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Dom had another good speech session today. He was attentive, if overeager at times, and said lots of words. Monica wants us to start modeling "I want..." for him, hoping that as we keep doing it, he'll eventually start copying. As it is, when she did this today, he just filled in the blank, rather than saying the whole sentence. He probably will do it soon, considering how easily he picked up "please." He was working one of his train puzzles today and need a few more pieces to finish it, so he said "more choo-choo, please." It was lovely. Also today, I think he started saying "okay" ("o-tay").

Yesterday's OT session went well, too. Jacqui worked with him on using scissors, which she had done last week. She asked him to do a puzzle while lying on his stomach, then put his legs across her lap so that he'd have to support himself. If she had a piece that he wanted, she'd hold it up so that he had to reach for it.

One of our main goals for now is going to be desensitizing Dom to sounds. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to expose him to those sounds which distress him so much. That promises to be fun. Jacqui brought a CD walkman with some kids' music in it and showed it and the headphones to Dominick. She put the headphones on herself to show him how they worked, then tried it on him, but he wouldn't have it, even though the player was off. She turned the music on so we could hear it through the headphones, and Dom kept saying "off, off." We managed to keep it on at a very low volume while Dom was cutting some paper, but that was all he would allow.

During the week, Jacqui recommended listening to some lively music, preferably with laughter or other sounds in it. (Those of you with kids, do you have any recommendations?) She also mentioned listening therapy, which I think she said she's not trained in but is available through the Belle Center, where she works. It's an interesting thought. Dom really is hypersensitive about sounds, as many of you have witnessed firsthand, so I wonder if the therapy would help him. I have to say, though, that playgroup went much better yesterday. Dom still was very apprehensive and clingy when we got there, and kept saying "up" and trying to climb the basement stairs to get away from everyone, but he didn't cry, and within a reasonable amount of time, he was fine. This gives me hope.

Finally, an update

I suppose it's time for an update, now that it's been a week and a half since the last one. Sorry!

Dominick is talking all the time. He constantly names things, even some I didn't realize he knew, and he likes to say "hi" and "bye" to all sorts of objects and people. He's combining a few more words, like last night when he said "water off." Dom's also learning to use "please" and "thank you" and will ask for more of something, "please." He's not signing "more" much these days because he can say it now. Another new development is that Dominick says "Mommy" correctly. As you can imagine, it's incredibly cute. Milk is still "uck," though. And he seems to have a basic knowledge of possessives, as he refers to "Mommy's" and "Daddy's" placemats and napkins when he's helping set the table.

Wall and ceiling vents have replaced applesauce as Dom's major obsession. He says "hi bat" and "bye bat" whenever he sees one and has even started pulling down the gate on the stairs so that he go look at the vents on the second floor. (Nice.) Usually, I am expected to repeat it before he is satisfied to go on to other things. This is not to say that Dom does not still love applesauce, but he certainly doesn't talk about it as much as he used to.

Overall, with the increased speech, I'd say that Dominick seems much more like his little buddies now. He's also become more active, which again makes him seem more like a typical two-year-old. Sometimes he can get pretty loopy. Still, he doesn't do well in large groups, so we've got to keep working on that.

I will close by relating Dominick's version of "Wheels on the Bus," which he sings fairly frequently.

Wheel bus mmm mmm mmm
mmm mmm mmm
mmm mmm mmm
Wheel bus mmm mmm mmm
ah eee dowt!

Dom's first sentence

I was changing the sheets on Dom's bed after dinner when he began playing with the bedroom door. He was looking through the keyhole into the room and laughing hysterically. I went over and looked back through at him, which he found hilarious. We did this for a little while, until I went back to finish the bed. Then Dom started a new game: he opened the door, said "I see you!", went back out and closed the door again. He did this several times, but I didn't realize right away what he was saying. (That bed is a pain to make--literally--because of the metal rails.) Once I did, of course, I reacted with excitement, which just made him laugh more and do it again.

Then I remembered that earlier today, Dom said the same thing. What were we doing at the time? He must have been hiding behind something. No matter, he said his first sentence today, which is obviously a big milestone for us.

What a relief!

I needn't have worried. Jacqui was wonderful with Dominick. When she arrived, he was very leery and clung to me, so she sat down, picked up a ball, and started playing with him. He gradually warmed up to her, signing "more" and saying "more ball" because he wanted to keep playing. He let her count his fingers and toes, too. They worked a couple of puzzles and made a bead necklace. It went very, very well. Before she left, Jacqui wrote up some notes from the session and left us a copy. She recommended a few things: continuing the brushing protocol; taking familiar toys when we go somewhere that's likely to distress Dominick; encouraging him to sit Indian-style (I'm aware it's probably not PC to use that term anymore) or in a high kneel (like when playing at the ottoman) to strengthen his trunk; making a photo album with pictures of friends (I may be asking!); and playing music, particularly kids' music that contains sounds such as laughter, in an effort to desensitize him.

I am SO glad that we switched OTs. Even though it's only been one session, I got a good feeling about Jacqui, something I can't say about our first OT. Oh yeah, Jacqui was a couple of minutes early, too! No more waiting around, wondering if the therapist is going to show up. I was also impressed that Jacqui had talked to Monica about Dom's history with her. Now that we have a really good team assembled, I'm excited to see how Dominick progresses.

