2 day of school

ok so second day of school was good learnd alot like a new nines multiplaying trick. so ya it was fun. at the hotell theres a jim witch im goin to work out everyday theres a pool that has to much clorien in it there food in the mornin is ok not the best but overal this is a great experience

Week 1

Today is the last day of our first week in MD.  Nate and I have had such a good time, just acclimating ourselves to the town and environment.  We have shopped, (purchased all necessary items for Nate's school)and explored and visited with my family.  It has been great.  On Friday, we went to Hershey Park with my Dad and brothers Shawn and Keith.  It was the perfect day for a theme park and Nathan really loved riding all of the rides with his Uncles.  I even tried a few.  Saturday, Dad took us to the Amish Country in PA.  It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.  Every thing is green and rolling hills.  The homes are huge and gorgeous.  I fell in love with the barn star, which is a huge brown five point star the the PA Dutch put on the outsides of their homes for good luck.  I had to bring home a few small ones.  They also have tons of amazing stores for home decor.  It's a good thing I don't live here, or I would have to do my entire house like that.  We also found a quaint little Amish quilt shop on a little road off of the main highway.  I got an amazing quilt and met the nicest shop keeper.  It was a really neat day. 

We spent the 4th with my Dad and brothers.  They take Nate to a river for swimming during the day and we had a BBQ that night.  Nate and I spent the evening on my Dad's deck watching fireflies.  It was just as good as any firework display I have ever seen.  There were fireworks going off everywhere.  It seems like every home was doing them here and there were numerous professional displays going off at once.  Crazy!

Today was a bit of a downer though.  My brother Keith broke out with the chicken pox.  It is kind of serious as he is 19 and has never had them.  Nate had the vaccine, so he should be fine, but I sure feel bad for my brother.  He is miserable!  Took care of him as much as allowed today and am now back at the hotel preparing for Nate's big day tomorrow.

I am very excited to Nate to start tomorrow.  I think he may be a little nervous, but that is to be expected.  We have had such a nice week and now it is time to get down to business.  I'm so happy with the way this is going!

Answers, finally!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Maryland.  It was about 80 and everything is really, really green.  Nathan and I just took the day to relax and go to his doctor appointment.  Since we had some time to kill beforehand, we looked at some neighboring hotels and decided to stay at the Hilton Homewood for the summer.  We went on a tour and picked our room.  It is very nice.  I think we will be very comfortable.  It has a pool, spa and healthcenter, and very happily for Nathan, even a full basketball court.  It should be nice.

The appointment with the Audiologist went really well.  The doctor is really nice and took a considerable amount of time to test Nate and then discuss the results with me.  The diagnosis is a severe Auditory Processing Disorder.  This is actually a physiological disorder that Nate was born with.  Basically, as sound travels from his outer ear through his inner ear and messages are sent to his brain, there is a pretty substantial delay.  This causes his inability to differentiate between sounds, phonemes and tones.  The tests the doctor did to diagnose this were really neat.  He actually sent sound vibrations through the base of Nate's skull to bypass his inner ear, and interestingly, Nate could hear much better!  So weird!!  There is actually an enormous report with all of the findings, but the bottom line is that the muscles that are causing the delay can be strengthened.  This will take intensive, consistant and direct therapy.  This doctor will work with the Highlands School to plan Nathan's program for the summer.  These 5 weeks could completely change the way Nate learns.  After the summer session, Nate will see this doc again and we will see what progress has been made.  Ultimately, Nate will always need accomodations such as a person to take notes for him during a lecture, longer time for tests and optimal study enviroments, but we will know better how to accomodate that by the end of the summer. 

Today's testing answered so many questions for me. It makes so much sense to me now that Nate never learned to differentiate between sounds and that he often mumbles his words.  That is the way our words sound to him and alwasy have!!  Now that we have a better idea of why he suffers from Dyslexia, we can do more for him.  The Dyslexia is merely a symptom of the Auditory Processing disorder.  That was a big ah ha moment for me.  I have spent so much time and energy on researching Dyslexia that I never even considered it could be something else.  Now I guess I have something new to research!  Lol. 

