Community Physical Therapy and Rehab opened their new center at Stones Crossing in Greenwood in early September. Our drive time has went from 12 minutes to 32 minutes each way, but Nikolas has really enjoyed all of the fun new things that are available for him. Because he is in the afternoon preschool class, we had to switch to morning therapy sessions. There is a quiet area for speech therapy that is away from the others areas and a fun sensory gym where the therapists can work on motor skills with the children.
With the change in his schedule, he did have to change to a new Occupational Therapist. He enjoys working with his new therapist and is doing very well. She retested him in early August and the results were absolutely amazing. When he began therapy in September 2012 he tested at a 15-month level (5th percentile) in the grasping area and at a 23-month level (5th percentile) in the visual motor integration area. At the time of the test he was 51 months old performing at a 55-month level (63rd percentile) in the grasping area and at a 49-month level (50th percentile) in the visual motor integration area. With the new sensory gym he is able to work on body awareness and some upper body strengthening, which also helps with his gross motor skills. The plan is to wrap up his private occupational therapy at the end of the year.
He has also been making great gains in his gross motor skills during his physical therapy sessions. We have been working on improving his range of motion and exercising to improve his low muscle tone, as well as working on his gross motor skills. He is tested every three months to see where he is. As of the most recent test, he is in the 37th percentile for his age. I don't exactly where he was when he started therapy last fall, but I'd guess his gross motor skills were less developed than his fine motor skills. Since he had surgery to correct his bilateral club foot, we've also had to work through those issues. He had a huge growth spurt over the summer which caused his heel cords to become tight again and really impact his range of motion. We've been doing a lot of stretching and are slowly getting him back to where he should be. Our goal is to finish private physical therapy by the summer of 2014. He's doing a great job!!
Speech continues to be his toughest area, but considering he only used a few words regularly at this time last year, it's obvious that he is greatly improving in that area, too. His vocabulary is expanding daily. Although it's often difficult to understand what he's saying, he knows so many words and tries his best to communicate. He uses two and three word phrases when speaking now. He will attempt to repeat all words and short phrases during our speech activity time. His Speech Therapist is targeting a specific sound each week and we focus on that sound on home to help him improve. Not only does he have a severe speech delay, he also has difficulty making his sounds correctly so that others understand him. We're getting there, but we'll definitely be working with Mary for a very long time. It's a good thing he likes her so much!!
I've been lucky to be able to sit in on his speech and physical therapy sessions from the beginning. I love that his therapists include me in the sessions and show me things to work on at home. He is really blossoming with the extra help. It's so exciting to see!!
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He has also been making great gains in his gross motor skills during his physical therapy sessions. We have been working on improving his range of motion and exercising to improve his low muscle tone, as well as working on his gross motor skills. He is tested every three months to see where he is. As of the most recent test, he is in the 37th percentile for his age. I don't exactly where he was when he started therapy last fall, but I'd guess his gross motor skills were less developed than his fine motor skills. Since he had surgery to correct his bilateral club foot, we've also had to work through those issues. He had a huge growth spurt over the summer which caused his heel cords to become tight again and really impact his range of motion. We've been doing a lot of stretching and are slowly getting him back to where he should be. Our goal is to finish private physical therapy by the summer of 2014. He's doing a great job!!
Speech continues to be his toughest area, but considering he only used a few words regularly at this time last year, it's obvious that he is greatly improving in that area, too. His vocabulary is expanding daily. Although it's often difficult to understand what he's saying, he knows so many words and tries his best to communicate. He uses two and three word phrases when speaking now. He will attempt to repeat all words and short phrases during our speech activity time. His Speech Therapist is targeting a specific sound each week and we focus on that sound on home to help him improve. Not only does he have a severe speech delay, he also has difficulty making his sounds correctly so that others understand him. We're getting there, but we'll definitely be working with Mary for a very long time. It's a good thing he likes her so much!!
Last weekend we took a trip up to Michigan City for some fun and relaxation. During the trip we were able to meet up with two different families who share our same connection to adoption. On Saturday we spent some time with the Haven family. Nikolas and Calvin both came home from Dobrich in July of 2011. We started the morning by visiting the Washington Park Zoo, had lunch at Swingbelly's and then spent some time at the beach. The zoo was a lot smaller than our zoo here at home, but it had some different animals that we enjoyed seeing. 
We'd never been up to Lake Michigan and were surprised at how beautiful the beach was. The water was a bit cool, but the kids didn't complain. They enjoyed running around and playing with the sand toys. Nikolas had a great time playing with the kids, and we enjoyed spending time with Chris and Celeste. We love that Nikolas is able to have friendships with other kids who were adopted from Bulgaria. I'm sure they'll be more important to him as he gets older. I'm so glad we had this opportunity to meet up and spend some time together. 
On Sunday we visited the Lighthouse Outlet Mall and did a little shopping. That afternoon we met our friend Courtney and her daughters for lunch at the Treehouse Cafe. It was an interesting little restaurant, but it was quiet and the pizza was good. Nikolas took to the girls very well and enjoyed playing outside in the sand while we chatted. They are travelling in less than two weeks to meet their little guy, so we had lots to talk about.
After lunch we headed home. Michigan City is only a few hours away and had plenty of fun things to do. We'll certainly add it to our list of weekend getaway destinations. 
