Monday, March 31, 2008
Anything for a Doughnut!
Camryn wanted a doughnut yesterday at church and asked if she could go get one by herself. She walked out of the sanctuary and into the lobby area and got one... all by herself, with no prodding on our parts. Our church building is small for the number of people that attend, so she walked through a crowd of people to do this! I'm wondering if the medication is kicking in or not. Today will be the fourth day.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Feeling Very Special!
Camryn had a wonderful birthday yesterday. It wasn't that she had this huge outlandish party with tons of presents and tons of people. (We are having a little "get together" later with a couple of friends). But without a doubt, I could tell that she really felt special. One of the things that made her feel special was Mrs. Tami coming over to bring her a gift, and along with it, the most special letter filled with encouraging words and scripture. And while we were at CiCi's Pizza, Camryn received a message from Mrs. Fathauer wishing her happy birthday. What a blessing it is to have these two wonderful ladies from church take a special interest in my child! For the SM child, building trusting, loving relationships with other adults is invaluable!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Good News!!!
I had a consultation with Camryn's pediatrician this morning. I took in all my internet findings, research, books, etc. with the intent of convincing him to consider prescribing an anti-anxiety medication for her. He listened very intently to all that I had to say and agreed! In previous discussions, he didn't seem very comfortable prescribing anything like this. So, this is an answer to prayer. If there's a small dosage of a medication that can decrease her anxiety level, and ultimately lead to her talking at school, then why in the world would we not give it to her? By the way, today is her 9th birthday. What a wonderful birthday present... a chance to lessen her anxiety/fears/worries. Please continue to pray for her.
Also, because it is her birthday today, I went to the school and had lunch with her. You should have seen her when she saw me standing at the end of the hall with a Quizno's bag in hand... smiling from ear to ear. How joyful it makes me to see her happy! We had a great lunch together. At first she would only communicate non-verbally. Then eventually, she would whisper in my ear, while looking around to see if any of her classmates were looking. Of course they were. Certain little well-wishing friends stopped by to say "happy birthday," and she just smiled. Of course, I said "thank you" for her... what else could I do? A little boy sat next to me and proceeded to ask me questions about Camryn like, "Does she talk at home?" I responded in the usual way, "Yes, all the time, non-stop!" I love to see their reactions when I say this, total amazement/disbelief. After lunch we went out on the playground. I asked her what she usually did at recess. It broke my heart when she pointed to a bench and said she usually just sits there. So, we walked around on the playground and swung on the swings until recess was over. After several hugs and kisses goodbye, she returned to her line to go back to class. It was such a blessing to get to take off work to be with her today.
Also, because it is her birthday today, I went to the school and had lunch with her. You should have seen her when she saw me standing at the end of the hall with a Quizno's bag in hand... smiling from ear to ear. How joyful it makes me to see her happy! We had a great lunch together. At first she would only communicate non-verbally. Then eventually, she would whisper in my ear, while looking around to see if any of her classmates were looking. Of course they were. Certain little well-wishing friends stopped by to say "happy birthday," and she just smiled. Of course, I said "thank you" for her... what else could I do? A little boy sat next to me and proceeded to ask me questions about Camryn like, "Does she talk at home?" I responded in the usual way, "Yes, all the time, non-stop!" I love to see their reactions when I say this, total amazement/disbelief. After lunch we went out on the playground. I asked her what she usually did at recess. It broke my heart when she pointed to a bench and said she usually just sits there. So, we walked around on the playground and swung on the swings until recess was over. After several hugs and kisses goodbye, she returned to her line to go back to class. It was such a blessing to get to take off work to be with her today.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
To Be or Not to Be... A Flower Girl
Camryn has been asked to be a flower girl in my cousin's wedding. She immediately said no. When I asked her to think about it, she said, "I'll think about it... NO!" She said that it would be just as bad as being asked to talk in front of a bunch of people. As a mother, I would LOVE to see my daughter be a flower girl in a wedding. My cousin who is getting married was a flower girl in my wedding, so Camryn being a flower girl in her wedding would be very special. I'm going to pray that she reconsiders.
