They have made it their top priority to focus on Jason’s eating, speech and understanding. They have two snack times and by the time Jason comes home he has eaten whole a whole tub of yoghurt with a spoon as well as some custard and whipped cream which they keep topping up his yoghurt cup. In the beginning when he started it was just a few spoons but he is doing so well now. He has learnt to open his little bird mouth wider and accept the spoon easier. This has taken some time and a lot of daily therapy. Jason has had to learn to trust food and eating. Often when he eats with a spoon he gets goosies all over his body and sweats profusely on his neck. This is obviously a sensory and a fear thing but with time and a lot of work it will get better. His speech therapist, teacher assistant and the volunteers are amazing and they are doing an amazing job with him. They are also working on toilet training with all the kids. Some of them including Jason are still in nappies and they have toilet time every day and some days Jason comes home without a nappy J. Jason is quite happy to wee on the toilet but it’s the number 2 that is a problem. It doesn’t help that he has chronic diarrhoea but this is a work in progress and we will get there eventually.
Speech wise they have incorporated sign language into the school program which is great for communication and understanding. Also when Jason eats they have incorporated a speech application as well. The speech therapist feels Jason does tend to understand/listen better when he is given a command or spoken to when he is looking at her whilst signing. Bruce and I have also noticed this ourselves and on discussing this with the speech therapist we have decided to have another hearing test which we will do next week. He is definitely hearing, no doubt in our minds but we are concerned that maybe he isn’t hearing everything? Who knows but the speech test will confirm or rule this out.
We also decided to do a repeat barium swallow test in worry that perhaps Jason was aspirating. We haven’t done a barium in a few years and because Jason tends to pool some food/formula in his throat he sounds quite congested after eating or drinking and we have to make him cough. This was discussed with Jason’s teacher and dietician and we all agreed it was worth checking out. We did the test today, which I will discuss in the next update.
Every second Friday the kids, teachers and volunteers go on a school outing. The kids love this which is a great way of getting out plus incorporating therapy. They have been to the beach twice now and are expected to go to the animal farm this Friday or next. There are also various volunteers that volunteer their time for the school and come and teach the kids crafts, cooking and baking. This is again including therapy. When they had their cooking lesson last week they made pasta of some sort and Jason even tried the pasta. During another lesson he had some jelly and some biscuit. All great positive steps for a child that doesn’t eat J.
So school is going fantastically well. Bruce and myself are SO happy that we made this move. In the beginning we were concerned as we thought it was better for Jason to be with “normal” kids and kids that are more advanced than him. This does have its pros and cons having the more advance kids playing with him and teaching him but for what Jason needs, he is in the perfect school with the perfect kids. These little kids are just too precious, they are just like Jason. Each and every one of them need that extra attention, that extra push, that extra therapy and at this school they are getting all that. These teachers and helpers are amazing. The passion they have in them is amazing, that will and drive to help these kids, the love that they have for Jason. It amazes me watching the bond that they have with Jason and the other 3 kids. We made the right move, we are so happy and couldn’t ask for a better position to be in. God blessed us with the most awesome school and the most amazing teachers, therapists and helpers right here on our doorstep.