Day by day....

It's been awhile since I've posted on here. We're still trying to adjust to life without John by taking things day by day. Still doesn't seem real.....the holidays are going to be bittersweet this year - Maddie's first holidays and our first holidays without John. Travis & Trevor are still trying to finish up harvest. The weather isn't helping much!! Thankfully the Liv. County Hwy Dept. is being very cooperative and understanding about them taking days off to farm. The outpouring of love and support to all of us from friends and family has been overwhelming and so appreciated. It is really amazing how a community can come together in a time of need.



The kids are all staying busy and healthy (except for colds here and there). Patrick just got back from Florida with his mom. He said he had a good time, but doesn't ever want to go back b/c they never did the stuff HE wanted to do. :o) He's also in the middle of basketball right now. Lexi is staying busy with Jr. High "stuff" like dances, Art Club and Builder's Club. Kiegan has joined a Science Club and a Reading Club at his school. Last month they read the book "Who Stole Halloween?" and this month they're reading "Who Stole The 12 Days Of Christmas?". Travis read a chapter of it to him at bedtime last night and I guess there are some crazy names in the book b/c he said he couldn't pronounce most of them!! LOL Maddie is doing great - she is SO CLOSE to walking!! She cruises around the furniture and stands without holding onto anything so now we just need her to start taking steps on her own. She's learned how to get off/on her riding toys and sometimes she'll just stand next to it and pick the whole thing up like Muscle Woman and holler! She's also getting to be a very brave girl - she can make her way all the say to the top of the stairs and as of yesterday has learned to pull the bottom drawer out on the stove, reach up to the handle of the oven and climb onto the drawer and hang on for dear life until I come and save her! So needless to say I bought an oven door lock. :o)

We are starting to make some progress with Kiegan's Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). I took him for an APD screening in Bloomington a few week's ago and this is what we've learned so far from that:

• He possibly has hearing loss in his left ear. If not, then his right ear is much stronger than his left.
• He cannot differentiate between high-pitched vs. low-pitched sounds.
• He cannot have any other kind of background noise going on while learning something new or working on homework.
• He does not have the ability to read/hear a story where the reader is suppose to ASSUME the answer to a problem, understand an implied joke, or anything along those lines.
• He does not have the ability to remember multiple steps needed to solve a problem (i.e. - math problems that require multiple steps to solve) or remember directions that have been given to him that contain multiple steps unless they are written somewhere for him to refer to.
• When speaking to Kiegan, people need to be directly in front of him - they cannot be in another room talking to him or standing behind him.
• He does not have the ability to memorize facts, numbers, etc. b/c his brain is not able to then find that "stored" info and pull it out for him to use.

So our next step is a complete diagnostic in Peoria which we go on December 7th. The place in Bloomington - Speech & Learning Connections - does have a program called Fast For Word that we will probably be starting Kiegan on. It is a very intense program where we will have to take him down to Blm. 2-3 nights per week, but I guess the results are just mindblowing. I hope Kiegan experiences those same results! I was really worried when we first starting all of this testing b/c as much as he needed it, I had no idea how we were going to afford it! The screening in Blm. was $250, the diagnostic in Peoria will be $350 and the Fast For Word program could cost us up to $600 PER WEEK! But I was talking to our school district's special needs coordinator who has been a part of Kiegan's case since he started speech when he was 3 and she said that whatever insurance doesn't pay for, the district was willing to pay the balance!! WHAT A RELIEF!!! Just one more reason why I'm thankful we switched the kids to the public schools, especially b/c I was also told that if Kiegan would have still been going to the private school that the district would NOT have been willing to help pay b/c the private school is not a part of the district. Not to mention that Kiegan probably would still not be receiving the help he needs b/c the private school was so unwilling to work with me to get him this help. So hopefully we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for Kiegan!!