Mel came over on Thursday for Dacotah's OT appointment. I went over my concerns and he is definitely self soothing and/or stimming by scratching. The compression shirt online is the only way to know for sure if he will tolerate it. We attempted the rash guard shirts but they were simply too loose. At one point he was shirtless and Mel barely touched him. He moved away and scratched where she had touched excessively. She mentioned to that he is displaying OCD along with sensory, which from what I read go hand in hand. I know everyone says he makes good eye contact and he can listen to any and all directions and do it, so that's the two things that aim away from him being on the spectrum. I still plan to take him to a behavior health specialist and a developmental health specialist. We are still doing heavy work and sensory swings and he doesn't have near the meltdowns at home, or in any environment he feels safe in. However, the resources we use at home doesn't work in town. So after discussing everything, I asked Mel her thoughts on upping OT to once a week. It has to be cleared with the EI coordinator, and it will allow us to have "field trips" out to the Mini Miracles facility in JC (hoping as an outpatient visit). She doesn't think he is quite ready for OT in the grocery store or in a restaurant yet, why for my current sanity level I am thankful we aren't attempting that yet. She mentioned maybe trying to get him into daycare so he can start interacting with kids. Unfortunately this will have to wait until August 24th, when he turns 2 1/2, and here is why.
Side track: I want Dacotah to go to our church daycare: reasons why: the staff there are great with the kids. Big sister started there when she was 2.5 and has learned sooo much. But they are also familiar with food allergies and are located literally 1 min from the hospital, 2 min from home, and 3 min from my work! So in the event of a major meltdown, allergic reaction, or you name it, I know I would have immediate contact with someone. The thought of daycare does scare me, I would love to have field trips to the school on Mondays or Wednesday's prior to him starting, but the mommy instinct wants to find someone to watch him at home during lunch or snack time.... The thoughts aren't of what could happen but when will it happen that someone drops a cupcake on the table he grabs it and we are rushing to the hospital...... Ack!!!! Or someone forgets to wash their hands and he wears a handprint on his arm all day! (This has happened when he was around a year old).....
Okay enough freaking out post!
Friday afternoon Katie came over for speech she got him to say No, so it's not lost! He is still saying mine and after getting him frustrated he finally told her mine. Her main goal is trying to help us cut out nursing completely so we can both sleep. Sleep??? What's that? The weighted blanket helped a lot in the beginning but he's back at every 2 hours from midnight onwards! I am hoping he will have a speech explosion in the next few months, even in the next few days would be even better! In the meantime... While we wait, I am going to make him some PECS cards for him to use along with some more simple signing. This should help down on his frustration and maybe we can build a communication bridge and he can let us know if he is happy, sad, itching, upset, etc! We are also going to try getting his speech to once a week as well. He can do EI until he turns 3, so the more visits he can get the better!
Friday evening we heading to Harriman to see Papaw and grandma, the drive down was a mix of fussing... Content... And screaming. Why??? Because the sun flickering in through his window and from the sun setting in the West shining directly on him...... Virginia has tinting laws for Windows, I need to see if there is a waiver for at least his side of the van that we can darken in and have a paper in the vehicle due to his "needs" I agree with the law that it protects us and law enforcement but no tinted windows doesn't work for sensory kids. At least not mine.I don't know who was more excited to see who Papaw or Dacotah, guess we have to say it's a tie!
On Saturday morning they went to watch a cousins kid play fast pitch softball, daddy went to play in a golf tournament and so I decided to take the kids to Roane County Park. They had a great time, Dacotah tolerated the swings much better than the last time and of course mommy had her camera to grab some really nice shots! Dacotah said Duck, duck, duck, eeee duck!!! Yes he said it in context as there were two ducks by the lake!!!! He heard Montana say it. I am beginning to wonder if she is the missing communication piece as that is two words she has gotten him to say in a week, the first being mine! After the park we made a quick stop into a local shop and then we headed back home.
Sunday morning we went to church and I took Dacotah to the nursery. There is a little boy who is around 3, who has been diagnosed with autism, he rarely makes eye contact and stims by randomly screaming, today he was screaming much louder than normal and I couldn't tell which one was crying. When I went back Dacotah climbed into my lap and would try nursing for comfort every time the little boy would scream. Usually Dacotah doesn't seem to care and continues playing, we went back into the sanctuary as service was over. Despite there being a LoT of people he stayed next to me (granted I was giving him gentle squeezes when I felt him starting to tense up) and he marched right out the door and outside faster than I would have thought. He wanted to play on the swings and swing he did... At least 20 minutes total!!!!! Where did this kid come from, my arm was literally tired from pushing him so long but the weeeeeeee weeeeee weeeeee weeeees made it worth every moment.
We spent the afternoon napping, he fussed a good 10 minutes today hugging him didn't work so I tapped my leg and he finally went to sleep without nursing again. I told Jean later that's the hardest thing I have done is telling him no, but if I am honest I am so over and done with nursing. I have been mentally for the past year but held on hoping he would shift and self wean. So we will eliminate the final daytime nursing for nap over the next week and then go from there. Hopefully by August we will both be nurse free at night as well.
Oh another thing Mel mentioned is his sensory issues seem to come from all sensory areas. The light from the sun/headlights is vision, overstimulation noise from hearing, does not like things or people touching him for touch. Super picky eater for taste.... Nose well I can't say what he smells vs what he doesn't. So we will go with 4 out of 5! Usually you are dealing with 1-2! So that makes Dacotah's case a bit more complicated.
In the morning we will make the long drive home, hoping for a relaxed trip, but with the morning sun you never know
Thinking out loud, but maybe he could start with some morning half days and not be at school for lunch? We rarely do anything food related (unless it's planned ahead) in the mornings, and so you could kind of have the best of both worlds: integrating him into a school setting (also letting go of mom and dad a little) and also steering clear of the food exposure for a while longer.
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