speech therapy

Calling Dr. Youtube

~ NickyB. ~ Leave a comment

Mj receives 90 minutes of speech/ language therapy every week at school. It’s a combination of one-on-one and group sessions. We have been blessed to have wonderful therapists in the past and I truly hate that he’s going to miss it for these coming weeks. I am going to Dr. YouTube, Dr. Google, Dr. Jesus, and a few therapists that I know, to ask for resources that I can use for Mj until this time is over.

#speechandlanguagetherapyathome #DrYoutube #DrGoogle #DrJesus #Ihavetodoit #Iknowican #mjdeservesit #autism #autismmom #autismfamily #momblogger #socialdistancing2020 #schoolsclosed #meansnotherapy

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He Got In!

~ NickyB. ~ 21 Comments

I know I can’t be the only one who gets nervous when they see the school phone number pop up on their cell phone! That’s exactly what happened this week. As soon as I saw the school phone number pop up, my mind went to gloom and doom lol! I automatically began thinking, “oh no what happened to my son or daughter?!” Fortunately, it was a call from the principal of the high school we were praying MJ would get into! He informed me that MJ received the school reassignment and that I needed to come in to register him as soon as possible! I was really impressed by the fact that the principal personally called me to let me know this information. I’ve done reassignments before but this is the first time that I received a personal phone call. Thrilled to hear the news, I registered MJ by the end of the week. It hasn’t really hit me yet, that he’ll soon be in 9th grade. It hasn’t even hit me that my daughter will be entering middle school! This upcoming school year is going to be a doozy. Anyway, I received a wonderful email from Marcus’s current speech teacher. We will be really sad to leave her..

Great news, that school has a great ESE program and Marcus will be with his friends. I know the SLP there and will recommend Marcus; although, I don’t think I am ready to see him leave, I love him, he is such a wonderful kid (you told me the day we met) and I will miss him greatly. I will go with them on a field trip to the new school, we will visit the classrooms and other areas, meet the teachers and get familiar with the school. You are also invited to go with us.

It was so nice to receive this email from her and hear how much she loves MJ.

It gave me some much needed peace about the future😊.

#hegotin

#lookatGod

#mjisgoingtohighschool

#stayingprayedup

It’s Happening

~ NickyB. ~ 15 Comments

MJs IEP meeting was just this past week! No matter how many of these I attend, It’s still very difficult to hear about all of your child’s “areas of need,” before they get to his progress. It is still difficult for us to sit and listen to it all. Earlier last month I received a draft of the IEP that I immediately took to work to have a friend look at for me. She is an ESE specialist and is familiar with what happens in high school. As I write this, I honestly cannot believe that MJ will be going to high school next year! It seems as though I was just writing the same thing about him going to middle school! I have the same emotions. I’m nervous, excited, scared, and at the same time hopeful! MJ did so well in middle school and I’m anticipating the same for high school. I had to fill out a school choice form for him to be able to attend the high school that we wanted. I still have to wait another month to find out if it’s approved. I know two other autism moms that have their children at the school and they both love the program and speak highly of the teachers so I’m really praying that we get that school. One concern for me during the IEP meeting was that they wanted to decrease his speech therapy from 90 minutes to 60 minutes. Excuseeeee me! I immediately asked why they wanted to do that and no one could answer me! His speech therapist wasn’t even at the meeting! She had a fill-in instead and this person had never seen MJ for a therapy session. I looked at everyone as though they had five heads and told them, “absolutely not!” I had to keep my composure to make sure that “Nicky from the 305” did not make an appearance! I told them to change it back to 90 minutes, as speech is one of the main things that we know he needs to work on. He still has much better receptive language than expressive language. I’m still baffled by that horrible suggestion. One positive take away was how much better his hand writing has gotten since entering middle school. The occupational therapist was able to show me something that he recently wrote. You can see it below. All in all, the meeting was productive. Once I get approval on the high school, we will all be visiting there to tour the school and meet the teachers. But for now I have to get my mind and spirit ready for the fact that it’shappening…I will soon have a high schooler.

#IEPmeetings

#nickyfromthe305almostcameout

#imgonnahaveahighschooler

#prayersup

#TBT Pics: He Has Come A Long Way!

~ NickyB. ~ 2 Comments

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This was MJ at 3 years old when he was first diagnosed.  He was having fun completing a sorting activity in his special needs Pre-K.  He has always had that smile and has always loved school.

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Yep you guessed it…He needed TWO therapists to assist him at the same time.  This pic is from 2008 (4 years old).  He needed one person to basically hold him down and one therapist to actually do the activity with him.  During those days he would yell, scream, and cry during the first 20 minutes of therapy.

Some people say “it’s not good to look back”, but in this case I am glad that I do.  Looking back is really helping me to see how far he has truly come.  🙂

My Husband…Oh, My Husband!

~ NickyB. ~ 11 Comments

Through the next few years it became increasingly  more difficult for my husband to deal with MJ and his autism diagnosis. NO PEOPLE HE WASN’T IN DENIAL (people love to say this)! He was very much aware of what we were dealing with and he didn’t like it one bit. He came home one day and I could tell something was wrong by the look on his face. I asked “What’s wrong…what happened,” He said, “Today when I dropped MJ off to daycare, three little girls called out to MJ and instead of him going toward them to say ‘hello,’ he ran away from them!” In all seriousness, he speaks his truth about the situation and although it is hard for me to hear at times, I appreciate his honesty. You know they say men do not talk much and they hold in their feelings?!?! Well, NOT THIS GUY. I would love for him to join a support group or see a therapist but he refuses. Maybe one day through prayer he will change his mind. I can honestly say that on some days it is more difficult dealing with my husband’s feelings about this, then it is to deal with MJ!!! I researched and found out that the divorce rates were high for the parents of special needs children. I informed my husband about this and we both looked at each other as if to say “we know why”. When MJ was younger and the constant screaming, banging and throwing toys, and not being able to understand what MJ was saying was happening, there were days that he just had to leave the house for a few. IT WAS HARD TO ENDURE PEOPLE! I never took offense to it…I would rather him leave and re-group, then to do or say something hurtful. Thankfully for us, we are friends. We communicate a lot with each other even when one person is saying something the other doesn’t agree with. We may have to take a break (I put the Vaseline back in the cabinet and put my earrings back on lol) and then continue our conversation, but we make sure that there is some kind of resolve. I remember one conversation where I asked him about “teamwork”. I took the lead with most of the “things” regarding MJ. I knew how this entire situation made him feel and, can I be honest? I knew I would do a better job at it! So, what I could do on my own, I did, while at the same time keeping my husband informed. Teamwork, my husband’s sense of humor, and God is how we have stayed together over the years…Oh and one more thing…our annual “stay married” vacation :-)…