We are all amazed at how well Dennis is picking up on stuff. Keep in mind he was in 3rd grade in Ukraine but couldn't count past 3, didn't know his alphabet, and got his colors mixed up. There are a lots of interesting twists we find in communication/learning with him not being able to read -- I previously noted about the Russian translator program for the Android which will speak the Russian translation, that is still helpful daily. He's now only really been in school (public school) 2wks.
Yesterday, Dennis started naming off all the English words he knows and Ashley wrote them on our white board. We couldn't fit them all... and I was surprised at how much he's picked up. The teachers haven't even started him on vocabulary yet. This week he started trying to communicate back more rather than just responding with yes/no all the time. I also started to get him working on complete sentences for the basics... "May I have water please" instead of "Water please".
Last night a friend came over for borscht (see other post) and was impressed by how well he's progressing on his English. She had him count and he made it to 15 without a hiccup... the best he'd done for me was 12 so I was doubly impressed. He still struggles with his colors and his first answer is often wrong (blue or pink nearly always)... but if you sit there and make him think he tends to get it right for red, yellow, and blue which were last week's focus colors.
It is really good to see him progressing so well... we had thought that most of his issue was opportunity and people working with him. We are very glad this is proving out correct.
Melissa got an appointment in early April with a team of specialists in Baltimore. They'll bring in a Russian translator and do a full evaluation of his issues... it'll be nice cause we currently have to balance between what we do and do not believe from the cursory evaluations in Ukraine as well as some stuff that is in English and what we can make out of it being in Russian.
Speaking of medical, Melissa had a "nice" conversation with BCBS insurance last night as they sent us a letter saying that Dennis would not be covered for pre-existing conditions for a year. Of course my first thought was to think "fine, he's never been seen by anyone that the US considers an accredited doctor so he has no diagnosed pre-existing conditions"... anyone who works with me long enough knows that is one of my methods in avoiding time wasting obstacles in the [often] giant bureaucracy I work at. I was pretty sure their assertion was bogus and sure enough we found the 1996 act which confirms adoptions, just like births, are exempt from the pre-existing exclusion if added to the policy within 30days. The funny part was I also found the same reference to the act on their own website. They of course didn't admit they messed up and acted like they were doing us a favor when they manually changed the record to make an "exception" for him.
Just a lurker here from Virginia. What Russian translator program do you use on your android? I downloaded a program, but it would only speak English. Thanks!!
ReplyDelete@Sherri: Russian Translator/Dictionary by GreenLife Apps. It will actually do speech to text in English but not Russian. That is the one thing it is missing.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got that insurance hiccup straightened out. I'd have been livid.
ReplyDeleteHis progress is great! Way to go, Dennis!
Thanks for the heads up on the insurance issue. It only makes sense that an adoption would be covered like a birth; but it also makes sense that an insurance company would look for an out.
ReplyDeleteThat's encouraging that Dennis is making such great progress! Thank you also for the recipe for Borscht. My husband and I assume our son, John, who we are about to bring home from Ukraine, will be loving that! I'm also glad to know that about the pre-existing condition exemption. I think the person I talked to at BCBS before I left knew that though. You must have gotten a bum BCBS rep.
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