sounds and pics

Right now in speech therapy we're working on getting Rachel to follow a daily routine, i.e. chores and basic self-care. I'm seriously considering writing out routines for a couple of processes Rachel struggles with since the morning routine seems to be working out pretty well so far. However, one of the side-effects of this is that Sarah, who already pretty much follows a routine, got even more into the morning routine than she had been before. So, now I get to deal with her desperate need for structure when she can't find the hairbrush in the morning. Thank goodness she's at the point where I can offer her an alternate brush (and thank goodness we aren't in an environment/situation where sharing brushes would bring on lice... I still don't like it though).

And yes, I admit it's very nice that Sarah has been wanting to get her chores done. :)

We started Rachel on sounds today with the sound "m". She does well overall until she has to hold the sound for any length of time. Then, she tends to substitute by placing her lower lip on her upper teeth. Not sure if it's because of weakness in her lips or the vibration getting to her or both. I'll be consulting my sensory integration stuff this week for ideas.

Sarah's big thing this week is "what if" questions. I'm really glad she's at this point because once she gets to the point where she can consistently predict (or at least make an educated guess) about consequences so much more will open up in the way of possibilities in her education and in life.

I've decided to look over the developmental model for Son-Rise and see if I can't incorporate that with Floortime since the two are so similar. I mention Floortime because one of the women in a group I used to belong to mentioned that Floortime has a more integrated approach to its therapy (i.e. you use the approach in the real world as well as the playroom). So, between herbal formulas/supplements for the family and research for Rachel and Sarah, it looks like I'm going shopping.

Oh, and I hope to review that music therapy program I ordered later on in the week.

And finally, I have the name of a doctor who will respect a parent's wishes regarding vaccinations. A real-live medical doctor. I'm still in a mild state of shock. We might be able to do the equine therapy after all. If time permits. :P

Here are the pics I promised of Rachel's drawing progress.

Okay, so here's a drawing from when Rachel started school in 2007. It was her third year doing a preschool/kindergarten program and she showed very little interest in anything academic. I was just glad she was starting to draw people instead of things or abstract shapes.

This second drawing is from when Rachel started the second half of the school year. As you can see, a sense of proportion is starting to creep in. Because she used pencil for this, you can't tell, but around this time she also started experimenting with multiple colors (never more than four) in her drawings instead of the monochrome I was used to seeing from her.

And this is one she did recently. I'm so amazed and proud of my girl. :) She's come a long way. Both of them have.

Has it really been three months?

It's been a long three months. I found out I'm pregnant, we acquired a puppy, a close relative of mine gave birth and I was involved in the festivities and gifting, and this on top of homeschooling, therapy, and trying to figure out how to get our SR program off the ground, not to mention the daily grind of watching over 6 kids and helping out my husband.

It's been two years and we still don't have anything set up. To say I'm discouraged at this point is a bit of an understatement. So, for just this post, I'm going to rant a bit and indulge in a little self-pity. Feel free to ignore if you like. Following the rant I'll make some goals for summer.

I have had enough. I have been going full tilt since 2000 and eight years of never taking a break is more than enough to press a person to burnout. I haven't been able to get any volunteers (a fair number of calls but no takers) and I don't feel comfortable going through the university when we rent a house. I'd feel much more comfortable if we owned our house and could get it properly set up so the volunteers could be supervised in an adequate environment. Plus, there are a few repairs that need to be done before I even feel comfortable doing any sort of therapy in there (we recently fixed the blinds but the walls need to be painted and our landlord still hasn't fixed the closet door).

So, we've been doing therapy in a more informal way. Except it's getting more and more difficult to do that, especially with all the other recent draws on my time (puppy, pregnancy, etc.). Thank goodness we aren't just doing SR; we've also been using diet and nutrition and those aspects of our home-based program are going strong. In fact, I think a major reason Rachel and Sarah continue to grow is because we haven't focused all our attention on one therapy for them. SR is something I've been excited about ever since we first found out about it, but it's proving next to impossible to get the support we need for it.

Which brings me to my next topic. We haven't been able to find a babysitter. You'd think, with all the young moms in our area that maybe one or two might be willing to get a little extra cash. You know, bring the young ones and just watch five kids for an afternoon (2 hours) twice a week. It can't possibly be that hard. However, apparently when you use any number larger than 2 in reference to the number of children you would like someone to watch people just shrug and say it's too big a job.

It's not. When you have that many kids, they mostly amuse themselves. The only reason a parent is there is to make sure no one pokes their eye out.

Or are young mothers that overwhelmed by motherhood nowadays?

Granted, I've been staying mostly in my own church for this and occasionally talking to people at the university. So, maybe I need a more thorough plan to get our SR program going. I've already gotten an offer to attach our family to a larger group so that we will also be considered a non-profit organization... but the thought of all the legal hassles that might entail just makes me even more tired than before.

And that's what I feel the most right now. Tired. I'm too tired to write anymore, so I'll just go to the goals for this summer.

• Rest. That's a big one right there. Between rest and good food over the next two months, I might be ready for school to start again in August.
• Get the girls' room up to snuff. This means painting the walls and fixing the closet door, even if it means fixing it ourselves (I'd much rather the landlord fix it but you gotta do what you gotta do).
• After the room is in what I consider a therapy-conducive state, make a list of all the local churches and begin putting up ads for babysitters. Also, place ads in the local paper and at the local health food store. (If worse comes to worse there's a babysitting service that recently started up in our area... I might end up using that though I'm not sure if our budget can handle it).
• Here's the most important one. I need to figure out some low-energy way to create more cash flow. Blogging would be one way, but the problem is that the topics for the two blogs I have aren't something I feel comfortable turning into a cash flow site. And I'm not good enough at sewing yet to feel comfortable using that as a money-maker. So, for the next two months, I'm going to list my skills and see if I can't make an extra $500 a month starting in September. That's pretty reasonable, isn't it? Heck, even $100 would be nice. And before anyone thinks that my husband doesn't make enough and should make more, that isn't it. He has always worked very hard for this family and I don't want to take away from that. I just don't feel it's fair to him to shoulder the responsibility of bringing in all the income, especially when the extra we need is such a small amount. However, there's a reason I stated "low-energy" earlier. As I said before, I'm tired. I don't need a way of making money that will take up vast amounts of time I don't have.

And in the interest of making sure I rest, I think that will do it for goals this month. I will also try to post to this blog at least once a week, with a goal for each week in the various areas we're trying to improve so that I make sure we keep doing the SR program informally at the very least.

So, I open the floor. Any ideas on the above goals? And thanks for slogging through my rant. I promise I will do all in my power to make sure it's a long time before I feel the need again.

Oh, and I also got a sensory integration book and a music therapy program. The music therapy program seems to be a bit unnecessary at this point for Sarah, but I think it might really help Rachel who isn't quite as high functioning as her sister. And the sensory integration book will definitely help both of them. I'll review both next week.

Goal for this Week: Responding to unacceptable behaviors by slowing down my own behavior and responding quickly to acceptable behaviors. It's kind of like positive reinforcement except the reinforcement comes from seeing how people are much more likely to respond in the way they want if they behave in a socially acceptable way. Stimming is exempt from this.

Update: Sarah has stopped flapping her arms for her stim. She now has a phrase I can't understand that she chants. It doesn't happen more than a handful of times during the day and because I can't understand the phrase, I feel hesitant joining. So, for now, I'm just going to accept it and work on the above goal. Maybe next week.