Breakthrough!

We had our fourth OT session today. Bug started out hesitant again, although he was more exploratory than he had been the last two weeks. He did roll balls down the slide with Geri again, but other than that mostly he refused everything we suggested ("No alright"--we hear this about a gajillion times a day now. :P ). He got rather attached to a couple of pieces from a puzzle, but wouldn't put them in and ignored Geri as she was doing the rest. We tried a different swing, one that he really liked on his first session, but he wouldn't go on with Geri or with me. Finally, towards the end of the session, Geri said she'd put up an enclosed swing--but she didn't thing he'd like it.

 

He immediately ran to it and said "Swing. Swing." Geri asked if he wanted to swing and he said "Yes please" and let her help him inside. She swung him around for probably 10 or 15 minutes (stopping every so often to check on him) and when she said it was time to be all done because our session was over, he was super sad. Once he got out he ran over to a rope ladder and asked to climb. So Geri held it steady and he climbed almost all the way up. Then he tried a lycra hammock too.

I think Geri and I were both relieved to have a more successful session. She was so surprised that he liked the enclosed, but honestly, we've kind of noticed this more lately.

Case in point, this weekend we were at a friend's house and they have one of those backyard trampolines, enclosed by a net. Bug loved it. He did lots of jumping in it, smiling and even was aware of himself in regards to the other kids, it was great to see. But our attempts at the trampoline area have failed. OT has a small exercise trampoline that Bug doesn't care for, but the same size one that's enclosed at our house, he's totally fine with. He also had good success with a cuddle swing at his autism evaluation, prefers the baby swings to normal ones at the park (or even the ones that just have a back and no front restraint).

I have noticed that he gets uncomfortable sometimes, like you can see how unsure he is about physical play. Not all the time, but a lot. I'm beginning to think there's actually a lot of anxiety there--which makes a lot of sense. If you're not getting a lot of input about where you are in space, it's hard to feel confident in your ability to move around a lot.

Geri also gave us headphones and cds to start the listening program at home. Ideally he'd listen twice a day for 30 minutes each. He can be doing appropriate play, or we can do it while we walk or ride in the car, but we should try to avoid it while he's fixated on something (like when he lines stuff up on the table). This could be a slooowwww journey with him. We have to get him to put on the headphones and tolerate wearing them--a lot to ask a 3 year old. But we're just going to give it as much effort as we possibly can and hopefully we'll move forward with it.

Our dear friends also gave us a little basketball hoop for Bug. He was playing with it at their house--which surprised Adam and me--and they let us bring it home. Bug really enjoys it. He asks to sit in the hoop (which I won't let him). He also really likes to get the ball wet in the water table and then drop it through the net

He also likes to be as naked as we let him be

It is so so good to see him play with a toy appropriately (meaning not just studying it). And hey, if he becomes an NBA star...I mean, he's on the right track height-wise ;)

I'm also starting to get coordinated and get the ball rolling on the recommendations from the autism group. Yesterday we got a preliminary report that basically just summarized what we talked about last week. One of the things mentioned in the prelim report that they didn't say anything about last week was doing genetic testing. I guess with an ASD diagnosis they recommend it because there are some disorders that have a stronger than normal correlation. I want to talk to our pediatrician though about whether he thinks it's necessary because I've never heard that you should before this point.

I also called our insurance to discuss therapy. It's highly recommended that we start ABA (applied behavior analysis) with Bug, but I had been told previously that it wasn't covered. Today I confirmed it isn't. So I need to talk to the clinic and see what other options are out there. ABA is not cheap, I know, but it is a pretty highly recommended and effective therapy.

I also need to put in a call to the school system to get Bug scheduled for a child study. We are going to have an IEP drawn up to see what services we can get and decide whether they'd be beneficial or not.

I also found another therapy, called RDI (relationship development intervention), that intrigues me a bit too. It focuses more on helping autistic kids engage in social relationships, and is parent-led rather than therapist-led. I bought a book written by the creators of the therapy so I can learn more about it (once I do, I can explain better. The first two chapters were all neurology and I was a little baffled ;) ) There isn't an RDI consultant near us, but apparently they can do training over videochats which would still work.

Ooh, the other thing I forgot was that last Friday I was able to sit outside Bug's room and listen in on his speech therapy session with Laura. It was really neat for me to hear him work on stuff and say full sentences--and also to hear how well Laura does with him. She is so good about acknowledging that he wants to be done and then pushing him just that bit further to finish a task. I'm hoping that I can listen in on sessions more often to get a better idea of activities they're doing so we can replicate at home. He is making solid progress with speech, so we feel very good about it :)

That's about it and the Wiggle is up, so it'll have to do. Glad to have a more positive report today!