It's been a while, I know. I think I had lofty ambitions in my hopes of updating this weekly. Life with a child with ASD alone keeps you busy, add in 3 other kids and I'm surprised sometimes that I manage to shower daily! ; )
So this will be a fairly long update, Monkey Baby is sleeping, Rocket is enjoying his new "ABC show!" and the big kids are cleaning their pit, I mean room. Hopefully I can get this all typed up before someone needs me again.
Rocket started ABA about 6 weeks ago. March 7th was his first day. I was a bit worried about how things would go with his service coordinator okay'ing the minimum amount of hours we were going to accept ; ), if you remember, she'd been fairly vague about anything above 20 hours a week and 20 hours doesn't even meet the minimum for a proven, effective program. Anyway, our worries were thankfully unfounded, we got 30 to start and after a month she agreed to 3.5 more hours a month and we're likely going to request an extra hour a day, which means he'll be getting 38.5 hours a week of ABA and an hour of speech. He can only have 40 hours total and with driving distance from school to speech we're not going to get any more than 38.5.
I can not believe the changes we have seen already. The first week it was like someone flipped a switch in him. He slept ...omg he was asleep by 9 at night, even without melatonin, even with him sleeping in the car on the way home. He's started to play with the baby. His eye contact is SO much better. He points!!!!!!!! That is so incredibly huge! He can point to what he wants. The tantrums have decreased to a minute or two of crying, max. The last week and a half he's been saying new words daily. Even names! He says "mama" again. He's started to wave hello and goodbye. And he's not just imitating, he does know what the words he's saying mean! It's incredible. He can use PECS! He paints. He imitates his peers. He's no longer afraid of the playground.
He has a fabulous team at "school." Just amazing. He has 4 tutors, a lead tutor who oversees his lessons, a behavior consultant, and a supervisor. Everyone there just loves him and they are all wonderful. It's an amazing place. Every time I drop him off or pick him up I just want to hug them all, lol! He is so happy to be there. He is happy at home. I feel like we're getting back a part of our son I was afraid was gone forever.
Don't get me wrong. We still have days that leave me in tears. But they're not every day. Most days are a joy now. A long, tiring joy ; ) but a joy nonetheless.
Oh, and did I mention he has STOPPED LINING???????? Omg, no more obsessive lining all across the floor, screaming and pushing the baby away if he gets near them. His new stim is ABC's, lol. He sings them, he watches shows with the alphabet, he writes them, he has us write them. I am sure stim's at all aren't great but we can work with this one. We can sing the ABC's to him and he'll endure tooth brushing, hair cuts, doing his hair in the morning. We totally love the ABC's here. ; )
He got his dental work done finally. His dentist was awesome and told us it was obvious we did everything we could with his teeth. Luckily he had experience with kids with ASD and their sensory issues and didn't give us the "you're horrible parents, why does your 2 year old have cavities?" look. I got a letter from his dental insurance today saying they denied covering the hospital use and one of the fillings so we'll likely get a fat bill on top of what we already paid.
Well, that went quicker than I thought, lol! We're still waiting on SSI approval or denial, hoping of course that he gets approved. Even though Alta Regional so far covers the cost of his school, we're still bleeding money to get him too and from school. It's so worth it, but I worry about keeping it up. Work is slow, sometimes nonexistent here.
I have so much more hope than I had when he was diagnosed. So much more than a month or two ago, even. Now we have to gear ourselves up for his first IEP this summer ...our school district doesn't like to have kids in programs other than their own :( so it's going to be a fight to keep him there, I'm afraid.
I will try to update this more often!
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