Early Intervention
Jan 18, 2016 15:24:14 GMT -5
Post by littlemissmarla on Jan 18, 2016 15:24:14 GMT -5
We had our early intervention evaluation today and I am pretty sad and upset. It's one thing to think ehh my child might have some delays but when it's official it makes you feel terrible.
She appears to have delays in speech, gross motor and adaptive skills - the evaluators were incredibly nice but through the process it made me realize/feel as though we were contributing to the delays by so many things we do.
I'm so glad they gave us some tools to start with now and they are recommending, OT, PT and Speech therapy. I'm trying to process this all and am ready to do whatever we need to do to help Z hit these milestones.
I wanted to share some of the tips they gave me because I was blown away by how they totally make sense and this will help so I don't forget what we need to be doing.
-Stop using a sippy cup and start practicing with an open cup and get her to use a straw. Sippy cup is still promoting the sucking behavior of a bottle. They recommended this and I just ordered on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H3V1RUG?keywords=bear%20bottle%20kit&qid=1453147536&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
-work on getting rid of the binky.
-Take all the toys off of the floor and bring them up on tables or even put a chair out and have them on the chair. On the floor is promoting her crawling around.
-Get rid of toys that just have buttons to push as it is repetitive behavior.
-When we are doing anything with her, like a puzzle for instance, take the piece and hold it up to our faces so that she starts looking at us more because she can't learn to mimic sounds or talk if she is not watching our mouths.
-WALK everywhere, no more carrying. Don't hold her arms over her head when she's walking because she can't bear weight properly, hold them lower in front of her or hold her by her trunk.
-Limit screen time
-Give her choices, they don't have to make sense for instance - if she wants her milk, hold up her milk and a bottle of ketchup and say "Do you want your milk or do you want the ketchup." So she will start recognizing words with specific things.
-Change play from cause and effect to more puzzles and pretend play.
-Stop handing her things and encourage her to reach more for what she wants. This goes back to holding things by our faces, give her choices with puzzles pieces/toys..etc.
-Don't give associations, give words. So don't go and get her coat and keys and say we are going our because she already associates those things with going out. Use words first and then go for the coat and always explain what you are doing.
-Start helping her pierce food with her fork and scoop with her spoon, rather than just handing the fork w/food over to her.
New info:
-Rotate toys and only keep out 1-2 puzzles at a time until child masters them. This goes for all types of toys.
-Every Activity has a beginning and an End. Make sure whatever activity you start with the child you have them help you put it away and help clean up.
-Toys that require the child to keep their attention in order to "make it work," for instance the little tykes piano - are really good. The child has to physically sit there and press each key as opposed to pressing a button and it doing all the work for them
-If your child is having trouble with pressing down on crayons to understand that they "do something", start out using a marker because it doesn't take much force to get a mark on the paper and once they grasp that concept you can go back to crayons.
-You can do activities in the highchair when they are contained, before or after eating where their focus is right around them.
If I think of anymore I will keep adding to this list!
Awesome Websites I am coming across:
www.playingwithwords365.com/
She appears to have delays in speech, gross motor and adaptive skills - the evaluators were incredibly nice but through the process it made me realize/feel as though we were contributing to the delays by so many things we do.
I'm so glad they gave us some tools to start with now and they are recommending, OT, PT and Speech therapy. I'm trying to process this all and am ready to do whatever we need to do to help Z hit these milestones.
I wanted to share some of the tips they gave me because I was blown away by how they totally make sense and this will help so I don't forget what we need to be doing.
-Stop using a sippy cup and start practicing with an open cup and get her to use a straw. Sippy cup is still promoting the sucking behavior of a bottle. They recommended this and I just ordered on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H3V1RUG?keywords=bear%20bottle%20kit&qid=1453147536&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
-work on getting rid of the binky.
-Take all the toys off of the floor and bring them up on tables or even put a chair out and have them on the chair. On the floor is promoting her crawling around.
-Get rid of toys that just have buttons to push as it is repetitive behavior.
-When we are doing anything with her, like a puzzle for instance, take the piece and hold it up to our faces so that she starts looking at us more because she can't learn to mimic sounds or talk if she is not watching our mouths.
-WALK everywhere, no more carrying. Don't hold her arms over her head when she's walking because she can't bear weight properly, hold them lower in front of her or hold her by her trunk.
-Limit screen time
-Give her choices, they don't have to make sense for instance - if she wants her milk, hold up her milk and a bottle of ketchup and say "Do you want your milk or do you want the ketchup." So she will start recognizing words with specific things.
-Change play from cause and effect to more puzzles and pretend play.
-Stop handing her things and encourage her to reach more for what she wants. This goes back to holding things by our faces, give her choices with puzzles pieces/toys..etc.
-Don't give associations, give words. So don't go and get her coat and keys and say we are going our because she already associates those things with going out. Use words first and then go for the coat and always explain what you are doing.
-Start helping her pierce food with her fork and scoop with her spoon, rather than just handing the fork w/food over to her.
New info:
-Rotate toys and only keep out 1-2 puzzles at a time until child masters them. This goes for all types of toys.
-Every Activity has a beginning and an End. Make sure whatever activity you start with the child you have them help you put it away and help clean up.
-Toys that require the child to keep their attention in order to "make it work," for instance the little tykes piano - are really good. The child has to physically sit there and press each key as opposed to pressing a button and it doing all the work for them
-If your child is having trouble with pressing down on crayons to understand that they "do something", start out using a marker because it doesn't take much force to get a mark on the paper and once they grasp that concept you can go back to crayons.
-You can do activities in the highchair when they are contained, before or after eating where their focus is right around them.
If I think of anymore I will keep adding to this list!
Awesome Websites I am coming across:
www.playingwithwords365.com/