I started this blog hoping to inspire other parents to help their children with Down syndrome reach for the sky! My daughter was reading words, before she was 2 years of age & reading books by 3.5 years. I believe kids with Down syndrome can do amazing things if we give them the right tools. I truly believe high expectations can make a tremendous difference in the lives of our children!
I've started using the Blogger app lately, mainly because we're having Internet trouble & I have service in my phone regardless of whether my house Internet is working or not. I'm uploading a few pictures but I'm not sure what order they're going to come up on the app. Anyways, here goes!
One picture is of K in her costume - she has been hounding me for at least a couple of months to be Scooby Doo!
Another is of the vegetable skeleton man I made for snacks for my 2 younger girls Halloween parties at school today. It was a fun idea that a friend of mind posted on Facebook & a great way to at least get a few veggies into the kids today before they left to go trick or treating.
The last photo is a pumpkin that my friend's 9 year old son grew. It is the largest pumpkin he has ever grown & although be usually sells his pumpkins he was determined that he needed to donate both the pumpkin & his time carving it (with lots of help) to the local extended care seniors residence. The pic doesn't do it justice but I'm estimating it is about 3.5 feet tall. Pretty good for these short Canadian growing seasons!
& all through the house, such a ruckus was occurring it was too scary for a mouse!
It's 11:40 & I escaped from last minute Halloween creations, Halloween treat organizing, kitchen cleaning - yes I know there's a 1/2 eaten plate of food on the living room floor - the table was covered in a costume that needed another coat of paint still so we couldn't eat there. Okay, one quick blog post & back to making my costume - I haven't even started yet!!! KEEP CALM & CARRY ON right?
Here's some pics before I go:
This is the pumpkin that T & K carved together
This is the same pumpkin after K decided she was old enough to carve a pumpkin using a steak knife! Oops.........You can bet I watched a little more closely after that!
Here is a picture of our informal growth chart. We measure all of the kids on the doorway between our onsuite bathroom & walk in closet. It's a pretty sophisticated method which seems to work well for us:)
The other day I heard K in there & peeked in to see what she was doing. K had the measuring tape & a marker in her hand & was attempting to measure herself. I helped our & this is what I discovered:
Notice how much K grew in the last 6 weeks or so? She just had quite a growth spurt & I guess kids do have them randomly but the thing that frustrates me is that I often hear parents say that their kids grew when they gave them this supplement or that vitamin. Maybe I shouldn't expect her growth to correlate with her vitamins, I know they should be for general, long term health but it sure would be nice! We were more sporadic than usual with K's vitamins towards the end of the summer as we got busy with several mini holidays. Then in September I decided to give K a break from her vitamins altogether & to reintroduce them slowly to get a better idea of the effects. I had only restarted K on any vitamins the day before I took this picture.
What are your thoughts & experiences on this? Do you notice many specific changes when your kids are taking different supplements?
A few weeks ago we took the girls to a high ropes course. K was too small to go on the big course but had a great time on the kids course. About a year ago, K was too nervous to sit on my kitchen counter! I'm so proud of her for getting over that fear. She did a great job navigating all of the obstacles & even went down the zip line by herself!
We have decided not to allow iq testing for K. I admit, I'm kind of curious as to how she would do but I'm also afraid that she would be denied the few bits & pieces of help she's received through the school. I'm not concerned about OT & PT but I do like the speech therapy (even though they are few & far between) as well as some of the supplies like the Handwriting Without Tears program & oral motor tools we're able to use through the school.
Here is the response that I wrote on the subject on an online forum today:
I have watched this subject with interest whenever it has come up on various boards over the last few years.
First of all, these tests are generally not designed to adapt to kids with any sort of speech delay. If your child has any speech delay it will be noted as a cognitive delay.
Iq tests are only indicative of your child's ability to take the iq test & only an indicator of that ability on the the actual day of the test - they may score higher or lower if doing the test on another day.
These tests are often used to deny services if the score is higher or to "prove" that a child doesn't have the ability to learn certain things if they score lower.
I see no reason why my daughter can't be tested in the same way as her older sisters in order to identify her strengths & weaknesses in order to teach her appropriately.
The Canadian Down syndrome Society has released a position statement in this subject:
www.cdss.ca/positioning/positioning...
I will be providing a copy of this to the school when it comes time for me to refuse this test.
This is a blog that I have been enjoying lately. It is written by a group of moms who have kids with autism. These are wise, insightful, mama bears who fight for their kids & best of all................The Thinking Moms get me thinking too!
I think the following link is the blog that really made me realize that these ladies & I were on the same page. This blog made me laugh but at the same time I totally understood - it was posted just a couple of days after I showed up at K's preschool with a bottle of homemade, organic cleaner for them to use to clean tables at snack time so it was very timely for me.
