Summer Vacation Week 1 - Relaxation

School just closed and Sripathi had appointments with a series of doctors. After all the check ups we decided to take a few days off to relax at Texas Hill Country. With recommendations from our pediatrician we visited Rainbow Hearth. It was a quaint and cute, but since the terrain was too steep and rocky we could not go far with a wheelchair. After we returned we just relaxed that week. Sripathi went for water therapy and regular PT and OT. that;s about all. Oh and we went to the library to pick up over 10 books about dogs as next theme for the summer vacation week is Dogs.

says Homemade Puppet Show

With ideas I picked up from school and other internet resources I came up with a puppet show for my son. His puppet theater is named after him "Sripathi's Silly-pets". And my son had an active role in bringing this puppet show live. Remember my son has severe hypotonia, cortical visual impairment and global development delays, so basically he was not completely aware that he is doing some 'behind the screen' activity for his puppet company and yet he did it!

Basically I used Foam boards and duct tape to make the puppet stage. (less than $10)

And yes I added lights and curtains to just fancy up the experience. 

And the main part, that is the characters were all made by Sripathi. Okay the trick was to printout outlines of all the animal characters. Due to CVI he needs more texture to understand the outline before finger painting, so I used fabric paint over the outline and let it dry overnight. Once all the characters are ready I laminated the pictures and cut them out. I then used Velcro to stick them to foam board sticks that I used to prop them from behind the theater.

(I already had a laminator ($30 on amazon), just have to buy additional sheets otherwise the cost of lamination at fedex kinkos was too much for a single sheet. You cannot skip this step as otherwise the paper would curl up and spoil the show!)

Enjoy the show its based on Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" 

says Why understanding the Like/Dislikes of a child is important for intervention

I'm sure we've heard about this and do consider this as an important factor but how to we make sure we implement it? Keeping a record and revising the goals accordingly will help us help the child.

http://www.wsdsonline.org/video-library/deaf-blind-videos/likes-dislikes/
Please visit the Washington Sensory Disability Services website for further details on why it is important to know your child's preferences.
The website provides short videos explaining how adding meaning to an activity based on the child's likes motivates them to achieve a realistic goal.
Also remember to download the Like/Dislikes form provided on the same page to help you understand your child's preferences.

says Cuevas Medek Exercise

We've been away from home for over 10 days trying a new form of physical therapy for Sripathi. Thanks to Aubri from www.littlebearsees.org who had tried this form of therapy for her son. She gave a good idea about the therapy and how it had helped Lukas. So here we are now in New Jersey trying the same for Sripathi and learning a home program from Azriel to continue back at home. I have to say some of the exercises were like magic when Azriel could make Sripathi sit unsupported for a few seconds. The best part about Medek is the child's reflex develops, it was amazing to see Sripathi showing signs of discomfort and shock when he knows that he might fall or lose balance in certain positions.   

We may not be able to perform all the steps that Azriel did with Sripathi, but I'm sure we have a good set of exercises for our home program. And in the next 2 days we'll have everything planned out. It is tiring like any form of physical therapy but we've found that even when Sripathi is tired he can still manage to show signs of holding his head with some support.
I'll come back with further details on the goals and take aways from this program.
You may visit www.novogrow.com for details about Medek therapy services provided by Mr.Azriel Novogroder in NJ.

says Living through Sensory Integration

The "Sensory processing" has been discussed at least once a week with parents, therapists, doctors around children with special needs. I always thought that sensory processing was necessary for a child or for that matter any human being to learn the world around them, learn how to live in this real world.
So all I was trying to do was a routine, a pattern, a therapy with sensory integration with my son. And recently I heard the TED talk by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (apparently this talk was one of the 20 most watched) and also I watched the entire soul series show of Dr.Taylor with Oprah.
Dr. Taylor a neuroanatomist brain scientist and survivor of a stroke that damaged the left hemisphere of her brain. I want to read her book "My stroke of insight", but I didn't want to wait to share what I heard.

