The fabulous world of Max

When you have a child classed as having a development delay, you often find yourself celebrating the oddest of milestones and this has certainly been the case with Max .

Yesterday I celebrated Max having this first Happy Meal to himself! An odd celebration you may think and certainly not something we celebrated with Max’s big sister, but it signifies a journey we have been on with him.

It signifies a long weaning process with Max, as we have tried to introduce him to new food textures and consistencies. A journey that has been made longer than we would have expected by the various colds/ chest infections etc that have all meant Max hasn’t been keen on moving on from the comfort of the food he has been used to.

Upto recently we have had Max friendly food with us at all times as we couldn’t be sure that he would eat the food when we are out and about. We’ve also had support from Speech and Language for 6 months as they monitored what he was happy/ not happy to eat. The conclusion from the experts and us a like, was, he would move to the next stage when he was ready.

So this Happy Meal shows how much he has come on and although we still need to have a back up with us just in case, we can normally find something for Max to have off the menu. Although he still thinks fish fingers are the work of the devil, so plenty of food still to conquer! 🤦‍♀️

In the two years that Max has been born, I have learnt so much about a world I never knew existed. It’s a world full of the different types of therapies and support that exists to help a child classed as having additional needs, reach their full potential.

We are full immersed in this world as Max currently receives support from physiotherapy, speech and language (salt) the specialist hearing teacher for the deaf, a Communication group and Portage. The majority you can kinder work out what they are about but the one I get most asked about is Portage. Which is no surprise as it’s name doesn’t give much clues!

Portage essentially is play therapy, designed to support a child through play to work on key skills. It was pioneered back in 1969 in the town of Portage, Wisconsin and because it’s proven to be so effective, it’s been adopted by many countries around the world.

Max has an amazing Portage therapist, who visits him once a fortnight at home, as well as regularly at Nursery. She brings a massive bag of toys every time for Max to explore, which have been handpicked to whatever skill we are working on. Max knows this bag of toys is amazing and as soon as it arrives, he tries to delve into it to find out what treats are in store.

At the moment Max is working on signing “more” and “stop”. This week he played with bubbles and made shaving foam cakes to encourage him to join in, get messy and learn at the same time! Max loves these sessions and gets so much from them. What’s not to like about shaving foam cakes!”

We are also allowed to borrow toys from Portage, which is fab as it means we get a regular supply of toys that we don’t have to buy that entertain Max. Technically it does mean at the grand age of 2, Max already has homework each week!

But jokes aside, who doesn’t love homework if it involves playing? Everyone gets involved at home with Max’s homework like his big sister Amy. And for Max he’s just any other two year old, learning through play.

Celebrating milestones

What on earth is Portage???