Emilia is our most tender child, emotionally and physically, and she does not like change. Therefore, we knew that she would struggle mightily with the series of events unfolding over the last seven months (three weeks in Armenia, adoption of a new sister, holidays, move to new home, start at a new preschool). As expected, we did see some behavioral regressions and knew that beyond reassurances and extra cuddles, it would simply take time for Emilia to adjust. We think she is almost back to her normal self now and it actually feels like she might be at the brink of a new developmental phase.
Unfortunately, Emilia's preschool experience here in the new district initially did not live up to our expectations. She used to get excited to see the school bus come down the road, but when she started in this district, she wasn't. She would come home from school on Mondays and Tuesdays clingy and weepy. It sometimes took more than an hour of holding her to bring her out of this mood. I think a huge reason for this issue had to do with Emilia's teacher who was very strict and the classroom environment super structured not leaving options, for example, for a child like Emilia who cannot yet sit crisscross applesauce for a 20 to 30 minute morning meeting. I observed Emilia in the classroom twice and the teacher treated the kids, many with special needs, like little adults and expected them to behave accordingly. Fortunately, this teacher recently gave birth and we have already seen an improvement with Emilia's long-term sub. We are also thrilled that, if all goes according to plan, Emilia will be in half-day kindergarten next school year with Ella's current awesome teacher. She may even have one of Rex's current classmates in the kindergarten class with her which would also be wonderful as we are friends with his family.
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| Passed out after fighting against a nap |
Emilia's IEP is up for renewal toward the end of the school year and, because of the problems we see in the preschool setting, we decided to take advantage of the neuro-developmental specialists that work at the heart clinic where Emilia is a patient. They gave us a good assessment of Emilia's current strengths and weaknesses and will assist in writing the IEP for next year. Craig and I feel like we could really use some support in getting the district's educators to acknowledge not only Emilia's traumatic past, but also her sensory needs which are still a major factor and collaborate with us in using them to Emilia's academic advantage, rather than fighting them to the point of taking away not only her joy of learning, but also her ability to progress and succeed in the classroom.
Speaking of the heart clinic, Emilia had a check-up with cardiology recently and everything looks perfect. She was still scared, but did the best ever since the surgery during the appointment. We don't need to come back for an entire year and if things are still going great then, we will move to an every other year schedule. Hurray for Emilia and her healthy heart! Oh and her doctor called her "an intelligent and engaging child" after having a little talk with her. That's music to our ears.
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| Snuggles with Grandpa |
Emilia appears to be taking a break from acquiring new pre-academic knowledge at the moment, but we have seen beautiful gains in her gross motor and language skills. The OT that has been working with her since the fall is wonderful and has made a tremendous difference in Emilia's sensory development. Her sensory needs are simultaneously an asset and an obstacle to her learning and daily life. The new OT is helping us tip the scale more toward the asset end of things. Emilia is practicing ways to calm herself and gaining a broader awareness of her entire body. We see such a difference in the way she moves and relates to the space around her. She's even able now to show me on her baby dolls various activities, such as walking, sitting, crawling, climbing. It just illustrates how she has been internalizing everything she is working on this area.
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| She was fascinated by Easter eggs this year. |
Emilia's language skills continue to grow. She is nowhere near speaking like her five-year old peers, but she is communicating successfully and clearly all the time. The sentences she uses are getting longer ("No bus, I sit car" or "May I have drink?" or "Rain, rain go away, rainy all day") and she is applying colloquial language such as "Bless you," and "Calm down." She is letting us know when she thinks something is loud, cute, pretty, funny, and so on. Her expressive vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She basically only needs us to tell her a new word once and she retains and uses it appropriately. The problem continues to be stringing syllables together into sentences. Emilia likes to sing and is increasingly able to put the words with the melodies.
In preparation for the IEP meeting, we asked Emilia's Prompt therapist to do some testing for language. She found that when adjusted for her developmental age of 3.5 years old, Emilia's receptive language is completely normal and her expressive language is less than two standard deviations off the mean which we think is still pretty good, given the severity of her apraxia.
At this time, Emilia likes rap and hip hop music, surprise egg videos on youtube, dancing, swinging, and playing with her big sister.
Overall, this little treasure has been our squeakiest wheel here lately, but the joy and love she brings to our family outweigh any challenges that we are facing together.
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