early intervention update

After three 'planning sessions' we were finally able to start Jena's early intervention on Monday night. The PT/OT person (michelle) came first and she thinks Jena looks great. She thinks Jena just needs some practice transitioning between positions. For example, when she is lying down she will get up by using her abdominal muscles in a sit-up fashion. great exersize, but not the way we would get up! She also thinks Jena 'w' sits too much and suggests I repostion her when I see her sitting that way. Jena is a very quick learner- whne I started to move her legs tonight she immediatly put herself in "cross legs ring seat" - the new PC term for indian style!
Next the teacher (Jayne) came to work on communication. Jena has alot of words now but chooses not to use them. Janye thinks that in the orphanage she probably didn't have much of a chance to communicate her needs, so the fact that she is making herself known non-verbally is great in itself. Jayne says she just needs to learn that she will get alot more with words! It is hard because we do understand her so well. We were playing a game and jayne was trying to get her to say 'more' "do you want more,jena?" Jena was nodding her head and saying 'yeah' --i'm sure Jena was thinking 'how stupid is this lady? can't she see I'm nodding and saying yeah?!' Both Michelle and jayne were impressed with Jena's play skills and attention span. They think she is working hard to keep up with Stefanie.
Speaking of Stef, she has her first piano recital on Saturday. She will be playing Yankee Doddle, Muffin Man and B-I-N-G-O. I am going to video tape it and, if you guys are really lucky maybe Dave can help me get in it on the blog.SHe is skipping school tomorrow to go shopping for an outfit so no matter how she plays she will at least look adorable!