IEP Review

Due to the extended semester break, a weather postponement, and then a sick day, Samuel did not go to school from January 15 until January 27.  This is a long period of time for a three year old, especially considering we were just a couple weeks removed from Christmas break.  Samuel went to school Wednesday and Friday this week.  Overall, I think he did pretty good with handling things.  He was a little resistant early Wednesday morning when we told him it was a school day, but he quickly came to terms with it and left in good spirits.  April said he was determined to wear his thick winter coat, even though it was not as cold that day.  He thinks he is suppose to have it to go to school with him.  Not sure how that is going to work when spring rolls around, but we will deal with that then :).     

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) was originally done by a team of school specialists back in October, which first got the ball rolling with Samuel attending school.  In an IAP, a number of benchmarks are recorded that will attempt to be met.  These benchmarks range from number of words and sounds he makes, to learning how to climb steps. The original team determined he needed to received Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapy.  They also recommended he attend school three full days a week (M,W,F) in a mainstream classroom.  The specialists that made the original recommendations were from a different school than Samuel was placed at, therefore he had a different group of teachers than the ones who assessed him.  

Earlier in the month, April and I were asked by his teacher to review Samuel's IEP on January 27.  We went Wednesday afternoon for this session.  This team of specialists all consisted of his current teacher and the therapists that work with him at school.  A number of highlights were mentioned concerning his progress. The specialists noted improvement that has been made and gave us several suggestions for things we can do at home.  These suggestions ranged from helping him learn to put clothes on, to practice eating with utensils, and preventing him from biting on his sleeves.  In addition, new benchmarks were set for him to reach over the next couple months.  However, the biggest change to the IEP was moving his weekly school schedule from three full days to two half-days.  This recommendation was made because the team feels that Samuel is overwhelmed by mid-day and they believe he will get more out of two half-day's than three full-days.  During these two half-days he will still receive the same amount of time in Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapy as he has previously.  He will mainly just miss nap time and recess which generally occurs in the afternoon. 

April and I decided to go along with the recommendation of the team.  I personally felt that reducing from three full days to two half days was a overly significant decrease in time.  Our recommendation was to do three half days.  The team was firm in their belief that two half-days was best for him right now.  They feel that this is probably where he should have originally started at and by going at a slower pace it will allow him to gradually increase his days over time.  The plan is for him to eventually be at five full days by the time he is getting ready to start Kindergarten (Fall 2017).  We will review his IEP every several months and hopefully the benchmarks will be met with new ones created each time.  As a parent, we only want what is best for our child.  This sometimes includes going against our feelings to do what the experts believe is right.  We will watch carefully over these next few months to see how Samuel progresses.  Everything is very much trial and error, but we are grateful that a system is in place that wants to see him succeed. 

As always, thank you for taking time to read.  

Until next time!

Brian   

Potty Training and Play Time

One item I have not addressed so far on the blog is potty training.  Samuel will turn four in April and he is still very much in diapers.  This has been an item that I really am at a loss with how to address.  Cameron was fully trained by his third birthday and it really did not take too long to teach him.  He also was showing signs of learning before we began the training.  Samuel, on the other hand, has shown very little interest in learning. However, to be fair, we have not really done much to teach him either.  The autism specialist that diagnosed Samuel suggested that we not be in any big hurry to potty train.  She felt that starting Pre-K was already a lot on him and that there was no reason to rush things.  Therefore, we have not forced the issue too much. The limited communication skills Samuel possesses makes it very difficult for us to even know when he needs to go to the potty.  When we do take him to the potty he does not do anything and I question if he understands what he is suppose to do.  I am curious about other autistic parents experiences with potty training.  Any feedback would be great to hear!

On another note, I have noticed some promising new developments recently.  Cameron has always been one that constantly desires attention.  He loves playing games and wants someone else to play with him.  When we go outside to play, I usually am playing a sport with Cameron and we always try to draw Samuel into joining us.  Samuel may participate for a couple of minutes, but he quickly wonders off into his own world. This usually means that my attention is divided between playing a game with Cameron and watching Samuel do his thing.  Typically two children close in age would play games together.  Cameron deeply desires Samuel to play with him, but they seldom do.  However, the last two days I've noticed them playing together for longer periods of time. Yesterday they were playing a version of hide and seek in the house and it lasted for a good 30 minutes.  Samuel was laughing as the two chased each other from the bedroom to the kitchen. This evening, Cameron and I were playing a nerf basketball game in the living room when Samuel came and joined us.  I was very proud as Cameron included Samuel in our game.  Samuel seemed to relish it and participated for an extended period of time.  It has me hopeful that maybe Samuel is starting to desire the idea of playing games with others.  This would be a huge step because in the past he would simply stand among other children playing, but not really interact with them.

