18 month Review - IFSP

18 month Review

Well, Jack’s 18 month IFSP review was last night.  The reviews consist of all his therapists and 1^st Steps Family Coordinator – Heather.

So the ALL STAR line-up is – Jack in his high chair munching on food so as to be happy and content J

Tara– Occupational Therapist

Kayla – Physical Therapist

Jill – Speech Therapist

Heather – Coordinator

And Me.  This is the 1^st team meeting where it was just me…a little weird, but it was actually good.

And of course, being the good Southern woman that I am, I had cookies for all J

And now that I am thinking about it, I wish I had taken a picture of the night, but alas, I didn’t.  These meetings are always nerve wrecking.  I mean there is the initial part of the meeting that is fun and I love our team.  All 4 women are young and fun.  We all laugh and cut up together so that makes the hard parts of the conversation a little easier.  And they have all been so wonderful and supportive through these past few months.  Jack and I are truly blessed.

So here is what Jack is up to:

OT

·         Jack is pointing

·         Jack is eating and drinking well

·         He is feeding himself w/ spoon with help

·         He is getting better at shape sorting

·         Starting to rotate wrist to scribble more appropriately

PT

·         He is crawling, though mainly army crawling still

·         He is trying to pull to stand and really wants to

·         He is able to pull things apart and put things together

·         He can throw with the best of them

·         He can get in and out of sitting like it’s nothing

·         He can crawl in and out of his little chair

Speech

·         Jack can spontaneously and appropriately sign 6 signs on his own: More, Milk, Bye, Hi, All done, Play

·         Jack can sign appropriately 11 other signs with verbal/ visual  cues: ball, bubbles, sing, pop, mama, open, Twinkle Twinkle, Spider, help, baby, eat

·         Jack loves to sing and lets me know when he wants to sing “Twinkle Twinkle” or “Itsy Bitsy” – we have sort of made up our own signs for the songs.

Overall:

Jack is doing really well. He picks up on any game/ toy that has cause/ effect really quickly. Whether it’s shape sorting, blowing bubbles, pushing buttons, turning pages, etc.  He also loves to play with balls and enjoys the back and forth play that they bring.  We are working on pretend play with cars and a baby (feeding the baby and combing the baby’s hair). His cognition is great and I couldn’t’ be more proud. When I tell him to do something like feed the baby, he knows what to do.  He is definitely an observer like me and picks up on cues and instructions that I don’t even realize.  He of course loves verbal praise and cuddling and I am so grateful that he is still my mama’s boy!  He will crawl over to our stack of books and pick out a book and give it to me, he will spontaneously sign “milk” when he’s thirsty, he will sign spider when he wants to sing, and he will even crawl into the kitchen and sign “more” “eat”…he does this a lot J  little piggy.

Goals:

The highpoints for the next year:

1.        Crawl appropriately on all 4s

2.       Stand and balance appropriately (we will be getting orthotics for Jack’s feet)

3.       Strengthen those upper arms

4.       Draw/ write

5.       Feed himself w/ spoon and fork without assistance

6.       Be able to manipulate sorting games…that fine motor sure is hard!

7.       Pick up more signs/ words

8.       Pretend play

9.       Be able to request what he wants to do either verbally or through signs

Jack makes tons of noise and babbles a lot.  As far as spoken words go, He will say “Ma” occasionally, and “Bye Bye”.  However, Sign language IS language and I know that he will eventually speak.  And I am thrilled at his progress in signing.  He is the cutest signer in the world.  I just want to be sure I am giving him enough exposure and signs so that he has what he needs to communicate.

Also, we have decided to add a developmental therapist to our team.  He/She is someone I will meet with once a month to talk about play and discipline (since we have hit those terrible 2s).  More to come on that later.

I am pleased with where Jack is right now.  Overall it was a great meeting and I will be sad to see these ladies leave in a year and a half when we have to phase out of the First Steps program. Many tears will be shed. They have helped my son and me so much and I will be forever grateful for their love and guidance. 

and....WAY TO GO JACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!