It Takes a Village

to raise a child.

Someone used that line in their blog post yesterday, and well, it fits. It was James' turn to go to Children's Hospital. He wasn't tested or anything, either. In fact I don't think the man even looked at his tests and scores that I brought him from the school. He said he could see similarities between James and Missy, but that James had more going for him. He was able to converse with him and get a sense of his person, but when asked to draw his family on the white board the kid shut down. He stood in front of the board for awhile and that's all that happened there.

We did discuss his anxiety, his impulsiveness, his periodic lethargy,  and his inability to transition,  - and the wearing of  underwear (haha!!) . . . but basically he again talked about getting supports in place to give it all we have in the next few years to help this child become what he was meant to be. And believe me, it takes a village...

James does have some good  things going for him. He is attaching to us, he remembers well and so he can memorize long passages of scripture and retain it, he is able to learn and read. His processing is slow. That's his biggest issue. How do you rev up the brain to think, take in and spit out information and connect to his language center in a timely fashion? This is huge. I would like to know if there is anything a person can do to facilitate that.

This coming school year is lining up for him. He is going to be in 2nd grade full time. He will be doing a lot of one on one for reading, math, and language, and he will still get all his services for speech, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. He will have a para for science and social studies. We have signed him up for piano lessons - and Vanessa will continue to work with him on that daily. My plan is to increase the scripture studies and memorization morning and evening. He will, of course, continue learning to care for the animals and have outside play time. He has a lot of gaps in general knowledge, so as long as we can balance the physical exercise, playing with legos and other creative play, we need to expose him to lots of book  reading on a level that he can process efficiently.

This doesn't seem half as overwhelming as working with Missy, but the issues of the  two together is a little astounding.

I know that God has a plan for this child. People are praying for him and asking the Lord to bless him with spiritual gifts. The progress we see from the time he came until now, and even from February until now give me a vision for the future. May the Lord grant us wisdom and patience and love.