He also plays a game with us. One day Hannah, playing around, knocked on the door and we called out "Who is it?". She responded, "It's Hannah" and we said, "Come in". Kyle liked the game so much, he now goes up to doors, knocks and says, "Who is it?" if we don't. The only problem is, he then says "I Hannah!". We haven't been able to get him to say "It's Kyle", yet.
We've increased his occupational and feeding therapies, though, and the occupational therapist (Christine) and the feeding therapist (Mary Beth) often work together on his therapies since the two are very much interrelated in his case. His hesitance to eat comes mainly from an aversion to the sensory stimulation of taste and the textures of the food. They're using a couple of methods, including rubbing around the mouth and cheeks with fingers or a vibrating toy to lower the sensitivity, and building up to eating from first encouraging handling the food, then kissing the food, now licking the food and next holding the food in his mouth and taking bites (not swallowing). Eventually, we should get to the normal chewing and swallowing. We have to take it very slowly because if he's pushed too hard, he goes backward in progress. He needs to feel in charge of it. He won't accept anything being fed to him. He only tries things if he picks them up. He also doesn't seem to like sweet foods - only salty (pretzels, chips, chicken nuggets, french fries, etc). He does seem to be making more progress since we changed his therapy schedule. Earlier in the week, he bit down on a chicken nugget and later, a pizza crust. We are pleased even if he just licks foods, though.
In physical therapy, Marijcke (pronounced ma-ri-ka) has been working with him on going up and down stairs, walking on different textures, standing from sitting and walking. He's made huge strides in each area and went very quickly from side walking along a bench to walking with only very little assistance. She's been saying each day that she expects that the next time she sees him he'll be walking on his own. Well, after showing off his excellent climbing skills by climbing up on the table a couple of times, he decided to show off a little further. I was holding his one hand, like we've been doing lately, to help him walk and I let go. He's usually so stubborn - he just sits down as soon as we let go. But tonight! when I let go, he stood still for a second and then took the three steps to the couch! I wondered if he'd do it again but in a second he was sitting down and then crawling over to a little party favor bubble bottle. He picked it up and said, "Bubbles?" I am not above bribery!!! I filled the little bottle (which was empty) with bubble soap and stood him in the middle of the living room, facing the couch. I said, "If you walk to the couch, I'll blow bubbles." and I let go of his hand. He did it. Again and again, he did it for me - until I got a phone call and then he just sat on the floor yelling "Bubbles! Bubbles!" until I was off the phone again. The most he took was maybe five steps but he showed control and stood steady on his own before taking the steps. I got a short video clip...
On June 1st, I brought Kyle to the All Children's Hospital Therapy Reunion at Vinoy Park. It was part of their telethon and the Taste of Pinellas. I think he was a little overwhelmed because he just kind of spaced out and didn't even seem interested in some of the things I thought he would really like. Kyle bangs on everything at home but when put in front of a drum, he froze. He was also not impressed with the dancers on stage. He did enjoy watching the chicken dance and has been trying to figure out how to do it himself ever since but other than that, he pretty much seemed to only like the shuttle ride in the bus to and from the parking garage. The reunion had a cowboy theme and each child got a hat and a bandana as they came in.
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