Changes Over the Summer

This summer has been busy as ever and I wanted to fill everyone in on the latest....

Kendal is continuing to make great strides in speech therapy - she is making more sounds, beginning to use a few of her signs without prompting, and even trying to say phrases like "I love you". I have to give HUGE credit to our speech therapist, Ashley Carlson. She is amazing with Kendal and knows how to get the most out of her. She's worked with Kendal for about 16 months now and we are blessed to have her in our lives.

One of the newest developments with Kendal has been that we have had to hire a private aide to be with Kendal during the day at her daycare. Kendal requires constant attention (due to pica, aggressive behaviors, and inability to do tasks by herself)and the daycare obviously is not equipped to provide such individualized care that Kendal requires. The daycare has been amazing and has constantly provided support to help Kendal and our family. Her aide right now is a young girl that recently graduated from high school and is now attending college in hopes of getting a degree to work with special needs children. I was scared Kendal would scare her away from her desired occupation!!! Kendal has challenged her, but absolutely loves her. The aide keeps Kendal on target at school by making sure she engages in appropriate play with her peers, works on academic work by doing hand-over-hand, potty-training, and following directions. Again, we are blessed to be able to find just the right people to work with us!

Kendal also started school back in the local elementary school for the pre-school special education program. The permanent teacher is back in session and she is doing an amazing job. We are really excited about the constant activities that they have going on in the classroom and the aides that work in the classroom. These people do the work they do because of their love of special needs children. All these people that work with Kendal on a weekly basis are helping her so much!!!