As always, thank you for taking time out to read about our wonderful life with Samuel.  We are truly blessed in so many ways and I greatly appreciate everyone's support!

Till next time,
Brian

Social Cues

Samuel has exceeded our expectations for him the first two weeks back to school since Christmas break. We were concerned how he would react to getting back to the MWF school routine.  He has adjusted well and seems to understand as he wakes-up when it is a school day.  Recently he has started the day by telling us what he thinks the schedule will be like.  Rather he is saying, "school day", "church day", or "go to granddaddy's", he seems to have a pretty good feel for his routine.  We are exceptionally pleased with his satisfaction of saying "school day" now.  There was a time where when we mentioned this to him, his crying reply would be "bye bye Samuel's school."   Now he no longer just seems complacent with going to school, but actually expresses interest in going.

Friday was a different type of day for him.  He woke-up in a jovial mood, which is not something we have seen much from him before.  April noticed as she took him to school that he was giggling during the entire drive.  Usually he is very stoic while riding, to the point that sometimes we have to check to make sure he is even back there. It seems like for the first three years of his life, he would seldom laugh.  Therefore, we are tickled to see this new found excitement that he has developed.  April took him into school and waited at the spot where the teacher comes to pick him up.  While waiting, Samuel would run over to this pole and start licking it.  Of course this would horrify any mother, especially on a cold morning (everyone remembers A Christmas Story).  As April stopped him from doing this, he would just burst out laughing.  This happened several times before the teacher finally arrived to take him to class.  April informed the teacher that Samuel was in a very silly mood and may want to keep an extra eye on him.  That afternoon I picked him up after school.  The teacher commented, "he did not have a bad day, but did throw sand from the class sandbox." She was appreciative of April giving her a "heads up" about his mood that morning and said they kept a very close eye on him.  Other than the sand throwing episode, it sounds like it was a good day.  Right before we left, Samuel went down the line and told his classmates "bye-bye".  His mood was very pleasant, especially compared to how it was earlier in the year at the end of a school day.

On the drive home, I asked Samuel about the sand throwing episode. His response was hilarious laughter.  I realize in most cases parents would scorn their child for that response. However, seeing Samuel genuinely laugh while reflecting on an experience that we did not share together, is a huge progress in his development.  We are thrilled to see him laugh more, but at the same time we must get through to him that some actions are inappropriate.  He does not seem to understand social cues at all. Trying to get him to realize that some things are inappropriate, even though they seem funny to him is challenging.  This is especially the case due to not being able to carry on a conversation with him.  Any suggestions others might have is certainly welcomed.  We are still excited with the progress that he is making and gladly welcome this most recent challenge.

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Lightning McQueen

Samuel's favorite movie is the Disney film Cars.  We have both Cars and Cars II on DVD and they have been watched more times than I can count.   Our whole family can say, "Boy, you're in a heap of trouble." For Christmas, Santa brought Samuel a toy Mac truck, with a dozen or so matchbox cars from Cars. Samuel is especially fond of the Lightning McQueen that came with the set.  He will walk around with it in his hand and even take it with us on trips.  This is a toy that he is very attached to.  Well, Cameron is also quite fond of the movie and likes to play with Lightning McQueen as well.  As you can imagine, this can cause quite a ruckus with the two of them battling over a tiny red car.  This past weekend Cameron came up with the idea that he would buy himself a Lightning McQueen with his own money.  Since the little car costs about $4, we thought that was a good idea.  I took Cameron to the store and after searching for a while, we finally found one.  Cameron paid the clerk with his money and I thought all would be well in the Jones house. Both boys had their very own Lightning McQueen!  Let's just say that I was badly mistaken.  It turns out that Disney in their great marketing mind, decided to paint Lightning different in the second movie.  Here he is competing in the World Grand Prix Race, whereas in the first movie he was competing in the Piston Cup.  It turns out that Samuel's car was from the Piston Cup, whereas Cameron's car came from the World Grand Prix.  When Cameron came home and showed Samuel the new Lightning McQueen, World War III was on! No longer did Samuel want his own McQueen, but now he wanted Cameron's.  An old man like myself, didn't pay any attention to the cars being different.  However, 3 year old Samuel understood very clearly that Cameron had a newer version of Lightning and he wanted it.  Of course, Cameron was not exactly in the sharing mood with his new toy.  This resulted in anger..... lots of anger! April and myself had to do quite a bit of rocking and singing to get Samuel to slowly calm down.  Then about the time he seemed to get better, he would think about the car and we would start all over again.

Now a couple of days has past and things seem to have settled down some.  Samuel still wants to play with Cameron's McQueen, but now Cameron is more open to sharing.  At the same time, Samuel is more willing to share his McQueen with Cameron.  It is amazing how the simplest of items can cause the most joy and the most frustration when it comes to children.  This shows me that we adults don't have to have the most expensive home or fanciest ride to be happy.  Sometimes just our willingness to accept a $4 toy and play together with each other can bring immense joy.  Our children teach me something new everyday and I think I am a better person as a result.

Till next time,
Brian

Eating Time

Since the time Samuel was old enough to eat table food, he has been quite selective in what he consumes.  I realize this is typical of many young children (even some adults for that matter).  Therefore, I really did not think too much into it at first.  However, as time marched on we began to notice a huge trend with his eating habits.

Samuel has two favorite everyday foods - banana's and apples.  [On a side note - The other day I was at the checkout counter of Wal-Mart when the clerk asked me if we froze bananas.  She asked this because I was buying so many at a time.  I replied that no, our family will actually consume each one before they go bad.] If we are not careful, Samuel will indulge three or four in an afternoon.  More recently, he has grown very fond of apples.  I think he likes an apple because he does not need us to peel it for him.  There has been times that he would eat the apple right down to its core.  We even occasionally find old dried-up eaten apples underneath things around the house.  Let's just say Samuel loves his banana's and apples!

When it comes to more solid food, there is nothing he likes greater than pizza.  He would eat pizza every meal of the day if he could.  But boy does he make a mess! We always take off his shirt when he eats pizza or spaghetti (his other favorite meal).  Many a nights, he has gone straight to the bath tub after completing a helping serving of Italian food.  Although it is messy, we love seeing him enjoy eating.  This is largely because it is very difficult to get him to eat other meal foods.  He will eat chicken on occasions and he sometimes likes green beans, but overall other foods are difficult to get him to try.   His breakfast food usually consists of a bowl of oatmeal, followed by a banana.  A favorite snack for him is goldfish.  We always have to get the rainbow color goldfish because he likes to eat the bright ones first.  Anytime we pour him some, the red and green ones are eaten before the gold ones.  In fact, if we pour him some without the red and green, he will choose to just not eat them.

Perhaps the most unique part of Samuel's diet is his love for white milk.  Many days he would drink 5 or 6 cups and nothing else.  His autism physician suggested that we cut back on his milk intake, indicating that this may be a reason for his selective eating.  There was also the concern that this was filling him up without food, which was preventing him from getting enough iron.  We have cut back some on his milk intake, but it is very rare that he asks for any other beverage.  

I am curious if other parents have experienced similar eating habits?  Personally I think it is good that at least his favorite food and beverage are both healthy in moderation.  It would be ideal if he would eat more vegetables (but doesn't every parent wish that).  Of course, I didn't mention his love for McDonald's chicken nuggets, not exactly a healthy alternative.  We usually limit the fast food, but some busy weeks he gets more than he should.  I look forward to hearing what others have to say about their children's eating habits.

Thank you again for taking time to read.  I hope you have a great upcoming weekend!

