Duke's School

 I honestly cannot say enough wonderful and amazing things about the program that Duke is in. I often wonder what would have happened with him if we had moved to Missouri instead of Kansas. Everything that Duke has enrolled in has been free and they have been OUTSTANDING programs. We have been so blessed beyond measure and I am so thankful!

In this 4 day a week program they do a ton of different activities with different themes from week to week. The teachers also try to keep you in touch as much as possible, which is difficult given the number of students so I am grateful for that. These are some pictures that they have sent us from class time. 

Duke's vocabulary grows more and more each week. It is so difficult for him but he is simply thriving in this program. Currently he can count to 13, he knows most of his colors, knows lots of songs and is stringing together three word phrases. Not everything is accurate but his approximations are wonderful!

Considering the fact that Duke wasn't even making sounds such as b-b-b or ma-ma-ma, I am just so proud of him. Apraxia is hard, it takes patience every day from the entire family but mostly from this sweet boy. He has come such a long way and I am so excited to see where he will go. Way to go Duke!

Duke's Tea Party

 Duke has always been this strong silent type of kid who loves to play with you but just isn't exactly sure how to do it. He loves to do what you are doing but initiating play is where he struggles. Because of his apraxia and speech delay a lot of the "pretend play" got delayed a bit. He is working on playing and cause and effect things at school and when he ivited me to have "unch" (lunch) with him I was so excited! 

 He started by using the oven mitt to get the pizza out. 

Then he set up the tea set, matching the plates and naming the purple and yellow after Mama's example but did "pink" all on his own. 

He then sat down and poured the tea and shared the pizza! Then he put the pizza back and got out some other foods and we worked on saying those names. He was very interested and had no problem repeating after me with approximations after my example.

Then when he was done he decided to clean up and wash the dishes. And while I know that most of you are reading this and saying, really lady? My kid has been doing that since they were one. I know. But this was huge for Duke and it was such a wonderful reminder to me that I  really need to have more one on one time with my little man!! I am so proud of him and how far he has come in such a short period of time!

Duke's First Day of School

Duke has really been struggling with his transition into a speech therapy program where I am not with him. His speech therapist Mrs. Cole, asked if he was in a preschool at all. I told her no and she HIGHLY recommended that we find one for him. So I began the search. Most preschools are very structured where they learn ABC's and colors and so on and while I fully support that, it was just too advanced for Duke. There was no way he was going to sit at a desk for an hour at a time to "work" when we are just starting to get two syllables out of him. So we decided to go for a Mother's Day Out Program, once a week from 8-3. I pick him up at 1:30 so that he can skip nap time there and take a nap at home.

While I am fully aware that he needs to learn how to deal with other people, and learn to follow rules and work with other children, I was just not ready for him to literally grow up over night. I know this is right, and I know it will make him improve but I just figured I had another year at least before I sent him off to be a big boy! 

At first it was hard for him for me to leave and his still whimpers as I walk out the door but I have seen so much improvement over the last few weeks! Seriously a game changer. We are currently seeing if he can get into a 4 day a week 11/2 program that will have a speech therapist in the classroom with him at all times! WHAT?! Talk about a game changer! Fingers and toes crossed that he is accepted. 4 days a week will be crazy but it is exactly what he needs and I am just hoping we qualify! 

So many changes in this home! Welcome to the school year! ;)

Duke Speech Therapy - Week 9

Duke is trying to say more words but isn't always accurate. Sounds heard include: /t/, /s/ interdentalized, /b/, t/ch, /g/, /d/, /k/, /t/, /n/. /p/, 0/l, /m/, /h/, /wow/

Bath = "bah", pool = "puh", pie = "Bye". Bike = "bah", March = "mah", make = "mah", book = "boh", down= :duh", shirt = ". Momma = "mama", pop = "pop", boat = "bow", mail = mah", paint = "puh", pool = "puh", moo = "moo" milk = "muh",

Long vowels - /a/, /e/, /o/, /u/, /i/

Daddy = "dada", and open = "o". He is not matching # off syllables.

Duke is attempting more and more, but isn't always able to be accurate. We talked about Childhood Apraxia of Speech and the inability to motor play accurately. Duke's receptive language skills appear intact and he appears to understand everything we are asking of him. Expressively he is still pretty trapped. We started the Easy Does it Apraxia of Speech for preschoolers and he is able to imitate most age appropriate sound in isolation and the long vowel sounds as well. He struggles with blending the long vowel with the consonant sound - Today we introduced the Kauffman cards and I left with mom the Level 1 cards kit 1 CVCV with same consonants and vowels as in the words (bye bye - or Moo moo). I also left the CVCV with different vowels and same consonants - as in the words (mommy, daddy, turtle). I also left the VC pictures as in the words (up, on in off). To get his attention when he is distracted I say, "eyes Duke", then Duke looks at me and I am able to try to give him cue to imitate the sound accurately.

This was our last therapy session before we leave for Vegas for a month. We will work on sounds, the new cards and just trying to work more words into his routine. 

Duke Speech Therapy - Week 8

Duke will attempt to imitate the CV of the last word heard within her request. I will ask do you want shoes? He will say, "shoo". He is attempting to imitate the first part of most words I ask him to say. He is not yet saying them spontaneously. Goal is met - he will ask for mama versus screaming for me form another room. WOOOHOOO!

