January 21, 2018
Hi, everyone. It's been another couple of weeks since our last post. We are happy to report that we feel like Josh is still making progress. No, it isn't like a couple of months ago when every day brought surprising improvements. But it is gratifying to see the young man continue to improve.
The biggest change we've seen in the last couple of weeks is in the area of initiation. Josh is more likely now than anytime since the accident to initiate discussion. He'll now ask questions and raise issues whereas he really never did that before. He is still far from conversational (even Josh 1.0 was pretty quiet) but we feel like he is making progress. And he STILL struggles with initiating brushing his teeth. If we don't help him, he'll stand at his sink for 30 minutes trying to get his toothbrush into his mouth. Once it's in, he's fine.
He still has his challenges, though. One is keeping his pants on! He is so slender (weighing in at 133 these days) that he can't seem to tighten his belt enough to secure his pants. Here he is just about to lose his pants as we walk through a parking lot! Poor guy.
His vision is another area of ongoing concern. He sees a TON better than he did a few months ago (initially his right eye was blind and shut). His new glasses help a lot, utilizing a prism in his right eye to shift his vision to line up better with his left eye. This is truly fantastic. But challenges persist and he continues eye therapy.
Here's a photo of Josh donning special glasses that measure his eye capabilities and help determine what eye therapy he needs.
Here's a video that shows how much his eye jumps around when he reads. Despite this, he is able to read fairly well.
He was also tested for depth perception. According to the doctor, he scored a zero because of the weakness of his right eye.
We continue to have "caregivers" come into our home five days a week for three hours each day. They aren't trained therapists so we give them therapeutic activities to do with Josh, such as puzzles, reading, math, video games, walking, etc. This is good, but real therapists who know what they are doing would be better.
Josh is now spending a lot more time on his computer, a bit like Josh 1.0 before the accident. It is curious to see what Josh chooses to do on the computer. For weeks he focuses on ONE thing and does it over and over again. For a while, all he did was watch videos off of YouTube of various TV show auditions and performances, including America's Got Talent and X Factor. Then he went through a phase of watching YouTube videos with Star Wars performances and costumes. Right now he spends hours watching Matthias Vlogs??!! We really have no idea where any of this comes from.
Well, that's about all we have to report right now. Thanks again for your ongoing support and prayers. Just today a young girl about six-years old came walking up to Josh and asked, "What's your name?" Josh told her and then she said, "Oh, you're Josh! We pray for you all the time at our house!!" I don't know how much this meant to Josh, but it means a lot to his parents.
Hi, everyone. It's been another couple of weeks since our last post. We are happy to report that we feel like Josh is still making progress. No, it isn't like a couple of months ago when every day brought surprising improvements. But it is gratifying to see the young man continue to improve.
The biggest change we've seen in the last couple of weeks is in the area of initiation. Josh is more likely now than anytime since the accident to initiate discussion. He'll now ask questions and raise issues whereas he really never did that before. He is still far from conversational (even Josh 1.0 was pretty quiet) but we feel like he is making progress. And he STILL struggles with initiating brushing his teeth. If we don't help him, he'll stand at his sink for 30 minutes trying to get his toothbrush into his mouth. Once it's in, he's fine.
He still has his challenges, though. One is keeping his pants on! He is so slender (weighing in at 133 these days) that he can't seem to tighten his belt enough to secure his pants. Here he is just about to lose his pants as we walk through a parking lot! Poor guy.
His vision is another area of ongoing concern. He sees a TON better than he did a few months ago (initially his right eye was blind and shut). His new glasses help a lot, utilizing a prism in his right eye to shift his vision to line up better with his left eye. This is truly fantastic. But challenges persist and he continues eye therapy.
Here's a photo of Josh donning special glasses that measure his eye capabilities and help determine what eye therapy he needs.
Here's a video that shows how much his eye jumps around when he reads. Despite this, he is able to read fairly well.
He was also tested for depth perception. According to the doctor, he scored a zero because of the weakness of his right eye.
We continue to have "caregivers" come into our home five days a week for three hours each day. They aren't trained therapists so we give them therapeutic activities to do with Josh, such as puzzles, reading, math, video games, walking, etc. This is good, but real therapists who know what they are doing would be better.
Josh is now spending a lot more time on his computer, a bit like Josh 1.0 before the accident. It is curious to see what Josh chooses to do on the computer. For weeks he focuses on ONE thing and does it over and over again. For a while, all he did was watch videos off of YouTube of various TV show auditions and performances, including America's Got Talent and X Factor. Then he went through a phase of watching YouTube videos with Star Wars performances and costumes. Right now he spends hours watching Matthias Vlogs??!! We really have no idea where any of this comes from.
Well, that's about all we have to report right now. Thanks again for your ongoing support and prayers. Just today a young girl about six-years old came walking up to Josh and asked, "What's your name?" Josh told her and then she said, "Oh, you're Josh! We pray for you all the time at our house!!" I don't know how much this meant to Josh, but it means a lot to his parents.
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