Hi Everyone,

Corey had a good session with speech today. Diane was testing for auditory memory. She would list 3 words in sequence. She would repeat 2 of the 3 words in the second round and ask Corey to write and/or speak the word that was missing. She was about 50/50 with that exercise. Diane will not be judging her short term memory on the first trial of this exercise. She also tried using sentences with specific comprehensive questions. For instance; Mary has 2 brothers, Brian and Brendan. They love to go to the beach. “What does Mary have”? Corey’s answer was 2 brothers. Corey was very successful with this type of contextual testing.

There were a few moments throughout the day that Corey began to show signs of extreme agitation but we worked through it and she was able to pull out of it. She has been exhibiting this behavior when she is working with her Physical Therapist. We are finding that her behavior is related to fear; especially when she is transitioning from one position to another and/or moving from her chair to the bed or matte. It also escalates when she has stayed in one position too long and her muscles begin to seize. Until Corey can communicate more effectively and less impulsively, we are trying to find a way through signing for her to let us know she’s afraid, tired, sore or just plain frustrated and she’s had enough. It’s a work in progress!

Corey was much happier this evening when we decided to make homemade Mushroom soup. Corey popped the stems out of all the mushrooms with her right hand; literally! I was amazed. It was as if she was popping the top off a soda bottle. I’ve never seen a technique quite like hers! When we showed her the measuring spoons and cups, she picked out the correct size just by looking at them. We used the Ipad to pull up the Barefoot Contessa’s recipe and we worked together to create the soup. It was delicious if I do say so myself!

JohnPaul and Caitlin agreed. They came home tonight to say hello to Corey and run over to the Church in preparation for Saturday nights Comedy show. JohnPaul will be running the sound and Caitlin checked out the venue. The response to Caitlin’s show has been overwhelming. She was supposed to be upstairs in a large room but the rsvp’s appear to warrant seating in the main church! I’m a little nervous that Corey will hyperventilate…wait until you see her with Caitlin. She doesn’t stop laughing! We are very excited to see everyone.

Typically I close with a note to Corey. Tonight, Corey wanted to write something to Uncle Tom the Great. As you know, I read Corey the CarePage every night. I then read all of your responses to her. Last night we mentioned the Ipad prompts that will be speaking for Corey. For those of you who may not read the responses to the daily posts, Uncle Tom wrote that Corey should add “I want a Hot Dog”, “Pass the Steak” and “how bout a bbq” (Corey is a vegetarian)…he also added “Uncle Tom is my best buddy”.

When I read Tom’s note to Corey she was laughing and then reached for her pen and white board. I asked her what she wanted to write to Uncle Tom;
“Hi”…”Veggies YAY”…“Meat YUCK”…“love you” (your best buddy) xoxo