While I can't say I am overly excited about losing Dacotah's current OT, the time has come that in 11 days he will transition to his IEP goals. I am nervous and excited. Excited for the progress he has made, but nervous for what he is doing/not doing that he should/shouldn't be doing.
I'm going to be honest, I am going to miss his OT Ms. Mel, or Ms. Moo as Dacotah loves to call her. When you get use to seeing someone every week for months, it's really hard transitioning to a new OT with new thoughts and ideas. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I have always had an issue with change. (Unfortunately at age 33, it has not gotten better). So next week will be her last "official" visit.
Thankfully he gets to keep Ms. Pat, who does his physical therapy because she is part early intervention but also works for the school, so that is one change we don't have to transition to.
He will have Ms. Courtney for speech and Ms. Kelli for OT (OT through school starts in March when Ms. Kelli gets back from a leave of absence). I met Ms. Courtney today and it's a sigh of relief when you meet someone and you can tell they honestly care about your child. Instead of diving right in with Dacotah she is going to introduce herself in two weeks with Ms. Pat during his PT visit and let him warm up. She asked a lot of questions about what we had been working on, what we are currently doing, and what our goals are.
He will see Ms. Pam for his developmental goals at his preschool.
Everything is set up for once a week every week until summer. At some point before I am making a list to give to his physician's to see about having extended summer. We have come WAY TOO FAR with progress to go 8-12 weeks with nothing. Granted I am a hands on parent and we could do it, but the support system is much easier with everyone working together.
His talking is starting to mumble again. Maybe it's random, but it seems as though 3 weeks after the last T shot is when he stops talking as much. Maybe it's just the full moon. But in any case it is a week of frustration when he just echos back or just says what he wants. Getting him to focus for more a few minutes the past week has been a total loss cause.
I have said for a while he lines things up. A LOT, this is not a one time and I'm jumping to the conclusion something isn't right. This has been going on for years. At least 2 and it's not improved. I originally thought it was typical child play. But I have had several mommy friends both old and young who state their kids never did that (especially at his age) nor at the rate he does it, it's one of the more clear autistic traits that he has. Today after his appointment with endo for his third shot (yep it's already been 3 months), I took him to the bookstore. They have board books that have wheels and look like cars. He lined them all up once, then drove them to their new location and lined them up one at a time.
While at the bookstore I did find a book about Autism, just flipping through some of the pages, there are signs that are there and they are prominent. But you know what the goal is to give him all of the help and support that he needs, continue working with him to develop his vocabulary and work on the social skills. Thankfully we have a great start with his receptive language being right where it needs to be.
He stopped saying his colors, or I should say he stopped correctly saying the right color. I am hoping it's just a phase and that it's not "lost" again. I wasn't as structured with him the past week with our trip to Indiana followed by craziness at work. So we need to get back with that this week.
So in the meantime let's go plan his third birthday party, it's going to be this coming weekend with just his grandparents, aunt, and cousin. The smaller the group the better it is for him. The best part is we can have it at home where he is comfortable and he can come and go as he pleases. He can have a small lunch party with his school friends on his actual birthday and then enjoy all the extra attention we can give him that day. (As if he doesn't get enough already) HA!
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