation is to put her in the classroom so that she will do what the other kids do! Seriously?!?! My daughter has made incredible progress in the past 3 years in all areas except speech and swallowing because of her strong will and determination...and now they want to her to follow what others do?!?! They have offered to drop her to only 2 days a week, put her in the other school (since one teacher rejected her), have her in a smaller class size, still meet with the therapist one-on-one for both of those days...everything. However, I just don't think their approach works for my little girl.
All I want is for our insurance to cover 80% of private therapy so I can help my daughter learn to speak in a non-threatening, positive environment. Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?
Please pray that Derrick and I can receive wisdom on the best direction for Jordan. I love my baby girl with all my heart and it breaks when I can't give her what she needs.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Seriously Too Busy to Keep Up!!!
Okay, so I am really depressed when I look and realize it has been almost 5 months since I have updated this blog!!! I wish I had some grand excuse...but I don't. I have had an amazing summer with my kids!! Lots of backyard and pool time and trips to our CSA farm (more about that later.) I feel as though I live in a time warp!! This fall, I started homeschooling Conner and that has, again, increased my workload as a mom...but I love it and wouldn't change it for the world!!!
I have so much to share on Jordan's progress, but unfortunately, I am going to have to do that later. I am actually just updating to commit to myself that I MUST make this a priority!!! I hope to update 1-2 times a month...I know, pretty lame for a blog. It is however, more to keep myself documented on her progress as I have no baby book for her and use this as my guide...remember, she's my 3rd and just doesn't get the stuff that comes along with being born early in the birth order!
So, if anyone reads this, please remind me to post something soon!!! My facebook page is the most likely place for me to read it!! Keep on me...so I don't slack again!!!!!
I have so much to share on Jordan's progress, but unfortunately, I am going to have to do that later. I am actually just updating to commit to myself that I MUST make this a priority!!! I hope to update 1-2 times a month...I know, pretty lame for a blog. It is however, more to keep myself documented on her progress as I have no baby book for her and use this as my guide...remember, she's my 3rd and just doesn't get the stuff that comes along with being born early in the birth order!
So, if anyone reads this, please remind me to post something soon!!! My facebook page is the most likely place for me to read it!! Keep on me...so I don't slack again!!!!!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Catching Up
I feel as though the past few months have been so crazy busy and life has been a complete whirlwind! I wish I could find time to sit and read, blog, or even take an occasional nap! I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel as school is coming to a close. Conner graduated from Maple Tree Preschool only a week and a half ago and Jordan's therapy is now on summer schedule (only 2x per month instead of 2x per week) and Mak has three 1/2 days of finals and then is done!! I already feel as though the hurried pace of life is slowing down and I can enjoy my kids more and do the things I enjoy.
I have several things that I want to blog about and update everyone on and plan to work through them over the next week or so. I know that some of these things are old news, but I want to be sure they are documented as I use this blog as a sort of 'baby book' for Jordan to track her progress and experiences.
I have several things that I want to blog about and update everyone on and plan to work through them over the next week or so. I know that some of these things are old news, but I want to be sure they are documented as I use this blog as a sort of 'baby book' for Jordan to track her progress and experiences.
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