Monday, January 14, 2008

cavities, braces, NFT & a holiday recap

Well, the holiday season has come and gone in a whirl wind of activity. David came up to Montana to visit with us for Christmas and New Year's. It was wonderful to see him and great to spend some time together. The kids went to Vegas via Pocatello and had a great time visiting family and friends (and getting spoiled rotten I am sure :). December and January have been quite busy so here are the highlights....

Neurofeedback Therapy (NFT)

Jamie completed his NF (Neurofeedback) testing the 2-3 week of December. We met with Dr Velin the first week of January and he basically verified that Jamie is very intelligent (95-98th percentile), his attention is normal for his age-but quite far below where it should be based on intelligence, his concentration(distractibility) is below average and a definite problem. He also stated that Jamie's brain gets fatigued quickly due to his irregular brain wave patterns (make it harder for him). He gave several good suggestion for helping Jamie in school and will have these written up and sent to me in a couple of weeks...so that I can take it to the school. He also felt that NFT would have an 80% chance of helping with his concentration/distractibility and brain fatigue, which will raise is over-all ability and function and decrease his irritability. Insurance may or may not cover it, but we felt it was the best avenue...so we started a 20-30 session NFT program. His first session was last weds. Starting this week he will be going 3xweek (MWF) in Missoula (across town- of course :) His first session was amazing! He has electrodes attached to his scalp and ear (the ear is to rule out artifacts caused by physical movement). He has to control a computer game with his brain alone-very cool. His brain wave patterns show up on the tech's computer screen. The screen showed 3 types of waves (they can very depending how he is hooked up). Jamie's brain was producing too many large delta (sleep waves) and too many large "high activity" waves intermittently...and not enough of the calm, focused waves. It was easy to see that his brain was very working ineffectively. No wonder the boy is exhausted after school and brain dead by his last class! The tech was very impressed with how quickly Jamie's brain was learning- a great sign!! If you'd like more detail then just give me a call :)

Braces

Jamie had a consult with Dr Olsen. He will be getting braces tomorrow morning (tuesday) on his top teeth. He will get braces on the bottom in a couple of months. He has had spacers between his teeth since friday to help make space for the bands around his back teeth. We have loaded up on yogurt, oatmeal, jello and soft foods so he can survive this transition :)

Cavities

We are all going to Dr Skilstead this week. Jamie received his cleaning and checkup mid december (to prep for braces). For the first time in many years, he has cavities!! SO, he went last week and today and got fillings. He also Finally got his baby silver tooth out. The tooth was wedged a bit,so it was difficult to remove, even though it has been loose for months. He finally used a pair of pliers and pulled it out himself!! Auri and I go to the dentist tomorrow...As we have the family teeth (very soft)...Thanks MOM :) I am sure we will have cavities, yet again :) Jan will be going in on Weds for his check up.


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