Praises and Prayer Requests for the Holidays--Come Share With Us

[Hollie in SC]

:hi: Hello everyone! Where did autumn go? It has been one :crazy: season at our house. I know the holidays can be esp. tough on our kids. Come share your praises and prayer requests!

Here are my boys:
Noah (5) with Down syndrome
Kyle (9) probably ADD and proprioceptive issues
Eli (11) surely ADHD :lol:


Praises:
We recently spent a week at Disney and it was very good. It is the most perfect place to vacation with Noah and he loved every minute. Exhausting, but a wonderful blessing.

Noah is continuing to improve and settle a bit. I saw his teaching assistant from last year at the school Christmas party on Friday and she mentioned just how far he has come in the past 16 months. :hcry: He still has a long way to go, but progress is :D Also, Noah's surgery in June has yielded very positive results for his colostomy. Actually, miraculous results is a better description of how we feel about it. :)

Kyle is doing well with school. He is starting double digit multiplication and I was concerned how he would do, but he is catching on well. He is EXTREMELY thrilled with a few subjects this year and that is exciting.

Eli's writing is improving. SLOWLY but surely.:)


Prayer Requests:

Noah is still quite non-verbal. His speech therapist is helping us move him to a picture communication system. I'm excited to try it, but am a bit sad that communication is SUCH a huge struggle for him. He babbles all the time, but few real words.

Noah: We have felt so blessed to have him at his wonderful school the past few years. He has one more year after this current one before he ages out. We are feeling led more and more to bring him home at that time and I'm excited and nervous. Please pray that the Lord will continue to lead us and show us His will for Noah's education.

Kyle: We have taken him to a psychologist twice (she was suggested by our fam. practice doctor) and will be working with her to equip him and us with some tools for his ADD issues.

Eli: Well, if the psych. works well for Kyle I think Eli is headed there next. He talks non-stop all day long. :perplex: It is a struggle for me. He has many ADHD symptoms (his are all hyperactivity and Kyle's are all attention) and I realized that we may need to pursue more for him. Eli and I are struggling a lot day to day with his attitudes as the hormones are starting to kick in. I was seeing the relationship suffer a lot before our vacation, but we are both working harder on it since we have returned. We are a lot alike and I really want our relationship to be good.





Thanks so much for rejoicing and praying with me. How can we rejoice with you and pray for you?:group:

[mariah m]

That is exciting about Noah. Glad you had a great vacation!

I have been really discouraged about Nicolas over the past week. I am beginning to think there is a dual diagnosis going on, like ADHD and oppositional defiance disorder. He's just tough :( We are still dealing with potty accidents, most embarassingly Friday in the library :eyes: And when he has to poop, he just stops wherever he is and starts to grunt :cry:

He did make some progress with the OT. I just have to keep it going now. His attention span is very minimal and that makes things hard too. I also have been very discouraged with church and I told my husband I wanted to start taking him to a different church once or twice a month because they have a great special needs ministry and Sunday School. He is okay with that. My family has been at our church for 15 years and nobody wants to leave but I have to do something for Nic.

I am very happy with the school. He is mainstreamed for PE, Art, Music and Computer. He is in underwear there all day with no problem.

Rebekah has done well at the school and doesn't qualify for an IEP right now because of her progress, though they have given her a 504 plan so that she has accommodations. She has made lots of friends and made student of the month. However, she says she misses homeschooling. Will evaluate that at the end of the year. I am feeling like the school did a better job than I did, though her reading was picking up before she started. I found her reading to her dolls earlier...so sweet :)

Lucas' spelling has gotten better. He still doesn't read unless I force him. He is very knowledgeable about culinary arts and football. He is probably going to be undergoing a major surgery this year in Texas and that is going to be an ordeal to figure out. I have made the decision to continue to hs him through high school and have him work through some culinary texts.

Other than that, we have some serious financial issues that I don't want to go into here but we need prayer. I am pretty discouraged but we do have everything we need and I am trying not to worry (but I do).

[Sue C]

Neat thread! Thanks Hollie. :)

My big praise is for Renee (7), she has Asperger Syndrome. I brought the girls home to homeschool her and she is a different girl! :clap: Everyone notices it! She is just happier. She is a chatter box! :clap: :hcry: Thank you Jesus!! As far as academics, they will come slow but sure. They were the least of my concerns. They continue to be frustrating so I guess that would be a prayer request.

Rebekah (9) is loving homeschooling so another praise!!

