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news/photos
 November 2005
Shawn continues to amaze us. He is such a healthy and spunky little guy its
hard to imagine he spent most of his early years living in a nursing home.
Shawn continues to make excellent progress on his oral feeding. While he still
needs everything pureed, Shawn is willing to try new food items and is
basically eating almost everything the rest of the family is eating. We are
encouraged by his progress in this area and believe that eventually Shawn will
be able to stop using his g-tube all together.
Shawn's adoption will be finalized December 1, 2005. We are excited that Shawn
will finally be a permanent part of our family. Shawn's adoption will take
place in San Bernardino at the county's annual "Adoption Event." This event
includes multiple children being adopted on the same day and everyone
celebrating their adoption together with a luncheon and a party. We are
excited to be a part of this event but mostly delighted that Shawn will
officially become our son.
 September 2005
Shawn had a great summer. Shawn continues to be very healthy and active.
He spent almost every weekend at Wild Rivers. Shawn loves splashing around in
the water and is no longer afraid when the other kids splash him. Also over
the summer, Shawn received his new wheelchair. Shawn's wheelchair is very
"sporty" and Shawn really looks like he should be out on the basketball court.
Shawn is enjoying moving himself around the house in his wheelchair. He is
learning very quickly how to make the wheelchair move in the direction he
wants to go.
Shawn has also done an excellent job with his oral eating. He will now eat two
jars of baby food per sitting. Shawn is even attempting to grab the spoon and
feed himself. We are very encouraged by Shawn's improvement in this area. Over
the next several months we are hoping to add pureed table foods to Shawn's
repertoire.
June 2005
Shawn had a fantastic school year at Village View Elementary School. This
is Shawn's first experience at public school and he seems to love
everything about school including the bus ride! Shawn has also been fairly
healthy this year and really only had illnesses typical of a healthy
preschooler. This is amazing as less than a year ago Shawn was living in a
nursing home and labeled as a medically fragile child. During the
2004-2005 school year Shawn learned how to use the gait trainer to get
around his classroom and the playground. Shawn loves to move and he
especially enjoyed walking around the playground with the typical
children. We can always depend on Shawn to go where the action is! Shawn
will attend summer school and another year of preschool at Village View
School in the fall.
Shawn has
also been making excellent progress in physical therapy offered by
California Children's Services (CCS). He attends therapy two to three
times a week after school. The therapists are working on having Shawn
propel his own manual sports wheelchair and to use a walker. Shawn can now
maneuver his wheelchair independently across the room and he has some
understanding of how to make the wheelchair turn around.
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a little taste of chocolate cake! |
This is very big progress for Shawn who only
several months ago made no attempt to independently move his wheelchair.
Shawn is also working on using a walker. Using a walker is harder for
Shawn than using a gait trainer. The gait trainer does not require that
Shawn to hold on with his hands. Once he is safely strapped in the gait
trainer, away he goes. With the walker, Shawn must hold on while he is
walking or else he will fall to the ground.
Learning how to use a walker will increase
Shawn's independent mobility and hopefully help him to progress to walking
without any equipment. We are really enjoying watching Shawn make such
great progress. With all of this individual therapy we can't wait to see
where he progresses to by the end of summer.
  
 September 2004
Shawn
(4)
---the youngest Silcock---joined the Silcock family in July of 2004. Due
to Shawn's multiple medical needs and his developmental delays he spent
the first three years of his life living in an ACUTE CARE facility with 50
other medically fragile children. Now
that Shawn's health has stabilized the county was looking for an adoptive
family.
We are delighted to be selected to be Shawn's "forever
family." Shawn is currently settling in to his new home and
surroundings. He smiles frequently especially when his big brothers
play with him. This summer Shawn has had a lot of fun getting out in
the community. Shawn loves playing in the water and especially
enjoys going to Wild Rivers. Shawn also enjoys playing in the sand
at the beach and the park. We are looking forward to watching Shawn progress.
We
are currently trying to get Shawn some adaptive equipment to help with
with mobility and gait training. In September Shawn will be attending Village
View preschool.
Shawn Dereck Silcock-age three
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