House of Krause

No matter how simple or how complex you make it, this is an awesome language toy! This is an activity we use at Speech.  Luke got one for his birthday. This is another Lakeshore toy.  It is meant to help children learn to read and rhyme hence the name ‘Rhyme and Read’ but it works great for Apraxia. This activity contains sentence strips and the cutest little figures to fill in the blanks. In the beginning we used it in a simple way by breaking it down to a simple form. Luke would need it scripted for him, one word at a time.

Example; Bee, in, tree/  frog, on, log/ cat, in, hat/ ect.

Now we are adding in all those extra little words. Still scripting most of the time. But Luke can connect 2-3 words on his own. We just spent an hour having fun with this new toy. You can forget the sentence strips and just put together different objects. There are endless combination’s.

I also like pointing to the words to introduce Luke to reading. I am told children with Apraxia often have a hard time rhyming words in school. I figure why not get a head start with it.

Love this activity. Encourages a lot of talking. Seriously!

or maybe two or three!

and there was a goofy too…

Luke had a wonderful day celebrating the big number 3. You know grandma asked me,”How does it feel to have a three year old?” I said, “It feels wonderful! We have so much to celebrate this year.” And indeed we do. What a happy day.

Yes, I made a fool out of myself as Minnie. But it was all worth it. Every time Luke saw me he ran over and gave me a huge hug and said, “Hi Minnie!”

I realized yesterday my days of silly themed parties for my kids are quickly coming to an end. They grow up so fast! I had better soak in every moment I can. This is it. This is the last of my babies. I hope my kids will remember all the fun celebrations we had and all the family and friends who love them.

Grandma spent hours making an awesome Mickey Cake!

“Preston, Lily, let me tell you a secret. I love you guys but the cake is mine!”

Happy 3rd Birthday my sweet son. Can’t wait to see how you will amaze me this year!

THE END

Yesterday I was speechless.  It was a whirl wind of a week. I made another attempt at contacting the school district.  I finally got in touch with some one who was really upset that some how Luke’s paperwork was some how missed. With in two days and about ten phone calls later,  I had two psychologist and a Speech and language pathologist at our house.  I explained to Luke that new teachers were going to come meet him and play with him. He was very excited.  I don’t care how many times people look at and test your son, I never like it! He is my angel and just perfect in every way. That’s the proud mother talking in me.  I know they have to do these things so they can understand the situation, but it’s never easy. I think any mom could relate to that, having your child scrutinized under the microscope. Did I mention I don’t like it? Well, Luke was warm and welcoming as they filed in. The SLP said she would play with him while the school psychologist asked Paul and I all the questions. Luke warmed right up to her and decided he would begin to show her everything in the house. He started pulling toys out of the monster toy cupboard. As we were talking I would look and he would be dragging out one thing out after the next. He gave me the eye as he walked by. He knew he could get away with a huge mess because I was to busy talking. I guess the SLP brought out a little shoe from her bag. Next thing I know Luke is walking past me with all his shoes piled up in his arms. Paul and I are talking to the two psychologist and more and more toys were being coming out. At one point I looked over and Luke was pulling peacock feathers from my floral arrangement in the living room.  I stopped and said to the psychologist, “Excuse me, I need to go see what he is doing.” Of course the SLP had a little peacock feather in her bag. Luke decided to show her his. He was having a grand old time. I could have died when he jumped up on the fireplace and hung them all a full moon while singing, “AH- DO-BE- DO-BE-DO -DA!” They looked at me and said, “What did he say?” Mortified, I blamed Preston and said, “His older brother teaches him terrible things!” Two hours later when the three hundred questions were over the house was a wreck! You could not see the floor.  Luke was in no mood for the psychologists to start her formal testing. He crawled in to his toys cabinet closed it on himself and said, “Bye, bye.” I would have crawled in to if I could fit. He was ready for a nap. The two hours of testing by the SLP had wore him right silly.  Needless to say they are coming back next week and finish their testing.  The good news was that they thought he was doing so well. They could not believe he ever got speech services through regional. I explained to them how hard he has worked and just how far he has come. It makes me feel so good that we were able to find  Megan McCann at Lucid Speech and Language, and learned the Kaufman method! I just wanted to call her and say THANK YOU! Thank you for what you have done for my son!  Early intervention is so critical. It really made me feel even more fired up to encourage other moms to continue to fight for speech therapy services.  I will never understand why a child would qualify for services BECAUSE of a speech disorder,  and never receive any speech therapy. Some thing is very wrong with that??  Anyhow, We will see what will happen with the district.  Last night after I regrouped from the stress of the day, I couldn’t help but sit back and start cracking up. Oh no, my sweet son did not hang those three ladies a BA today, did he??

I ‘m off  to get ready for a very special little three years old birthday tomorrow. Good Night friends!

These are my children. I love them all so, they will never know! They light up my days and give me the strength to carry on. I will always be on their side and stand up for what is right!

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Today was a special day! A day to celebrate just how far we have come. Luke’s play therapist had her final visit. She is such an amazing person. She came in with a birthday cake and she explained to Luke that now is he is going to be three so she won’t be coming anymore because she only works with babies. He’s a BIG BOY now! Luke was proud. We had a wonderful visit and just sat at the kitchen table and talked. We remembered back to her very first visit. She brought in a farm animal set. We tried to help Luke make any sounds. Imitate a cow, pig, horse, anything. For seven months we heard nothing! What a celebration to sit together today and hear all of Luke’s talking. She taught me many things. She empowered me to be an advocate for my son. She taught everyone in the house what a powerful role they have Luke’s life. She was always honest with me. I admire her very much. She has made a difference in so many peoples lives.

I let Lily miss a little school because she really wanted to say good bye. Cyndie always brought Lily things she could do with Luke during the week. Lily is already an awesome teacher!

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I believe it takes two to raise a child with special needs.

A sweet Kiss for a wonderful person!

Cyndie heading out with all those big bags of toys for the last time.

We have accomplished so much… thank you for all you have done!

We will miss you.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in the past year, it is to think like an occupational therapist at every opportunity! There are so many activities you can do right in your own home.  In three days I will be left to my own creativity in regards to Luke’s O.T and play therapy time. I am excited to continue to work with him and have enlisted the help of my sister who is a teacher. I want to share some easy ideas I have learned this past year watching Luke’s wonderful therapists.

We do this activity utilizing the stairs. Luke thinks it’s just fun stuff. His task is to reach down low and grab the blocks, then reach up high and stack them on the stairs. But there’s a catch. See that black disk below his feet. It’s a balancing disk. It has a red ball in the middle that makes it a little more tricky.

Usually after he stacks them all on the stairs, he goes up the stairs to retrieve them. We also use the stairs for many things. Like working on that jumping. Just from the bottom step to the floor (no crazy super man stuff). And of course we are always right there with him.There was a time when we would just practice stairs while holding hands just for balance and coordination. Standing on this balancing disk uses tons of muscles.  I think a couple of pillows under his feet might work well also.

Sorry I have been quiet lately . There is so much going on around the House of Krause. Really I have been at a loss for words. I thought we would be able to squeak by in this rotten economy. Unfortunately, it’s effected us tremendously as I know it has for so many! My stress level has been through the roof. Luke is fast approaching his third birthday. It is bitter sweet. At three he will lose all of his services through our regional center. Including his one on one speech therapy with Megan, his play therapist, and his occupational therapist. This has been Luke’s life for a year and a half now. He waits at the window for his therapist to come. The most devastating loss is of course his time with Megan. I have been heartbroken. He has come so far this past year. I kept thinking what’s going to happen? I had committed myself to just continue on, doing the best I could for him. What else could I do. Just take what I’ve learned so far and just keep trying. But I was scared to death.  I really don’t have a clue what I am doing on my own. Could I accept this responsibility? What if I really blow it, and all this hard work for the past year starts to melt away. Believe me it does happen. There are certain sounds I’ve seen come and go when they are not consistently worked on. I pretty much cried all the way to speech yesterday knowing these were his last couple sessions. I pulled it together to sit through the session and try to retain every bit of his instruction I could. I left the office and continued right back to my tears.  As my mom and I drove home I told her I just wanted one phone call. One person to call with any good news.  When we got home I was rubbing my legs with cortisone cream and taking Benadryl to combat my stress hives. I heard the faint sound of my cell phone ringing. It was my cousin on the line. She asked what I was up to? I said, basically I am a true mess. To make a long story short.  Their family had been planning to take a Disney cruise this summer, and after a serious family meeting they all decided they would cancel their trip and use the money to pay for another six months of speech therapy for Luke. We both sat on the phone balling. There are really no words to express how grateful I am. I feel terrible that three very special little girls will not be boarding that ship. There is a reason children grow up to be givers. There is a reason children grow up to have compassion in their hearts. It’s something that is learned. I pray God will bless this family a hundred folds.  I hope they realize this will not only affect Luke’s life but it will also allow me to continue to share my experiences with you. I am so thankful and grateful beyond words.  Special people, huge hearts!

This little one said, "It's o.k, we'll all go on our Disney cruise when were all rich." One day I know she will realize just how rich we really are, because we have each other!

Our Speech Homework

Now it’s time to add back in some of those little words that children with Apraxia usually leave out.

We made this collage to practice over and over with.

She is cooking.

He is swinging.

She is sleeping.

She is eating.

He is painting.

(They are also very interested in it because they helped to make it.)

at making my kids eat healthier!

Grown in the Krause garden, still getting great stuff out there.

Yes Preston my love, You are going to eat that!

This is a very useful activity in more ways than one.  The idea is to hide fun items so they are not visible. Then Luke has to search and find the hidden objects. In this case it’s blue monkeys. We also used even larger containers with rice and hid lizards and snakes. This activity teaches the concept of object permanence. I know it’s there, even though I cannot see it. But wait, there’s more to this for sensory sake.  Luke’s therapist would bring huge tubs of rice. The goal besides finding those hidden objects was to get him all the way in the rice bucket, bare foot! Luke always accepted this invitation but his teacher said sometimes it took several months for a student to take that step into the box.  This is extreme sensory overload for some, so ease your way into it. I would also recommend a blanket on the floor for very easy clean up.

Super fun. No one can keep their hands out!