Back to School

After a two-week Christmas break, Samuel and Cameron returned back to school today.  As parents, we tell ourselves that we will not allow any bad habits to be picked-up while the boys are out of school.  Well, that is easier said than done.  We have always put our boys to bed pretty early (around 8:00 pm) largely because April and myself are early sleepers ourselves.  Of course putting them to bed early usually means that they wake-up at the crack of dawn, which has its advantageous and disadvantageous.  A big advantage is that usually we have no problem with them rising on school mornings.  However, after two weeks of letting them stay up past their bedtimes, it was a little difficult getting back in their routines last night.  Cameron did fine, but Samuel was not ready for bed.  We have noticed that if Samuel gets the least bit of a nap during the day, he simply does not want to go to sleep at night.  Late Sunday afternoon I noticed him nodding off.  I quickly put a stop to any extensive nap, but nonetheless that two-minute rest could have been two hours.  He got out of bed shortly after we laid them down.  To get him to sleep, we kept the TV off and wrapped him on the couch.  Eventually he snoozed off and I carried him to bed.  This morning about 4:15 he hopped into our bed (a near nightly occurrence) and slept like a baby until shortly before I left for work.  When I woke him up, I told him it was a school day.  I was expecting a loud scream, but he actually seemed okay.  We had been telling him for a few days that school would be starting back soon.  The reception had not always been taken very well, but apparently it worked.  As I left the house, Samuel seemed ready to go back to school.

Samuel started attending Pre-K in late October 2015.  He goes all day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's.  April takes him to school and picks him up in the afternoon.  There is a routine where April stands outside the courtyard and waits for the teacher to come by to pick him up.  If the least little thing goes differently, Samuel has a fit.  Luckily this morning everything went "normal" and April said he did fine as she dropped him off.  He has two wonderful teachers, who seem to genuinely care about him.  However, he is in a main stream classroom with 16 other students.  They simply cannot cater to his all his wants.  This frustrates Samuel, but I think it is good for him to see how the other kids function in a classroom setting.  It is also good for him to know that the world does not cater to his every desire.  The other children are extremely kind to him, but Samuel is not able to say much to them.  When he gets overly excited he has a tendency of knocking things down on purpose.  This has to be frustrating to the other kids, but I think they have been very understanding.  April and I have discussed what we can do to keep him from knocking things over.  Of course we do the usual verbal scolding and emphasize to him that this is wrong, but it doesn't seem to stop the next time he gets overly excited.  I'm curious if other parents out there have suggestions about how to stop these episodes?  When April picked him up this afternoon the teacher said he did okay today, especially considering it was all the kids first day back.  I consider that a success and hopefully he can get back on his normal routine again.

Happy New Year

It is hard for me to believe that 2015 is over and we are now embarking on a new year.  As I reflect back on 2015, I think about the significant progress Samuel has made.  One year ago, Samuel was saying very few words outside of "no" and "uh oh".  Although he is still not able to have a conversation of any sort, he has learned to say a significant amount of words.  Recently, he has started speaking in sentences a little.  I have counted him saying up to seven words at a time, which is a gigantic improvement.  Often times these words are repeated over and over by him.  I think this is all part of the repetition that comes with autism.

One year ago, we did not know Samuel was autistic.  We were still hopeful that he was simply slow developing and that it would come with time.  His three-year checkup began the process that changed out mindset.  I can understand how some parents would be in denial about autism.  We were constantly told that all kids developed differently and that we should not be overly concerned about delays.  There is also a stigma that some have towards children being labeled.  April and I may have briefly thought like this, but it did not last long.  Once we came to grips with the reality of the situation, we realized that anything we could do to help our child must be done.  I believe that God has given parents an awesome responsibility to care and nurture our children.  That involves providing them with a support system to help them succeed.  If that involves having a label attached to my child, so be it.  I want whatever services are available to help him succeed.

As we begin 2016 I am incredibly optimistic about what the future holds for Samuel.  I am very excited about him building on the significant progress that he has made in the last six months.  At the same time, I recognize that he is getting older and many symptoms of autism are becoming more embedded.  Perhaps most concerning right now is the fear that we notice on his face when he is in uncomfortable situations.  This can include being in large group settings or having anything occur that he was not expecting.  We have learned to tell him up front where he is going or make him aware of things we are going to do, in an attempt to prepare him for what's coming.  Most of the time this tactic is helpful.  However, when it does not work the situation can be overwhelming for Samuel and those around him.  We are hopeful that Pre-K will continue to expose him to new horizons, while challenging him to overcome some of his struggles.  Also, we are currently working on getting him some ABA Therapy which has proven to be extremely beneficial to many autistic children.  I look forward to writing about his progress throughout 2016!

Once again, thank you for taking time out of your day to read this blog.  I wish you and your family a wonderful and prosperous 2016!