Psychologist's Assessment

The meeting went so well yesterday. I am really impressed with our special services department in our school district. I absolutely love the ladies we have met with so far. They have shown great interest in Micah and getting him help as soon as possible. They love the story of how we found him through Reece's Rainbow and brought him home. It has warmed my heart to have their kindness and support for him.


I loved watching the psychologist with him yesterday. She got down on the floor and played with him. This was part of her assessment to see how he responded when she asked him to do different things. She was a lot of fun to be around. When it was all said and done, she said, "I would place him around 18 months (mentally)." I was not surprised. This is what I have been saying for months. However, she was extremely impressed with his high functionality (including understanding instructions and responding), and physical movement (including his coordination and reaction to things). She was so confident that he could go into a regular classroom for kindergarten if we wanted him to (in two years). I told her, "We want him to have all the possibilities available to him, and don't want to hold him back, but we'll see when we get there :)"

It was a great day. Now we wait for his first IEP with our school district and subsequent referral to County. Then we'll have an IEP with County to cover all his needs, including free door-to-door transportation (our district has charged for bussing for two years)! So, he *should* be starting preschool in the next 3-4 weeks. We are very excited for this opportunity for him to get educational help and different therapies, including speech. Until then, we are practicing a lot of what the speech therapist taught us, and he is responding well.

Speech assessment

Micah had a speech assessment with our school district last Friday. It went really well. The district nurse also evaluated him. The speech therapist said that he will have to be evaluated by the school psychologist, then we'll have our first IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting, then he'll be referred to County for preschool.  She said it should only take about 2-3 more weeks.

Today is the appointment with the psychologist. I'm not really sure what to expect, nor am I sure when to expect the IEP to be. Thankfully though, things are moving along!

Lemishine (cleaning tip!)

After almost two years of living with hard water, I had given up. Nothing worked to get those murky stains out but a vinegar soak, and that is just so time-consuming... and smelly! When we had company I would PROMISE them our dishes were clean, lol... so embarrassing! Not anymore!

Thank goodness for my Mom to Mom group. I would have never known. I'm really surprised more friends didn't know about this (because we ALL complain about hard water stains to each other).  So I'm sharing it with everyone!!!

On the left is one of my dishes that has been washed over and over in my dishwasher (with soap!)  On the right is an identical dish after one wash with Lemishine. I sound like a commercial ad, but I'm serious. This is not a joke. When I heard about it, I jumped and asked, "Where do you get it?!" As I'm sure you're doing right now! HAHA... Target (and probably Walmart).  It's near the detergents with some other hard water stain lifters... I honestly didn't even know such things existed.  I went the next day and bought two with confidence. 

Not only are my dishes looking shiny and new again, but my stainless steel dishwasher looks new again! I can almost see my reflection.  It's a beautiful thing (the shiny part).  The first day I opened the dishwasher, I sang that angelic "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" sound and couldn't stop staring.  I called Barry and Fischer over to see too... "Look! My tupperware is colorful again!" Everything looks new.  It's seriously a miracle.

Hope this tip helps!

Ophthamalogist

Micah's first ophthamology appointment was today, and he did really good.  Of course the squirming and flailing was normal; this poor guy has never had his eyes dilated before!  While we were waiting for the drops to take effect, he, Annie and I had a lot of fun singing songs and dancing in the room (thank goodness it was big!)  20 minutes of preschool type activity was much needed.

We were happy with Dr. Rimmer, a pediatric specialist.  He was very nice and friendly to Micah and come to find out his grandfather is from Ukraine's big neighbor, Russia!  So we had a good chat about that :)

Prognosis: Strabismus and far-sightedness, a.k.a he needs glasses morning to night.  Neither were unexpected, and now we get to plan a day to go to Riverside to pick out his specialty glasses.  If the glasses don't help the cross in his eyes, then he'll wear a patch on the strong eye.  If that still doesn't work, then he'll have to have surgery.  The eye doctor seemed confident we wouldn't have to go that far since the strabismus is minor. 

Next: picture of Micah in glasses! :)

Regional Center

I don't really know where to post this, so I'm putting it here. It's more for my documentation, but if anyone has experience in these things, I'd be happy to hear :)

I applied for disability services for Micah through the Inland Regional Center when we came home in July (for things like therapies, assistance with IEPs in the school district, advice, vocational services when he's older, respite care, and housing services when he's older.. things he will need for life). I was told it would take up to 120 days to get a call/appointment. Last week they called, and he and I got to go to his intake appointment today. We met with a great social worker; she was very nice. Then she said that this was only step 1 of 3, and the other two appointments were really far out. The medical will be soon on 9/30, but his psychological evaluation isn't until December 14th!!! She said there is no doubt he'll be approved since he has Down syndrome, but they have to go through the paperwork steps.

