Developmental Study

This week carried us to Birmingham to have a developmental study done. Dawson's Neuro wanted us to do this to give us a baseline of where he is developmentally and do a yearly sorta thing to see how he's progressing. It also serves the purpose of pin pointing weaknesses for his teachers at school as well as us to work on.

Dawson cooperated fully thank goodness and the entire thing went really really well as far as the testing goes. We went into this study knowing that there are issues. It's not like we needed to be told. There are obviously things that are not "normal" but what is amazing is how FAST the things that once wern't normal.... all of a sudden are pretty close to being normal.

Language skills for example... And understand " Language skills" encompasses much more than just the ability to say words. That obviously is a big part of it. But understanding language, and having the ability to communicate verbally is a big part of it.

Just months ago, this kid had ZERO language practically. He could speak a word at a time and that was pretty limited to 25 to 30 words. And here we are 264 days of seizure freedom and he scored very close to age appropriate for Language skills. Pretty amazing right?? I thought so too..

Non verbal skills...... thats another issue.. Still lots of problems in this area and working puzzles and that sort of thing.. BUT... he is constantly getting better, he is learning, he is HAPPY!!! OH BOY is he happy!! This kid is a huge cut up now, hopping around laughing, singing, talking in 4 and 5 word sentences left and right... The Seizure monster has been killed and life has never been better!!

Above is a picture of Dawson bowling. We went with our church group last night and Dawson ( with a teeny tiny wee little bit of help from daddy) bowled a 101.. Not too shabby!!

The kid is pretty amazing, the change in him post being healed has been the most fun to watch.. All I ever really truly wanted is for him to be happy.... and he is

Praise God!!!

Jeff

Yard work is hard work

Once again, sorry for such a delay in posting. In this case, no news is good news!! Dawson continues to truck along and is doing better than ever!! Speech is incredible!! His communication skills literally grow every day now. Hes asking questions, saying sentences, telling us what he wants.... Its just incredible what a brain that isn't seizing can do.

AND.........

drum roll please.......

We are finally potty training!!!!!!!!! yessssssssssssss He is doing number 1 on the big potty on a regular basis and is even asking to go potty. We are finally on our way. God has certainly blessed us. Weve seen the worst of times and now were seeing the best of them.

Please dont misunderstand me. For some it might seem as though we are bragging.. We are not.. There are people out there who read this blog who child is seizing right at this moment. Our hearts remain with you all. Allison and I were watching a video just last night of a little girl in the midst of a horrible seizure. We both just sat in complete silence as tears ran down our faces watching this beautiful little girl. We remember all too well what thats like. Seizures forever etched in our minds. To me there is nothing worse. Our prayers continue with those who continue to suffer constant attacks from the seizure monster.

But people DO need to hear that Infantile Spasms ARE beatable. People need to know about the fight AND the victory!!

Today is day 235 with no seizures and my son, who was robbed of the ability to communicate or think just counted to 15 and asked for us to give him pizza..

Praise be to God!!

Jeff

showing off

over 12,500 seizures and they thought he would never be smart!!

Dawson counting to 10.. take 10 seconds and enjoy a miracle

singing

Here is a video on the way home from Disney World last month.. Its hard to hear him singing unless your in a quiet room and listening close. But you can see him mouthing the words and singing one of his favorite songs. " Rain rain Go away" from Jack's Big Music Show ( one of my favorite shows btw)

Good news continues around here. Dawson continues to do really well. I hate to be greedy, but...... I really really really wish we could get started on this whole potty training thing!!!! :)

Hope you enjoy the video of Dawson.. We are SO proud of him and all he is accomplishing.

Love to all of you!!

Jeff

Learning foods

Learning how to say the foods he likes to eat.. Katelin was teaching him the word Burrito and she was of course rolling her R's to make it more.. authentic. Dawson has his own version of course..

Copycat and a Tat

First of all the Tat... Allison has been wanting to do this for some time. She felt she wanted a permanent reminder of what not only Dawson has been through, but what God has done in our lives through this ordeal. Although its not for me ( at least not right now) I fully support her wanting to do this because of the meaning it gives.. An epilepsy awareness ribbon draped over the cross is just perfect!! For those of you who know Allison and didn't think she was capable of getting a tattoo... SURPRISE!!! lol

Now on to the copycat...

This past week has just been incredible. Dawson has been making slow but steady progress developmentally since the seizures stopped 173 days ago.. But this past week we have seen an EXPLOSION of speech from Dawson. He literally copies everything that is being said in the house.. Doesn't matter who's saying it.. he hears it and repeats it pretty much word for word.. Its as though his brain is on rapid fire with speech right now and of course we are thrilled!!! Its just amazing how well he is talking and everything he is saying.. God is certainly good right??!!!!

God has literally delivered us from Infantile Spasms, seizures, severe behavior problems, and everything associated with this terrible disorder... Allison is correct, the further we are from those days, the easier it is to.... not forget... but to discard and not think about it. I think we should always think about it. Remembering how bad things were helps us to put focus on just how awesome God truly is..

Maybe i will get a matching one... sorry mom!!

Tomorrow takes us to Huntsville to see his Neuro for a visit.. No problems, just a scheduled visit. Our chance to show them how wonderful he's doing!

Thank you again for your prayers, we certainly continue to pray for all of you whos children suffer still... We will not cease our prayers for you.. ever!!

Love to all

Jeff

Background misfunction

To those of you who have been checking in and only seeing green, I apologize. Apparently when I changed the blog background recently, I had inadvertently selected a green background when I was tweaking my color choices. I do not know why for some it caused a problem and not for others. So, those who have been seeing green, scroll down and check out our pics from Disney World (we had an awesome time). We appreciate you checking in on our little guy, he is a joy and we are truly blessed. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have the girls with us this weekend, so we have a full house!

Our love to all,
Allison & Jeff