Update: 11/19/2012, new stuffs

Sue introduced a few new things since last post:

1. Story 'Zac the Rat' and _at,  _an on Starfalls iPad app. 
2. 8 piece Micky Mouse puzzle w/o hint on background.  Working on that.  Coco hasn't grasp the concept yet.
3. Writing 'red', 'green'.

Observations:

1. She recognizes the rectangle on the shape puzzle. 
2. Has the writing movements on A, C, 1, 3, 4, 5.

Working on (in addition to previous post):

1. More chucking food.  She ate the first batch of chucky grind meat.  Will see if results are consistent. 
2. Today I also introduced the stylus to Coco, having her write letters a-z and numbers 0-9, as well as her name and colors red and green with it.  

11/11/12 - An Update

Since last posted, Coco has made some progress in some areas but also gone down in some others.  Sue (SEIT) and I work very hard to get to this point.  Great SEIT, great help, without her I wouldn't know what to do.  I still have no idea what the school does day to day.  Her teacher is not big on communications even though we provided a communication book.  She almost always come home with a mess on her shirts.  I can image the paras are just watching and not helping her with lunch at the least.  Ms. Daniella (ST) seems to care for her the most.  I've asked what the OT is doing and no replies.  Note to self - ask again.  Coco needs tons of sensory.  Lately she has the flapping feet.  Also throws huge tantrums - throws her self to the floor, runs from one end of the house to another then falls down crying loudly.

Progress:

1. Willing to talk - when asked she will try to make a sound.  Can imitate most of the letters.  Still one syllable words, at most two syllable sounds.  'nana = banana'. 
2. She knows all letters A-Z (capital letters). 
3. Recognize numbers 0-9
4. Recognize most colors: red, yellow, blue, green, brown, white, black, pink, orange, purple
5. Recognize shapes: circle, triangle, square, oval, trapezoid
6. Eats OIKOS greek yogurt (key lime and strawberry), strawberry banana yogurt from cup, all by herself. 
7. Eats: animal crackers, butter cookies, ritz crackers, chocolate chip cookies, cheerios
8. Knows how to trace letters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) with her finger on the iPad.  Also mastered tracing shapes on the 'Little Writer' program.  She's been at it everyday on this program for almost 3 weeks, even though she got it the first week. 
9. Put on and off shoes by self. (however when lost a shoe, wouldn't say).
10. Listens to most commands (sit, eat, go up stairs, come, open, say, pick up x etc).
11. Begins to notice things/people around her.
12. Says 'bye bye' and wave arm spontaneously.

Working on:

1. Counting 1-5
2. Introducing lower case letters
3. Tracing/Writing her name (she already has the movement)
4. Tracing/Writing A-E
5. Tracing/Writing 1-5
6. Color gray
7. Shapes: rectangle, pentagon, octagon
8. Sue introduced words 'red' & 'green' today.  Will reinforce. 
9. Putting on own socks.
10. Always have her say 'I want ...' when she wants something.  She will say it, only on request.  Say I - 'i i i i i'; say want - 'wan wan wan' etc
11. Have her say things when reading to her.  Have her point to words.
12. Cutting with real scissors.  Still needs some work, wouldn't hold on to paper herself.

6/6/12: A Breakthrough!

Today for the very first time, Coco RAN to the bathroom by herself, immediately put down the toilet seat, pull down her pants and pee!!!  YAY!  We will see if she will do it consistently.

After April's IEP meeting, Coco's SEIT started on 5/14/12.  She's very good.  My only complaint is she's 99% of the time [very] late.  Together we've been teaching Coco draw straight lines, write her name, recognize the colors, alphabets, numbers, and shapes.  Sue [SEIT] is also teaching her how to use the scissors. 

Coco has been attempting to say a number of words lately, although the pronounciation is off for a lot of the words.  At least she is WILLING to even attempt to say.  We kept a list of words online and shared with her SEIT and speech therapist.  While reviewing the alphabets with her, she can say to pretty close approximation or close accuracy of "A, B, D, E, K". 

Log: 2/14/12

Log 2/14/12:

Observations:

1. She loves water!  We took her to the pool (~86 water) at the Y and she seems to be at home with the water.  The third of fourth time in the pool during family swim time, she was able to swim across the small pool with the bubble around her without help.  She hates to have her face in the water while washing her hair but doesn't mind if she gets splashed.
2. Still stuck at the diaper training phase - wouldn't go to the toilet herself.  Only goes when we take her to the toilet.
3. Scratches a lot.
4. I think I heard her approximate 'again' after I repeated to her four or five times.  I was very pleasantly surprised. 
5. Likes to count the numbers on the calendar. 
6. Likes to roll and sit on the big exercise balls.  We have a big sensory ball and a big pilates ball.  She fell down on the sensory ball (bounced off) and hurt her lips the other day.  Bled quite a bit.
7. Likes frozen yogurt / ice cream.  Will eat by self.
8. Eats gogurts but not if we squeeze it off into a cup. 
9. Will try the cupcakes, the ones with the icing.  I bought her a red velvet cup cake and she tried it.  Didn't finish though.

What we are working on at home follows.  Pretty much the same as last log.

