traveling day fourteen - in which I consult with some parents, ride a horse and eat a pie

This morning was the last morning we saw kids to consult about their speech and language needs.  I saw an amazingly bright little boy who was only using back sounds (I could tell this even when he was speaking Krygyz!) and who has some of his brain missing (!).  He had wonderful play skills, and picked up using picture symbol boards all by himself - I wasn't going to use them with him but he pulled them out of the bag and started telling me words using the boards.  His Dad also was a natural augmentative communication user, so, since they were the last family we would see on our trip, they got to keep some of our boards to try at home while his speech improves.  It would be so great to see this lovely boy regularly, as he was able to start imitating new sounds in the hour I spent with him.

 

I also got to use my monster puppet for one last time with another little boy.  The monster puppet is staying here in Krygyzstan - I hope he likes lagman, plov, mountains, mashoutkas and learns to speak Krygyz.

I also went for a lovely ride up into the hills.  I felt like bursting over the side of the mountain 'the hills are alive....'.

Loved loved loved it.  My horse was called babe.  The mountains were a bit hazy so we couldn't get a good photo down into the valley.  The mountains surrounding the lake were unbelievably high - they looked like clouds.

We rode high up into the hills and said hi to this shepherd.  Check out the snow.

 

 

Tomorrow we are driving to back to Bishkek - a seven hour drive.  I have packed car snacks.

 

Onwards.