Summary of our group meeting (June 16, 2010)

Hi ladies,

I finally get a chance to sit and write a summary of our team meeting. This is our plan for the next month:

LIAM AND HIS COMMUNICATION

I. At the time of the meeting Liam seemed to be talking less (now his talking is coming back). We talked about an email I had received from Megan about the attitude that would be the most effective for us when Liam is not talking too much. Here are Megan's words:

"In terms of Liam, there could be several things going on for him as you stated below (e.g., homeopathy, therapeutic listening, etc, etc). However, if we expected certain changes from him instantly you probably wouldn't need a playroom for him. It takes practice and persistence and often times TIME from the team for him. Simply stick with him...continue to encourage him and be persistent with his spontaneous-ness. It's a challenge for him and it's definitely easier for him to give kisses than go for the words. If he does that...respond literally to what kisses mean: hugs and cuddles and love. Remember, it won't help him to get what he wants if he were to go to school and give kisses as a way to get food. It's certainly cute but not 100% helpful. By helping him to practice at home in a loving and persistent environment you are making it easier for when he IS outside of the house. If we give in, we will never take him to that edge.


I'm curious as to why you think he's nervous and anxious while looking as you do non-verbal gestures. These comments kind of say more about what you may be thinking and feeling versus what Liam is. I understand you and Antonio know him better than anyone but maybe his looks are actually because he's thinking and building the neuropathways to tap into his spontaneous words quicker."

We talked about this and some of our conclusions were:
- We will relax and not worry when Liam is more quite. These are phases that always go away.
- We will be persistant. If this were easy for him, we would not need a playroom.
- We will celebrate. He is making a HUGE effort so he needs our acknowledgement.
- When he whispers at us, sometimes we can whisper back at him. Also, as Megan mentioned in another email that I posted here, if we hear what he says, even if it is whisper, we will celebrate and say: "I heard that!!! This is great!"
- We will give him more space and join sometimes from further away so that he knows that we respect him in any phase that he is.
- When he walks away from us or stands in front of us without saying anything, we will NOT think that he is frustrated, or that he is giving up. We will think that this beautiful boy's brain is working like crazy developing new neuropaths and that every time he walks away teaches him that that method of communication was not the most effective and that he could try another method.

DUSYA AND HER COMMUNICATION

II. Megan recommended to us to know complicate Dusya's communication goals but to just give her time to practice her ability to create more sentences and answer and ask questions to us. Some of the things we talke about in the meeting were:

1) We will continue with the non-verbal gestures instead of questions.

2) If we are in a conversation with Duch, we will ask her open-ended questions and not only yes/no questions, do that she gets to practice her spontaneous language. The orther of questions should be:

A. Open-ended ..........PAUSE .......... if she does not respond then ...

B. Alternatives ..........PAUSE .......... if she does not respond then ...

C. Yes/no questions ..........PAUSE ........ if she does not respond then ...

D. you make a choice and she can always tell us NO :)

3) We discussed that when Dusya cries sometimes she does not know the sentence she needs. For example, when her CD player from the Therapeutic music stops, she used to say "bye bye music” and would cry. I told her the other day that she could tell me that the music stopped and that she wants me to turn it on. So, the next time, she did whine a little, but she did say “music stopped, turn it on”. The other day I was also telling her that she could tell me “I don’t want dinner” and she picked it up immediately and the next day she tried to create an “I don’t want XXXX” sentence with something else. I also showed her the other day how to use “another”, like “I want another lion”. She was using it immediately with other things. So, she seems to be getting language “rules” very quickly. So, when we get the chance to show her how to say something in a more effective way, feel free to model it for her. She is picking it up IMMEDIATELY!

4) Remember that language learning comes from “just playing” so instead of “language lessons” we just need to play with her normally and model in a normal environment.

