WORDS!!!!!!!! June 26th, 2015

We have had an AMAZING week with Ashley and her words are starting to come out!!! We are sooooo excited with the progress in her speech AND her eye contact has been increasing  these last 2 weeks too! I am still in shock of all that has happened this week! God is good!

Thank you again to Team Ashley for pouring your time and love into Ashley!  

MAKING COOKIES

Last Sunday, Ashley helped me make Chocolate Chip Cookies for her Daddy and Papa on Father's Day. It was fun having her help and she was really catching on making balls with the dough. They turned out yummy and we even gave some to Team Ashley members this week! I captured her chocolate covered face after getting to eat one of her creations! However, her face looks sad because she realized she could not eat them all. :)

MEDICATION

      We finally got to see a specialist last week (long waiting list) since Ashley's anxiety seemed to be all over the place and she convinced us to take her off the ADHD medicine. Jeremy had severe ADHD as a child too. He was failing school until they put him on medicine in 1st grade. Before medication he described it as having 20 televisions on at the same time and then medication made it seem like only 1 tv was on.

        She started this medication after she was 3 years old because she has severe ADHD which I know can go along with autism symptoms. However at that age, Ashley would NOT sit still for even 1 second and would run from wall to wall and room to room. Once we started her on meds, she was able to focus longer and could actually sit to look at PECS. That is when she started seeing the pictures and started understanding PECS as way to communicate. It was a life changer for all of us and was needed at that time. Apparently, after a few years on ADHD meds, there can become different side effects and among them heightened anxiety..... I had no clue. I am so thankful for this doctor and her insight!

         So we took her off over the weekend and let me tell you she was NONSTOP movement. :) Climbing on everything in sight, running, not listening, no eye contact, and putting every item in her mouth. However, the hair pulling and hitting/scratching herself decreased immediately. I don't want to jump to saying it is completely gone because she has done it only a few times this last week when Noah was screaming. Noah has very high pitched scream and I hate hearing it too. :) We will still have to keep monitoring this but we are hopeful all of that was just a crazy side effect. Yay!

       We are trying a much milder med in different class to help her focus and to stop her mouthing all items. She seems even happier now and she is making more sounds ALL the time! Her focus seems to be improving each day and she is still so happy and playful!

WORDS!!!!!

Saturday & Sunday

Lots of random sounds but these days she was nonstop movement so sessions were not the best since we took her off ADHD medication. We were all exhausted afterwards but at least Miranda, Jeremy and I got some good exercise. :)


Monday

She made lots of gibberish and we were able to get some eye contact with tickle games. She was still all over the place but at least Wendy got almost 30 seconds of continuous eye contact while tickling Ashley's feet!!


Tuesday - NEW WORDS!!!

Tuesday was a really amazing day for Ashley. She was very vocal with lots of sounds. She was also super playful with Brogan & Kimberly. Tracy brought a Marble Run game for Session time and Ashley LOVED it! She said "marbles" 8 different times during that activity!!!!

When I brought up Ashley's snack , I asked Ashley "Are you having fun with Ms. Tracy?". She said "Yes". What?????? I could not believe she answered my question!!!

Then at private swim lessons with a special needs instructor that afternoon she said "no" once and "duck" 4 different times to request for big yellow duck. I always get great eye contact at her private swim lessons too because she will swim to me and I really enjoy getting to be apart of it!

She also ate Melon at dinner which was a new food for her! So proud of her for trying new foods!

Wednesday

We did the water table outside that morning and she said "water" 4 different times when requesting for hose to be turned on (without prompting and made eye contact). Noah and Ashley play really well together at water table and love to see the water drain also. She even danced around with a hose for a little and I caught a beautiful smile after.

Wednesday continued.....

During Session times she said
- "marbles" again with marble game
- "whoa" when marbles got stuck
- "magic"
- "Jazz" when looking at Princess Jasmine
- "ju" two times for jumping
- "no"

My brother, Chris, made Ashley a CD of intro theme songs that she likes so we could use in Playroom. She has always loved the intro theme songs to shows and then barely even watches the rest of it. Last week I played some of the songs for her like Jake the Pirate, My Little Pony, Bubble Guppies, and Veggie Tales. She had the most confused look on her face.....I realized she doesn't know what a CD player is and was looking for the images along with song. Haha! On Wednesday, I got sticker eyes, a fake cucumber, and a fake tomato so we could make Bob and Larry. She liked it and they danced to the song 3 times. Then she was on to a different activity.




Thursday

She said
-"marble" again
-"water" multiple times in day requesting for water/ice
-"wee!"
- a few times sounded very close to "I want" while looking at crackers above fridge
- "bubbles"

I got a cheap bubble machine and did that for the first time. As you can see, she loved it and requested more!

Friday
During my session with Ashley, her eye contact was amazing! It is increasing in frequency and duration (5-10 seconds now). Every time she has a Session with those on Team Ashley she is seeing how fun it can be when you look at them and the positive encouragement she gets for looking!

During the day she said:
- "bubbles" again to request for the bubble machine!
- "iii" for ice
- "I wan" multiple times with speech therapist and a LOT of sound approximations
- "ba" for bath
- "duck" for duck toy during bath time

Ashley loves to eat ice chips which is a sensory need for something crunchy and she asks for ice at least once a day. Well,  Noah wants to do everything his big sister does so he always runs saying "ice, ice, ice, ice" until he gets his own cup of small ice chips. I thought it was so cute how he wanted to sit next to Ashley this morning with his ice and Ashley actually allowed him to sit there TOUCHING her too!

TINKER BELL SONG

I just love this intro song to Tinker Bell Pirate Movie "Who I am". I feel it is so fitting with the Son-Rise Program because Ashley is now free to be who she is with her excited hand flapping, isms and all her interests! She LOVES Tinker Bell and I wish I could take her to Pixie Hollow so we could fly around because it looks like a lot of fun there!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PLA59xLEOc

"I wanna feel free to be who I am
What I'm about is more than I've been
Ready to show the world who I am
Start letting out what I'm holding in
And find my own place to stand
So I can be who I am

I have it inside, I know that I do

All that I am is gonna breakthrough"