The short bus

Last week I had an appointment with the organization that we use for his speech therapy. He is in the family services right now and will be until he is 3 years old. Once he is 3, he will qualify for education services at our elementary school. The woman at the center was telling me the process of signing him up and how the educational services will differ from the family based services. Then I saw as she pointed to the page. Special Education Services. You think my son needs fucking special ed?

In this last year Kennen has been in speech therapy, he has come a long way. The only sound he would make in the beginning is "UH". Seriously. When he said 'Mama' at around 20 months, it was a very happy moment in my life. Slowly, he has made progress and has lots of words now and he speaks in sentences. I'm learning also that I'm just having to remind him that he is saying things incorrectly and give him a chance to try it again. For example if he says "Ow" for 'cow' I will ask him, "Wait, is is "How" or "Cow". He will then usually correct the word with the proper consonant. But if he gets mad, I tell him not to cry and to say 'No more COW mommy'. And then he will say it. I am ninja mommy. Actually, that tip is from our speech therapist. She rocks. Kennen loves her and when she knocked on the door the other day he happily said, "More Holly!" and clapped his hands.

It is still obvious that Kennen needs speech therapy and in most other ways, he is right on track with other kids his age. Still though, we've noticed that Kennen has some delays in motor skills, and motor planning skills. We had an occupational therapist come in to take a look at him. She was so much fun, and she did a thorough shakedown of Kennen...like literally. She was pushing him while he was balancing on a ball to see if he would catch himself when he fell (he didn't). She flipped him all over and again he was just a blob. She also noticed that his balance not strong and that he compensates by propping himself with his hands when he sits. He doesn't need a lot of Occupational Therapy because he can function by himself, feeding himself, going potty and washing his hands, brushing teeth, playing, climbing etc. but that he does have low tone. And there are muscles that connect to the nerves that carry signals from his ears to his brain and if they have low tone, he very well could trouble process what he hears into what he wants to say.

Whew! That was long and boring! I want it here written down so that I can wrap my mind around all that Kennen needs to be the best boy that he can be. And to not be behind in Kindergarten. Oh, and when he goes to the elementary school to get his 'special education' when he is 3, they will pick him up in a teeny tiny bus. A short bus if you will.

Okay, pizza man just brought me some food so I'll make this snappy...

I've decided to become much more proactive in Kennens development so I bought a Yoga Kids DVD (or DDD as Kenny says) and we try to do it once a day. And here is a picture of the cat stretch...aren't we cute?

And of course here is Kimmy-girl and her mangy dog pillow: