This is Colin and Kayla in the spinning chair along with Arthur "Arty" our cat. This was taken last week and now Kayla doesn't have to do spinning anymore, only the log roll which can be a giggle fest for the both of us! :-) And if you read my other post for today (just below) you will see that we had an excellent re-evaluation with Little Giant Steps.

I have been feeling very discouraged the past couple of weeks but we still managed to do about 70% of the program. Doing this program day in and day out makes you feel very irritable and after talking to Lori about this she advised me that it's important to go easy for a few days or you will burn yourself out. But then comes the incredible encouraging results you get from a re-evaluation with your neurodevelopmentalist, which we got 2 days ago! :-) There has been so many changes that I am so thankful to God for blessing with this program! And it is a huge relief and boost to help us go on. Kayla definitely had an extra spring in her step after we left the office of Little Giant Steps. Both Jan and CJ were beaming when they found out how much Kayla had grown and changed. But I want to add that Kayla has been for the most part very compliant through this whole process and I am so thankful for that. I don't think I could go on otherwise.

There have been many changes with our activities and we lost a lot of activities. No more trigeminal stimulation, yeah! For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about don't worry it doesn't involve torture it's just a little exercise you do on their head to stimulate their brain. It was done during our reading time but for some reason I couldn't wait till it was over every day. (There is a brief explanation of that on my August 29th post if you're wondering.) So the changes in Kayla have been phenomenal! Kayla advanced in math a little bit (we do need more work in this area), she advanced in reading comprehension an entire year and 2 months and her auditory processing is now at a 6, previously she was at a 4, that means she developed 2 whole years in 4 months! Wow, wow, WOW! Is what I keep repeating to myself. I just can't believe the changes. And there are more but I won't list them all because I just want to get the point across that THIS PROGRAM REALLY WORKS and I am so thankful to the good Lord for bringing us to this point! When you want to see real changes in your child that will last a lifetime you can't look to quick fixes, they just don't work. And believe me I've tried a lot of those.

Anyway, for the next four months we have been given a whole bunch of new activities to replace the ones that are no longer needed. So as soon as I get together a new schedule we will be rolling along once again.

And thank you all so much for your encouraging e-mails, they really do make my day.

Today would definitely be called "one of those days". It has to do with the saying, "you can lead a horse to the barn but you can't force him to eat." Actually today’s sessions were going along fine until I told Kayla something that I noticed in her. I told her I noticed that she doesn't complain of aches and pains in her arms, legs or feet anymore. She used to come to me at least once a week asking to put a wrap on her foot because it was aching or her hand hurt or something like that. Around here it was very common to see Kayla wearing an Ace Bandage somewhere on her body because of these "aches and pains" but honestly she hasn't complained for at least 2 months now and I'm considering giving away our collection of Ace Bandages (that's a joke)! The deep pressure exercise that I have been doing with her is supposed to help her to be able to sense deep pain appropriately. Children like Kayla feel things overly exaggerated. Pain to them is very deep, something that I wouldn't bat an eye at, or they don't feel pain at all that most people would find very painful, if that makes sense? Well when I told her that, she seemed to disagree with me. She said she still has aches and pains which was aggravating to me because she was once again making a statement contrary to what I see in her or notice with therapy. Well sometimes she will agree with me but most of the time she disagrees with me about things that I notice. I think it's just another mark of adolescence shining through and I hope and pray she gets over it soon because I notice every little change in her, I should after all I am her mother and mothers have eyes in the backs of their heads right?! (especially us homeschool moms!) :-P

But seriously this is an area I have to let go of. I have to give the entire outcome to the Lord because obviously my way isn't working. I think just need prayer about getting the therapy done, not saying anything that I think is obvious to Kayla and wait on the Lord to "bring her to eat" so to speak. Because I can do therapy all day until the cows come home, if Kayla doesn't see or feel a need for it then it won't make a bit of a difference. So I suppose I also need prayer that Kayla will clearly see, appreciate and feel the need for therapy.

I know in my heart that God has lead us to help Kayla in this way. I just need to have faith in Him for the outcome because my faith is indeed wavering right now and I can't allow Satan to get a foothold on our family or my thoughts either.

Mark 11: 22-24; 22"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Kayla seems to be inching toward 7's in her digit spans. I have started her with 6's and consistently she has gotten three (in a row) right and moves on to 7's. But she hasn't been as consistent with that as with her visual flash digits. With the "vfd's" I have started her with 7's this week and for the first time ever she actually got 9 (in a row) correct. She started at a 4 in June. I'm thinking can this be true, am I doing it right? Her re-evaluation is coming up so then we will surely know what her levels are and how much she has gone up. I am definitely ready for that!

This week hasn't been as productive for therapy as I'd like. With distractions of the recent and devastating news, migraines putting me down and out, cavities to be filled, a fence to be repaired and a birthday to celebrate (Happy 8th Colin!) we have really had an "off" week. But I sent in the monthly report for August and we were able to accomplish 85% despite our lag these past two weeks.

I hope I don't sound selfish about our problems compared to those in the Gulf. I feel blessed to even have a home to be able to homeschool in and my prayers are with the victims and their families because of Hurricane Katrina.

22 "How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 2 Samuel 7:22