The one where DT is awesome....

All along, Suzanne has been more awesome than I knew...

Going along with my recent 'hyperlexia' theme - I planned to get her on board to help me know what next steps would be necessary and what next steps would be useless. Maybe some suggestions on particular doctors, etc... Up until now, I haven't had an opportunity to mention my newfound information with any of them. I did email Ron, but he is in the field of Autism exclusively and our sessions with him have ended. I'm anticipating his response.

In she walks with Boggle Jr. and Hullabaloo DVD.

I know that a Title, a Diagnosis, a LABEL doesn't matter a hill of beans if someone just knows what to do. And she does. Maybe some of the hyperlexia material will help us understand something better - but for the most part she GETS him.

She was pretty unfamiliar with the term, other than the implication that a child would read early. But she was happy to read the short articles I sent home with her and said that she would read them and let me know her thoughts on next steps. She even said that she would be the one to contact the casemanager to request an addition to his current diagnosis.

It has been suggested on the Hyperlexia group I found that the next step needs to be medical documentation. That would facilitate me in not needing to argue what I *think* is true, but just being TRUE when we are in need of getting services. It also serves as a good starting point for casemanagers to understand WHO might be a good fit. Whether any of that ever happens or helps - I'm not sure - but that is what everyone says is the next step.

We've never been to a Developmental Pediatrician, but if I can get a good recommendation, then maybe I can also get a good recommendation for a full OT evaluation and we'll be on the road to having what I've wanted all along. I am slowly learning (slower than slow, I take a long time to process information.....) that EI is not the BE ALL END ALL of what we need. We are going to have to branch out on our own, and in doing so, probably bear the financial burden I hear tell of...

Anyway, so she brought those 2 games -

Boggle was a good easy way to get him to interact and answer questions while doing what he does best. (basically you spell 3-4 letter words with dice). I loved that he had to manipulate the dice to get the letters. He had to work harder than just writing it down or picking from a lineup. It was also a good game to get him to use both hands. She understands that USING his reading is a good thing. Jen always wants to find things that don't have words or reading or numbers - and I understand where she's coming from b/c there is a hard question to answer... "Is it better to use his love for words or better to steer clear of it?" A question I have asked myself multiple times. Myself - Dad - and Suzanne realize that he's going to do it anyway, so we might as well teach him appropriateness. Newfound info on hyperlexia supports that & takes it steps further - which will be a subject for another day.

I think Suzanne GETS IT well. She understands that he needs to learn to use his skills appropriately, and yet needs to be able to transition away from it when deemed inappropriate. But she never wants us to take it away from him - just make sure he's not absorbed into it & isolating himself.

Then Hullabaloo [oh my, what a great game].... what can I say? She knows he loves TV, so the DVD version allowed him to spend some time enjoying visual stimulation AND physical interaction. It had all kinds of simple instructions that challenged him to use auditory and visual discrimination. We all played, including baby sis!