Okay, not really broken glass. This probably ages me, and all those who get this reference, but so be it. But lately Noa is really enjoying the satisfying sound of destruction as demonstrated by this video below. And no worries, nothing broken. The interesting thing is, she is purposely throwing this fantastic lighted balls (thanks Grammy) to the side where all her light box toys are stored in order to create that sound. Which, as you can see, she loves.
So, that's fun, but there is news too.
First, we had our evaluation with the behaviorist/communication specialist which was very very helpful. As usual, Noa is her own best advocate. After much talking with us, Noa's teachers and Noa's therapists, a few short minutes with Noa demonstrated pretty clearly that Noa is communicating well with signs and is hungry for more. So now we take his report to the Board of Ed and... fingers crossed.
The evaluator was very encouraged by the various skills that Noa was already demonstrating, things like putting together two signs and reaching out her hands to feel hand-under-hands signs. In terms of her cognitive abilities, I think he is one of the few folks who has walked in the door and immediately seen the kid we see. Of course, a big part of that is that he speaks her language!
He gave Ben and I some important assignments as well: 1) to get Noa into more situations with normally developing kids and 2) to get ourselves into an ASL (American Sign Language) class.
I have to say that a few months ago, I might have poo-pooed the idea of spending more time with normally developing kids: they used to just steal her toys and walk away before she even realized they were there. But this holiday season Noa hung out with a lot of cousins around her age and she really did well - and seemed to enjoy herself. So we'll try to find more opportunities for interaction - frankly, it isn't alway easy to find situations in which Noa can participate with other kids.
As for the ASL - we've been wanting to learn more, what has stopped us is not knowing what kind of sign language Noa should learn: ASL or the Deaf-Blind version (which is what Helen Keller used, and all the signs have to be done into the hand). It's kind of a question of what community she'll be in and who she'll be communicating with. So now we know what to learn. Phew.
I have another bit of video that I'll try to post later but for now... duty calls.
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