So we're a few months into school now. We've made so much progress with her, it's been unbelievable. The day she wrote her name and you could read every letter, we cried. She can say the letters in her name too. She's drawing and learning new songs and she loves her friends at school. But has it been easy......ummm......no.
We're working with just about every agency we can. We started "from the bottom" and are working our way up to deal with the " big stuff." We first had her hearing tested. We noticed she'd complain about certain noises being too loud, noises that really shouldn't have bothered her. Sure enough, there is a muscle in each ear that does not expand and contract the way it should be. Her hearing is fine though, it's just the loud noise issue. Although it wasn't something that needed to be done immediately, it was suggested to us to have neurological testing done to determine if there were any other problems.
We are also going to begin speech therapy soon. There are many letters she can't say properly. We're also working on getting her to stop sucking her thumb and index finger, since it is not only affecting her teeth, but her index finger as well. ( she twists it so oddly that her finger is now beginning to turn)
We also will begin counseling in a week. It's all done through play therapy, but I just feel that things will probably get worse before they get better. But there has to be a beginning where she can begin to heal from the wounds that she has. She still thinks she has to leave again, and it's hard to explain " forever" to a 4 year old that doesn't really know tomorrow or yesterday. We've tried telling her she'll never have to have another mommy and daddy again, but she is very sceptical about that.
Overall, she is doing fine. She is blossoming and learning better then we expected her to. She has her days where we're all ready to tear our hair out, but it was to be expected, and we know it won't be over for quite some time. We just love her, and pray that she can "catch up" on just being a little girl.
