Keeping Busy

Yesterday afternoon Eric's therapists came when he was home from school. No tantrums when he was asked to leave his movie and I turned off the TV! That was a shock. A new therapist came today. She hit it off well with Eric from the start. Eric was asking for tickles right away. He can say it so clear now. It is amazing he picked that up within a week! The down side is that he keeps going with it, constantly asking to be tickled. I think it is time Eric learned a new word. He finally decided to play ball. He can also say ball very clearly. He would say it before he would throw it. The therapist started bouncing Eric on the ball and trying to get him to say bounce. We got an approximation that sounded like ball but they accepted it. He liked it, but he would not do it unless the ball was on the therapist's lap. I tried with the ball on the floor he wiggled away. When he was a baby he would want me to bounce him on my lap all the time or he would cry and not sleep. Everything was going great for an hour. Then the therapist mentioned Eric tolorated the light being on. A few seconds later Eric ran to turn off the light. He was told he had to turn the light back on to continue playing and tickle games. He turned it back on with my help. He was OK with it at first but then the tantrums started. I could tell he had enough at this point. He asked to eat in hopes of them leaving him alone. No such luck kiddo. We are working on having him put his cup down on a coaster on a portalbe cabinet instead of having me stand there and wait for him to get done and take the cup. He did not like the therapist in there with him while he was eating pushing this. That was not a quiet meal. We gave him is squishy frog, let him play on the computer and ended the session.

Eric bouncing on his ball. It is bedtime soon after nap, which results in crazy hair he will not let mom fix!

Eric during his feeding. He is not happy about the counter and the coaster there. He wants mommy to take his cup.

Eric's next session is Thursday. Tomorrow morning he has his appointment at the CHW feeding clinic. Eric has severe feeding adversions stemmed from his autism. The provider is waiting from the notes and results of this appointment so we can modify the plans for food tolorance. The hope is that the feeding clinic and the therapist can work together on this. This is his big appointment with the psychologist, nutritionist, nurse and GI doctor. This always makes me nervous and he can be quite combative since he hates being messed with and it is so long. At least with the in home therapy we should not have to worry about having to stay there on 8 West for 10 days or having to go to Baltimore. While these are not bad things, they are just not feesible for our family right now. I will update on that tomorrow after it is over. Monday is the team meeting with the psychologist in charge of his therapy (aka the lead therapist). Plans for moving forward should be made then. This afternoon is the IFSP meeting for Jon and early intervention. This has me a little concerned. I know there are minor delays, but I am hoping I am not told more. I will update on that later today.

Getting To Know You...

Eric started his therapy last week. Right he is having 2 sessions a week for 2 hours each session. He has had 3 sessions as of now. His next will be Thursday. We have 90 days to work to the state minimum hours so we are taking advantage of this time for all of us to get used to each other. Plans and goals are being established and written. Eric's routines and habits are observed, along with household rules and operation. Toys have been brought in and tested to see what will motivate him to participate. They also tickle him, lift him and give him time for physical play since he enjoys that so much. He also loves music and to be sang to (as long as it's not mommy doing the singing!).

This is the therapy bible with all the records, plans, notes, ect. This is a big binder because we know this is going to get thick quick!

This is the box of motivators which will be used as rewards. Like anyone else, kids like a little incentive for doing things that they otherwise would rather not do :) .

The ball won't fit in the box but the purpose is the same as the toys in the box.

During these first 3 sessions I have learned that we really have to start with the basics with Eric. The goals focus on social skills, communication, compliance, and tolerance. He keeps wanting to turn off the lights during therapy sessions. We are trying to get him to understand that the lights have to stay on and tolorate them being on when needed. We are also trying to think of a way to get him to put his cup down on his tray or something beside it so I don't have to stand there while he drinks to take the cup when he is done and give it back when he wants it again. He can recite the alphabet so they start out with a few letters and ask him to say the next one in sequence. This is not an academically based program. He gets that at school and the state wants as little overlap as possible. The goal here is to persist with him until he does what is asked aka complience. They keep repeating the letters and the requested response until he does it. It can take a while since he only does this when he wants to. We know he can do it, it is just getting him to do it on command. Pulling him away from enjoyable activities is a challenge. He had a fit when the computer was turned off before he was done. Transitioning will also be addressed. He surprised us by saying the word "tickle" when they were tickling him. So now he is asked to say the word and he will get the tickles as a reward. This is going well. They tend to say and ask for what they want the most:) .We are also working on greetings since he knows the words "hi" and "bye bye". It is a good thing we have 3 years. He is handling this better than I expected. There are some meltdowns and that is to be expected. But we all live. As time goes by he is going to be putting in more time and more is going to be asked of him. We shall see how it goes.