I so desperately want you to see my son, the individual he is, and not his diagnosis. Please do NOT look at him and think of what you know about kids with Down syndrome. Leave ALL preconceived ideas at the door. But even so, you will not really
know him over the course of several one hour observations. Trust me to tell you about who he really is because it is possible that he doesn't let all his colors fly when several strangers are observing him.
SEE THE UNLIMITED POTENTIAL IN THIS GORGEOUS BOY NAMED LIAM, NOT HIS DIAGNOSIS.
I'm looking at all these papers and evaluations and questions, and I understand their place, but it seems only logical to tell you more, so much more about Liam.
Liam observes and learns from his environment. He is thriving in the parent participation class we have been going to since he was one. During free play he chooses activities that interest him. He loves doll houses and all the little toys that go with them, and he spends quite a bit of time trying to fit little people into toy cars. He shows great perseverance with this activity. He will try any activity for a while if he is directed there. During circle time he knows all the songs and does the finger play to go with them. His vocalization during this time is minimal but it is obvious that his receptive language is strong. He enjoys cleaning up in this group setting: when everyone has put the bells back in the bin he always picks up the bin and gives it to the teacher. He anticipates things that come next. Outside he loves the slides and the boxy red cars to ride in. He will swing, bounce on the inner tube, stack boxes or play with trains.
He is comfortable with other adults once he gets to know them.
When we are talking with other people he likes to introduce us: he points to me and says Mama, points to himself and says the second half of Liam, 'am, points to others he knows and says their names (Lupe his sister, Papa, grandparents), then he will point to the other person, or lean forward and touch them- he is asking their name.
He tells us about half the time that he has to use the potty. Number one or two. We are starting to try underwear on warm days when we are home.
His sister is his most important teacher and friend. He adores her. Big time. She taught him to sing along to the hit song from Frozen, "Let it go". They play dress up together, play with dolls, dance. If he could, he would stay all day in kindergarten with her. Speaking of kinder, he is loved in his sisters class. Everyone calls out to him when we arrive, giving him hugs and high fives. He goes right over, after a few of the aforementioned hugs and high fives, to sit on the carpet next to his sister as they do their end of day routine circle time. Then he takes his turn to hug the teacher.
He still loves peek-a-boo games. He loves books, though he is an active, on his feet and moving two year old. Every week we go to story time at the slo library. He sits and listens to the stories and does the songs too. His dad and I also do a once a month story hour in Spanish. He participates in that as well.
He understands two languages, though English is the stronger one since he hears it a bit more. But we speak both at home. He is getting the hang of counting 1,2,3 in both languages. And body parts, he's got that down.
He says around 30 words, some are clear, some are approximations.
So, he's my second child, and though I monitor his development a lot closer than I did his sister, I really can't remember now when he smiled socially for the first time or sat unassisted, or first played peek a boo. I can't see that it's important if I can describe him like I am doing now.
Liam needs more practice with fine motor activities. He uses a pincer grasp. He likes to put on pants, though he doesn't get the back over his diaper bump. He puts on hats and scarves, a shirt over his head, and other peoples shoes.
He drinks from a regular cup and we are trying to learn straw drinking. He could blow his nose from an early age but rarely is able to blow out his mouth, like to blow bubbles. He feeds himself with silverware.
He is almost pedaling his tricycle but his legs are still a little too short. But he really wants to do it! He has upper body and abdominal strength we should all envy! He loves to hang form a bar and started doing so at the top of slides before going down. We recently went to a birthday party at a gymnastics place and when he discovered the bars at his level he started hanging and also reaching his legs up to the bar: he was the talk of the party! He is really good at dribbling the soccer ball across the lawn. He is not jumping yet, but he will lift one leg then the other.
Our main goal for Liam is auditory sequential processing. He is at a level one. He can follow many one step directions, and is sometimes close to a two step direction.
Our goal is to do everything we can to get him to a solid level two, and ideally three by next year. "Auditory sequential processing is the ability to take in bits or pieces of auditory input and to process these pieces in a sequence. Initially, each individual phoneme is a bit, then we learn to recognize a group of phonemes together (a familiar word). Eventually a familiar couplet or phrase is also recognized and processed as a single bit of information. As the child develops the ability to sequence more and more bits, her language ability grows. This language progression grows from an initial sound, to an approximation, to a word, to a couplet, to a three-word phrase, to a four-word phrase, to a sentence and then strings of sentences. The function that makes this possible is auditory sequential processing.
Normal auditory sequential development occurs at the rate of one bit per year of development. Thus a one-year-old child can process one piece, a two-year-old two pieces and so on. Normal auditory sequential processing for a child of seven years or older is considered to be seven plus or minus two digits. Our perception is that anyone over the age of seven with a digit span of less than seven has a deficiency in auditory sequential processing. Auditory sequential processing determines the ability to process language, to think conceptually, and to express oneself in words."
Our goals for Liam are to keep him active in rich and stimulating environments full of opportunities to explore sometimes freely and sometimes with guidance. We want him to have only the best role models around him, modeling language and behavior. We want to work with educators who see his absolutely unlimited potential and are open to learning about the home program we do with him. We want creative ideas for fun fine motor activities, creative ideas for working on auditory processing. We want to take dance, gymnastics, swim and music classes. We want to be involved in his education and possible preschool experience.
