It has been a long time since I’ve written about Simmi and I apologize for not keeping up with my blog. I’ve had my own little mini health crisis as well as writer’s block which has made me completely unmotivated to even attempt to write. I’ll only be giving a brief synopsis of the different areas of her life because I plan on elaborating on them in time to come. There is far too much to put into one blog entry.
Behavior and Sensory Integration:
Simmi is doing quite well I must say. Her moods have calmed down quite a bit and she is learning how to handle different situations much better. Since Simmi has major sensory issues, being in control is the new monster we deal with. Many children with sensory problems tend to want to control their environment as well as everyone around them, and at times it can be quite a challenge to make a judgment call between sensory processing problems and just being two and a half years old. She hasn’t had any screaming episodes since the beginning of September which is beautiful! She’s learning how to “self-correct” and find a quiet dark place to retreat to when she is on a sensory overload. We have been able to take the dark curtains off of all the windows except in her room, and while the light does bother her, she is learning how to cope with it by taking several trips down the hall to the darkest area and just sitting there for a while. She’ll also go into her bedroom closet and close the door when she is overwhelmed. Before she learned how to do that, she would just scream and thrash about and annoy herself further by her screaming…covering her ears.
Learning:
Simone understands almost everything we ask her to do. She can follow direction, help clean up, understands who everyone is in our home, and can identify her favorite stuffed animals if we ask her to get them, but she can not point out or identify colors or shapes in a book. She understands the sound of a cow, dog, cat, bird and sheep, but she can’t say what they are. At times she will try to produce the sound they make. She understands emotions and can come along side someone who is upset or crying to comfort them and she has also learned the great power of “faking” her own sadness. The pouty lip and sad eyes progress to a full out sorrow fest where she is crouched down on the floor with her hands over her face, just waiting for a sucker to get pulled in by her display sorrow or displeasure.
Speech:
Simone’s speech therapist is getting closer to being able to identify the range of problems Simmi is faced with regarding her speech. As of now, she is suggesting Apraxia/Dyspraxia of speech but has not yet made a formal diagnosis. More time with Simmi is needed before she’ll say with certainty that this is what we’re dealing with. I’ll be discussing Apraxia of speech in a later blog post.
Allergies:
This is a big one! We just got the results back from her RAST blood work and we were alarmed to find that her food allergies have increased instead of decreased. All of the levels have doubled since she was last tested
in Feb. 08. We have always been so careful not to give her any food that might contain what she is allergic to as well as never giving her a food processed in a plant that may use equipment to process those offending foods, yet her food allergies are through the roof! We don’t bring any peanuts into the house at all, we are very careful never to cross contaminate our foods with her food, and now she is also very allergic to all tree nuts! She’s never had a nut and now I feel nuts. I am unsure whether cooking the offending foods may be contributing to her increased food allergies via proteins in the air, so we are actually planning on omitting everything that she is allergic to from entering our home. It seems extreme, but just as we would never bring peanuts or peanut products into our home, we are going to do the same for milk, wheat, eggs, soy and all tree nuts. She has one more thing she is highly allergic to…DOGS! She absolutely adores dogs, and we just got a dog a few weeks ago for her. She started to have problems with her skin again, and we know its due to the dog. We don’t want to get rid of her because she is an excellent dog…but her RAST showed a very high allergy to dogs. I spoke to the doctor about it and he feels that if she doesn’t develop eczema again and doesn’t have any respiratory problems being around the dog that we could keep her. Our highest hope is to do all we can to make it possible to keep the dog. I can’t even begin to describe the beautiful nature and gentleness of this dog! Her name is Sugar and her name fits her disposition.
Update on our floors:
Our floors have all been laid and the only thing left to do is to put the transition pieces and the trim back on the hallway walls. We need to paint our hallway again for two reasons…first, the dark purple (I love this color) clashes with the flooring, and second, we will be doing the walls in a light yellow with flecks of gold mica dust in it. Simmi bangs into the walls when its light in the house and a shimmer added to the walls will help her to see it better. She has no problem navigating around in the dark and never bangs into anything when the lights are out…but stream light into the house and BAM! she is all over the place, falling and banging into things.
My daughter Hannah and her boyfriend Cole are visiting us till spring so I thought I’d end this post with a little video of Simmi tickling Hannah.
Tags: behavioral problems, dog allergy, multiple food allergies, occupational therapist, sensory integration, speech therapy
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