I haven’t posted in a while… no real reason. Life got a little crazy lately. I don’t know that it’s that life “got” a little crazy, I just… haven’t posted.
Sam is officially legally blind. What that means… is that he’ll be able to access services through the state to get equipment to make it easier for him to see. Is he actually blind? No. He can see to walk around, to see trees on the side of the road. He can live his life, and if you aren’t paying close attention – you’d never know. But he can’t see well enough to read, or put together legos, or write. Is that something that could be fixed with glasses? Will it get better? I don’t know the answer to either of those questions, and nobody else seems to either. He’s still way too traumatized to sit through a visual exam, and he’s young enough that the doctors won’t rule out (or guarantee, for that matter) that his eyes won’t just fix themselves. If I had to guess, I’d say that his vision is probably better than we think, and that getting glasses will help. But guessing doesn’t help, and until he’s able to participate in an appointment with an eye doctor, this is the situation we’re in. Or maybe I’m just being overly optimistic, and I should accept the disability and adjust accordingly.
There are certainly deficits in what he can see. But I don’t know how profound it is – the low vision doctor says he needs 6X magnification and the contrast has to be really pronounced. It’s not that I can hand him a worksheet and expect that he can see it and fill it out. But I can point out the foliage on the tree outside, and he can describe it to me. I can hand him my phone and send him out walking to go pokemon hunting and feel like he’s safe and capable of navigating the walk.
His taste buds are starting, so, so, slowly, to heal. Just this week, we’ve added in cinnamon toast, apple cake, taco meat and rice, and shepherd’s pie. That’s… phenomenal. We’re not 100% yet, he still won’t really touch dairy, or red sauce, or chocolate. And of course, fruits and vegetables are off the table still. But they’re starting to come back, and last night, he said (after telling me a few times that he wasn’t going to go trick or treating because he can’t eat any of the candy) that he would go out with us on Halloween, because that way, when the taste buds heal entirely, he’ll be able to eat the stash. He’s got a little hope now, that things are getting better.
Homeschooling is going better. It depends entirely on the day. Some days, I feel really optimistic and in control, and some days, I feel like a dismal failure. We’re doing a lot of audio books and documentaries and reading out loud. I’ve got a math curriculum and we’re working through that. Until we get the equipment to help with the reading, there just isn’t much more I can do. We’re starting an election unit after the high holidays, and then moving into a history of Thanksgiving. I’ve set up playdates a few days a week after school, so that he still gets opportunities to see his friends.
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