Jake returned to school this year at Nina Harris. He doesn't turn 5 until Christmas Eve, so he was able to stay in the Pre-K class with the same teacher as last year, Mary Beth, who we love. He loves school and it's very good for him. The picture to the right is his class in group language therapy. The picture is Janice working with the kids by forcing them to choose the correct one to continue. They also use Switch Toys, which play a pre-recorded sound when a large simple button is activated.

Jake continues to progress on his own schedule. We really believe the additional therapy is helping him. He receives Physical, Language and Occupational at School. Mom also takes him to Lampert's Therapy Center twice a week for more in-depth, hour long sessions for both Physical and Occupational Therapies. It seems that everyday he is getting up on all his hands and knees. Mom keeps trying to get a picture of it for the website, but by the time you get the camera, he's already down. This is why we have to keep in a padded play environment!

Jake's doing so well that he already received the Student of the Month award! Each year, they measure how far the kids can go in the walker, even with their leg braces. When Jake first started school, he only went backwards in the walker. Now, he goes forwards too. He's getting so good at it. In the picture to the left, Mom caught of a picture of him scooting along at school one day during gym class. If you checked out our Meet Jake page, there's a link to a video of him walking backwards in the walker from the last school year that we posted 7 months ago!.

We met with a behavioral therapist this month. For many years, we've been able to deal with everything his medical state has presented. The seizures and surgeries were certainly the most difficult to deal with, but those have both subsided for a while. Jake will strike himself, and that is what we have a very hard time with. We've always suspected it was either born out of boredom, or the frustration of not being able to communicate his needs. As it turns out, the therapist suspects it's a little bit of both. There are clinics that offer behavior intervention services which can be intense and are very trying to both the patient and the caregiver. We are going to research this more before we subject Jake to anything.

On the Meet Jake page, there is a link to the MDA magazine article that features Jake in his Halloween costume that was published last year. Jake was featured again in this Month's edition. That's 2 years in row!

Hopefully you noticed a few subtle changes to the website. We added a little more yellow to the navigation and posted a new picture of Jake. There will be even more updates next month.

As always, we can't thank you enough for your support!