Kinnick's IEP Goals

Kinnick's IEP goals for the year....

O&M:

• Given instruction in orientation and mobility, Kinnick will develop functional use of laterality and directionality in relation to self by correctly responding to commands involving "left", "right", "in front" and "behind" with 80% accuracy.

OT:

• Kinnick will demonstrate the following functional fine motor, and cognitive skills: Put small objects into a small hole in a container maintaining a pincer grasp on the object. Donning pants and shirt independently with the exception of fasteners. Place and identify 3/3 shapes in a form board. Participate in at least 5 different 2 handed tasks in which each hand has a different action (ex. stringing beads, screwing on/off lids).

SLP/OT:

• Kinnick will increase self feeding skills and oral motor awareness by demonstrating the following on 3 of 4 occasions: Enjoy 2-3 bites of a variety of foods while she utilizes an eating utensil. Enjoy 2-3 sips from an open cup.

VI:

• Given braille materials and a braillewriter, Kinnick will demonstrate the following pre-braille tactual skills: Various fine motor activities, tracking tactile symbols with two hands from left to right, scribbling on the braillewriter, and differentiating between braille and tactile symbols, on 4/5 opportunities.

• Given direct braille instruction, Kinnick will tactually recognize all 26 letters of the alphabet with 80% accuracy.

• Given shapes, Kinnick will scan, identify and discriminate between a circle, square and triangle with or without a lightbox with 80% accuracy.

PT:

• Kinnick will complete the following functional gross motor skills with 75% accuracy: Going up/down a flight of stairs at home marking time using hand rail or wall without physical prompts. Pedaling a trike with contact guard to stand by assist for a distance of 10-15' to work on lower extremity strength. Stand on either leg 3-5 seconds without loosing balance. Bunny hopping, clearing both feet together at the same time, of the ground 2-3 times.

SLP:

• Kinnick will produce 2-4 word utterances using signs, and or words, for a variety of pragnmatic functions (comment, reqest, label, indicate a want or need, request assistance, answer yes/no, gain a person's attention) with 80% accuracy across 3 consecutive interactions with multiple educators and peers.

• Using signs or words, Kinnick will receptively or expressively answer a variety of simple wh- (what, who, where, how) questions, during 4/5 opportunities with a variety of educators. Questions may include (What is _____? How does she feel?)

• Kinnick will correctly produce early developing consonants (p, m, n, g, k) in the initial and final position of words, with 70% overall accuracy.

This may not sound like much, but try doing them with your eyes closed. Suddenly, they all become a bit more difficult.

I'm excited to see Kinnick meet all of these new goals. She's off to a good start. Tonight, Kinnick counted from 1-10 without help! Of course when we got the recorder, she refused to count for us. We'll work on getting it on video. She has also started using a tippy cup. She lifts the cup, brings it to her mouth, and takes a few sips. It's a start!

Carver's Snappy Seat is here!!

While we were in MI, Carver's Snappy Seat showed up! It's been on back order for quite a while.

I couldn't wait. I had to put it together right away.

It really does a good job of holding Carver in an upright position. I can't wait to take him for a walk on his trike! Now, I need to get the tandem insert ordered, so him and Kinnick can ride together.

Trip to Michigan for eye EUA's

We're back from the long drive to/from Royal Oak, MI. The kids always do great in the car. Kinnick did beg to go to the Beach and then begged to go home, but other then that, they did pretty good.

Carver's eye exam didn't yield anything new. His eyes seem to be pretty stable. The doctor said that should could do a surgery to make them a little better, but it wouldn't be worth the risk of what we could lose.

Kinnick's eye exam wasn't quite as good. The pressure in her right eye has increased, again. This means that the last glaucoma surgery is no longer helping in the right eye. We going to increase the eye drops and hope the pressure comes down. She will get the pressure checked again in about a month (here in Wichita). We'll tweak the drops until we can return to MI for more surgery in 6-9 months.

Here are some pictures from the trip...

Carver taking a nap on the way to MI.

Kinnick Full of energy on the ride to MI.

Carver done with his nap.

Kinnick finally wore out....

While in MI, we got to visit a great Micro Preemie friend, Conner. Kinnick followed him around saying, "Hi", and begging for kisses. She even backed up and sat on his lap. I don't think he knew what to think of her. Stacy and David, Thanks for having us over. We miss you guys!