A request on another note would be my special needs 19 year old. He is in an assisted living situation and we are switching providers. He is moving this week. This time of year is SO hard on him. If you think about it please pray for him. He is still my baby. :)

Merry Christmas all!:santasmile:

[AmyinWI]

thanks for starting this Hollie!

Gabe (down syndrome,autism spectrum and severe reflux)
Praise: he has a new word "ball" (said very dramatically and drawn out :lol: )
and he started saying "maaa" (same way as ball,hehe) it's obvious he is calling, me - before it was a random "mamamma" babbling all the time,so we weren't sure if he meant "mama" or not.

Prayer: that his communication would improve a bit, he really never attempts to ask for anything or get his needs met.
Also- that we would get into the feeding clinic soon for his workup. His refux is so severe, many,many times a day, he's spitting up,and you can hear him swallowing it back down continuously. His ST is worried it's affecting his speech and feeding and the meds we've tried haven't helped at all. Got an appt. today for the feeding clinic/GI eval wohooo!

Kaden: (attachment issues and speech delays)
Praise-he's coming to me more for needs, instead of avoiding me or going to older sibs.
ST at school agreed to reevaluate him using another test, the last school tested him and he was right at the cutoff for not needing services. His speech is very hard to understand for most non-family members.had IEP meeting today and he qualifies for speech,and will be starting in a few weeks!
Maya: (speech delays)
Praise: the ST says she is really trying hard, and several people are commenting on how much easier it is to understand her.
Prayers: that she would progress enough where I can cut down her services a bit, or hire a private ST that is affordable for us by summer. (to avoid enrolling her in K for services)

[Fran]

I have many praises concerning our soon-to-be adopted daughter. Eden is 4 and we have had her home for just over 3 months. She has cerebral palsy, seizures and is non-verbal (other than babbling). She has made great improvements in movement, strength and feeding. When she came to us she took all of her liquids via a syringe. We have made the transition to a sippy cup without the valve in it. This is huge! Do you know how long it takes to give 8 oz. of liquid using a 5ml medicine syringe?! :eek: I just didn't have time for that! :lol: We started working on that day 1.

We are continuing to set up appointments for her. She had her PT eval last week and they are very excited! She doesn't roll over, sit up, etc. but is very strong and they believe those things are possible for her. :clap: Her speech and OT evals are tomorrow.

Prayer request: that she continue to improve in all areas and that I have continual patience with her as we are both learning together!

[Lisa in Virginia]

My oldest, Justine, has OCD. After trying therapy for over a year, we decided to put her on medication. She has been on a low dosage SSRI for about 3 weeks now and I am starting to see some improvement. She would have to check to see where I was about 12 times a day and we pretty much has eliminated that. She has told me she is feeling better! :clap:

[Chalane (FL)]

Hollie what a great thread!

Praises:

Leighton has language!! God brought a wonderful ABA implamentor into our lives this year. She is fluent in ASL & has given Leighton the gift of lang. At the begining of the year he had fewer than 10 words. Now he has (atleast in understanding) over 500 and is actually using full sentences.:hop:

Leighton started potty training this year! I actually had resolved myself to the "fact" that this would not be something he could do. With ASL & ABA it's happening.:lol:

Joey has made such strides in learning this year. It's almost hard to believe how far he has come in 12 months. He is naming objects that start with the letters as we go through the alphabet and is begining to count objects. His journey to understanding may take a long and winding path, but he does make it to the destination.:D

Prayers:
That God would con't to show me the best way to help treat Leighton's autism, to assist him to live the fullest life possible for him.

That Leighton's ABA impamentor will come to know Jesus. (She is now attending church with us as him interpretor--PRAISE GOD!):)

That God will show me the best way to assist Joey in improving his memory.

That Joey will be ready to potty train sooner rather than later.

[KathleenM]

My big praise is that I can homeschool these kids! I'm in a couple of yahoo groups for my kids' needs, and see what some other parents go through with the schools, and I'm glad we aren't dealing with that.

My biggest request is that we stay diligent and on track, that we don't lose our motivation for therapies and the other hard work we need to do every day. I pray for wisdom about picking the materials we use, and about how I go about implementing them. I don't want to waste my time or frustrate my kids, and I am anxious for results, especially for my 9yos who is severely dyslexic and really struggling with 1st grade level reading.

My kids are:

Kristen, age 14: dyslexia, CAPD, ADD, dyscalculia
Rebecca, age 11: moderate dyslexia
Curtis, age 9: severe dyslexia, visual processing problems, and ADD

Thanks ladies! I will lift all of you up in prayer. :group: