Mommin' It Up!

March 5, 2012March 3, 2012

D is for Drama

I named my daughter Sophia Diane, after my mother. But the older she grows, the more I am thinking the “D” in Sophia D. Rapson stands for drama. Because, now that we got the girl fully speech-therapized, drama is the language in which she speaks.

When we were having some downtime in our hotel during our President’s Day road trip, the kids were arguing over which movie to watch, so Bobby decided he would pick the movie for them. His choice, Finding Nemo, caused Sophie to run from the room crying, and when Bobby went to try to talk to her about it, she responded with, “It’s RUINING MY LIFE!”

Poor girl. Only five years old, and life’s already ruined. By a movie that was made before she was born. So, she really never had a chance. C’est tragique, no?

Joshua and I were treated to another grand performance on Friday afternoon, when after I told Sophie that her turn playing Wii was over, she had a complete meltdown. After she calmed down a bit, she still exiled herself to a corner where she spent ten minutes regaling us with a song that went something like this, “You can’t talk to me, because I’m sad. No one talk to me, because it’s not nice to talk to someone when they’re sad! And it’s mean to make people feel sad!”

If she can just keep channeling that sadness, and take some voice lessons, girlfriend will be the next Adele in a few years. I am confident the album Sophie: 9 will be a HUGE hit when she is in the third grade.

And when I watch her win her grammys for her follow-up albums over the years, on the tiny TV in my room at the freaking looney bin, I will be very, very proud.

February 15, 2012February 14, 2012

Boom! go the developmental delays

OTgraduate — she's just a wee bit proud of herself!

Yesterday my Sophie girl was discharged from occupational therapy. And as you may recall, she was discharged from speech therapy four weeks ago. That same day, she was given her standardized test by her occupational therapist to see how far she’d come in the 6 months since she started OT. Her scores were good, but I had to wait for the supervisor to evaluate her to see what they’d recommend. I was thinking they’d say maybe another six weeks or so of therapy, maybe longer, honestly I was just hoping she’d be done by summer. Unfortunately, due to schedule conflicts and family emergencies, (hers, not mine), the supervisor was unable to see Sophie until last week. And after she evaluated her, she pronounced her “ready to be discharged”. Woohoo!! I was thrilled! I asked if she could come back one more time just for some closure since she loved her therapist so much. And so, yesterday was her official discharge date. I still can’t believe it!

Now, about 19 months after we started this journey to overcome Sophie’s delays, she is testing at or above age level in all areas. She is reading well. A couple of weeks ago her preschool teacher tested her on sight words and she knew them all up to and including third grade. Today her teacher, Mr. G., told me, “Sophie did a beautiful job reading a book to two of her classmates today. It was just beautiful. Ms. M (the other teacher) and I were grinning from ear to ear.”

That’s right people, my girl rules the special school! 🙂 And I know she will do great in “regular” school next year too. I really have no qualms about it. I’ve never been in doubt about her level of intelligence, and here’s a good example. After she graduated from speech, we gave her a present, a Snow White dress-up dress. This got her little mind working, and the next day she said to me, “Mommy, when I graduate from OT I want Hello Kitty pajamas for my graduate present.” Girl was thinkin’. And schemin’.

I’m totally rambling here, I know. But I am really having a hard time putting it all into words. I am so immensely proud of my girl. We worked so hard, we learned so much, but I am SO GLAD it’s OVER! Relieved, proud, thankful. My mom told me when this started, “The Lord made her and the Lord’s going to take care of her.” And that was intensely true, every step of the way , clearly, obviously, completely. God made Sophie just the way she is, and we’ve come through this closer and stronger and more prepared for whatever life may throw at us next. And, I’ve really developed a passion for helping other parents of kids with delays, which I hope I can continue doing.

But I don’t have to drive to appointments, find sitters for the other kids, worry about health insurance, or PAY for any of it anymore! Yee-ha!!!

Way to go Sophie!

January 11, 2012January 10, 2012

Wondergirl, the graduate

Yesterday was such a momentous day for our family, and especially for Sophie. As I sit here I can still honestly hardly believe it.

Sophie was discharged from speech therapy yesterday. She “graduated”, after 18 months of hard work. When her first evaluation score came back in October of 2010, when she’d only been in therapy for three months, her speech language pathologist estimated that she would need therapy for three to four years.

My Sophie girl did it in just eighteen months.

It wasn’t easy. Sophie worked hard at therapy, and we both worked hard at home several times a week without fail to practice the skills her SLP wanted us to work on. She also got speech in a group setting once a week at school, and attended a “Social Group” therapy with some other kids this summer while her SLP was on maternity leave.

I say it wasn’t easy, but it could have been a lot harder. Yes, we worked, we worked a lot. I was pretty militant about it. But all of that time spent together was wonderful for Sophie and me. We learned a lot from and about each other. It helped our bond to really tighten. And Sophie proved herself to be a very fast learner. Once she started working on a concept, she generally got it F-A-S-T. She wowed me and her speech language pathologists time and time again with the speed with which she acquired new language skills. I really could not be any prouder of her.

When Sophie’s SLP told me she was ready to discharge her, I wasn’t surprised, I knew it was coming soon. But it is so bittersweet, because Sophie adores “Miss Kristen” and every single second she gets to spend with her! Kristen and I both teared up during Sophie’s “graduation” today.

what's in there?? — Sophie didn't want to wear the mortarboard 🙂

Sophie and Miss Kristen — We'll miss you Miss Kristen!

Driving home from Sophie’s last session, I had to keep from doing the “ugly cry”. I didn’t want to scare my girl, after all. But wow, it was hard to keep those emotions in check! When Sophie first started speech, her delay was so much worse than we actually thought it was. That was a really scary time for me, trying to figure out what she needed and how to get it. But my mom told me, “The Lord made her and the Lord is going to take care of her.”, and she was right. Every step of the way, we met the right people to help us get Sophie caught up. When her first speech clinic closed, I was devastated – we loved her first SLP (hey Miss Tanya!), but that ultimately led us to Kristen, who had just ONE opening left, which we were able to get in right away (which is a miracle in our area where there is at least a three month wait for speech) and watching her with Sophie has been awesome. She HAS a real gift and IS a real gift to those she works with.

Sophie’s journey through developmental delays has been hard, but it is something I am truly thankful for. I am just so amazed by what she has done, I truly believe there is nothing she can’t do.

She’ll be done with occupational therapy in a couple of months and then maybe we’ll have a big party, or another good cry, or both – but whatever we do I will never be able to adequately express how PROUD I am of her!

I love you Sophie girl. Congratulations baby!