December 6
Had a set-back last week when for 3 mornings in a row, and at preschool (a first!) Luke peed himself. It was a little worrying but I think it came down to a change in schedule.... daddy had a week off so we were enjoying "sleeping in" and the boys actually did not wake up until 7ish!!! Unfortunately, Luke's body is trained to pee earlier and I think he woke up at 6, but was quiet and ended up peeing and then falling back into a deep sleep (when he pees he lies still and doesn't move until we "discover" him!). We'll have to work on his ability to go pee without permission, or get out of bed in the morning and find the bathroom on his own. In any case, a few nights of getting him to pee at 10pm when we go to bed solved the problem and now he's fine again. He's awake again at 6am so we're also back on schedule and he and Joel "go play" on the weekends when we've got nowhere to be.
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One thing I noticed lately is that Luke will still prefer to have something in his hands... and often a "half" of something or a "twin" of something. For example, he has a little green car and a little yellow car.... or half of a piece of fake fruit (the velcro kind where you "cut" them in half with a fake knife). He always wants to know where the other one is. I always say "I don't know, go find it". Anyways, when he does have two, I've noticed he will often give the other "half" of his toys to Joel. It's adorable. I commented to Luke's dad today that maybe he's making "connections" or "relationships"? Remember way back when, when I read Donna Williams' book "Nobody, Nowhere"? "The matching or pairing of objects. Making connections between things. Showing that relationships between two or more things can exist. Seeing this objectified, through objects, in the most concrete and undeniable way. Seeing this and doing this again and again gave her hope that if the concept was possible, then it would one day be possible to feel and accept these relationships in 'the world.'She was always within this world of objects." Joel and Luke are playing well together lately... especially when Joel insists on holding Luke's hand and walking around the house hand-in-hand. It took Luke a while to agree, but now Luke says it often "Hold-a my hand" (did I mention he still has an Italian accent?).
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Sad note... we lost his back-and-forth book from preschool. Can't find a bright orange notebook anywhere in the house! We have yet to put the garbage and recycling out yet, so we'll have to do a thorough look through there asap! I can't believe it's missing... it has to be somewhere!!!
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So we actually finally made it to the gym. There's a huge gymastics facility in the Canada Games Pool building (all new!). Luke's PT invited us to come to the "special needs" hour. So, Ms. S. (BI), Joel, Luke and I went there on Thursday with no real expectations. Unfortunately, Joel is not allowed to join as he's not yet 3 nor has special needs, but they made an exception this first time. So the boys joined to other children and took turns running, jumping on the trampoline, and doing obstacle courses including sommersaults! Luke was really great... I confessed to the wonderful lady running the program that Luke JUST statring jumping in July after HBOT, and she was pleased to see his progress. She also was VERY interested in Luke's journey and one of her first questions was "What's wrong with him?" I said he has autism, but he's getting closer and closer to recovery because of all the therapies we've done. She was so thrilled to hear this... she did not think there was anything wrong with him!! Yay again! A couple things that shocked even me: Luke would allow the lady to slide him into the HUGE foam pit and Luke would maneouver his way out... 1 year ago he freaked about the foam pit. It's a lot of work to walk through and I was very proud of how amiable he was. He also did well on the obstacle course until we came to walking across a "ladder" with the rungs wide apart. Luke was very unsure. He was made to climb over a step with rungs far apart as well, and he freaked out a little (crying). We encouraged him through it, and realized that would be the one activity that we could work on and use as a gauge to see if he'd improve over the next few weeks (we'll be going every week for the next few months). Joel, BTW, also wowed us with his trampoline and running skills. I did not know knees could go that high... so intense and all-in!
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Program progress notes: Luke's been okay with the BIs doing a little fingerpaint work; he's been saying "sunny" or "cloudy" appropriately when asked what the weather is outside; he's whipping through the phonetics section (alphabet phonics); he's mastering the cargo net at the playground at preschool.
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I spoke with the preschool teachers and discovered the Montessori program is private. Luke will need an assistant for next year, and because he's 6, the funding now goes through the School District. This means Luke will have to go to the public elementary school for kindergarten next year. I've made an appointment with the Learning Assistant at the local school for next Wednesday to go over the paperwork and Luke's needs. As far as I know right now, it's a morning only program M-F.
