Hannah is now 15-1/2 months old. Yet to this day, I still couldn’t tell you how much she actually comprehends on what level. We talk to her all the time, and there are only a handful of “commands” or communication that she understands.
“Uppies” –> She knows that means we are picking her up and sometimes she lift her arms up a bit
“High Five” –> She’ll give us her version of a high-five, which is like a soft raking of our hand with hers
“Up — Down — Up — Down” –> A new game she has started when she is on her knees leaning against something, she will go up and down on her knees. She has no idea how fantastic this is for her hypotonia, but she loves the interaction when we say “up” she goes up, and when we say “down” she goes down.
“Where’s Hannah” in conjunction with giving her a towel to play Peek-a-boo.
But that is all I can think of that she knows at this point. Anything else we say to her feels like it goes on deaf ears. Then, I started feeling depressed and saddened again.
Then I go back to this little VTech driver toy that we bought almost 8 months ago for Hannah. We have played with it almost every day since then. For the first few months, she would just like to make the roller turn with a raking gesture. We would try to get her to play with the other buttons and dials, but she wouldn’t try it on her own. Then, she would start playing with the horn for a month or so. Finally just a few months later, she would attempt to play with the other gadgets on here.
Finally, 8 months later of playing with this toy ALL THE TIME, she finally will sit by herself and play with all the buttons, features, and knobs. This is one of her favorite toys right now.
For Hannah to learn cause and effect requires so much patience, repetition, and consistency. It isn’t something that can be learned by imitation because she doesn’t have the natural ability or understanding to imitate people or sounds or gestures. It is by doing something thousands of times in hopes that some day SOMETHING will click and she will get it.
But this does mean she is able to learn cause and effect, and it is a process that she has gradually started building on with other toys and actions. All her therapists agree that getting her toys with buttons/gadgets and music/sound attached are one of the best things for her.
So the other night I went to our local used children’s stuff store, and I found this little Hannah-sized chair and attached desk from Fisher Price. She took to it immediately and absolutely loves it. The hidden benefits of this little toy are amazing — different types of toys with immediate cause/effect sounds, book page turning practice, and most of all, practice on sitting in a chair AND doing it while twisting your body slightly.
Hannah has very weak trunk rotation, which is part of the reason she has trouble with mobility, so watching her sit there while turning her trunk to play is such great exercise for her! Also, this little chair is the perfect height for her to play with other toys like her learning table for which she was only able to stand for 10 minutes or so at a time before getting too weak. Also, we have used this chair quite a bit to help her learn to get up to a standing position, and having the chair back support is a great fallback if she needs it.
So this holiday season, my focus for her is for finding more toys with these gems like this great find. Even though it takes her a while to understand what to do, she loves playing with toys that “do something” if she does something, especially if music or sound are involved.
I just need to remind myself to look at her Vtech driving toy to remind myself that she will eventually “get it.” It will just take her a lot of time, a lot of patience, and a lot of love before she does.
Both of my kids love the Laugh and Learn chair. My 3.5 year old still sits in it. My favorite activity table is BabyLeapfrog Activity Playground. It has tons of buttons. Some of them are lower so the baby can do it while sitting. Others are on the top so they have to do it while standing. Unfortunately this item is recalled (so you have to find it used somewhere, which I did). The reason is that a child can stick their arm in where the balls go and get their arm stuck. I have to admit, after my older child was about 3, he did this once, I just told him to relax and helped get his hand out. It is still my favorite. Another favorite that has a lot of cause and effect is the Laugh and Learn House by Fisher Price (it looks like a door). At first my kids would just open and close the door for noise, then the window, then crawl through the door, and open, close, and pass things through the mailbox, play peek-a-boo using the door, the ball gutter is very popular too (when you put a ball down it, it plays music). There are other things that my kids play with it too, but they are higher level skills.