We had all worked diligently with Tatum for the past 6 months and Tatum still wasn't crawling. Tatum was doing so many new things - so many great things - but her motor skills were still greatly delayed.
We arrived at the Institutes on Monday November 11th. The clinic waiting room was filled with 20 families from all over the world... Guatemala, Sweden, Australia, India, Germany, the U.S. and many more. Looking around the room, my 'I'm done' attitude began to change. All of the 'hurt kids' that I recognized were better in one way or many ways. They all looked healthy and they all had parents with them who believed in their potential so much that they travelled from far and wide to help them reach it. The room was literally full of love, hope and inspiration.
I realized that in my moments of weakness, I had begun adjusting my belief in Tatum's potential. I had stopped truly believing that she will walk and talk one day. I had lost sight of the forest for the trees. I was happy about her other progress but I wasn't celebrating it as it should have been because she was supposed to be crawling. I had neglected to consider that this sweet two year old had broken her femur 7 months earlier and had to rebuild a bone while we were asking her to find her legs, develop her muscles and ligaments and hip sockets. Sigh.
I'm writing this blog entry to officially celebrate Tatum's many victories over the past 6 months.
- Physiologically, Tatum is in perfect health. As with each visit, we are asked to do a myriad of tests including blood, stool, urine and hair analysis. Tatum's blood, stool and urine results were all normal... and not moderately normal - perfectly normal! Tatum's hair analysis showed that we were able to flush out most of the heavy metal build up she'd been battling... by feeding her a tablespoon of fresh cilantro each day. Physiological healthiness means that Tatum is more easily able to get through her very intensive days of therapy. We saw this in her increased energy levels, improved respiration (boy is she loud!), increased awareness and responsiveness and her 90 days of perfect health.
- Intellectually, Tatum is doing exceptionally well.
- She is reading at a 6 year old level and was able to clearly show us that she is comprehending what she is reading as well. Tatum knows over 2000 words by sight and has been read over 80 homemade books to date. She loves reading books of all kinds and has clearly told us that her favourite books are about herself and her family.
- We have shown Tatum over 200 'bits of intelligence' which are essentially flash cards. She is able to recognize and differentiate between the bits. It's believable to know that she can tell the difference between Fred Flintstone and Scooby Doo but it's remarkable to know that she also knows the difference between an image of John Diefenbaker and Paul Martin or a Dalmatian and a Retriever.
- Communication continues to improve through our use of a 'choice board'. We are able to ask Tatum simple questions and offer her a collection of possible answers for her to point to until we determine her need or want. We were introduced to 'facilitated communication' during our last visit and it is blowing our minds! Tatum has a paper keyboard and is spelling out her answers by pointing to the letters on the keyboard. Because her motor skills are still under-developed, she relies on me to lightly support her hand and point her finger. When asked a question, Tatum is unmistakeably directing her hand to answer. So far she has clearly spelled: pink, avocado, playground, book, season, and summer. It is amazing to me that we now know her favourite colour, favourite food, favourite place to go, not to mention what she it thinking about in a given moment. Mainstream practitioners recently told us that Tatum would not be eligible for any facilitated communication devices until she was 6 or 7. It sickens me to know that some parents are having to wait so long to communicate with their children. We are so fortunate for this gift.
- While at the Institutes we were reminded that all sounds are language and that we should respond to Tatum as though we understand that she is speaking to us. Since putting more focus on this area, Tatum has increased her babbling and now has 3 words of recognizable language... Dada, Ba (basically means she wants to eat or drink) and at long last, Mama (sometimes Mum).
- There is cause for celebration in Tatum's motor skill world as well. She has become increasing skilled at grabbing and pushing away items as she sees fit. She is also moving really well on her ramp. 50% of the time, she is pulling herself all the way off and moving a bit on the flat floor. While working with the Institutes staff we believe we know what we need to do to increase Tatum's mobility and get her crawling. It appears as though she has the strength, motivation and energy to crawl but she seems to be missing two things: coordination and a consistent awareness of her legs. What I love about about the Institutes program is they never throw up their hands and say 'oh well'. Instead we are going to help Tatum find her legs by building her a standing device. She will stand upright for 30 minutes each day. We are going help Tatum's coordination by doubling the amount of crawling patterning we do each day for at least a month. She just needs more time to receive the patterning.
- Overall, Tatum is progressing 167% faster than she was before we started our program with the Institutes. She is currently developing at about 80% of the average child. We are at a bit of a plateau as far as motor skills are concerned but we believe that we will have a crawler by Springtime... I've asked her to start crawling as my Christmas present but I'll also be OK with a new "World's Best Mom" coffee mug!
This is Tatum's blog and I find myself mostly writing about Tatum and myself but I need to be clear that what Tatum is accomplishing would not be entirely possible without Chris, Riley and Peyton and our loving volunteers. In our house, Chris (Dada) is the first one to get smiles and giggles from Tatum... always has been. He brings her into our world with music, play and snuggles. Riley and Peyton truly adore Tatum. They greet her in her bed each morning with kisses and hugs. Both girls practice their own reading with Tatum and are becoming exceptional teachers for their baby sister. Riley and Peyton will become increasingly involved in Tatum's program in the coming weeks and are excited about learning how to pattern and motivate her to move down her incline ramp. Riley's grade 3/4 class will be writing some holiday books for Tatum in the coming weeks too! Our volunteers make Tatum her books and show up to pattern every day without fail. Thank you all.
I write this blog mostly to help myself remember the good times and that we got the tough times. I also find that it helps me realize how far we've come. I'm pleased to share our journey with anyone who chooses to read along. If you have any thoughts that you want to share, please feel welcome to do so. I will share anything you like with Tatum and am open to receiving your ideas and suggestions. Apparently this blog makes it difficult to share your feedback. Please email me at kimberly.reain@gmail.com if it is easier.
As we wrap up November and the Holidays approach, I'm sure I'll be too busy to write much until 2014. Happy Holidays to everyone. Remember to live in the moment and be joyous about today.
I'm signing off with a promise to myself, my husband and my 3 girls.
- I promise to always be on your team.
- I promise to always believe in you and your potential.
- I promise to never give up on you - ever.