NEW THEMES FOR LIAM AND DUSYA
 
III. We brainstormed new themes we could try this month. We also agreed to used the same themes that Dusya likes with Liam, like bday party or beach or silly faces. He is ready for more variety besides vehicles, animals, shapes, letters and numbers. Here are some ideas we had:
 
- July 4th theme with flags, picnic and fireworks
- Grocery store with plastic food, basket, grocery cart, cash register and money. Thanks to Kaffie for finding a cash registar at Goodwill.
- Restaurant theme with menus. Ashley was going to try to get menus. I heard that J'eanna was going to try to get a chef hat from the Hotel school at UH :)
- Ballerina. I will get her a tutu at Target and Kelsey and Ashley said they have tutus at home
- Cheerleaders. Shelby said she will leave one of her cheerleading unifors in our house.
- Days of the week / Calendars / Months. Kaffie was going to go to the school supply store to get some of this.
- Beauty saloon. Kaffie found a Barbie head at Goodwill.
- Baby dolls. I got them out of the garage and it seems Duch and Liam are now excited about them. There is so much we could do with babies. The babies can go to the doctor (we have doctor's clothes and equipment), they can go to school, they can go to a party, etc.
- Playdoh. Duch seems to not be eating it so much and Liam seems to like it. Cari had great fun with both kids and playdoh, so we could try it more often.
- Bingo. It seems Liam is liking this. Maddi is introducing him to this.
- Coloring. Even if they only want to do it for a little while, it is good practice for them.
 
Let's try all these ideas for the next month. Megan will come back during the first days of August to help us.
 
I am excited that June is about to end. I don't think I will ever teach 3 classes again in 1 month! July will be great because I will get to spend much more time at home. July will also be great for daddy because he has 2 trips planned. He is going to the Happiness Weekend, at the Option Institute (Home of the SonRise program) and he is going to Spain to see his family and eat the wonderful Spanish food. Abuelito (my dad) will be back to help me when Antonio is in Spain.
 
Let me know if you have any questions about this summary! Have fun with the kids! They are doing great!

Great story on the news

Hi everybody,
Three friends already have mentioned this story to me. It was on the news this week. You will like the article and enjoy the video, I am sure. Look at the "bathroom" reference in the story... What does that remind you of? I bet this is a SonRise kid :)

http://www.gnn.com/article/eric-duquette-a-salutatorian-who-has/1124477

A message I just received from Megan about Liam

Hi everybody, In addition to what we talked about in our meeting yesterday, I have continued emailing Megan about Liam and I just got an email today.

1. I asked her what to do if he pulls us places without talking. Here is Megan's advice in her own words:

"With Liam, remember that when he is pulling you to go places, GO WITH HIM. Let him move and control your body and when it comes to the next step, PAUSE and wait for him to tap into the spontanaity that is so essential for him to practice. If he walks away, guess what? That's ok. That may happen because he may decide that what he wants may not be motivating enough to tap into the word. He will come back around though and do the same thing...each time he walks away this brings him closer to a fuller sentence/words....he will learn that the spontaneous words and sentences are the way to communicate to get exactly what he wants. If we give in quickly he knows to hold out and eventually you will give in....Remember that. Liam is incredibly intelligent and knows how to work it."

2. I asked her what to do if he speaks very softly and we barely know what he says and he is not looking directly at us. Here is Megan's advice in her own words:

"At this point with Liam, if you hear it clearly but it is a whisper and even if he's not looking, at this point celebrate him like crazy! Tell him, "I heard that!! I heard your whisper. That's wonderful!" At the same time you celebrate him, let him know by modeling your loud tone and explaining that he could say it LOUDER!!! "

You know what I just remembered? Do you remember when we were still potty training Duchis and she was having accidents, and Megan told us to think that every accident was getting her closer to be potty trained (instead of getting frustrated with the accidents)? It's the same thing! Those moments when Liam walks away without tapping to his spontaneous language are bringing him closer to speaking more and more spontaneously. Also, we just need to encourage him like crazy. We know he can speak a lot if we prompt, so now, we are just celebrating anything that is SPONTANEOUS, one word, one word with low volume, anything spontaneous he says is good practice for him (you know, practice makes perfect). 
 
Let me know if you have any questions about Megan's advice. Have fun with Liam!