I went through Duke's sounds and words and he is attempting everything. His ability to recast is also improving. Sounds he said today include: /h/, /m/, /b/, /p/, /t/, /d/, /n/, /g/, /k/,/s/. He tries /l/ but has some tongue tip elevation, but struggles with manner. /ch/ is more like a /d/ /f/ sound is more like a aspirated / p/ sound. He is struggling with his accuracy. 

Since we are going out of town we are piling on the work. We have several new cards to work on such as outside, cracker, cheese, juice, pear, apple ect. Our goal this week is for him to say DADDY!! And really work on "open."

Duke Speech Therapy - Week 7

After all of the progress Duke was making we seemed to have hit a wall. He still repeats sounds but will not form words. This week during therapy Duke had a cold and was cranky. He worked for a bit and then he shut down. This week we are going to continue his words and try to get him to call for me instead of just yelling or me just coming. 

Duke Speech Therapy - Week 6

This week we met with a PT consultant to look at Duke's feet for inserts. We weren't able to work on words because he was so distracted. During the week we tried to do words and he was able to the first consonant and the vowel but no final consonant (ie. /b/o/ for book) We are to continue to work on his sounds and words. 

Duke's Speech Therapy - Week 5

This week something just clicked! Duke and I worked on his flash cards and he did a great job of imitating me. I will hold up a picture and demonstrate and he will imitate me.  he is able to produce /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/, /p/, /s/, /h/, /w/. He is able to imitate the long vowel: /I/, /o/, /a/. He attempts to produce: /r/, /y/, /l/, /ch/, /sh/, /u/ and /e/. I was soooo proud of him! Leaps and bounds ahead of just last week!

We worked on his sounds with Kathy and then they played peek-a-boo barn and tried to get him to imitate the animal sounds. Kathy will be sending us pictures with single syllable workd on them (boat, book, bye, boy, Mom, make, pie, Pop, ect.) We will try to work those into his routine as well! So proud of you Duke!!

Duke's Speech Therapy - Week 4

This week Duke wasn't very responsive to his turtle cards. He got frustrated easily and didn't want to work. We went into the play room and played. We try to  narrate but he does not attempt to copy us at all. We got out a mirror and tried getting him to see where his lips, tongue, and articulates are. He attempted to put on chap stick but insisted on putting it on his cheeks. Such a silly boy. We tried making happy and sad faces, trying to get him to imitate us but he wanted nothing to do with that. We want him to become more aware of his face and how to move his muscles to get appropriate sounds.this week we are to work in the mirror and work on his expressions. Also trying to get him to ask for help and use words he does know and add a few signs such as thirsty, drink, eat, book and so on. 

Duke's Speech Therapy - Week 3

This week Duke did really well with signing help and working on that m/ sound. He doesn't do it on his own but will demonstrate it accurately when prompted. He gets frustrated when he's not understood, especially when he is trying so hard. He wasn't fond of me inserting myself into his play, but at times it was successful. This week we were given turtles and sounds on Popsicle sticks and he is to attempt to repeat the sounds combined with a sign. He got really upset when we asked him to say o/ and he would respond with m/ since that is what we worked on all week. We have all of the vowels and the h/, m/ and b/ sounds since he does use those when he babbles. When we ask him to mimic us he ends up growling or giving non verbal sounds. So this week we are to attempt adding in more sounds.

Duke Speech Therapy - Week 2

Duke responded really well to learning the m/, sound and would do it anytime you asked for something. This week we went downstairs to play with different toys. We learned how to set up a JAR a Joint Activity Routine has 4 parts to it 1) What are you going to play with 2) what are you going to teach, 3) How can you expand that play and change it up 4) close up the activity and put it away. We worked with several different JARS (marbles, and I worked on saying "more" with an /m/ sound but Duke does a raspberry or a /b/ sound for /m/) We played with cups and stacking them and I took and turn and Duke took a turn, but he wants all of the turns and gets up set when we change things up. We played with the puzzle game, but Duke again wants to play with object toys in his own way and gets up set with us when we insert ourselves into the play. We played the motor boat game with his feet and he asked for more by handing me his feet and he said, "boh" for boat several times. He loves the face to face games. We worked on signing "help" which is the fist on the palm of one hand and then move the fist up. Duke needed us to show him how to sign it but he caught on pretty quickly. This week we are to work on inserting myself into his play and really working on that m/ sound. We are also working on him signing more as a method of communication.

Duke's Speech Therapy - Week 1

Duke has just started speech therapy and we are so excited! He is very active and super independent just wanting to do his own thing. He plays really well on his own and we have our own form of "communication" which includes absolutely no words, but we understand each other. He can hear just fine and responds to commands and understands exactly what is going on around him but like I said without words. The words he currently does know are up, please (pea), chase (ase), cheese (eess), Ma, and other non verbal sounds that we accept as words. This week we met with the speech therapist who comes to our home. Her name is Kathy and I really like her! She gave us an assignment where we would attempt to mimic each other back and forth and see how many times we could go back and forth. She also wanted us to work on the "mmm" sound for more, mine, milk ect. Duke seemed pretty interested in this so we'll see how it goes!