A speech lesson

Here is something interesting I learned from last week's speech session. I asked Monica about Dominick dropping or substituting letters in words and whether that was normal. She said it's actually fairly normal, and she'd rather get him saying more words and worry about Dom's articulation later if it doesn't resolve itself. What's interesting is why he's substituting as he is. If you concentrate when you say a word, you notice that the sounds are made in different parts of the mouth. Some, like t, d, and b, come from up front, while others, like k, are made farther back. For someone who is just learning to talk, it's much easier to combine sounds that are made in the same area. That's what is happening when Dominick says "dat" instead of cat. Combinations of consonants are difficult, too, hence story becomes "so-ee" and truck becomes "guck." (But then so does duck. And don't ask me why Dom can say the m in the middle of mommy but not at the beginning. By the way, he's using "ommy" quite a bit. He came looking for me the other day, calling it out several times. And when I was gone the other night, Mike told me Dom said "ommy" every time a car went by. Awww!)

All this aside, Monica said that Dom's progress is excellent, especially in such a short time. She's seen kids for a very long time who have barely improved, so she said he is doing great. Even during our sessions, he's spontaneously saying words on a regular basis. He usually gets quieter toward the end, though that may be because we're working on some word cards, which are not his favorite activity.

I wish I could post sound recordings so you can hear Dom counting. It's hilarious. He counts from one to ten, and usually by about six he starts getting louder and less articulate. He likes to count along when I'm doing the brushing technique. Everything is done in tens, so it's perfect.

Tomorrow we start OT again for real. I will let you know how it goes. With any luck there won't be too much frantic crying involved.

One, two, three...

I've added a link to an article I found that describes the brushing technique (though after reading the article, I shouldn't call it that anymore). Several people have asked me about this technique, and I haven't done a very good job of explaining it. If you are one of those people, I apologize and encourage you to click on the link.

Today we did the technique four times, which is almost as many as we had been doing during those initial two or three weeks. Per the article, I did it a little slower tonight and made sure, as always, that I was using deep pressure and not an annoying light stroke. It seemed to make a difference: Dom lay there calmly and appeared relaxed. We'll continue this way and see if it helps.

Playgroup today was a little better, though Dom still had issues at the beginning. He didn't even want to get out of the car. I let him take his time going into the house, and though he had a few moments, he warmed up pretty quickly, thanks in part to some of the other moms who played with him. Dom did refuse to eat at the table with the others, so I fed him his lunch with him sitting on the kitchen counter. Oh well. Baby steps, right?

He continues to progress speechwise. I can't even keep track of all his words now, and although many of them are creatively pronounced, we understand him. He uses new ones all the time without any prompting, like this evening when he pointed to a piece of plastic fruit and said "strawberry." Last night Dom impressed us by counting the buttons on Mike's shirt. We didn't realize what he was doing at first, but then it was clear that he was counting from one to six as he pointed at the buttons.

These types of things (saying words, counting, blowing bubbles, etc.) may seem rather mundane to a lot of people. To us, they are big events, though I suspect that if Dominick had done all these things much earlier, I'd still have been exceedingly proud. Funny how seemingly little things are more meaningful because we waited so long to see them happen. What ommy wouldn't be excited?

My new name

Yes, I am now officially "Ommy." Just since yesterday, Dom's said it several times. Interesting that he says the M in the middle but not at the beginning. Hmmm. I think it's adorable. Another word he treats the same way is "misses," which he says when he's shooting baskets and doesn't get one in.

I know I mentioned it before, but Dom has really become obsessed with applesauce. He talks about it all the time! Just for fun, I should count how many times he says "applesauce" in a day. The bad thing is that he can open--a word he pronounces "abbott"--the refrigerator now, which he'll do so he can point to the applesauce. This is not good.

We've been doing the brushing and joint compressions twice a day for a few days now, and Dominick's tolerating it pretty well. I want to ease him back into it, so maybe tomorrow we'll do a little more. With playgroup coming up on Tuesday, that's probably not a bad idea.

Mommy!!!!

Today was the day I've been looking forward to for so long: Dominick finally said "Mommy." Granted, most of the times he said it, I was at a distance, and he was pointing me out to Mike. I did get to hear it once when we were in the car. It sounded a little like "ommy," but that's okay. What a milestone!

Applesauce

Jacqui, our new OT, started Wednesday afternoon. We had about 30 minutes to discuss Dominick's situation before he woke up from his nap. You can guess his reaction to finding this new person in our house. It wasn't pretty. We continued our conversation as well as we could, but it was hard to hear each other over the crying. The next session will be June 13 because Jacqui is out of town next week. I'm crossing my fingers that Dom will miraculously get over his anxiety by then so that she can actually work with him.

I asked Jacqui whether she thinks Dom's anxiety has anything to do with his sensory issues, and she said it could, or it could not. Some of these things start that way and then become behaviors. I think, however, that she may agree that there might be a connection after witnessing it herself. Like Monica, she recommended continuing with the brushing if it seemed that it worked for Dom before. (The technique doesn't work with every child.) Maybe it did. It could be coincidence, but in retrospect, the end of the brushing did precede the beginning of the anxious phase. It seems odd that he went through this before, got over it, and now is experiencing it again.

The title of this entry refers to Dom's favorite word. He probably said it 50 times today. He'll say it in the kitchen when he wants some applesauce, but he'll also say it out of the blue. Dom made up a new word today. He was blowing bubbles outside--he thought it was hilarious when he blew bubbles out of his mouth after putting the wand in there--and managed to say "bubblesauce." Then he corrected himself and said "applesauce" several times.

Dom made an important step yesterday when he said "shoes off," which he has since repeated. Monica had specifically mentioned wanting Dom to start using two words together, so it was exciting to hear him do it. I'll be hoping for more of this soon!