There is so much to say about Ian but I will try to condense it. He continues to be pure joy in our lives! Ian had a great school year thanks to his amazing teacher, para, therapists, etc. He is learning to read (or possibly memorizing) words. We all think he can read more than he lets on because he seems to know exactly where to put the curser to play games on the computer or watch monster truck videos. He met or exceeded most of his IEP goals for the year. He was able to be in a gait trainer or tricycle almost every day at school, which he loves and is so good for him. His private PT has been working on trunk control for several months and he was able to sit in a regular chair with minimal assistance for a brief time during the school day. Ian continues to learn his AAC device (or, "talker" as we call it) and recently blew Mom away when I took him for a private speech eval. He finally has a great speech therapist who is teaching him to put sentences together instead of just "talking" with single words.
Big things are happening for Ian this fall. He will have surgery in September that will lengthen his hamstrings and will require casts on both legs for 6-8 weeks. More on that as it draws near. I don't even like to think about it now. We are also hoping to get him a power wheelchair which would increase his independence exponentially. However, that requires a different van with a ramp or lift. Currently, we lift Ian into a car seat and load his chair in the back of the van, but that won't be possible with a power chair. So, we're on the hunt for a bargain van that would accomodate Ian in his chair and the rest of us, too.
Tom and I were recently talking about wishing we could find Ian's biological mom and agreed that if we could, we would thank her. He has taught us so much and we are so very thankful that God allowed us to bring him into our lives and our family!
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