Good results

Last Monday, we took Ilan to Casa Colina Hospital in Pomona for his evaluation.  Ilan was quite shy of the doctor at first but came on strong in the latter part of the checkup (after he was prompted by phone by his older brother David!).  The result of the evaluation was that they were quite pleased with Ilan's progress and felt that he is a good candidate for a stay at their hospital to help and teach him with his recovery; they suggested various additional meds that could also help him with specific needs.  The holdup at this point is getting approval from our health insurance, HealthNet.

Later in the week Ilan went to the school district for a speech evaluation.  This entailed asking him many different questions using flash cards; he managed to correctly point to 9 out of 1o!

Ilan continues to have a smile on his face thruout the day like a newborn child discovering his surroundings.  He accomplishes all his tasks with twinkly excited eyes, even when he does not like what he is doing or is in discomfort.  He amazes us with his tenacity to try new things.  He utilizes his left arm and leg to maximum benefit.   Jarone has him doing 'circles' by holding his hand out wide and moving his hand in circles (similar to what is done in aerobics).  Ilan manages to do so by himself with his left hand and Jarone helps him with his right arm.  

His right arm and leg are currently immobile and relatively stiff, similar to how his right arm and leg were prior to him achieving controlled movement.  We asked the doctor about this and he confirmed that the stiffness could be a prelude to his developing control of his right side?!

The other day he looked quite tired and looked at me like he was trying to communicate with me - I asked him many different items he wished to to tell me.  Turned out that he wanted the TV turned off and for me to leave the room.  Well I told him he needs to use his hand to tell me this. So he pointed to me and then pointed to the door, for me to leave!!!!   

Ilan has also been trying to speak.  He realizes that this is not yet going very well but upon a little coaxing agrees to try.  We try to break down the words into only  2 syllables.  For instance, we say 'la' and he responds the best he can and then 'ni' and he responds.  We do this several times and sometimes he will combine both syllables with a tone inflexion, and then smiles extremely proud of his accomplishment.  When he does combine the 2 syllables we ask him if he said 'lani', he nods emphatically and gives us a shy yet proud smile.  

This weekend we took him to the Westside Pavilion for a brief visit, against his complaints.  Once there he was cheerfully looking around at the stores and the people.  We took him to the puppy store on the 3rd floor and he was totally absorbed in watching the puppies playfully rolling around with each other.  When we returned home and asked him about the trip, his observations were that he was disappointed he did not meet any of his friends and also he did not see any pretty girls there!!!