Life, Interrupted: Buddy Bike

What do these words mean?

Apraxia of speech is a neurogenic speech disorder characterized by sensorimotor problems in positioning and sequencing the correct sounds of a word. Apraxia is not caused by muscle weakness of neuromuscular slowness. Individuals with apraxia of speech may have difficulty saying what they would like to say.

Augmentative and Alternative Communitcation (AAC) is any device, system or method that improves the ability of a child with communication impairment to communicate effectively. Although AAC is often used to refer to formal communication devices and systems such as sign language, communication boards or voice output communication aids (VOCAs), it can include less sophisticated means of communication such as facial expressions, non-speech vocalizations, idiosyncratic gestures, etc. AAC is used when a child does not develop communication in the normal fashion, or experiences a significant delay in its development. AAC is not merely a substitute for how the child is currently communicating. It is used to augment that communication, replacing only elements that are unintelligible, socially unacceptable, or harmful to the child or others. Ideally, an AAC system includes more than one mode of communication, with the child using whichever is the most efficient given the persons, setting and activity at hand. Very often one of the modes of communication in an AAC program is natural speech.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder is the impaired ability to attend, discriminate, recognize or comprehend auditory information even though hearing and intelligence are within normal limits. Symptoms of Central Auditory Processing Disorder include but are not limited to:1. Individual easily distracted or bothered by loud noises.2. Individual is upset in noisy environments.3. Individual’s performance improves in quieter enviornments.4. Individual has difficulty following simple and complex commands.5. Individual has difficulties with reading, spelling and writing.6. Individual is disorganized.7. Individual has difficulty following conversations.

Phonological processes are techniques used by children to simplify speech when attempting to produce adult words. The phonological processes include:

Deletion of Final ConsonantsExample: cup becomes cu Syllable ReductionExample: telephone becomes telphoneStoppingExample: soup becomes doupGlidingExample: blue becomes bueExample:chair becomes tairVoicingExample: cup becomes gupExample: fishing becomes bishingDeaffricationExample: chair becomes thairExample: orange becomes orandDevoicingExample: frog becomes frokExample: bathtub becomes bathtupFrontingExample: car becomes tarExample: wagon becomes wadon

Phonological Awareness refers to the awareness of the sound structure of language. It is the ability to manipulate and think about the structure of language. Phonological awareness is the knowledge that words are made from sounds. This can affect the following:

1. Syllabification and rhyming as discussed above are the first skills2. Blending sounds into words such as “f--i---sh” is “fish”3. Isolating the beginning or ending sounds in a word i.e. “fish” starts with “f” “boat” ends with “t” 4. Segmenting words into sounds i.e. “what sounds are in the word ‘dish’-d—i—sh”5. Deleting the beginning or ending sound and telling what word remains i.e. “say ‘beat’ now say it again without the ‘b’---eat

Language is used for talking to and with others, to signal needs, intentions, feelings, and thoughts. Language is also used for self-talking (thinking), and for controlling and directing one's own behavior as well as for controlling and directing the behavior of others. It involves the understanding and use of words and word combinations.

Children with autism and related disorders exhibit deficits in social-communication skills such as language, imitation, emotion sharing, play, and social interaction skills. In addition, they also may have some associated behavioral difficulties such as aggression, severe tantrums, difficulty with transitions, self-stimulatory behavior and may exhibit delayed cognitive or self-help skills. When a child has a confirmed or possible diagnosis of autism, the family plays an especially key role in their child's treatment program. We work together with families to support their child's social-communication, behavioral and emotional growth.

Oral motor skills refers to how articulators such as the tongue, lips and muscles of the face work together to produce effective movements. Oral motor skills affect controlling saliva secretions, eating, drinking and speaking.

A language disorder is the impairment in the ability to understand and/or use words in context, both verbally and nonverbally. Some characteristics of language disorders include improper use of words and their meanings, inability to express ideas, inappropriate grammatical patterns, reduced vocabulary and inability to follow directions. One or a combination of these characteristics may occur in children who are affected by language learning disabilities or developmental language delay. Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning. They may have trouble getting others to understand what they are trying to communicate. An evaluation will identify your child's difficulty understanding and/or using language. Therapy will help your child learn to use language appropriately and accurately.

In the beginning

It started with a perfect pregnancy, labor was slow, and finally they gave enough petocin to birth a horse. 18 hours after my water broke, they used forceps and my son was born. 41 1/2 weeks. My son was in fetal distress for a long long time and nobody did anything about it until it was too late. He had neonatal seizures and had a 10 day stay in the NICU. He was referred straight into the Birth to 3 program and was in Physical Therapy at age 5 weeks. Now he has severe brain damage but is doing phenomenally well all things considered as a direct result of the Early Intervention Program.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Buddy Bike

I am sitting here in wonderment about an accomplishment my family did together. We rode and rode and rode a bike, all of us just this past Saturday. When I say rode, I mean 20 miles rode. I am not an avid biker, in fact one really couldn't call me even a social, intermittent, periodic or sporadic bike rider either. I don't think that I have ridden collectively 20 miles on a bicycle in my entire adult life, much less on one occasion.

I received notice about an organized bike ride for the special needs population organized by a company that distributes these adaptive tandem like bikes that puts the child on a seat in front of the adult. There are 2 seats, 2 handle bars, two sets of pedals etc. I had seen this Buddy Bike in advertisements for the last year, maybe 2. My son has severe balance problems, severe impulsivity issues, short term memory problesms as we all know if you have read my other posts.

Anyway, being as vertically challenged as I am (5' 1/2" tall~ if you are as short as I am, you would cling onto that 1/2 inch too so stop laughing.) and the fact that my son has such limitations I was very concerned about the size of the bike. Would I be able to reach the ground with my feet while still on the seat at a stop without tipping the bike, my son and I over at the same time? Since the last bike I purchased was probably from Walmart and I am sure cost less than $75.00, I was very hesitant to invest that much money into something without trying it out first. The Buddy Bike does have a steep price tag if it is something you will only use a handful of times.

I was able to ride the bike with my son for about 5 miles before I called in for the troops to help me (aka husband to switch and take my son on his bike) It was pushing 90 degrees and I am certain 100% humidity and what seemed like an uphill treck the whole way. Probably wasn't, I do like to exaggerate to make a point.

Anyway, this bike is a remarkable invention. I am sure you are wondering if I opened my wallet and shelled out the 1200.00 plus US dollars to take my very own home with me. I did not last Saturday. This is NOT to say that I won't at some point. I probably will. But my situation is that I have my son that is 7 with disabilities and a son that is 6 that is typically developing. In all actuality, at this point of our lives, my husband and I are NOT avid bike riders and would maybe go out once a month for a bike ride as a family. We live in the urban sprawl of a mid size city so for safety purposes we would have to go to a designated trail which there are several around. But that means loading the bikes and kids into a car and driving to one of the entrances of the trail. I am not going to do that during the week that is already full of therapies, doctors visits, tutors etc. There isn't the time. Plus, where we live, I would not feel safe riding the bike even around my neighborhood and concentrating on my 6 year old at the same time.

I think that when my 6 year old gets a bit older and bicycle and road safe savvy, my child with disabilities may have learned how to tolerate the motion of peddling the bike, then I will be purchasing this bike for our family. If it were only a question of riding myself with my son with disabilities I would definitley purchase.

There is a new business that actually rents the Buddy Bike out within a 35 minute car ride. They rent out all kinds of adaptive bikes, recumbants, hand bikes etc. I can't wait till next time we get a free afternoon on a weekend to head down there are do a much shortened bike ride.

Life, Interrupted

What do these words mean?

In the beginning

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Buddy Bike

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