Tomorrow Nate and I are coming home.  We will be flying much of the day and then dealing with jet lag.  We are ready to come home though.  It has been a really fun and amazingly informative week, but we are ready to go home and process everything.  Nathan has been involved in all conversations with doctors and teachers this week and has a really strong grasp on what is going on.  I have seen a really mature side of him the last couple of days and I am so proud of him.  I know he is ready to do the work it will take to learn to live with this disorder.  He is truly an amazing kid!

had a good day i made it in to the highland school for summer yayayyay have to go somewere to check my ears complicated i can hear dont worry just somethin els. we went to habit da grace had fun there. tomorrow we have stay unplaned but we will have fun. we leave tomorrow

This is a picture of the Highlands School, where Nathan will spend his days this summer.  We spent a considerable part of today here as well.  It turns out that Nathan definitely has Dyslexia.  He qualified to be a student this summer and they will be working on strategies to help him overcome the deficits created from that.  Interestingly though,  they found something we had previously missed.  While doing the full gammet of testing, they found considerable deficits in Nathan's ability to identify and discern sounds.  Thiis is more than just the dyslexia we initially thought.  They found he is actually unable to tell diffences in spoken sounds.  So a simple example is the word set Tab and Tap.  These words sound exactly the same to Nathan.  You can imagine the trouble this has caused in using and gaining language.  Anyway, along with that, they are not sure that he is actually hearing all sounds, especally sounds in words.  So, the long and short of it is that tomorrow we are seeing an Auditory specialist who will test not only Nate's hearing, but his auditory processing ability.  This is an actual physician who will give us an actual diagnosis!!!!  :)  This is a huge piece of ensuring Nathan is given instruction that he can actually process and learn from.  So, flights are changed, rooms rebooked and the rental car extended.  We will be here a little longer.  The bottom line from today is that we will definitely be here this summer.  They have already found the dyslexia and all that goes along with that, so they are planning his instruction around the gaps he shows there.  After tomorrow, we anticipate an diagnosis of CAP or Conceptual Auditory Processing disorder.  This will add to the plan for this summer.  Should they find any actual hearing deficits or birth defects (or scar tissue from all of those wonderful ear infections we dealt with in the toddler years) in the inner ear, then we will have an even larger journey. We aren't quite sure what to expect with that.  I have many questions for the specialist if that is found.  Anyway, it seems today wasn't the big day after all.  Tomorrow will be.  Aggghhhh

After all of that was done, Nate and I went to the historic town of Havre De Grace to clear our minds.   It is a beautiful little town on the Chesapeake Bay.  It was peaceful and quaint.  Exactly what we needed to talk about everything that had been said at the Highland School.  Nate is being a trooper and is so willing to do whatever it takes to figure this out.  I truly admire his motivation and positive attitude.  After visiting there, we came back and had dinner and found a local mall. 

Extra days means we needed more clothes!!!  ::P

Cyndi

ok so if u shaw what my mom posted then you now were we were and for alll those who dont well here we were at the national aquarium and this picture cant explain how big and masive this turtle was o and yes its missing a arm fin whatever you want to calll it poor guy no wonder his in there lol well overall i had a good day. i want that turtle....

Tuesday at Baltimore Inner Harbor

Today was really fun.  We spent the day with Keith and went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor.  Nate was really happy to hang out with his Uncle and we went to the National Aquarium.  It is a really nice one.  They have a great shark exhibit and an actual Whale skeleton.  It is enormous!  I, of course, love the Jellyfish.  Nate loves the sharks, whales and dolphins.  Keith was just a trooper and took us to see it all.  Afterward, we went to play a little at the ESPN Zone.  That place is seriously an arcade on steroids!!  Nathan and Keith did a great job of trying out each and every game and ride.  I did my best to hold discarded jackets and token cards and merely keep up with them.  It was a nice place to hang out though, because I forgot to mention that is was pouring rain all day long!!!  We ended the evening with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.   Nate hadn't been to one before and was mesmerized by all of the memorabelia.    It's a pretty good one.  They have alot.  Back at our hotel, Nate is acclimating very well and has already made his presence known in the gym and snack bar.  So far so good.  Tomorrow we go to the school for the first time.  I am really excited to see what they say after the initial tests.  So, tomorrow is the big day. 

Cyndi