I talked to her about the school district and how we are waiting for his first assessment with the school psychologist so they can determine what services he needs before he can be placed in preschool. The district is well within their 60 days to get things done, but I just wanted to know how things worked. She said to call them and ask if they'll do a speech/language evaluation to get him in school before they do the full psych. Since we are so close to the 60 days, I'll probably wait, but it was good advice. I wish I had known to ask that before, but not all school districts will do that. So I'll wait another week and then call them again. The good news is that the regional center might accept the district's psych evaluation, so that may help speed things up on their end. The social worker said they try to work hand-in-hand.

It seems to be taking forever. I know in the big scheme of life, a few months is not that long, but today was the first day I met with anyone "official" to get Micah any kind of services or help. It's been a little frustrating to wait. We got home July 6th, right in the middle of the summer, and I had to wait until August 1st when the school district staff got back from summer vacation. I filled out the application on August 1st and turned it in the next day. The sweet secretary said that the psychologists don't come back until the first day of school, and he would be placed "in order" in her workload. So nothing would even get started until August 11th... then she had 60 days from there to get something set up. Whew... it's a waiting game like everything else.

I just want our sweet boy to get the services he needs. He desperately needs speech and language therapy. There is NO doubt about that. I work with him, but he is still not speaking any words except "dada" and a muffled "hi". He understands us, but he does not speak. He will repeat ASL to me, up to about 10-15 signs, but he only initiates the "eat" sign :) (Yes, our son loves to eat). He also will "sing" (aka make noise) to every song he hears; he loves music. His hearing test showed that he hears well, so I know that is not the culprit. He also mimicks sounds, so I know he's capable of learning words. I would love a therapist to work with him and show us some things we can do at home to help him.

As far as physical and occupational therapy, I don't think he will need any of that. But we do need to work with him on dressing himself and potty training. All in time... I know that will come in time. Maybe someone can just give us some pointers. It's much different to teach life skills to an atypical child! There is really nothing the same about it. It's not harder, just different... and a little more focus :)

That is all for today!

First camping trip

Not only was this Micah's first camping trip, but it was his cousins' first trip too! We didn't know it until afterwards, but Zack and Tyler had never been camping.  If we had known, we would've tried to make it a lot more special.  In any case, they all had a great time and the other Ray boys even caught a fish with their dad!

Zack & Tyler, learning how to cast

Fischer teaching the boys how to cast.

We returned to Lake Hemet this year, and even got the same camping spot as last year! We left very excited for a fun weekend, but it was much harder than we expected. I even thought we were prepared for Micah's running, bringing the pack 'n play for the times we couldn't watch him like a hawk, but it sufficeth to say we were not prepared in the least. I felt like the world's worst mother at one point, put him in the pack 'n play, sat by his side, and didn't move for a very long time. I'll spare the details for fear of embarrassment and judgment.

I'm sure it's hard enough to have a child who's a runner.  But to have one who was also an orphan for three years adds to the dynamics.  For three years, he had the same schedule, the same routine, the same route he could walk, play, and wander.  For the past two months, he has been in several new situations that catch his eye to explore.  This campground proved to be his best footprint yet! 

It was a learning experience to say the least. When we'd lather the girls up with sunscreen and let them go, they stayed together in the playground next to our camp... they had the knowledge to stay near us as well. If I took my eyes off of them for a second, I didn't have to worry they'd wander. With Micah, he just doesn't know.  He was taught to stay with the pack he knew his whole life, but he's still learning who we are. He was taught to go in the same circle for three years, but this was a new place with no paths, just dirt! AND HE'S FAST!!!!!!!!!!

 

Our curious explorer.

 

Overall, it was the most difficult camping trip I've ever been on, even with three adults and a teenager to help watch over the flock of six littles. The littles had a lot more fun than we did. I left a night early with Chloe, Micah, and Annie.  The rest got to fish, make s'mores, and finish the weekend in style. I'm not looking forward to going back any time soon.  And that's just the plain truth.  We might even sell our tent trailer!

Hello world!

There haven't been many new things to report. Things have been good. School is in session for almost everyone. We are still waiting on assessments for Micah to start preschool, and just finally got a call today from the regional center to start assessments with the county! We are trying to get plugged into the local Down syndrome play group, the second meeting which is tonight. I am hoping we can go; we missed last month. Joey and his boys are still living with us for another month or so; things have been good with them... it's been loud and crowded, but we love having them around and will miss them when they're gone. We are getting ready to move to our new house in a couple weeks. Things are busy!

Fischer has his first public march with Serrano's Rattlesnake Regiment this Saturday at the Phelan Phamily Phun Days parade. I love to watch him march. Marching season is extremely stressful and takes over our life for 3 1/2 months, but it's so worth it. Their first football game is next Friday too, that's always fun! :)

Other than that, everything is the same... same is good. No news is good news!