I wrote this blog post back in July when K took swimmimg lessons but never got around to posting it. I actually wrote a post on K's current swimming lessons a week or so ago and posted it here in case you're interested in reading it.
I've been writing this post in my head since Monday morning when K started swimming lessons. I've written it & rewritten it several times in my head as the events of the week have progressed. It started out as a much different story & although there were times this week when I was very frustrated, the week improved dramatically & I have to say that I am content with the final version that I am able to write.................... & very proud of my little girl!
Last year K passed her preschool swim lessons last year so on Monday morning K started swimming lessons in Level One. She was in a group with 8 other kids. One little boy is a few months younger (but a lot taller) than her & the rest of the class ranged between 6 & 8 years. The lessons took place in an outdoor pool. Unfortunately, K can't stand up even in the shallow end because it is still too deep. There are 2 separate swimming lessons each day. The first was in the shallow end & the second was in the deep end with life jackets on.
Within about 10 minutes of the class starting, K pulled herself up on the edge of the pool & took off from the instructor. With 8 other kids to worry about the instructor couldn't very well be running after K all the time.The pool is fenced off so I ended up leaving the spectator area where all the other moms were to watch from the edge of the pool so that I could return K to the pool when needed. K wasn't upset about going back in & paid attention for a few minutes but then would get out & run away again.
The 2nd thing K was doing was acting very helpless. The girl who has jumped off the side of the pool & bobbed up to the surface with a grin since she was barely 2 years old was waiting for the instructor to hold her hand & gently help her pop into the water without letting her head go below the surface. K is very comfortable in the water, Here is some photographic evidence of her swimming in case you are interested - she looks so little & cute here! When she was supposed to be jumping into the pool K would wait until the instructor held out her hand & gently helped her jump in without even getting her head wet. When the kids were supposed to do a front float, the instructor helped her again & didn't let her head go into the water. K wasn't the only kid that she was being careful with but it was understandable with the kids who were nervous about the water - K is not.
My little fish wouldn't even put her head in the water when asked to! She passed the previous level with flying colors & only a week before her old instructor insisted she was very prepared for level one.
I was a little surprised at K`s behavior & tried to figure out why it was going so badly. When she took swimming lessons in a different indoor pool back in October she behaved so much better & rarely needed a reminder to behave or stay with the group. K has always had a mind of her own but lately has been testing the limits even more. My husband & I try to be firm about the rules however K knows that she can get away with a lot with people who don't know her so perhaps this was the problem.
Next I wondered if it was just a lack of maturity but then again, she did so much better 8 months earlier.
I was sure from the start that part of the problem was that there were 8 other kids in K's group. By the time the instructor worked with each of the kids, K had stopped paying attention - some of the other kids were finding it a little too long to wait too.
I think the fact that K could not touch the bottom & had to hold onto the edge of the pool for most of the lesson was a factor too. I am very proud of her for being able to do this for a full 40 minute lesson.
I have to be honest here & say that it bothered me to have to sit inside the pool area & not be out with the other moms in the spectator area for a couple of reasons. First - because I know K can behave better than she was. 2nd - Some of the moms know her but many do not. I don`t often feel like people are judging K but when she is behaving badly but I know they sometimes think that it is because she has Trisomy 21. Any other kid could behave badly & they wouldn't bat an eye but with her they blame her extra chromosome or assume she doesn't understand.
Day 3 - I finally had a breakthrough. I realized that the life jackets they were using for the deep water session were quite different than K`s usual floaty & probably much more awkward for K`s short arms. Although K has been to this pool in previous years I realized that she was still a little nervous about not being able to touch the bottom. It has been 11 months since she has been to this pool & the one we swim in all winter is a zero entry pool. I couldn't do much about the pool depth of course but I did talk to the instructor on Wednesday morning about allowing K to use her usual floaty. Thankfully, she agreed that this was a good idea.
Suddenly, I had a new child. No more getting out of the pool & running away & she had much more confidence in everything she was doing. Most importantly, she starting paying attention & responding much better. I think the floaty made a big difference but I think the biggest problem was just the unfamiliar pool. By Wednesday K was getting used to the pool.
Within 10 minutes, I realized I was no longer needed & went back to find a seat in the spectators areas. It was good to be back & it was good to see K behaving appropriately like I knew she could.
K continued to improve dramatically during the next few days & by the end of the lessons she was one of the better swimmers in the group. She passed all the areas except for the back float but again I think this is still just an issue with the pool depth as she does it at home. I think she is nervous about jumping backwards of the edge of the pool & worried that the instructor won`t catch her.
Next summer I plan to let K swim in the pool a few times before she starts swimming lessons. I'm confident that it will help her swimming lessons to go a lot smoother.
Just for fun I've added a short clip from our pool this afternoon. I missed the first part of the dive (K doesn't jump anymore, she dives), but I think its kind of cute how she swims with her head underwater for a moment before she comes up for air.
