I know. I know. It's been way too long. Life has conspired against my blogging ambitions these past two weeks - which is a shame because there is so much to report! This video is actually from a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, Noa has discovered the wonder of wood flooring - she can really get some steam up! She doesn't quite make it to the book in this clip - but she does do some nice exploring and perhaps you get a glimpse of how she still really needs to learn how to follow a sound to an object. She is close, but there is still some confusion.
One of her favorite new games - which she demonstrates in the video - is the handing-you-a-bit-of-nothing game. It actually started with handing me a hair from her face, or a bit of fluff off the rug. But it became so much fun that she decided it didn't matter if she actually had something to hand off or not. It's a fun game, and it's one that involves playing and interacting with others which is really a big step for her.
She has picking up some new signs - which is terrific - but also has been getting frustrated about the things that she can't say - which has been less than terrific. Some bad behaviors re-emerge in that frustration: hitting herself in the head, biting her shirt sleeve (many of her shirts have some bite holes in them from this) and, most upsetting, just plain trying to pound her head onto whatever table or floor is in front of her. It's hard to get her attention and encourage her to communicate with her signs when she is in that upset state... but we just keep working on it.
New signs include: play and change my diaper... and there is another one, but I'm just spacing it out right now.
When I last blogged we were about to have a meeting with the school about getting sign language for Noa - which is so so crucial. We had the meeting with the school and luckily, everyone as the school agrees that this is the right path... the only problem is how to approach the school board.
The board really wants us to prove that she has a hearing loss... and we all know she can hear (though what and how she hears are certainly in question). All along Ben and I have felt that it isn't really material because not hearing and not talking are not necessarily connected (google "apraxia" or "aphasia" for more on that). We've also been resistent to the hearing test because they would have to knock her out. BUT at the end of the day, we went ahead and made an appt. for the hearing test (next Wednesday, followed by the dentist on Thursday... poor kid!).
The fact of the matter is that if they can prove a hearing loss - or a processing issue (which may be harder to prove) - then we'll be able to prove the board with what they feel they need. And apparently they have a way to do it now without knocking her out, we'll see if that works.
If they don't have any hearing loss... then we have to go after her having a brain injury that keeps her mute which is very difficult to prove with certainity because there are no tests that can really prove that in the same way a hearing test can prove hearing loss. Just one of those things we just don't know so much about: where does language, and the ability to create and expressive language, come from? Oh so many things we don't know...
Hopefully there will not be such a big gap between posts next time!
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