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The OT was here on Friday and was very pleased with Luke's talking. It was nice to see her beaming smile when he said many-word requests (I want the yellow one, I want to roll this one). She also wanted to work on his upper body strength by doing the wheelbarrow. Luke would roll a ball across the room and the OT would get him to wheelbarrow to get it. He would willingly do this many times. This is an exercise we will try to incorporate into his program. Between that and the gym he'll get more physical strength. She also worked with his circle and line drawing skills and he actually tried to draw a circle around a stencil. It was fun to watch him try as this has been one of his most weakest areas, and slow to learn. His hand/finger strength and coordination for drawing has been something we've been working on for a very long time... to see him progress even a little with at least a bit of interest was exciting. I am still believing there is nothing this child can't do... it's just going to take more work than the average child and as long as we keep it fun and encouraging, which our team is great at doing!
December 19
It's almost Christmas! I can't believe this is the third December of this blog... time flies!
Luke and Joel have been playing well together. The BIs/BCs taught them Hide-n-Seek and so Joel says to Luke "Hold my Hand" and they walk all the way downstairs together where Joel leaves Luke to sit on the chair in their bedroom for a bit. Joel races upstairs and hides under the kitchen table. Minutes later you hear Luke laughing and laughing as he runs upstairs and finds Joel under the table.
Luke is at x and y of the phonics and since he now knows the ABCs, upper and lower case and their sounds, they will begin teaching Luke to read in January. It's pretty exciting as Luke seems to have a thing for letters (and colours); but numbers isn't quite his forte (okay by me, his right-brained mother!). Joel, on the other hand, counts from 1-10 (okay, he skips the "2" regularly) and loves to cover his eyes and say "ready or not, here i come" when playing hide-n-seek with mommy and daddy under the blankets (at 6am!!!!) One morning when it was just Luke in bed with me and daddy, he was lying nice and quiet beside me... all of sudden I hear his sweet little voice say "Mommy, hold-a my hand" as he grabbed my hand and we lay side-by-side, with me holding my breath in awe of the tender moment initiated by my autistic son!!!!
Another milestone is that Luke actually PEED at preschool (a first). He said to Miss M "I have to pee" and so she took him and he did! This is a big deal as for the last 1.5 years at preschool he has held it every morning until he came home. He also seems to be drinking more juice lately and I'm sure it's due to the seriously dry climate here. His arms and back are very, very dry and he's been scratching a lot lately (drawing a bit of blood). We've been putting lotion on (weleda calendula) which seems to help. He's peed a few more times at preschool, so he gets the idea and is comfortable peeing in a strange environment.
We've been pulling back more and more from helping Luke. If he's tired and overwhelmed we're more compassionate, but for the most part he's on his own. I remind him that he's going to university one day, will have a job and an apartment so he'll have to do things without his mom. And he looks at me, and then does it himself. The way he processes and thinks about what I'm saying is fun to watch... connections made. Sometimes, he comes back to me a bit later as it took him a bit longer to "get it"... but it's 100x faster than last year at this time!!
The team meeting went well this month, although I wasn't there (Luke's dad was), so I don't have a detailed report. I think it went well and we gave a small token of appreciation at this Christmas time to these wonderful women that are making the biggest impact on Luke's life! Thanks to them, Luke is recovering from autism and this next year will bring more and more exciting development!
Luke has had two more sessions at the gym and is feeling more and more comfortable in the environment. He teased the lady in charge by intentionally jumping outside of the "red square" on the trampoline and she was surprised at his cheekiness! Some things are not so easy for him, but others he excels at, just like any other kid!
On a visual therapy note, the BIs are incorporating the special prism glasses more and more into the program and comparing the same activity with and without the glasses. They are beginning to notice that Luke's focus and attention to the task are MUCH BETTER, and MUCH LONGER. We had an appointment with Dr. Sass in Langley next week but had to cancel, so we'll have to reschedule sometime in the New Year. I look forward to bring him the documentation that proves Luke's improvements with the glasses and hopefully we'll get some new exercises and advice on where to go next!
Oh, and I met with the Learning Assistance Teacher at the school where Luke will be going to kindergarten in the Fall 2010. She is a wonderful woman and it seems they have a great program for kids with special needs. It will be great for Luke to be in a "regular" school environment (as a new change from the Montessori program) as a stepping stone to "regular" school (Grade 1) in the Fall of 2011. I hope he adjusts... actually I know he'll adjust easily and will surprise the teachers with his easy-going and sweet personality. I look forward to educating a new group of people on the amazing wonders of ABA and biomedical therapies for autism!!!
On the odd occasion we hear music to our ears.... 8-word sentences "I want to go downstairs into the bedroom".... words from songs "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" Humpty Dumpty "had a BIG FALL" (as he crashes a toy from the edge of the tub into the bath water) .... and "Too Hot" or cries out when the tap water is too hot or I'm combing his knotty hair (this from a kid who couldn't feel any pain two years ago!)... "I want to go home" (when I pick him up from preschool). He still has a long ways to go, but he's getting there and we have nothing but bright hope for his future.
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