Can you say a hundred words??? I remember distinctly being told Dacotah has autism and will be lucky to every say 50 words, he will be very lucky. This time last year Dacotah had around 30 words but would not use them to talk to us unless we pushed and pushed. The persistence paid off and today he has a vocabulary of a 3 year old!!! WE WILL TAKE IT. His daycare teachers have commented over the past few months how well he has been doing with saying what he is needing and wanting. This is something we never thought he would be able to do, but I prayed for him daily that I would just know what he needed, if he hurt, and how to comfort him when he couldn't sleep at night.
We made a few difficult decisions and decided to give him Clonidine to sleep at night and since then he has been able to be more alert during the day. He is more aware of what is going on around him and at times will engage "friends" however brief he still interacts with his peers to some degree. There are still more times than not that he simply wants to be alone and goes off in an adjoining room or parallel plays with the group. It's been a year in the making, but we will take it.
We had him tested for Pre-K at the local public school and he was accepted. This is sooooo bittersweet on sooo many levels. I have had a kid at KCA for the past 8 years. Last Friday we had to say goodbye to a wonderful preschool and Ms. Monica, Ms. Tracy, and Ms. Telsi. Dacotah loved them but at the end of the day he was super happy to see his mommy. I was always happy to hear how his day went and getting to see snippets of his days. They were wonderful in allowing his therapists to come to the school and providing a room where they could work one-on-one. I am forever thankful for them.
Sooooo what's all the fuss about? Pre-K.... our big boy will go to Union starting next Wednesday. I am full of fear, dread, and at the same time optimistic. I am waiting for the office to tell me I have to come pick him up because it's too loud in cafeteria and he's fled, or the gym doors were unsecured and he managed to disappear.... AHHHHHH THESE Fears are sooooo very real. Been there done that. Soooo Next Wednesday is going to be an adventure.
We do have some safety measures in place. God heard my prayer when I asked that his teacher have an idea about kids with autism. Mrs. Peak has ABA training she also has nursing so she knows about food allergies. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. She has an aide in her room and if that is not enough I am prepared to ask for a one-on-one aide especially during those times when it's too loud and he gets overwhelmed. But I'm praying he goes in the first day and does wonderful and my fears are put to rest and he proves his momma wrong.
As far as the run risk, that is still very much a problem. Several times when talking to his preschool teachers he would get out of the daycare and be outside of the fence at the van in the parking lot. The daycare door is HEAVY. I say that because it is very heavy and nothing compared to the doors at the school. Tammy his ABA therapist said I really needed to consider a tracking device just in case.
I put it off for a week but the more I thought about it, the more my mommy gut took over and I reached out to the Sheriff's department. They have a program called PROJECT LIFESAVER where they place an ankle monitor on Dacotah. This monitor will provide a pinging signal with a two mile radius on the ground, so they can drive around and find him with it, or after 30 minutes with no luck on the ground they will call out of state police with a helicopter that can ping the signal 10 miles away!!! Let me just say Lt. Meade talked to me on the phone for 45 minutes getting to know about our family and our son and made us feel like we were one of them. Included. Something that we don't feel a lot. She will personally come this Friday to our home to meet Dacotah and to place his lifesaving device on him. From there the school resource officers can change his battery as needed. With his device if we go out of state the local law enforcement can also pick up the signal if he gets lost!!! Even in Canada!!!
So I'll update next week on how he is handling everything.
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