Noah's Trip to Austin (RPM @ HALO)
We took Noah to Austin on Thursday so that he could get some more RPM therapy in at HALO . Sim took him for a session when I was in India two months ago (two months ago??? Can you believe it??) but, honestly, we haven't done anything since Nandini's been home. We've just been busy trying to figure out things and get a schedule down. Well, I did try a few times, but it was a disaster and I found myself getting frustrated - which does not help the situation.
Anyway, we are flat broke and money around here is getting tighter than Joan Rivers' face, so we were afraid we'd have to quit going. Well, God answers prayers, doesn't he? HALO has hired an apprentice who is going to start working with the younger kids doing RPM. She was an ABA therapist up north and also has gone through all the rigorous RPM training and has been doing that for awhile. Anyway, they just hired her on a 3 year "apprentice" contract in Austin and Noah had his first session with her on Thursday. She is AMAZING! She reminds me so much of Soma. I mean, obviously, there is only one Soma - and she's irreplaceable - but Erica does a fantastic job and Noah loved her. He just smiled, took her hand, and walked up the stairs with her. Never batted an eye.
I love going to these sessions with Noah because it just gives me the kick in the butt that I need to do it at home. He is so smart! He just knows so much - and I never give him credit for that. It's so easy to forget, which is hard to explain, but I'm sure those of you who know Noah know what I mean. It's hard sometimes to believe that his brain is fully functional, but it is.
Anyway, it's a looooong trip - 8 hours round trip for a one hour session, but the good news is that since Erica's considered an apprentice, her fee is 75% cheaper than Soma's. Thank you Jesus! That's what we needed. I'm hoping that we'll be able to go up twice a month. Of course, Sim isn't too thrilled about that because he'll have to spend one of his days off looking after the two rascals, but really... when exactly do mom's get a day off? Huh? But it looks like it might work out and I'm so excited. This means that I can homeschool Noah and then get retrained on Noah's emerging skills every 2 weeks. And that's really important.
So, we started up schooling again yesterday. I'm taking it real sloooooooow because otherwise I get frustrated and give up. We're doing Bible for 15 minutes in the morning, English/stories for 15 minutes in the afternoon, and math for 15 minutes in the evening. Once we establish a set routine and get into the swing of things (and once I become more trained in RPM and feel more comfortable and competent with it all, then we'll lengthen the time spent on each subject and add some more in. He's only in kindergarten).
We did Noah's Ark yesterday and then a unit on the zoo and he got EVERY question right except for one... "what is a flood?" - so I was really impressed.
Okay, Nandini and Eli are about to kill each other. It's getting harder and harder to sit down and type anything anymore. You can imagine what it's like when I sit down and try to do 1:1 with Noah. So pray for us, please. :-)
Oh, and if you can, will you please spare a prayer for Noah? He has another abscess. It's on his rib and we got as much stuff out of it as we could. He was hospitalized with MRSA Staph last Easter (for a week) and we can't afford the money or the the week away for him to go back for more antibiotics. Not to mention that the antibiotics nearly killed him. He absolutely can't handle them. We've been giving him pyrogen ( a homeopathic remedy) and put a topical antibiotic on it, but it's still the size of a walnut under his skin. We're keeping a close eye on it and looking for any symptoms, but I just get really scared - especially because he can't tell us how he's feeling.
Thanks!
Leslie
Anyway, we are flat broke and money around here is getting tighter than Joan Rivers' face, so we were afraid we'd have to quit going. Well, God answers prayers, doesn't he? HALO has hired an apprentice who is going to start working with the younger kids doing RPM. She was an ABA therapist up north and also has gone through all the rigorous RPM training and has been doing that for awhile. Anyway, they just hired her on a 3 year "apprentice" contract in Austin and Noah had his first session with her on Thursday. She is AMAZING! She reminds me so much of Soma. I mean, obviously, there is only one Soma - and she's irreplaceable - but Erica does a fantastic job and Noah loved her. He just smiled, took her hand, and walked up the stairs with her. Never batted an eye.
I love going to these sessions with Noah because it just gives me the kick in the butt that I need to do it at home. He is so smart! He just knows so much - and I never give him credit for that. It's so easy to forget, which is hard to explain, but I'm sure those of you who know Noah know what I mean. It's hard sometimes to believe that his brain is fully functional, but it is.
Anyway, it's a looooong trip - 8 hours round trip for a one hour session, but the good news is that since Erica's considered an apprentice, her fee is 75% cheaper than Soma's. Thank you Jesus! That's what we needed. I'm hoping that we'll be able to go up twice a month. Of course, Sim isn't too thrilled about that because he'll have to spend one of his days off looking after the two rascals, but really... when exactly do mom's get a day off? Huh? But it looks like it might work out and I'm so excited. This means that I can homeschool Noah and then get retrained on Noah's emerging skills every 2 weeks. And that's really important.
So, we started up schooling again yesterday. I'm taking it real sloooooooow because otherwise I get frustrated and give up. We're doing Bible for 15 minutes in the morning, English/stories for 15 minutes in the afternoon, and math for 15 minutes in the evening. Once we establish a set routine and get into the swing of things (and once I become more trained in RPM and feel more comfortable and competent with it all, then we'll lengthen the time spent on each subject and add some more in. He's only in kindergarten).
We did Noah's Ark yesterday and then a unit on the zoo and he got EVERY question right except for one... "what is a flood?" - so I was really impressed.
Okay, Nandini and Eli are about to kill each other. It's getting harder and harder to sit down and type anything anymore. You can imagine what it's like when I sit down and try to do 1:1 with Noah. So pray for us, please. :-)
Oh, and if you can, will you please spare a prayer for Noah? He has another abscess. It's on his rib and we got as much stuff out of it as we could. He was hospitalized with MRSA Staph last Easter (for a week) and we can't afford the money or the the week away for him to go back for more antibiotics. Not to mention that the antibiotics nearly killed him. He absolutely can't handle them. We've been giving him pyrogen ( a homeopathic remedy) and put a topical antibiotic on it, but it's still the size of a walnut under his skin. We're keeping a close eye on it and looking for any symptoms, but I just get really scared - especially because he can't tell us how he's feeling.
Thanks!
Leslie
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