Jacob!!!!

This past week and a half we have been going through a bit of turmoil again.  OT came and said that if Jacob doesn't meet certain 'goals' that they will discharge him.
PT and Speech work tirelessly to help him attain his goals and come 2 times per week for about an hour each visit.  OT only comes one time per week and for about 45 minutes or less.  Since having the baby in May we took a little leave and came back to therapy... Jacob has missed out on a LOT of OT (not due to the leave)....
The woman who was to do the sup visit couldn't make it for a couple of weeks so he didn't get any OT then and another time his therapist was late and so his visit was cut very short.  In spite of this he has made great progress as shown in this video taken this past Wednesday morning.

Just minutes before this video Jacob had listened to his OT and I talking about him not meeting his "goals". (we were standing several feet behind him... he listens to EVERYTHING though you wouldn't know it to see him... you would think that he holds no interest)

 She was not bugding.  

To her, what she had just seen him do was nothing new.... hmmmmm... he was scooping food and FEEDING HIMSELF!  

He had NOT done this with her ever! (about 2 yrs ago she had gotten him to hold a spoon with her hand over his and he regressed due to lack of ample Occupational Therapy.)  

His new speech therapist taught him what she had just seen... not OT (just so you know... using a utensil falls under OT... swallowing, taking food without being pureed - that is speech - and, btw, also something new to Jacobs world!  No more mashed eggs and bananas!  He is eating eggs as they are!  Starting last Saturday!)

So, anyway, his OT was going on about his "goals" and that what he was doing did not meet any of them.

What??!!
 You have to be kidding me?!
Right?!
Oh no, not good enough for them.
He would have to feed himself with one hand and hold the bowl with the other to fill the required goal.  At this point I'm seeing red flags EVERYWHERE... Why did they set such a lofty goal?  And why can't they admit to progress?
Let's step back in time a bit.  Jacobs ot has been lacking almost since the beginning.  The place that we have been getting his therapy from is the only one in our area that does home health that we know of.  We are rural and I understand to a point.  That is why he didn't even have OT for over a year to begin with.  They just didn't have the man power to send someone out.  I didn't know it... but they even discharged him from OT, not because he no longer needed services, but because they didn't want to send anyone here.

Back to "goals".  The OT tells me that another way that he could meet one of his goals is to hold a cup with two hands.  Another goal is to "copy a one step activity" and another is to "Increase visual motor skills to attend to visual task with moderate verbal cues".

hmmm.... how many of the three "goals" I have listed did he complete in the video above?
SCORE!  Way to go Jacob!  Way to go Lacy (Speech!)!  Yep, that is correct... speech follows ot on Wednesdays.  I told Lacy what OT had said and that he had already eaten, but that I had juiced for him.  She put the cup in front of him and gave him a smell and a drink.  He Signed More! for her as she had verbally cued him to do and she gave him another drink and put it down again.  He asked for more and she said her "hands are busy" and he reached out and grabbed his cup with his right hand.  She helped him (barely) get his left one in there and there he was holding and drinking with BOTH hands and then actively signing more again and again!  With this documented on at least 10 minutes of video I don't think even they can deny what his new speech therapist was able to do for him in just a few months time.  I feel like we have been watching "The Miracle Worker" at work in our own home!  She is truly amazing!  And has created an amazing eating and drinking - signing machine!  And HE is LOVING every minute of it.
I don't even have to puree his food!  We can all go out to eat together without over-thinking the menu - "will they have something Jacob can eat?"  relief... utter relief...

Now, if only OT would be on board and not threaten, yet again, to pull the plug on his long term care.  It is ever so tiring to go through this at least once a year and then have to beg to keep things going or to talk to his Dr to get it going again... so tiring.
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This is Jacob eating with Miranda on September 20th.  Speech had left and sister finished up his feeding.  He does really good for her!

Lookie there... I guess we really like his Clifford bibs!  LOL

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10-01-11  .....  9:30pm

Just got back from a little shopping in town.  I ran into the OT sup while we were there.  She said that she had a chance to talk with speech yesterday and found out all that he was doing.

They won't be bugging out any time soon!