Occupational Therapy with Gayle

Griffin loves his numbers so much that he has had to fall asleep with them. Today was OT with Gayle and I think that Griffin had a blast. First, there was movement where Griffin went down a slide on a scooterboard 5 times then he got to play a Teletubbie's floor game followed by a snack of one fuzzy peach. Finally there was the crafts where Griffin got to put paint all over his forearm in order to paint a tree trunk and then all over his hands to make the leaves, now with this he really had a good time........there was paint everywhere, hee hee. The really nice part is that Griffin seemed to listen to Gayle really well and mostly because she has a way of talking to him that helps him to understand and comply. So, Gayle, you are our hero and we love you very much. Thank you for helping Griffin to progress so nicely with each and every session. Oh yes and what else is really cool is that Gayle continued with the WH questions and asked Griffin some WHY questions like, "Why do you have a mouth (ears, eyes, nose, etc.....)?" and he answered most of them but the important part is that she is continuing on with what the SLP is working on because she had read it on the blog. Hugs to you Gayle!!!!!!

WH questions

This is really simple but a big deal to me.......When the SLP was asking Griffin WH questions he was doing okay especially on the What and Who but the When and Why questions were much more challenging. What impressed me the most is the one Why question that he did answer, "Why do butterflies have wings?" he promptly replied, "So they can fly!" I am just thrilled with that!!! Yes it was only one Why question and answer but he met the challenge head on and conquered it! YEAH Griffin, you're my little champ!

Results of my sleep study/Dick and Jane

As it turns out the hypersomnia (excessive daytime sleepiness) that I have is the results of my medication, the doc said that I am taking way too much (twice the recommended dosage) because the sleep study showed that I am getting adequet sleep and do not have obstructive sleep apnea. The nap study showed that I am indeed excessively sleepy during the day because it took me only an average of 6 minutes to go to sleep/nap. So, I will go to see my ANP on Tuesday and adjust my medication and see if we can nip this stuff in the bud.

While we were shopping I picked up a Dick and Jane book to see if Griffin could read it and sure enough he was reading it like a pro, no real surprise there but he read it with such fluency now, THAT surprised me! I couldn't decide whether I should get it or not but finally figured that if he read it with such ease then he would likely get bored with it so I didn't get it. Besides, I am not sure that he was understanding what he was reading which is equally as important as the reading is. Maybe I will look for something that is a bit more challenging and has more meaning to it that is relevant to his life/living. I believe that a book that talks about practical everyday stuff would have more meaning than "Help Jane Help, Help, Help." Some of the pharses were relevant to his life but in general it wasn't. If anyone has a suggestion of a book or books that would be useful and have relevant words in it I would greatly appreciate it. I am thinking about just writing a book with words about his day to day life and throwing in some really challenging words here and there.

Take care my friends and hope that you have a splendid day!!!!

I just got back from my sleep study and haven't found out anything yet. I have an appointment on Thursday with the doctor to find out the results. I will keep you posted. It was really weird because I had to take a nap every two hours during the day and I was still dozing off while sitting in the chair watching television. It's quite perplexing so, we shall see how it goes. Hope that everyone has a great weekend and I'll try to keep the blog current and let you know what's going on. Griffin is doing great. He has been saying "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" almost all the time now, it's so cute.

Going in for a Sleep Study

I am going in tomorrow night to have a sleep study done because I have been having excessive daytime sleepiness for months now maybe even years but my memory is so poor that I don't even remember how long it's been. Whenever I read no matter how alert I am I still fall asleep. I don't mean that I fall asleep and then take a nap, it's like I fall asleep for just a few seconds and then wake up and then it just keeps happening over and over. When I sit for a period of time and even when I am talking to someone it happens then too. I hope that it makes sense how I explained it. Anyhow, it is potentially dangerous because it has happened when I was driving too so I am finally having this sleep study done to determine if I have Narcolepsy or not. I hope that I don't because the only treatment for it is essentially "speed" or amphetimines whatever you want to call them. I can't take those kinds of meds because I am bipolar and it would only enhance my mania. Hopefully it is just a side effect of my medication but there is the possiblity that I have Narcolepsy because my aunt was just diagnosed with it but I don't know if it is hereditary or not. The only time that it doesn't happen is when I am standing up but otherwise I get sleepy as if someone has just tranquilized me and I am fighting it off. So wish me luck with that. Griffin is doing great and just completed his testing in speech. Both Lisa and I were amazed at his receptive language and how well he answered open ended questions. I sure will miss him while I am at the sleep study because it will be one night and a full day on Friday but it has to be done before we move because I don't know if medicaid will cover something like that in South Carolina. Still no word on my disability hearing, just waiting it out.

Spelling Like Nobody's Business

Griffin has been spelling like crazy and here he has spelled "Stomp, (The name of the show which I think was on Broadway), Sesame Stret DVD and vedeo" then he spelled "Entertainment" on a sheet of paper he wrote, "Barney Can you sing that song?" complete with the question mark. I'm so proud of my little genius.......What else can I say?

We Are Moving

I have thought about it long and hard and finally come to the conclusion that we are in fact going to move to South Carolina to be with my family. It was not an easy decision to make because Griffin is getting some of the best education that he could possibly have in the nation here. Kathleen has been such an awesome teacher and I just know that wherever we go that nothing will compare to what she has done for him. I could be wrong, and I hope that I am, but it's just a feeling that I have. Nevertheless, what's most important at this point in time is that we are close to our family and have the support that is so desperately needed. I don't want a repeat of last December when I had to go to the Crisis Treatment Center because my depression had gotten so bad. My mental health is tantamount to his education because I have to take care of myself before I can be a good mother to Griffin. As much as I love Alaska, and it will be a sad day indeed, I must leave here because the weather and the lack of sunlight in the winter just gets me down too bad. Not that it is going to be all peachy keen to move to SC because it's not my ideal climate either. The summers will be exceptionally difficult for me because of the heat and the humidity but at least it won't trigger my depression. With age Griffin is becoming more and more difficult to deal with and I am increasingly having a hard time caring for him in the manner in which he needs to be. Because of his meltdowns and doing the limp noodle and refusing to leave the apartment it is not just a source of frustration but a major obstacle in our daily routine. It seems as though I am trying to justify our leaving and this is not my intention because I feel like, in my heart and soul, this is truly the best decision for not just me but also for Griffin in the long and short term. Between my parents and I we can supplement his schooling with homework and hopefully with private OT and Speech. I don't know how good the medicaid system is down there but I am hoping that it will be comparable although I have heard that it is not even. It will be at least 2-3 months before we will be able to move so that I have plenty of time to get things organized and send items down there ahead of time. Also I am waiting for my disability hearing for Social Security and I don't know if it will be favorable or not but either way we are moving. Griffin will adjust quite easily and quickly I believe because he did so well when we went down there in April for a visit. I'm following my intuition on this and I have a good feeling about it.

Problems with Blogger and Page Loading

I am afraid that something is wrong with my blog and my page loading properly. This entry is a test to see if I can get my page to load properly. Leave me a comment on whether or not you were able to get the page to load. Thanks for helping me out. Maybe I have too many photos because I only have 138 entries and the limit is 999 so I don't understand what the problem is. Thanks again for leaving me a comment and hope you have a great day.