November 6
There have been some really great strides this month and we feel it's due to the new homeopathic treatment from Dr. Bratt:
• Luke will sing along with me... he sang at least 5 stanzas of "Farmer in the Dell" - all the words.
• Luke is getting off the toilet by himself, without us having to go to him and prompting him to get off.
• Luke's talking and conversation continues to improve. I was eating olive tapenade (dip) with crackers the other day, and he said "What does olive dip mean?"... he's been asking "what does that mean?" more and more often.
• I chastised him for throwing something and he came running at me and screamed "I NEED to throw!" This is a new response, one I can understand more and respect... he needs to throw... so we're all trying to find ways to get him to throw constructively. Perhaps baseball in the spring? Hmmmm....
• He's been mentioning the names of some of the kids in his class. Cute.
• He's been insisting on "not holding hands" which is unbelievable. Luke is always attached to me... now he says "I want to walk by myself". This is a big deal.
• Luke does not always want to close the door. This is also bizarre as his entire life he has been mildly obsessed with doors and the fact that they all MUST/SHOULD be closed.
• When Luke is sad or needs comforting, he comes to me and says "I need a hug"... this is in total imitation of Joel, which is a good sign. He is also saying "Forever" a lot, which was Joel's favourite word for a while too.
• Luke's been getting better at giving personality to inanimate objects (toys)... like imaginative play. He'll take a little people and dive into the bin of beans and say splash and things like that. One baby step at a time!

We have also not noticed any seizures, thank you God. Whether it's wheat-related or Dr. Wagstaff's drops fixed this, we don't know. We are just grateful. We have new "wheat" enzymes to use in case there's ever a wheat infraction. He was nibbling on a whole wheat bun the other night (on the kitchen counter) without our knowledge, and I gave him an enzyme and had a talk about how I couldn't always monitor his diet and that he would need to be more responsible. While I never get a "real" response in conversation except a standard "OK"... I'd really like to think he hears me and understands. Time will tell as his conversation only continues to improve.

I also went to a focus group meeting about the new Pacific Autism Family Centre (which plans to be built in Vancouver sometime in the next few years). It was amazing to see all the key Kamloops autism spokespeople in one room, and to particularly get a chance to hear Dr. Jill Calder speak to this issue. She was incredibly intelligent, educated and prepared. It was comforting to be in the presence of her, along with Betty Ann Garreck and a number of wonderful people that have paved the road for us and Luke. These people were instrumental in getting autism in BC the necessary funding for early intervention. It was awe-inspiring to be there; if not intimidating. Everyone had an opportunity to voice their opinions on a number of things, particularly the services and support necessary for Kamloops. While I feel it may be time to thow my hat in the ring and carry on the torch for these women, I am not quite ready yet. At least I was there, which is a step in the right direction. Many thanks to all the people in that room that night. Absolutely amazing!

I also had my first IEP at Luke's kindergarten school. Despite horror stories about these, I found it enjoyable and felt nothing but support for Luke. There is a great team of women, including the school district PT, SLP, and OT all helping Luke with his goals. The goals include communication, gross motor skills, and fine motor skills. The two women I spoke to that night were open to suggestions and would access as much support and resources necessary to help Luke. They were very enthusiastic and I was so encouraged by their optimism. To them Luke is a doll, very sweet and he reads emotions well. He had a few behavioural issues for a week or so due most likely to his mischievous attempts to see how far he could actually push everyone's buttons. (One incident: the assistant left the room and Luke looked toward the door a few times, then looked at the teacher and daringly knocked something off a shelf. She reprimanded him, and said if he did it again, he would be taken outside the room... he, of course, did it again, and she, wisely, took him out of the room and demanded that he behave... he was in tears because he did not really think she would follow through. Smart lady!). He has since calmed down and is a much more cooperative young boy.

Parents were invited to the Halloween party, and Luke was dressed as a fireman. He was not in costume when I got there, and was a little distracting with his behaviour... like entering the centre of the circle of children (when he wasn't supposed to). He did walk in a circle holding hands with the other kids while poems were recited, but did not speak himself. He sat with them all, but while they sang, he sat quietly with his hands in his mouth. It must have been incredibly overwhelming for him with all the parents, colours, costumes and disruption to the "schedule". On the plus note, he did not lift up his shirt like the previous year in preschool :). We call that progress! Haha.

November 30

Just a quick update. Luke's been having behavioural problems at school. Not listening to the teachers, not sitting still, running from the classroom. It's really disappointing. He also has been very difficult for our BI lately. I had a big cry. It sucks knowing your kid is behaving badly. I took a look at his diet and we discovered the peanut butter he's been loving has soybean oil in it... he's been eating it for months. So it may take some time to get this out of his system; Luke's dad thinks he may be going through "withdrawals" which is why he's acting up. We had a good talk with him, as he does not get away with anything at home and he knows it. I wrote a report to our BCs to see if they can help with some of these issues as we are meeting with them next week. There's also a consistency issue.... on paper (ABA summary) Luke looks good as he knows his upper and lower case alphabet and phonics; but he does not demonstrate this at all in kindergarten. Sometimes I guess it's just in the way the request is worded to Luke. It is quite frustrating that in kindergarten they are not seeing Luke's capabilities. He's also had quite a few subsitute assistants lately... one was mentioning how Luke was fidgety and was throwing playdoh, and hard to keep focused... and when I repeated this to Luke's dad and the BI, they both had the same response: "No, really? Maybe he has autism?"... apologies for the snide way we use humour to lighten a heavy situation!!

One positive note is that when I was crying the other day, Luke came up to me and said "Mommy sad"... a little while later he said "I don't want you to be sad". It is truly amazing that he could read my emotions...

I am looking into other options for the Grade One year. Luke's ABA will be over at the end of July, so I have to find the most effective way to continue to help Luke in a supplemental way to fulltime Grade One. I have a tour set up for the local Chris Rose Centre, and calls into Insight Development and Pivot Point (local organizations) to see what the options are. I am also hoping to find a piano teacher for him... someone with lots of patience of course!