Speech Therapy 3/19 and 3/26

Audrey continues to work very hard during speech therapy!  She is practicing her blowing and exercising her mouth with whistles, bubbles, putting on chapstick, allowing some brushing on her inner cheeks and tongue and trying to imitate oral movements such as sticking out her tongue. During the past two weeks Audrey has been working on increasing her vocabulary with farm animals and mealtime supplies (spoon, cup, fork, plate, pot/bowl).  She plays appropriately with all of her kitchen supplies.  She is working on matching puzzle pieces to the matching board picture.  In order to work on choosing objects Audrey has been choosing song cards.  She "picked one" 5/10 times.  We have also been using a "Audrey's Photo book" to work on pointing to pictures on a page.  Her favorite page is a picture of Adam!  Audrey is also working on following one step directions (i.e. clap hands, make a sound, wiggle fingers).  She was able to do this 3/10 times.   Expressively we are still working on imitating some consonant vowel sounds.  Audrey imitated duck with "du-du-du" and "more" with "mu". We are also using our signs to get Audrey's wants and needs met. She continues to sign "more" spontaneously in a variety of situations.  The next signs we would like to see her use are "all done" and "open"!  Thanks for checking in on Audrey's great progress!  Liz

OT March 17 and 21

Audrey loves to throw...and she is really good at it. Between throwing, she was able to stack 2 one inch cubes and put foam shapes on a peg (2 times purposefully). She is pointing and loves putting pegs in holes. We are working on colors while we do our activities. She is a pro at putting little marbles in a water bottle, but doesn't always use her pincer grasp (we are working on that). Also working on basic shape puzzles. Audrey will stay in a 4-point position for 5-20 seconds while watching TV. She will pop herself up onto extended arms to assume the position that is only made tolerable by Lilo and Stitch. She's done a great job in OT and loves making choices.

Speech Therapy 3/5 and 3/12

Audrey has done a great job during her last two speech therapy sessions! During our oral motor exercises she is putting the whistles and horns to her mouth and stabilizes them with her teeth.  We are working on strengthening those lips so that she can gain lip closure.   Audrey imitated "doggy" with a "du" and "baa".  She continues to use "la-la-la" to join in during song time-which is great.  In order to request Audrey handed me the item she wanted 4/6 times.  She selected the song card from a choice of 2 3/3 times!  She is doing a great job of signing "more" spontaneously.  Audrey identified objects of a dog, sheep, cow, pig and horse from a choice of two.  She is also starting to spontaneously point to pictures in books!  We worked on following the directions for put in, open, close, clap hands, and give me the.....  Overall, Audrey followed 17/32 commands. She is also responding to "no-no".   Finally, Audrey is becoming very consistent with her waves hello and goodbye simply by hearing the words.  Great job!  Liz

OT on Monday March 10

Audrey had another great day. Seemed a little more tired than usual. Didn't want to get on hands and knees. Good try with her attempts to stack and put shapes on a peg board. Used her finger and thumb to put small marbles into a soda bottle. She did better with her right hand so we really focused on her left. Worked naming and matching colors, but placing colored clothes pins in the corresponding hole. She has good attention and she lets you when she's finished with an activity. Doing great! Molly

Total Diva!

Like most rock stars, Audrey is beginning to accept her popularity. In fact, it has gone to her head a bit. She is beginning to express her desires with greater potency, and she gets increasingly frustrated when I don't get the point. That's good from where I sit, because it challenges her to communicate more effectively. I'm trying to help her verbalize her emotions or give her words or signs that capture the moment. It will take some time, but she will some day be able to tell her personal assistant (me) whether she wants the St. Petersburgandy or Have You Seen My Limo OPI shade painted on her toes.

Audrey is working very hard to increase her stage stamina, spending greater amounts of time standing with some assistance. We are doing lots of step-and-slide, which is both a dance move and a way to show her she can get from A to B on those legs of hers. For when her performances call for sitting, she is practicing her piano. No longer just banging the keys, she is pressing them with her fingertips much more diliberately.

Now, I know you are all aware that young female stars can develop drinking problems. We're trying to get on top of that. We need lots more practice with the sippy if we are ever going to get off the bottle.

Audrey is Awesome at Mary's

The past two OT sessions have been REALLY good. The first one, last Wed. was the third of three therapy sessions she had in one day. She was a trooper! No fussing at all. We did a lot of work on her kitchen set. We worked on nesting cups, shape sorting, stirring, using her pointer to activate her blender, standing, weight bearing, etc. I couldn't even tell she'd been working hard all day. I was really proud of her.

Today I brought in some extras. We worked on a pincer grasp (looking good on her right side, focusing on improving her left), stacking 1" cubes (hard, but she stacked two), placing foam shapes on a peg (none hit the peg today, but great attention and effort), and separating plastic oreos using two hands (needed help). She weight beared in 4-point for 25 seconds, twice! I'm working hard on keeping her hips and knees bent while she straddles my leg and leans/reaches for objects and then sits back up. This is hard and she wants to straighten her legs and as she reaches down. I did get some good (unintentional) standing from a seated position on that one. So far so good.
--Molly

PT at Mary's

Audrey did very well in PT at Mary's last Wed. She spent more time on her knees than I have ever seen. She enjoyed standing at the kitchen to play as well. We unloaded all the goodies and pretended to cook cupcakes and cheese in her shape - sorter pot. She did a lot of work on trying to crawl and get in and out of sitting. All in all a great session. Way to go Audrey!
Chris