Tried one of the Kid's meals at Applebees. No joke, an Applebees in MI "accidentally" filled a child's tippy cup with Margarita! I enjoyed my Kid's meal. Luckily my kids don't like to eat or drink anything new. So, no worries that my kids might "accidentally" get a Margarita served to them in their tippy cup.

Kinnick talked non-stop about going to the "beach". So, we stopped in a town near the great lakes, so Kinnick could see the beach. It was too cold to do anything, but she got to see the beach.

On the way home, Kinnick helped her baby read a book.

April 9th, 2011

This past week has been really busy.

• Carver completed his first week of pre-school outside the home in a school room setting.
• Big brother, Hayden passed his Catholic School Kindergarten screening. So, we had lots of enrollment papers to complete.
• Kinnick had an eye exam to get a new prescription for glasses. We tried the contacts and really liked them, but they just don't stay in her eyes. I'm not sure if it's because she doesn't understand what's going on, so she rubs them out. Or, if her eyes are just so miss-shaped from all of the surgery - making it impossible for the lenses to stay on her eyes. We're going to try glasses until she is a little older. Carver is starting to really use his vision. I'm still not sure if he's using any vision in his right eye, but he is definitely trying to use his left eye. So, we will most likely look into glasses for him. I worry about putting anything else on his poor head. I'm afraid he will injure himself. Anyone else have a child with spastic quad cp, a cochlear implant, and glasses? Is your child mobile? Carver only rolls. I'm guessing that they make flexible glasses - or at least I'm hoping.
• Kinnick seen her pulmonologist. She's been sick since December. As soon as she gets well, she gets something else and is back on oxygen. She's finally oxygen free, but the doctor wanted her to take a steroid for a week, just to make sure.
• Big brother, Gregory passed his driving test. This was just for his learners permit. He's currently taking driver's ed. We've put it off as long as we could. He's 17, so it's time to get it done.
• Lastly, we're preparing for our trip back to Royal Oak, Michigan for EUA's for Kinnick and Carver. We leave first thing Monday morning. Nurse Marci will be going with us again. She always makes the trip much nicer. I'm looking forward to the trip. I love to see the people we met while Kinnick and Carver were in the NICU. I remember how horrible it was to be so far from home (16hrs) for 2 months. It was very lonely. I didn't want to leave the twins, so I refused to go home until they went home. The people I met made the stay so much better.

Carver's 1st Day of Pre-School

Today was Carver's first day of Pre-School. He'll be attending 3 days a week for 1 1/2 hrs/day. After 3 weeks, he will start attending 3 days a week for 3 hrs/day.

It was a windy day and a late start. The school/transportation department was working up to the last hour organizing the busing. - a lot of work to drive next door. If you were to stand in our cul-de-sac and look straight ahead, you would see the school. They arrived about 15 min late, so Carver's first day of school was shorted to closer to an hour instead of 1 1/2 hrs. I'm sure things will go smoother now that everything has been figured out.

The bus has a nice electric ramp/lift, so that Carver can easily be placed in the bus - remaining in his wheelchair at all times.

The walk to the bus at the end of the driveway. Carver looks so tiny in his wheelchair.

Getting ready to ride on the electric ramp/lift. You can see how windy it was. Carver couldn't even open his eyes.

Ready for the ride up into the bus...

Quick ride to the top and into the bus....

They secured Carver's wheelchair with tie-downs. His 1:1 is seated to the left of him.

Kinnick got on the bus to say bye-bye to Carver.

Carver was completely wiped-out this evening! He participated in story time, recess (swings), and bye-bye time at school today.

The remainder of this school year will be spent getting to know Carver, working Carver into the classroom, and finding out what works best like seating/positioning and how to participate in all activities. The school is very good about insuring that all kids participate in all activities in some way. In other words, all activities will be modified to accommodate Carver. His 1:1 will be with him at all times insuring Carver's participation. She will offer any help necessary without allowing Carver to be completely dependent. The goal is to help him do more for himself. It will be a hard balance to give him the support he needs without giving him too much help - preventing him from doing things he CAN do or can LEARN to do.