Monday, March 17, 2008
A Day Out With a Friend
Saturday, Camryn spent the day with a friend from school. She had only talked to this friend once or twice on the phone but never at school, to my knowledge. She was a little nervous about it the night before, but she ended up being "totally Camryn." We dropped her off at 8:00 in the morning, and the mom, little sister, friend, and Camryn went to IHOP for breakfast, a children's museum, GattyTown, and the mall. By the time they returned around 5:30 in the afternoon, Camryn was talking up a storm. She told me she started talking sometime during breakfast. We are so thrilled that she felt comfortable enough to be herself!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sunday School
Wow! Three days have gone by, and we've seen yet another accomplishment this morning. Camryn walked all the way across the sanctuary that was crowded with people and went into her Sunday School class all by herself. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
Newsboys Concert
Last night, Gary and I took Camryn to a Newsboys concert in Houston. The Newsboys, in case you don't know, are a Contemporary Christian band that's been around for a long time. Anyway, Camryn clapped her hands to the music and clapped her hands whenever the audience clapped. OK, this may not seem like a big deal, but she has never done this before. S.M. affects more than just talking. She doesn't do anything that will draw attention to herself non-verbally, either. Gary and I both noticed but did not make a big deal out of it. If we had, she would've stopped. Another success!
Running an Errand
One of the small goals Camryn's teachers and I recently set for Camryn was to run an errand at school all by herself. It could be taking the attendance to the office, taking a note to another teacher, or returning a book to the library. Well, Camryn had been finishing up an art project at home last week. On Friday, she took it to school. Her teacher gave the opportunity to take it all the way across the building to the art room, and SHE DID IT!!! Her teacher sent me an email, and the art teacher who goes to our church told me that she walked into her room with the picture, walked right up to her desk and handed her the picture. In the S.M. world, this would be in the non-verbal initiating stage! I am so excited about this accomplishment!
Up Until Now
We always thought our daughter, Camryn, was just really shy until one day when I happened to come across an article in the Houston Chronicle when she was about 3 ½ years old. The description of a child with Selective Mutism fit her to a “t.”
At home, Camryn, who will be 9 on March 25th, is a very vivacious and energetic little girl. She loves to play with her friends, collect Littlest Pet Shop pets, is inseparable from her many stuffed animals, watch the Disney Channel, shop for “fancy” clothes, and sing to Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Cheetah Girls, etc. She talks non-stop. We have to make her stop talking to eat and go to bed. She loves to talk on the phone to her friends when they call (a recent success!). She is a gifted artist and even has her own website to showcase her art.
Away from home, Camryn sees herself as “the girl who doesn’t talk.” She doesn’t talk to her teachers or other adults outside of the family. The only other adults beside her father and me that she talks freely to now without any warm-up time, are both sets of her grandparents and a mentally-challenged neighbor named Ricky who doesn’t talk very well himself. She will talk freely in front of our other neighbors (maybe actually responded verbally to the lady once or twice). She yacks up a storm when we’re at Wal-Mart until she sees someone from school then she tries to hide from them.
At school, Camryn makes mostly A’s and an occasion B. Her favorite subject is math, but she’s also very good at writing and is a fantastic speller. She has many friends at school although most of them have never heard her voice. She has a friend at church that she will whisper to during Sunday School if no one’s looking.
Camryn was seeing a counselor during her first grade year and made a lot of progress, to the point where she was talking in school to her friends (but not to teachers too much). She even got conduct marks that year for “talking at inappropriate times.” Then she changed schools and didn’t talk the whole year (until the very last day of school when she let the girls in her class hear her voice momentarily). Then she changed schools again. Kind of a long, complicated story, but yes, this caused a huge set-back for her. She did see a counselor during her second grade year, but they never really bonded, and an $85 a week, we didn’t see the need to continue.
Camryn has the rest of her third grade year and her fourth grade year to be at the school she’s at now. Then she will go to the middle school for fifth and sixth. She’s used to having two teachers, but in middle school, she will have four. My fear is that if she doesn’t start talking before she leaves elementary school, she won’t talk at all. I read a quote from Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum that if a child doesn’t talk by age 8 or 9, they probably won’t talk until high school.
