April 14th

Ashley can’t wait to talk. She is creating sounds more than ever and over the weekend she was positioning her mouth to annunciate. We can’t attest to hearing sounds that we could say were words, but Ashley was trying. There are so many signals that have to reach so many muscles to get her speech back. The best news regarding this is that Ashley is not getting frustrated about it; she is encouraged by our reinforcement of her efforts.

Throughout this entire ordeal we continue to be in awe at Ashley’s positive attitude. Like everyone else she has her ups and downs, but we see many more smiles than frowns and whole lot more laughing than crying. Her determination combined with all the prayer support we are receiving is keeps us all going.

In speech therapy last week they lifted the bar on testing Ashley’s cognitive reasoning skills. It has included history homework. Ashley has been tested on Revolutionary War Era topics; specifically on Paul Revere and George Washington. It was a refresher course for Mary and I as well. While Ashley did not ‘ace’ the first test she came away with a solid ‘A’ at 95% correct.

Speaking of therapy, on Friday one of the therapists came over in the morning to assist with Ashley’s morning routine. That evening two more therapists came to watch a movie with Ashley. This was all on their own time. It is a reflection of the true vocation therapy is for the professionals at Lutheran. This is one of the many blessings we have encountered on our path to Ashley’s recovery.

Ashley was able to get outside in the neighborhood some more last week and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Just as Ashley being home has provided a conducive environment for Ashley’s rehabilitation, we are confident that warm sunny weather (needless to say, Ashley’s favorite!) will provide another boost to Ashley’s progress.