Paul's Update - 12/29/06

Dear Friends:

Paul continues to make amazing progress each day. Tabby works with his speech each day. He can now repeat most of the alphabet. He has trouble saying letters like D, P & W but he makes it through most of the other letters without much trouble. Every once in a while he will say something on his own. Tonight he said the word "other" in a sentence without any prompting. We haven't tried to get him to say this word at all so it seems he can say some words without being repeated after us. Dad has also been working on getting Paul to stand up with the walker beside his bed. He is able to stand up by himself fairly well. He still has lots of balance problems but Dad and Tabby are right there to catch him is he loses balance. Dad had him stand and sit several times this afternoon. At first he was just flopping down on the bed and falling back but after some practice he was able to bend his knees and sit without falling back. Tabby has also gotten him to roll over on his side in the bed all by himself. This is real helpful since he is such a big guy and it is hard for Tabby to roll him over by herself. He can roll over on either side which is pretty amazing to watch! Tabby tried tonight to get Paul to use a pen and write or draw something on a piece of paper. He took the pen and put it in his right hand and he was able to hold it correctly!! He didn't seem to be able to use the pen though. Tabby tried putting the pen in Paul's left hand but he wouldn't have anything to do with that and he transferred the pen back to his right hand. Maybe with more practice he will be able to use it! It would be so nice if we could get the therapists to come back now that Paul is showing so much improvement but it looks like the insurance company has dropped Paul's coverage and in order to get Medicaid to cover any therapy he would have to be in the hospital for 5 days first. It is frustrating how the system works against those who don't make "typical" progress! At least Dad & Tabby are willing to be Paul's therapists!

Have a great weekend!! Lynne & Carl