Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Discharged : )

Emily met with Early Intervention on Monday. I am excited to announce that Little Miss Emily Grace is discharged, no longer eligible for services!!! : )

This was an exciting moment for me. It made me feel like we really are making a difference in her life. We got Emily at 6 months old. She was 6 weeks preemie. Early Intervention assessed her at 7 months. She was all over the chart with her development. I remember them telling me at the first assessment that she didn't shake a rattle (or any other object). This is something she should have been able to do at 2 months old. Yikes. Her biggest delay overall they said was Language Development.

After a 3 month wait Early Intervention finally started. She was now 10 months old. At the beginning Sue came once a week, for 1 hour at a time. Out of that one hour, Emily was miserable for about 45 minutes (sometimes the WHOLE time). But we pressed on. And I watched. I watched to see what Sue did with Emily that was different than what I did with my previous children. I watched to see what toys she used. I asked questions. And then I went to work.

If Sue used a peg board with Emily then I made it my mission to find a peg board (thank you homeschool convention : )
If Sue used bubbles, I had a ready supply.
If Sue used puzzles than I snatched every one that I could find at yard sales.
Then, I set up a time daily and did these things one-on-one with Emily. I called it Mommy Intervention.

The progress she has made is incredible. Now I don't want you to think I am trying to say "look at me and what I did". No, far from it.

I am sitting here in the wee hours of the morning with tears in my eyes thankful to God that He brought this precious little girl into our life. I am thankful that He picked me to be her Mommy. I am thankful that He used me to help her. It breaks my heart to know the life choices her birth mother made and how because of those choices this child could have had a much different life (enough said on that one). I am thankful that we can give all the glory to God. She can be a testimony for Him.

3 comments:

The Mello's said...

Yeah!!! We rejoice with you!
Love,
Connie

Luke said...

I think that doctors are too quick to diagnose at times. Every child is different and develops diferently, but I am still happy to hear that Emily is doing well.

Jennifer said...

I was the same way with early intervention. I sat there and learned what to do on my own and worked with my ds all the time. I am sure that is why he has advanced so quickly - because we helped him to. No child will make it very far in a 1 hour a week therapy setting. It takes the whole family working on it. Way to go!