Did you see it? Did you see the miracle of this boy slowly desiring to put food in his mouth? Over the last several months he has been great at putting a variety of foods in his mouth; it just usually gets spit back out instead of swallowed. Well last week this boy proved he will one day go to college because he downed some serious ramen noodles (I know...so nutritious). An appropriate serving size for an almost three-year-old would be about three tablespoons, which I would say he put in and swallowed.
The fact that he even touched these noodles and willingly put them in his mouth is huge progress for his sensory system. A year ago it would have made him start gagging to touch them with his fingers and today they're hanging off his sweet lips. The miracle is growing...
We know that the Lord has placed some amazing therapists in our lives over the last 2 1/2 years and we've been incredibly blessed to learn from their expertise, especially with feeding and sensory. Ethan and Addison are looking forward to continuing to work with them, just not as frequently as they have in the past. This is in part because we've recently learned that our insurance will not be covering out patient therapy for speech/feeding. We're appealing it, but have been told by our doctor that it is unlikely the appeal will change anything. We were recently told that our appeal to the feeding clinic in Baltimore was also denied, which is not surprising. We've been expecting these denials and have been researching some other avenues to help our kids continue to progress in their feeding skills.
One option that we are going to pursue is for me to attend an workshop on feeding. I'll be taking the first weekend in November to attend this training. Please pray that this will be a helpful tool for our family as we move forward with this growing miracle. Also pray that I will be able to absorb and apply the theories and techniques that will be presented.
And I can't leave out a little update about Addison:) She is practically a natural these days when it comes to eating. She is doing very well and we are hopeful to continue weaning her from her tube over the next several months. She continues to struggle to drink enough, so it is possible she'll still need her tube for a while to keep her from dehydration. Thankfully this girl enjoys her food and is slowly increasing her volume to a healthy level.
Celebrating changes taking place in our little people....
for spaghetti soup...
chances at new learning....
growing babies...
miracles.
Journeying On,
