Oksana's testing results came back and just as I suspected she is about at the level of a 2 year old in all areas. I told them that had they tested her 2 months ago she would have tested as a 1 year old. On Monday of this week we got a phone call from Easter Seals with therapy times and they told us we could start immediately! So on Tuesday we went to Oksana's first day of therapy. It was...ummmmm....interesting. She had PT and speech that day. Without giving details so this blog isn't too long I'll just say that I saw some behaviors I haven't seen in awhile. They are behaviors that she had with us in the beginning and they are all based on 2 things. First, she is SO scared. It was a new environment, new people, and they were asking her to do things she had never done before. She was scared someone would hurt her and she couldn't handle the transitions because she didn't know what was happening next. Second, she tries to control adults. It is a survival mechanism that she used in the orphanage. She wanted to see if she could control what happens in therapy. There were plenty of tears and lots of "No, no, no, no, no!". Still, she actually did have fun overall and screamed at the top of her lungs when we had to leave. The next day was MUCH better. She had OT which was new so that caused some issues but not near as bad as day one. We figured out that if we simply prepare her for any changes or upcoming transitions she handles them fine. Her PT and speech therapist are great. Her OT is OK. She has a more passive personality and Oksana seems to take advantage of that. Here is a little video of her in PT working on standing from a sitting position.
I've also been more intentional about her education lately. Up to this point we've really just been playing and she's been learning through that but today I started to work on the alphabet with her. I made a big A on the floor with tape and we drove trucks over it:
Then we lined it with blocks:
And we glued cereal on a letter A:
We talked about words that start with A and we did a matching activity using socks.
Now that she has her walker and rides in a stroller, we are able to do much more with her. Yesterday she also discovered that she loves the grocery carts that have little cars attached to the front of them so we got to do our grocery shopping together while she happily "drove" her car.`I never thought I would see that day! Week by week we see improvement and I find myself looking at her and feeling amazed that she is supposed to be in a mental institution right now. It blows my mind.
2 comments:
Hehe, we had to switch therapist in the beginning because Anastasia could control her easily, and she let her! Control is huge with these kids!
Love that you are seeing so many positive changes!!!!
Have you seen the blog 1+1+1=1? I have a link to it on my sidebar. There are TONS of really great ideas that would probably be appropriate for Oksana!! Check out her Tot School stuff first.
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