New Themes - Group Meeting

We are implementing new themes these days. Kaffie has done an awesome job with a gardening theme. The kids have a garden of flowers outside the house (and we may have tomatoes, too) and Dusya has a gardening corner in her playroom, that we can switch to Liam, too. I am working on a grocery store theme that I hope to have ready soon. J'eanna brought the kids new musical instruments since they love the band theme so much. I know Maddi and Kelsy have been working on a PT theme with the box of games that J'eanna also gave the kids. Shelby has tried Simon Says with Duch and she seems to like it. Cari is experimenting with homemade playdoh. Ashley has been doing blocks with Liam. He likes when Mercedes mixes the blocks with cars and furnitures.
I know we always tend to focus more on Duchis with the themes, but don't hesitate to also expose Liam to new themes. Mercedes is going to show Liam the birthday theme more often since he seems to watch it carefully. He is open to new ideas and the more he is exposed the more he will want to participate. Let's brainstorm next Wednesday in our group meeting about more themes we can implement with both.
I sent some questions to Megan by email about the next steps with Duch's and Liam's language. We will talk about that in our group meeting (Wednesday 6pm to 8pm).
Thanks!

Daddy's birthday

Ladies, do you remember all the times you have played "birthday party" with Duch, Elmo, Barney, and her elephants? Well, she had a blast this week at Daddy's bday party! She asked for balloons and presents. She wore her party hat all the time and even went to bed with it! She told Antonio and me to wear party hats, and she even put a party hat on Tony! She blew and blew the magic candles. Thanks to Kaffie for baking wonderful GFCFSF cupcakes and to Brandy for being our photographer! It was great to see Duch and Tony so much into the party. Liam had just woken up from a nap, so he was a bit cranky. Enjoy the pictures. You should be very proud of how you have shown our little girl the fun one can have at a birthday party. Happy birthday, daddy!

Little things here are there --- PRICELESS

I have been told by SonRise friends that kids start becoming more social with other kids slowly, first they need to trust their adult friends (ALL OF YOU) and then they need to trust kids their age. I have been told it starts by just looking more at other kids. Last week, I think we got a feel for that with several things that happened with Duch.

First, I get an email in Prague from Duchis' OT therapist (Cara) telling me that she told the kids to take their shoes and socks off and that Duch took hers off and then, when Liam was struggling with his socks, she helped him and took them off for him. Cara said she had never seen her paying so much attention to what Liam was doing and was so excited that sent me the email.

Then, Brandy and Mercedes took the kids to the park and Brandy told Antonio that Duchis was helping a little kid bounce on the whale/frog in teh park. She was actually pushing the toy for the kid.
Also, we went to the beach on Sunday and it was beautiful to see Duch and Tony sharing a "boat" on the waves. Tony was sitted first and Duch was behind him holding from his waist. Then, they took turns and she was in teh front and Tony held from her waist. They fell and wanted to come back up. 

We need a Mastercard commercial. All these little moments are PRICELESS.

Impressions coming home from Prague

Hi ladies, Coming from Prague this time was so different from all the trips I have taken in the last 2 years and 9 months. I got HUGE smiles from Liam and Duch. Liam came to me saying "mommy mommy" and Duch started to imitate that part of the video of me that Antonio showed them when I was away when I do the silly faces. This week she is completely into silly faces and sounds. She is funny and is in a goofy mood lately. She likes all the physical games with silly kisses and lots of surprising and anticipation games. Also, I immediatly noticed these LOOOONG sentences Duch is saying and her eye contact is better. Liam is also talking more spontaneously. He does talk very softly. I loved to read all the games you played with them when I was away.

I am going to plan a group meeting in two weeks. Until then, let's continue using the techniques Megan taught us. I think the techniques have definitely helped both kids with teh spontaneous language! WOW! And, Duch seems to be playing so many more games, in addition to her love for the little people animals.  Liam is also playing with so many things now. You should have seen him the other day packing Tony's trains in a bag and bringing them to his playroom! Thanks for the hard work!

Here are some pictures of my trip: