I DID IT!

Wade's only verbal sentence at this point is "I did it" which he says delightedly no matter how incriminating it may be. Here are some of the things he has been doing, for better or for worse.

Who needs cell phones?

You wouldn't believe what this book says about me.



Girls? I want one!

PROGRESS

Wade continues to thrive at his own pace. His accomplishments are full of joy for us as well as for him.






He is now getting therapy two or three days a week. Speech and occupational are every week and physical is every other week at this time.






When Jesse moved away in August, Laurie became his new OT.






Wade is always sociable and unafraid of strangers, but I could tell that he was unsettled during the transition until a routine was established with the new OT.






He can now walk without support up and down the little stairs Nevin built for him.






He is learning to jump, but still locks his knees most of the time because it makes him feel safer that way. But it's very difficult and jarring to jump with locked knees. Try it sometime.






He does a great job with shape sorting and simple wooden puzzles.






He is learning to string beads.






He is trying very hard to learn to take lids off. (Hmmm. Is that a good thing to encourage at this point?)






Another scary thought is that he almost can work doorknobs properly.






His speech is progressing slowly. He voluntarily puts two signs together to make two-word sentences. He signs, "Eat sandwich" and "More cracker".






He is also getting much better at saying different sounds and some recognizable words. Just this week he said very clearly multiple times the words nice, ice, night,and light.






Before this he would sometimes come out with a new perfect word now and then, but not be able to repeat it consistently.






Mostly he loves words beginning with B and if he can't figure it out any other way to say a word, he thinks the word Bap should express it all.






He has had several colds along with croup and a sinus infection this winter. As a result, he learned to blow his nose nicely. (There's always an upside!)






And in October he learned what hot means the hard way when he touched our glass fireplace door and got second degree burns on the palm, fingers, and thumb of his right hand.






I never wanted to have an acquaintance with the burn unit other than to provide meals occasionally. But that's where we got sent for some temporary skin grafting.






His burn has healed nicely, but I am still massaging it with lotion every day to help the skin renew itself without scarring.

Times Square Video

Three months ago I posted about Wade appearing in a video that was shown in Times Square to kick off Down Syndrome Awareness month.


It is now available to view online. Go here and see if you can spot Wade.

Bernadette Resha (and husband)

.


At the Conference we attended we were privileged to meet Bernadette Resha & her husband, Josh Putman. They both have Down Syndrome and were celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary..




Their story is interesting and can be found in this article that appeared in the Tennessean.


Bernadette is an accomplished painter and had some of her portfolio available for purchase at the convention.


In addition to being an artist, she is also a violinist, model, public spokesperson, and has appeared on television and in film. In 1994 she was Special Olympic's Athlete of the year both locally and for the State of Tennessee. The Easter Seal Society made Bernadette its 2000 Adult Representative and the same year she started a career as an artist.

Down Syndrome Conference

Last weekend Karen & I attended the "2008 Regional Conference on Down Syndrome and other Disabilities" in Atlanta. Many thanks to the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta for planning & hosting this event. Thanks also to grandparents and my sister, Karen, for taking care of our 3 boys to make it possible for us to go.

We had a great time and got to sit in on a lot of interesting and educational presentations & workshops.

The first day there were several presentations by Dr. Brian G Skotko, co-author of Common Threads.

Dr. Skotko has a sister with Down Syndrome. He is a resident physician at Children's Hospital Boston and Boston Medical Center. He has dedicated his professional energies toward children with cognitive and development disabilities.

Coincidentally, about a week before this conference we received some survey forms in the mail from Dr. Skotko asking us to participate in a research study he is conducting on Down Syndrome families. He is especially interested in how it affects other siblings in the family. Randall even got to fill out his own survey.

“What the Other Children Are Thinking” is a research paper Dr. Skotko co-wrote that appeared in the American Journal of Medical Genetics.
In the coming days I will try to do some more posts telling of some of the other people we got to meet.

Pardon the Accent

"T-a-g, tag," said Christopher.

Then the light of recognition dawned.

"Oh, just like tag-er!" he said.

SEE WADE WORK

What is Wade doing now? Well, take a look.
Physical Therapy

• Climbing…climbing…climbing!
• Kicking a ball (which requires him to balance on one leg)
• Squatting to play (he has finally accomplished this very well)
• Walking up an incline
• Learning to jump
• Playing throw and catch
• Riding a scooter

Occupational Therapy

• Building block towers
• Poking pegs in holes and putting shapes on the pegs
• Using shape sorters (he loves doing this!)
• Learning to spoon feed himself
• Using a crayon to make vertical strokes
• Squeezing play dough

Speech Therapy

• Having lots and lots of story times
• Using flash cards for signing and making sounds
• Watching signing videos
• Having someone help him with Starfall on the computer
• Singing many songs with actions

He is certainly lagging the most in speech at this point. He had said some words earlier and then quit saying them. Now he's back to saying, "Mom" again and "Bye" and "Up". He waves his arms and tells us long stories which must be very funny because he has to stop and laugh every so often.

MOMENT OF FAME

****NEWS FLASH****

WADE IN TIMES SQUARE
Wade's photo will appear in lights on Broadway on Sunday, September 28 as part of the National Down Syndrome Society's video production to demonstrate that people with Down syndrome can be successfully included in community activities, education and employment.
His photo was selected from 2,500 entries in the NDSS nationwide call for photos. Approximately 200 photographs will appear in a video production to be shown on the larger-than-life plasma screen, located in the heart of Times Square. The 30x40 foot landmark full motion video screen is seen by 1.5 million people daily.
The show will air at 10:30 a.m. and will be repeated at 10:50 a.m.
The video production, coordinated by NDSS, illustrates children, teens and adults with Down syndrome working, playing and learning with friends and family.
The Times Square video production kicks off National Down Syndrome Awareness Month, which includes the 2008 Buddy Walk™. This year, Walks will be held in more than 275 cities across the country, as well as many international walks. John C. McGinley, who plays Dr. Perry Cox in the hit show "Scrubs," is the 2008 National Buddy Walk™ Spokesman. Mr. McGinley is both an accomplished actor and the proud father of Max, his ten-year-old son who has Down syndrome. The New York City Buddy Walk™ will be led by Mr. McGinley and NDSS Goodwill Ambassador Chris Burke,
star of the long-running series, "Life Goes On." For information about National Down Syndrome Awareness Month or the NDSS Buddy Walk™, visit www.NDSS.org

(This is not the photo that will be shown in the video)

Haircuts & Kisses

Kiss Chris? Sure!
Kiss Randall? I don't think so!
Kiss Mom? Anytime!!

The Climber

These pics are a couple of months old. I'll try to post some more recent ones soon.