So, at this point, I’m a little in panic mode. I recently had a two-hour meeting with her teachers, who are very loving and supportive of helping Camryn in any way. We came up with a few goals for her to accomplish at school: reading to her “whisper buddy,” running errands for the teacher by herself, ordering a snack from the snack bar, and using a response journal to communicate with her teachers and friends.
I am back in the market for a new therapist for her and have even been looking into seeing if she can qualify for speech therapy at school. I talked to the speech therapist yesterday who mentioned the dreaded words “educational need,” so I’m not feeling very confident about that. During second grade, I had tried to get Camryn 504’d but ran into the “educational need” roadblock there also. I have two names of therapists, but we live in a town of 14,000 people, so it’s not that easy to find someone who 1). works with children, and 2). knows anything at all about S.M. One therapist is a man, and Camryn is much less likely to open up to a man, but if his approach and demeanor and right, there may be a slight chance.
So, there’s our story up until now...
At home, Camryn, who will be 9 on March 25th, is a very vivacious and energetic little girl. She loves to play with her friends, collect Littlest Pet Shop pets, is inseparable from her many stuffed animals, watch the Disney Channel, shop for “fancy” clothes, and sing to Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Cheetah Girls, etc. She talks non-stop. We have to make her stop talking to eat and go to bed. She loves to talk on the phone to her friends when they call (a recent success!). She is a gifted artist and even has her own website to showcase her art.
Away from home, Camryn sees herself as “the girl who doesn’t talk.” She doesn’t talk to her teachers or other adults outside of the family. The only other adults beside her father and me that she talks freely to now without any warm-up time, are both sets of her grandparents and a mentally-challenged neighbor named Ricky who doesn’t talk very well himself. She will talk freely in front of our other neighbors (maybe actually responded verbally to the lady once or twice). She yacks up a storm when we’re at Wal-Mart until she sees someone from school then she tries to hide from them.
At school, Camryn makes mostly A’s and an occasion B. Her favorite subject is math, but she’s also very good at writing and is a fantastic speller. She has many friends at school although most of them have never heard her voice. She has a friend at church that she will whisper to during Sunday School if no one’s looking.
Camryn was seeing a counselor during her first grade year and made a lot of progress, to the point where she was talking in school to her friends (but not to teachers too much). She even got conduct marks that year for “talking at inappropriate times.” Then she changed schools and didn’t talk the whole year (until the very last day of school when she let the girls in her class hear her voice momentarily). Then she changed schools again. Kind of a long, complicated story, but yes, this caused a huge set-back for her. She did see a counselor during her second grade year, but they never really bonded, and an $85 a week, we didn’t see the need to continue.
Camryn has the rest of her third grade year and her fourth grade year to be at the school she’s at now. Then she will go to the middle school for fifth and sixth. She’s used to having two teachers, but in middle school, she will have four. My fear is that if she doesn’t start talking before she leaves elementary school, she won’t talk at all. I read a quote from Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum that if a child doesn’t talk by age 8 or 9, they probably won’t talk until high school.
So, at this point, I’m a little in panic mode. I recently had a two-hour meeting with her teachers, who are very loving and supportive of helping Camryn in any way. We came up with a few goals for her to accomplish at school: reading to her “whisper buddy,” running errands for the teacher by herself, ordering a snack from the snack bar, and using a response journal to communicate with her teachers and friends.
I am back in the market for a new therapist for her and have even been looking into seeing if she can qualify for speech therapy at school. I talked to the speech therapist yesterday who mentioned the dreaded words “educational need,” so I’m not feeling very confident about that. During second grade, I had tried to get Camryn 504’d but ran into the “educational need” roadblock there also. I have two names of therapists, but we live in a town of 14,000 people, so it’s not that easy to find someone who 1). works with children, and 2). knows anything at all about S.M. One therapist is a man, and Camryn is much less likely to open up to a man, but if his approach and demeanor and right, there may be a slight chance.
So, there’s our story up until now...
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