I love you mom..

It is without doubt that my daughter, Alexandra, is a social butterfly as long as the community she is associating with consists of adults. She enjoys visitors to the house as well as interacting with adults during the various outings that we do.

I had mentioned in a previous posting that, aside from one little girlfriend at the library, Alex does not tolerate children very well. Their noise and fast activities bother her. It all stems from her Sensory Integration problems that developed as a result of her prematurity, as well as all that she has had to go through during the first crucial years of her life. Her sensitivities are getting better but we work on them daily with various therapies and exposures to different stimuli.

Her enjoyment for visitors was apparent this afternoon when we entertained two young ladies visiting from a University Communication center. The goal of their visit was to evaluate Alex’s communication skills in order to come up with ideas and possibly generate recommendations for methods that may help her progress in that area.
Alex had suffered a grade I brain bleed in the language area of her brain while she was in the NICU. This has left a huge deficit in her expressive skills.

One of the most frustrating issues for a special mom and child is the lack of verbal communication. Even thought I know what Alex needs and wants most of the time, it is still a difficult issue to handle. She gets very frustrated, especially when in pain since she can’t tell me where it hurts. In the community, her difficulties hinder her as she cannot convey to others what she is thinking or wanting. She can’t understand why her gestures out in the real world don’t work as well as they do on her mommy.

I cannot even begin to imagine not being able to verbalize what I need. My heart goes out to my child as I try to help her with all that I know how. I pray that the visit today will bring about a variety of options that may be available for her. She is a smart child and can understand everything. I hope that one day, with God’s help, and all the therapies and new technologies out there, I can hear her say: “I love you mom”.

©Copyright 2007.Najwa S. Hirn. All rights reserved.