Sunday, July 20, 2014
Monday, December 20, 2010
Aaron's Artwork
T-Rex drawing - my favorite! - and "Levinson." Aaron is so proud of his writing - he can write his first name clearly now and write/recognize lots of other letters.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
First meet of the year
Luke's coach was absolutely right - having Luke do level 4 again was a wonderful decision. He was confident and placed 2nd overall in his age group (out of 7 boys), and all but one of his events were in the top three. He won vault. It was also encouraging to see the growth from last year:
Floor - 14.2 (2010), 13.4 (2009)
Pommel - 13.5 (2010), 7.2 (2009)
Rings - 14.5 (2010), 13.9 (2009)
Parallel bars - 14.4 (2010), 10.0 (2009)
High bar - 14.1 (2010), 13.4 (2009)
Vault - 15.1 (2010), 13.9 (2009)
* Video will go to full screen - just click on the 4 arrows on the bottom right below the video *
Floor - 14.2 (2010), 13.4 (2009)
Pommel - 13.5 (2010), 7.2 (2009)
Rings - 14.5 (2010), 13.9 (2009)
Parallel bars - 14.4 (2010), 10.0 (2009)
High bar - 14.1 (2010), 13.4 (2009)
Vault - 15.1 (2010), 13.9 (2009)
* Video will go to full screen - just click on the 4 arrows on the bottom right below the video *
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Aaron - assessment & diagnostic appointment
At Aaron's 4 year check up Rich and I were concerned about his difficult behavior and wondered if he's on track developmentally. The pediatrician referred us to Square One with Dr. Axelrod, a pediatrician who speciallizes in developmental and psychological assessments for children. She did several rating scales with us and Aaron's teacher, a physical and neurological exam, an hour long observation and screening with Aaron and the child psychologist, and a clinical interview with us. She also referred us for an additional speech assessment.
We met with Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Causey (child psych) last week. Aaron meets criteria for ADD, in attention and emotional regulation. They said that they did debate over this as a diagnosis and said that as he matures and we have more information, the diagnosis may change somewhat. They are concerned about a mood disorder. His IQ is normal and his speech is typical for a 4 year old - both causes for celebration because we've worried about a cognitive delay and he had an expressive speech delay as a toddler. He still has low motor tone in his upper body and sensory integration concerns.
We have some direction now. They are recommending one-on-one work with a child psychologist (checking Humana for out-of-network expenses for the one we'd like to use) to work on his frustration tolerance, self-help, and social skills, plus work with Rich and I on how we parent him. We are also going to continue with the occupational therapist at Green Hill for sensory integration, so Aaron will get to continue riding horses and she also does a lot of work on fine motor skills and self-help, such as buttons, zippers, etc.
Medication is an option. Dr. Axelrod suggested re-evaluating medication after about three months of therapy to see where he is on mood and frequency of tantrums at home. Her concern is his developing self image and typical mood, that it's not healthy for him to be consistently frustrated and out-of-control.
I was surprised by ADD as the initial diagnosis - my fear was that he would be on the Autism spectrum with either Asbergers or PDD. Dr. Axelrod said that his early speech delay probably has slowed down his development socially with his peers.
We met with Dr. Axelrod and Dr. Causey (child psych) last week. Aaron meets criteria for ADD, in attention and emotional regulation. They said that they did debate over this as a diagnosis and said that as he matures and we have more information, the diagnosis may change somewhat. They are concerned about a mood disorder. His IQ is normal and his speech is typical for a 4 year old - both causes for celebration because we've worried about a cognitive delay and he had an expressive speech delay as a toddler. He still has low motor tone in his upper body and sensory integration concerns.
We have some direction now. They are recommending one-on-one work with a child psychologist (checking Humana for out-of-network expenses for the one we'd like to use) to work on his frustration tolerance, self-help, and social skills, plus work with Rich and I on how we parent him. We are also going to continue with the occupational therapist at Green Hill for sensory integration, so Aaron will get to continue riding horses and she also does a lot of work on fine motor skills and self-help, such as buttons, zippers, etc.
Medication is an option. Dr. Axelrod suggested re-evaluating medication after about three months of therapy to see where he is on mood and frequency of tantrums at home. Her concern is his developing self image and typical mood, that it's not healthy for him to be consistently frustrated and out-of-control.
I was surprised by ADD as the initial diagnosis - my fear was that he would be on the Autism spectrum with either Asbergers or PDD. Dr. Axelrod said that his early speech delay probably has slowed down his development socially with his peers.
Thanksgiving
For us it's a relatively travel-free Thanksgiving - a quiet Thanksgiving at our house with Momma and Pappa, happily napping and decorating for Christmas in the afternoon. Yesterday we drove north of Cincinatti to a resort, Great Wolf Lodge. The big attraction is an enormous indoor water park with lots of slides, a wave pool, and - ahhhhhh - two hot tubs big enough to swim in. Aaron has been a riot, laughing the whole way down the slide and swimming independently with a life vest for boyancy.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Happy 54th
We celebrated Rich's birthday today at Huber Farm in Indiana - pumpkin patch, a tractor-wagon ride, and lots of sweet baby goats. Unfortunately Rich has a cold so he didn't feel great, but it was a lovely, warm fall day.
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