Speech/Language/Eating Therapy Evaluation

Another step - Today we first met with Kimi's urologist about the urodynamics test a week ago, and afterward, had Kimi's speech/language/eating therapy evaluation. Kimi's urologist again said Kimi's kidneys are healthy, adding further confirmation to the renal ultrasound results she had awhile back. But we won't have the complete picture until she has her MRI next Tuesday, when we find out whether or not she has a tethered spinal cord and if her initial surgery was 100% complete.

Next, we spent 90 minutes with the speech/language/eating therapists. To begin working on language, they had a big green button that, when pressed, said "Go!". The idea was for Kimi to press the button when she wanted something to "go". First, the therapist blew bubbles and she and Kimi popped them as they fell. If Kimi wanted more bubbles, she had to press the big green "go" button, and the therapist would blow more bubbles to pop. After Kimi got tired of that "game", the therapist got out a bunch of little wind-up toys that ran down fairly quickly. Whenever Kimi wanted one wound up again, she had to press the "go" button and the therapist would wind one up again. Kimi caught on to all this VERY quickly. The therapist said Kimi is VERY smart! Next session, they plan to begin working with pictures. She said she has experience with other children without language at this age, and believes Kimi is going to learn quickly. I certainly hope that is true, as it will relieve much of Kimi's frustration when she wants her needs met and isn't able to tell us what her needs are.

Regarding her eating, they said our success in getting her transitioned to sippy cups from bottles is HUGE! They will work with her more on this at our next therapy session. But, again, they don't think this will be a long-term problem, which was SO encouraging to this mom!

At the end of the session, she was putting this funny little ring with marbles in it on her head, kind of like a halo, letting it fall off and letting out a big belly-laugh each time it slipped off! Then she put it on my head and laughed even harder when it fell off of mine! Her level of interaction with others is amazing, considering where she was just over two months ago.

Almost as soon as we got in the car to go home, she fell asleep, exhausted from her big day. She is SUCH a precious little lamb!