Truly as parents and care givers we have provided the sensory input that is currently helping our special children to move on in their lives. But I hope this could extend to all care providers, just about anybody they meet in their lives. And I'm sure we can help with in this process. After listening to Dr.Taylor I can clearly understand why my son behaves the way he behaves with the different people in his life. Wow! I hope you all find the time to listen to her. I'm so glad I did and the perspective I've gained is invaluable.

Here are the links
TED Talk show with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

Oprah's Soul Series with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Part 1 http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Jill-Bolte-Taylor-on-Oprahs-Soul-Series-Video
Part 2 http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Oprahs-Talk-with-Jill-Bolte-Taylor-Part-2-Video
Part 3 http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Oprahs-Talk-with-Jill-Bolte-Taylor-Part-3-Video
Part 4 http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Oprahs-Talk-with-Jill-Bolte-Taylor-Part-4-Video

If you feel pressed for time please watch the last 2 parts of the series at least!

says Music Therapy

We started Music therapy long back for Sripathi but unfortunately he could not continue to receive the same with a therapist as it was not feasible to measure his progress as he was the least interactive. So we ended the service with a therapist. But as we found that we son loved music even otherwise we decided to keep classical music running around the background at home. Thanks to WRR serving the Dallas/Fort worth area at 101.1 FM!

It was not long since we started this method and one day Sripathi's Vision Coordinator Ms. Duffy visited him to initiate services through DARS Division for Blind services. Listening to the radio, she asked if Sripathi enjoyed classical music. I told her the truth that we cannot quantify or qualify in anyway but we definitely know that he loves music by his body language and his mood. His hands and legs are active and he is either smiling or shows signs of listening.

It's over 100 F here in Dallas, he is happy with both the air conditioner and diaper on. And of course classical music on the ipod.

 

 

  
Thanks to DARD DBS and Ms. Duffy who sent Sripathi several CD's of Classical music organized based on categories such as relaxation, concentration, inspiration and such. I uploaded these to the ipod and he enjoys them.
These CD's are from ABT Advanced Brain Technologies. Please visit their website http://www.advancedbrain.com/ to get more information on these music therapy CD's.
  

Music not necessarily classical or folk or instrumental just anything thing that makes sound, the dangling of the beads in rhythm is also nice to the ears and every child's ears rather everybody's ears deserve good music.

Here's to my handsome boy loving music and loving milk... forever.

 

Here are some resources to receive formal music therapy in Dallas Metroplex

1. Hugworks Music Therapy http://www.hugworks.org/

2. Heartbeat Music Therapy by Janice Lindstorm http://topmusictherapist.com/

Janice hosts a Music therapy show on Blog Talk Radio every Friday at 12 noon Eastern/11 am Central/10 am Mountain/9 am Pacific/1700 GMT.

3. Southwestern Music Therapy http://www.southwesternmusictherapy.com/

says happy birthday West Penn School for the Blind

We are happy to say that we were honored to meet Dr.Christine Roman-Lantzy and Dr. Alan Lantzy last week. Dr.Roman reviewed Sripathi's CVI Range and gave us valuable suggestions on intervention.

As part of the 125th anniversary of Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the CVI visions of Change conference. We learned how to adapt our current intervention to be even more beneficial for our son. They had organized for lectures by Sandra Newcomb on how we can ensure our children get the right intervention when they go to school. A very moving, emotional and inspiring speech by Jeni Stepanek. Ofcourse a very informative lecture on Neuroplasticity by Dr. Al Lantzy.

I was also given a great opportunity to share this blog and all the intervention methods we are trying at home for Sripathi. So yes Little Idea Log was also part of the conference. And I’m so happy that I could share those moments with Aubri who represented Little Bear Sees. It was an honor to be featured in their book "Little Bear Sees" An amazing resource book on CVI for parents by parents. Please visit Amazon.com or Barns and Nobel’s for purchase a copy of this book.

Every day we learn to teach our child and everybody we meet in this journey has taught us something. So thanks to all. And especially for the past couple of days I want to thank Dr. Christine Roman and Ms. Beth Ramella for considering us and giving us this chance to be a part of such a significant event.