Today, the Sacramento County School District Infant Development program came for a visit. There was a nurse and also a special education teacher. In addition to the services I am receiving from an agency called Alta Regional, the school district can provide even more services to me and my parents. They are going to start coming weekly on Friday afternoons. In the beginning the special education teacher, Terry is going to teach my parents sign language so they can start communicating with me even more. Then she is going to teach them how to do infant massage. Because I will be in the hospital for surgeries at times it may be hard to hold me and comfort me so she says infant massage will be a tool my parents can use to help soothe me during those times. They are also going to make it part of my nightly bath ritual to calm me down after my trach care to help me fall asleep. They are going to send out a hearing aid specialist once I have my hearing aid, a speech therapist once I have my speaking valve, an occupational therapist to help me work with my hands and a feeding specialist once I am getting ready to eat solid foods. Mommy is a little overwhelmed at the thought of weekly visits but she is so grateful to have experts that will be helping me as I grow. As I get bigger they also have weekly play groups for their "kids" and it also allows parents to have someone to talk to who understand what they are going through. The nurse said that many of their "kids" have g tubes and a lot have trachs as well so I might actually meet some kids who look like me! The nurse had another mommy in the program that she thinks is just like my mommy that she wants to introduce to her. She thinks they will hit it off. Although Mommy has lots of support from family and friends out of state it is probably a good idea to have her meet people close by who she might be able to meet for coffee every now and again or provide back up for each other for date nights as I get bigger. I am so glad there are so many people who are out there to help me and my parents! I am such a lucky girl!
Peyton Nicole Smith
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