On Monday I went to UKZN university in Westville and met with the team from the feeding clinic. My last meeting with them was in November 2013 and with Jason being regularly sick we haven't been in a position to meet again until now. They created this clinic late last year to assist families with children that had feeding difficulties. The team consists of a professor who is the head of paediatrics at UKZN, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and a psychologist. We were invited as they wanted an update on Jason and wanted to know whether they could assist us in any way. I have been in contact with the professor via email the past few months. The meeting went very well. They were extremely impressed with how Jason was looking and impressed with his speech and understanding compared to what they saw in November. On reviewing Jason's school book and therapy file they were very happy and impressed that we are in the right hands and happy for us to meet with them when I feel we need assistance. I will obviously keep in contact with the professor and keep her up to date with all the tests, appointments and eating progress. She knows that I have been to No Tube (tube weaning clinic) in Austria and also done the netcoaching and is aware that I know what I am doing with Jason and working hard at getting progress and moving forward. Our misfortune has been Jason's health, his immune system and his diseases. Every time he gets sick we have a regression.
I am definitely noticing a huge improvement in Jason's eating and willingness to eat. Today I asked him whether he wanted milk or yoghurt and to my surprise he wanted yoghurt. So yoghurt he had and he ate like a champion. He is opening his mouth so much wider and accepting the spoon, swallowing much better with less chokes. All credit goes to his special needs school who are working extensively with him every day. We have introduced a sticker reward chart at school and at home and this seems to encourage Jason to want to progress forward and do well in order to receive his sticker. After five stickers he receives a prize. It's great seeing his excitement when he finishes his food and receives his sticker.
We have also been working hard on extra fluids and this is definitely making a huge difference as well. His energy levels are so much better. I have been pushing the formula for calories and forgotten that water is just as important. A huge improvement we are seeing.
Tomorrow we have Jason's hearing test, another step closer to helping Jason and making sure that he is hearing everything. He definitely hears, sometimes selective hearing but we want to make sure that he is hearing everything.