another round in Denver

We have one more week at the center and then we are done! I think all of us will be glad when this is over, but it has been worth it. This last session was by far the hardest to come back to, it felt like we had just got back into our normal life and then it was time to return. Madeline is happy to be back though she loves her therapy. Process is occurring, slowly, but I see improvement. After our last trip, her anxiety level is minimal, she is enjoying activities again like a normal child. It's still there, but I can manage it now. She is counting to 13 now, even 14 on a very good day. She is recognizing more letters, not always, but something is better then nothing. 

The Star Center is actively involved with parent education so I have weekly meetings with her team of therapists. We discuss techniques that seem to get through to her, or do not work. I always come away from these meetings with a slew of great ideas to try.  We know now that she seems to only learn numbers with movement. We take 13 marches while clapping, on and on for days until 13 clicks one day. Madeline's short term memory for words has been difficult but if we read a book, say Hop on Pop, where she repeats it after us along her us recording her voice while she wears headphones so she can herself then she can repeat back longer sentences. If using several letters, they can not have different colors, or any other difference to them because she will grasp to find something to tell them apart other then the letter. Gradually, we are learning some ways that can help her learn. It would not be possible on my own. The wealth of professionals that are there and the equipment have made it possible. 

We received excellent news today. Our OT and the on staff physiologist have been going back and forth discussing the undiagnosed learning disabilities, and what we can do about it now. As I've mentioned before, diagnosing in a child of 5-6 years of age is difficult. The testing was written for children 7 and up. It takes a very specialized person to be able to test a younger child accurately, obviously there are not very many of them. The physiologist pulled some strings and got us an eval with a doc in Denver that does just that, next week! It's only a 3 hour eval, but should give us some answers and maybe we can know at least what direction we are looking at instead of just not knowing anything.