A Very Happy New Year...

After being completely spoiled rotten for Christmas, (all therapeutic toys of course;)) Tori started the year off great! There are alot of reasons for cake!! All of a sudden she is babbling non-stop and so much more alert. We think it is because she is just about weaned off of her seizure med, phenobarbitol.  We hadn't noticed her to be not alert before but now we can definitely see a difference.  Had we known this we would have NEVER agreed to put her on it in the first place!  She is now on a new medication and we have an EEG scheduled for next month to make sure it is working and there is no seizure activity that we aren't seeing.

One of Tori's biggest improvements this month has been her ability to play with/work/manipulate toys.  It's almost like a light just went on and she suddenly knows how to use everything. She is moving cars across the floor, kissing her baby dolls, and is voluntarily able to release the balls into her gumball machine. This is something we had been trying to teach her for months in OT.

Along with her almost constant babbling, Tori is definitely saying some true words!! One day she just crawled into the kitchen, got on her knees with her hands up in the air and as clear as day said "up" because she wanted me to pick her up!!  I also heard her say "ball" while we were playing, and many people have heard her say "all done" and "Elmo." She is able to sign "more" and signing "my turn" sometimes without any prompting when she sees something that she wants.

The best moment for me this month was when a friend whom has never met Tori came to visit. After spending some time with her she commented that aside from not walking, Tori was no different in her playing and babbling than her own son who is just 6 days older!!  Definitely made my day:-)

As for the rest of the month, Tori will get her orthotics next week. Hopefully they will start giving her more stability to walk.
We have also scheduled an intensive 3 day course of ABM therapy. For 3 days she will have multiple sessions of this non-routine therapy. ABM (Anat Baniel Method) is different from all of her conventional therapies in that it focuses more on teaching the damaged parts of the brain new pathways to do things, rather than forcing the body to do the movements. We have read about so many kids having success with this therapy how could we not at least give it a try?  Unfortuately it is not covered by insurance and very expensive.  Hopefully we will see some changes and find a way to continue with the therapy in the future:-)

-Tori liking her Xmas present-

-Trying out her new sled on Xmas-

-Tori's 1st snowman of the new year-

-Loving the sled-