Play Scripts

Last night i went to a seminar about "Play scripting" for children with special needs. Jaidens wonderful EIU teacher told me about it and kindly gave me a lift there!
Basically "play scripting" is a bit like a communication board.
You have a series of pictures on an A4 Sheet of paper.
The pictures usually include Facial Expressions- to indicate how the child is feeling , Choices - this might include pictures of Painting, Drawing, Dress Up.. whatever is on offer really.
Say the child indicated they wanted to paint, you could then show them a colour choice board and they can pick the colour they want to use by pointing to the board.
Ok. That was a terrible explanation. Basically Allison (lady running the session) showed us how to extend the play sequences with children by offering them a select number of choices, Say Jane sees a doll, picks it up cuddles it and puts it down, you could encourage Jane to keep playing by asking "whats next?" and pointing to the play script which might have choices like feed the baby, dress the baby, put the baby to bed etc.

You modify the choices depending on the childs level of play skills. Allison teaches a Special Ed class with 6 children with a range of disabilities, from sitting in a chair only able to feel different objects and interact by the odd grunt through to one girl who was playing imaginary games in pirate costume (im not quite sure why she was in that school actually - she looked, talked and played quite "normally". )

All in all although i cant explain it very well i learned alot and im very glad i went.

On a funny note - Jaiden just came up to me and said "mum, its ok. maybe i have a new nose" - the reason for this comment is because he has had a sore on his nose for weeks, its still there because he keeps picking at it and making it bleed. I told him to stop or it will fall off. So now i think he feels it would be easier to have a whole new nose than stop picking the sore on the old one! LOL

The Terrible Twos..

~apologies in advance for the long post~
Jaiden and Lachie are both reaching the terrible twos at the same time...
At 3 1/2 Jaiden likes to lie down on the floor of the supermarket and scream because he wants something or just because he can, and at 17months Lachlan likes to Scream constantly at the supermarket because he wants somthing or he is bored. (i am sure he would lie on the floor kicking and screaming if he wasnt strapped to the shopping trolley!)
As i went to pay for my groceries the otherday the cashier was watching my oh-so-lovely children screaming and i said "im obviously a great mother" and she said that i am obviously not a bad one as i havnt abandoned them in Woolworths!

Lachie has a new repitoir of words including : More, All Gone, No, Mine, Milk, Yes, and 'Ouch!' (this one is usually followed by an evil giggle as the little bugger hits you!)
I am really enjoying Lachie at age - it seems strange to me how much he understands and the way he can answer yes/no questions so definatly.
He enjoys colouring-in and has already pretty much stopped putting small objects in his mouth.
It hits home just how different it was with Jaiden - i knew things wernt quite right, but i had sort of forgotton what Liam had done at what age and everyone told me 'Liam is really bright, dont copare them.' But now i can really see it. Lachlan is doing at 17 months what Jaiden didnt do till closer to 3.
While that makes me sad, its also wonderful to see how far Jaiden has come over the last 8 months - He said his very first sentance at 2years 11months and now he never shuts up granted he echos alot and repeats topics but i never imagined how far he would come over such a short space of time! Im really proud of my little man :)

The Boys

I never put pics on so i thought i would for a change - Jaiden hates posing for photos so liam is telling him to smile for mummy!

This is about as close to a smile as i could get!

good news!

Well, that Echo couldnt have gone any better!
There is NO HOLE!!!
Jaidens valves are all proportionate and at the moment his heart looks great! So thats the best news we have had all year! However the Cardiologist is still concerned about the swelling and tiredness - we had bloodwork done and his kidneys seem fine so unless he gets rapidly worse, we just moniter him.
Also - to add to the good news, The Ear Nose Throat man has decided to leave the Gromits for now and to review in 6months - i really want to avoid anesthesia where possible so this is wonderful :-)
We are heading back to the Paediatrician in August to review development etc and Geneticist Appt in November...

Kids.

Me: Hurry up kiddies!
Lorelai: 'We arnt piggies!'
Liam: 'She said kiddies!!'
Lorelai: 'Oh she said kiddies?!
Liam : 'NO!! i said she said piggies!?'
Me: ???
Jaiden: 'whats your name ?' (looking at me)
Me: ~sigh~ 'its mummy.'
Jaiden: 'Oh, ... I love you mummy.'

....................do i laugh or cry?

Im tired today, i dont know why - i got a good nights sleep, actually a bit too good, i only woke up 10min before Lorelai arrived!
I am both looking forward to and dreading next friday when Jaiden has his Echo.
Part of me is just wanting to get it overwith and move on with life -the other part just wants to put it off so i never have to find out what happens next.
Im hoping we will go in there and the dr will say - oh wait my mistake, he hasnt got a hole at all its just an innocent murmour and carry on as normal.
I have a feeling that wont be the case though. He has been alot more tired recently spending much less time running around like mad and just wandering off and lying on the couch. I hate looking at him resting because he seems to breath so hard, like he was just in a race. Swelling is bad too - the "cheese" aka spongebob watch is fluctuating daily between too loose on the smallest setting and too tight on a few settings up.
I was looking at old photos a minute ago and i really wish we hadnt cut his hair. sigh

SUPRISE!!

Holger and i were out in the garden when the phone rang, "Hi its Nadja"
Now Nadja and Jamie been overseas for 2 years so we love getting phone calls from her and getting to hear about her latest adventures!
So imagine our suprise when we asked her location and she replied "mum and dads, want to come up?"
THEY WERE BACK!!!!
Its been wonderful catching up with them, they have had so many amazing adventures and i cant wait to hear more about it! The kids are thrilled to bits to have "Aunty Nadja" back too. Lachie getting to meet her for the first time. While i dont think Jaiden remembers her - she has certainly given him a good impression - he has been asking all morning "go see nardeea????"
Welcome back guys! We missed you!

Its funny how things throw you into perspective - i must say to read Nancy's blog today "Earth Angel" post , was quite bizarre as i had a very similar encounter the other day at the local shop...A women campaigning for the local government was handing out fliers and my friend took one and noticed a policy on it for an education supplement payment for children with below average test scores, to help them get extra education - My friend commented that it would be great for Jaiden, so i commented back to her that i wonder if it still counts when your child is disabled? - The women campaigning overheard approached me and asked if i had a child with a disability, she looked a little bit excited by this prospect and i was a bit taken aback. When i replied 'Yes' She said she also had a disabled child, she looked so relieved/happy to talk with me and she was easy to speak to. She asked what my child had, i replied he is suspected to have Williams Syndrome, but we are awaiting genetic testing to confirm this - i then told her a bit about Williams and she informed me that her daughter had Retts and told me about it. She also commented on many of the wonderful qualitys her daughter has and how she wouldnt trade her for anything - there was so much love and so much sorrow in her eyes at the same time.I have realised , after this conversation just how lucky i am.If you are to have a child with a disability and you could choose which one i would pick WS. My son is such a Happy Person, everyone adores him - yes he has his share of problems, but god im lucky.