1. Toilet training - stuck in phase.
2. Identifying people around her - could recognize and approximate 'ye ye', cound recognize 'ba ba', 'ge ge'.
3. Have her say 'bye bye' whenever we get a chance.  She approximates 'byyyyye' and flanks her arm.
4. Have her put on pants.  She could do it when she pays attention.
5. Have her unzip jacket and 'shoes off' when she gets home.
6. We no longer give her the marshmallows from Lucky Charms cereal.  She no longer eats this cereal with milk.  It is now a finger food to her instead and she doesn't seem to mind the missing marshmallows.  She eats the dry cereal and drinks the milk separately.  I think that's how they are doing it in school.  Interestingly, if mixed with another cereal, she picks the other cereal out and throws it on the floor. 
7. Have her play with her older brother. 
8. Teach her how to catch the ball and kick the ball. 
9. Have her approximate or emit a sound before giving her the item she wants. 
10. Sneaking in different vegies in the steam egg.  She still prefers the broccoli. 

An Update at 3.5 yrs old

It's been a crazy few months.  Coco started a new school in September with all new therapists and teachers.  I've been reading the book Son Rise and took a few ideas off of it.  One of them is the logging.  Each week they do a log and compare with what they had the week before.  After reading most half of the book, I realized their situation is very different from mine.  Maybe their kid was not that severe and they sure had a lot of resources and help.  Although I'm not lucky enough to have everyone helping, I am doing the best I can to get her to live a normal life. 

Log at 3.5 yrs:

Observations:

1. No special interests except for watching Dora.  She would run from another room upon hearing a Dora episode starting.  When watch Dora and you talk to her, she would have the deaf ear.  You don't exist at the moment.
2. No spinning or repetitive behavior.
3. #1 and #2 leads me to think she might have brain damage rather than PDD.
4. Still does the seizure like behavior and yells at the same time.  I am adopting the OT's brushing and joint compression that I saw in class yesterday.  Will observe results in the following weeks. 
5. Still bites and scratches people nearest her if she gets mad.  I get plenty of those.
6. Sometimes turns head when called when she's alone, short eye contact. 
7. Tends to scratch herself a lot at the joints (ezcema).  Nothing seems to help except the use of medicine which I was advise to use sparingly. 
8. Makes more sounds when she's alone.
9. Understands and does 'lights off' (new one since two weeks back).
10. Minimal motor imitation; no verbal imitation.
11. Does try to say 'more' when asked.  Would say something approximate and does the more hand gesture when requesting.  However, will also make the same approximate sound AND gesture when ask to say 'mama'.
12. Will also point to request if specifically asked to.
13. Still very short attention span.  I went and observed her classes' one on one with the teacher.  She seemed uninterested.  The teacher thought it was because I was there, but she wasn't looking at me...  
14. Will pee if put on a toilet and have pee, otherwise will get up and get off the toilet.  Would not request to go herself.  Been like that for a few months.  This past week, after she pees/poops, she would turn around and take a look. 
15. Fascinated by the calendar hung on the wall.  Stares at it lots of times.

What we are working on at home:

1. Toilet training.
2. Identifying body parts (head shoulders knees and toes etc).
3. Identifying people around her.
4. Counting numbers up to 31 on the calendar. She holds my hand to point or I would hold her hand to point).
5. Recognize letters by singing the alphabet song.  She knows to do the 'X' when asked "show me X" and would do the 'me' gesture at the end.
6. Coloring/tracing.  Had to force her to sit down.  Afterwards she doesn't pay attention.  Not interested in this activity.  Would doodle on the iPad for a few minutes. 
7. Unzip jacket. ('zipper down')
8. Put on / take off shoes. ('Sit down for shoes, foot in, tight your shoes, up and over (velcro)') (Shoes off)
9. Put on / take off pants. ('Pants off', 'hands here hold on to your pants, pull')
10. Having her say 'bye bye' and wave at the same time.
11. Having her request by saying 'more' and by pointing.
12. Trying to make her make the sounds 'ba' 'ball', 'beep', 'mmm-a', 'ha' etc.
13. Teach her to roll the big exercise ball. Sometimes have her jump on it. She likes to jump on it.
14. Trying to teach her swimming or at least let her feel the water.  She loves it.  Will continue to bring her. 
15. Introducing more foods (bought the same yogurt she ate at school, she wouldn't try it at home), was able to mix some different cereal into the Lucky Charms (oats).  I forgot to get the Chex (gluten free) today! 
16. Using more soy milk instead of normal milk.  She doesn't drink almond milk but no complaints about soy milk.  

What we succeeded so far:

1. Since October 2011, we've been succeeded in feeding her fish oil.  This is a major achievement for us.  It took us 1 month to get her to not refuse it.  I'm not sure if the stuff if helping but worth a shot.
2. Getting her to sit down and let me brush her teeth (tough to rinse though).
3. Able to mix some minced broccoli and minced pork into the steamed egg.  She's been eating these for the past month or so.  We tried a few different veggies, but she seems to like the broccoli best. First time she saw the broccoli her face turned red and screamed but she eventually ate it!  I was shocked.