CHAMP Camp Day 3

Abby planned a ton of cool experiments for Luke, as well as literacy based activities this week. He used the frog in this picture to hit a lily pad target (with sight words). The reading specialist in me was elated!!! And the mama in me was beyond proud of his efforts to "read" this week. 

I loved Abby's flexibility with Luke. She knew his learning style and played to his interests. I can't say enough about her patience and her adaptability. 

Therapy is hard work. And since Luke has been in therapy for so long, he shows signs of being therapatized. He knows the tricks of the trade and attempts to use his smarts to outwit and escape if he can. Abby rolled with it and even came up with activities "on the fly" to keep his attention and divert his attempts at getting out of practice.  I cannot say enough nice things about her. She made therapy fun, meaningful and memorable. 

After Day 3 of CHAMP, we headed across the street and had lunch at Tonic.

Great food and even better company. 

Tomorrow is graduation and although we are ready to get back home to our girl, we are going to miss DC and our friends from camp.

He Hears Our Prayers....and Answers LOUD and Clear.

God definitely hears our prayers. 

Throughout this journey I have claimed that none of Luke's progress has to do with us and everything to do with God. 

This is an email that I received today from our private speech therapist at More Than Words Pediatric Rite Care Clinic.  We speak briefly before and after sessions, along with scheduled conferences....but she wrote today to specifically tell me how AMAZING he was in speech therapy today.

Wow, what a great session!! He was in great spirits and very focused. I started
by tracking his production of /l/ both in CV (consonant-vowel) and VC syllables using the Speech EZ forms.

He did a terrific job with the CV with just a little vowel distortion. As you might have guessed,
the VC was much more difficult.

It's difficult for him to coordinate the tongue movement from a vowel position back to the /l/ placement, which requires his tongue to touch behind his front teeth.

B/c he was so cooperative today, we were able to do some intensive oral motor awareness work with the mirror and with me modeling the tongue position. He did very well when I cued him to "touch
behind your teeth with your thumb." (This was easier for him to do than touch
with his index finger). I cued him to "press up hard!" so that he could really feel where his tongue was supposed to go. Then, after this, I cued him for tongue placement there. This is coming and I'm going to make a point of starting the session (or trying to) with this exercise until it's easier for him.

He LOVED using the dollhouse. I've found a variety of furniture and little dolls to use
with so he didn't know what to expect. This is very important to engaging him: the element
of the "unknown."

Using the hand cue for /h/, I prompted him to imitate a variety of sentences
including "He goes here." "He has mail." We did a little with the "sh" in "she," too e.g. "She goes here."

Also, continued work on the voiced "th" in the carrier phrase "I see the _______" re: different
toys in the dollhouse.

Overall, a marvelous session.

I was pleased that he tolerated the slimy creatures in the bucket, too. It didn't seem to bother him too much!

Have a great day!

Giving GOD the GLORY and praising JESUS for His healing powers!  Keep those prayers coming.  We feel completely covered in prayer!!!