Justin's Blog

 Archive for the ‘Siraya’ Category

This is one of my favourite photos of all time and goes back to our first conference and when Siraya was very wee indeed.

Now, here we are five years later and not only is she a great big kidergartener, but her new, accessible bathroom is moving towards completion.

Happy Birthday Siraya!

:: Daddy ::

We have been looking for ages for a way to give Siraya a safe environment to play and explore on her own.  When you look through special needs and educational catalogs, they have all sorts of padding and soft play (in fact we have some already!) but they cost thousands of dollars.

Last week we met a new OT at Connecticut Childrens’ Medical Center who said why not try a bouncy castle.  So, for less than $300 we did and all of a sudden Siraya became the coolest kid in the neighboorhood and is loving it!

Here it is coming to life.

I’m sure that I’m under the 100lb weight limit!

:: Justin ::

It’s been quite a year for our Siraya, so this is a great time to sit back an smile as much as she is just now while wishing her a very happy 4th birthday!

It’s also a great time to reflect on how lucky we are to have all the folks around us: neighbours, friends, family,  doctors, teachers, therapists and many more who have not only supported Siraya through some pretty rough patches, but have supported us too.

Thanks to everyone!

Happy Birthday Siraya!

Love you!

:: Daddy ::

I am a huge fan of RJ Cooper what makes all sorts of adaptive equipment (including an adaptive iPod switch we bought for Siraya)

Now you can have your iTherap mounted on your wheelchair or anywhere else you feel like it!

:: Justin ::

We are the very excited recipients of an accessible van for Siraya to cruise around town in.  No more will we have to take her (equally groovy) stroller apart and lug it into the back of the car.  Now she can really ride in style!

You can click on the pictures for bigger versions (the second two are actually videos)

The van came from Jason and Christian and the very fine folks at Advanced Wheels in East Granby, Connecticut. They were tremendous to deal with and to prove how cool they are even sponsor one of their local FIRST Robotics teams!

:: Justin ::

Firstly, if you haven’t had an email or phone call returned by me in the last few days, please accept my apologies, it’s been rather nuts around here.  Remember, any time you need help, you can can the office or check out Live Help.

It’s been an interesting week in the Brockie household, most of it based around Siraya (though Michele has been doing here best to add to the fun).  We’ve spent most of our time since Thursday in doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, and for the last two days, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.  We have dealt with a whole bunch of truly wonderful people including our pediatrician, hospital staff, the mobile crisis team,  folks from DCF, and our support staff from IPP (Siraya has a whole lot of people looking out for her!).

There have though been some technical problems.  Firstly, because Siraya is a foster-kid, a lot of what she gets done for her has to be approved by DCF (makes sense).  Also, she’s a kid with a whole lot of very complicated stuff going on.  This makes it really hard for someone who doesn’t know her to be able to review a plan and determine whether or not it is the right one.  It also means the Michele and I have recounted Siraya’s history more times that we care to remember.

Wouldn’t it all make much more sense if folks could log in and know the right, current information and well as all the history they need.

Within each of the agencies we have dealt with this week (at least 6) they have their own systems, but none of them seem to talk to each other.

Hopefully in the not too distant future this is going to change, and hopefully we here at Therap will be leading the way.

In the meantime, I am just grateful that there are so many tremendous people out there supporting my family.

:: Justin ::

As many of you may know, I am a lover of toys and gadgets.  I am now working hard to give Siraya the same obsession.  She’s a huge music fan and extremely fussy about what she listens to.  Interestingly, her favorites change over time and there’s no telling when The Singing Kettle just won’t cut it any more and you have to move onto Joseph or an Australian singing about kangaroos on Old MacDonald’s Farm!

Given this obvious display of choice making (and the fact that she never goes anywhere without her Ipod – just like any other self-respecting 2 year old!) we thought this would be a great time to start playing with switches.  After a bit of searching, I found just what I was looking for, an adaptive iPod remote from RJ Cooper.  What is especially nice about the remote is that we can plug a switch (like the Big Red Switch in the picture) into the back to act as any one of the buttons so Siraya can learn by just concentrating on one button.

Once we’ve worked this one out, we’ll move on to Guitar Hero!

:: Justin ::

Following in the tradition of many other Brockie’s (and countless others afflicted with the addiction that is Heart of Midlothian Football Club), Siraya has now joined in with her own Hearts stip!

I doesn’t get much cuter than that does it?

As a reminder, here are a few more of us in similar attire (though probably not as cute!)

:: Justin ::

While we were busy doing the things one does on Boxing Day, the fine folks from Connecticut Rehab were delivering Siraya’s new stroller.  If you ever need equipment, Kerry Sheltra’s your guy! (Tell him Siraya sent you!)

We’d already had a couple of appointments at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to measure and then fit her for it.

It really is rather cool and should grow with her for some time to come.  The interesting thing is collapsing it and getting it into Michele’s car!

I’m sure there will be many more pictures of it in action.

Happy Boxing Day!

:: Justin ::