Times they are a changing

It's now been a week since our newest family member was born, Aiden. He is a big fellow weighing 9 lb. 12 oz. Suffice it to say, Andrew can sense a lot of new changes. While he actually seems indifferent to Aiden's presence, it seems like playing with Audrey and sometimes on his own can upset him more than it used to.

Our ABA therapist explained that Sara being in the hospital for four days as well as having to go in Saturday night for Aiden to receive some photo therapy to treat his slight case of Jaundice is definitely something Andrew observed.

I have felt like there has been no progress. When I expressed my concern with his ABA therapist, she pointed out how in the beginning, Andrew would get upset over her taking a toy. Today, he typically will ask for the toy back and think nothing of it. We have in fact made huge progress. Andrew speaks in full sentences, being able to say, "I want crackers" or "I want to watch DVD". It's fantastic.

It's easy to get hung up on negatives. We asked her what we should do when Andrew has a fit and starts throwing toys. We need to verbally remind him to not do that. We do the arm squeezing to help him calm down. And then we can ask him to fetch what he threw and bring it back. All different types of redirection. It feels tempting to put him in timeout like we would with Audrey, but I knew that was not the right course of action for Andrew.

She explained that as he progresses, there will be many steps forward as well as occasional regressions. A sort of rubber band type thing. But the progress forward has been terrific.

In fact, I was impressed how he and Audrey played last night with his new train set. Afterwards, Andrew took it all apart and put it away in it's box.

Discovering new things and learning to adapt

Between yesterday and today, we have made several observations, both on our own, and from Andrew's ABA therapist.

We started to spot that Andrew was uninterested in drinking from his dark blue sippy cup. It could very well be because he either can't see what's in there, or he has come to associate that cup with having water, like his blue Thomas straw cup.

When we shifted to putting his milk into his lighter, yellow cup, he immediately wanted to drink from that. We will have to test that by putting some Pediasure in one later today and seeing how that goes.

Andrew's ABA therapist observed something else today: when he gets upset, she started squeezing on his hands and arms and it allowed him to calm down much quicker. She went on to test that response several times, and it appears to be a means to soothe him. Next step will be to continue testing it, and if it turns out to work, teach him to squeeze his own hands as a self soothing activity. She said this can be tied to some of his own sensitivity issues and finding a means to contain this will be very helpful as he matures. She said that there is a whole market of body socks, compression vests, and other things like that which are designed to help highly sensitive children calm down. We'll have to think about that if this approach isn't enough.

Another behavior to work on is pairing. This is when we ask him to take a sip of Pediasure in order to get a yummy goldfish cracker. We'll experiment with that as well, although the cup issue might be solved in a different way.

All in all, this is the type of exploration that we are undergoing as his various therapists get to know him better and can fine tune things for him.

Busy day!

Tired Andrew after a full day

This morning, Andrew had a 2-hour session with Kathyrn, his ABA therapist. On the surface, it looks like they are just playing. But when you learn a little bit, you can see that Kathryn is engaging him in what Andrew wants to do, but she steers him into new angles, new ideas, and new types of spontaneous behavior. Towards the end, he was playing an interactive game on her iPad. He wasn't quite getting the concept of drag-and-drop, but I'm sure he'll get it soon enough.

Sara had "the day off". She had been pulling double duty last week while I attended my company technical conference in California. She earned a day at the spa. This made for fun time management. Pay it no mind that I still got a lot of work done!

Later today, Andrew had his first speech therapy session followed by occupational therapy. When his speech therapist came out to give me her report, Andrew was upset. It appeared like he didn't want to stop playing. It was a bit of a blur. He developed an initial rapport with his speech therapist and was introduced to several new sensational things with his occupational therapist. I have more to learn about this stuff.

He didn't get home and able to nap until around 3:00pm. Suffice it say, he was cranky by then, and fought me carrying him to his crib, but it didn't take long before he was out.

Here is what is so amazing. He is getting all types of help, but doesn't even know it. To him, it's all play. At dinner time, he was running around, and when we would say certain words, Andrew repeated one of them while pointing his index finger at his mouth. We quickly deduced that this was the gesture his speech therapist used. It is clear that all these things are sinking in and giving him what he needs.

In all this hub bub, there is something I never realized until Sara and I chatted with a member of our Sunday school class who happens to be an ABA therapist. Andrew might very well come out ahead of his peers. I was praying that he would keep his head above water and "catch up". I never realized this might be possible.

Meeting with ABA Therapist

Today we met with Andrew's ABA Therapist (Applied Behavior Analysis).  She asked us some questions to help her zero in on what areas needed to be targeted.  Then we had a chance to ask questions.  We merely wanted to know what to expect a therapy session to look like (which she won't know until they get a chance to work with Andrew) and how soon it will start (we are determined to get the ball rolling).  This is where we left things:  she needs to check with our insurance to ask how much therapy they cover and we will get a call this week to set up his therapy for next week.  We can expect 2-5 sessions a week (depending on insurance coverage).

We are starting to feel overwhelmed with how our schedule is shaping up.  Our daughter, Audrey, was evaluated for Speech Therapy today and we found out that she qualifies for assistance.  So, she will have Speech Therapy twice a week.  Andrew will hopefully start Speech Therapy soon at the same rate (twice a week).  And he already has Developmental Therapy once a week.  Then we will have to add 2-5 sessions of ABA Therapy starting (hopefully) next week.  This is all in addition to him attending preschool 2 days a week and my activities (a weekly bible study and MOPS twice a month.  We're feeling like downtime will be hard to come by.

We continue to expand our circle of friends and family who know about Andrew's challenges.  With that comes increased support.  We have been strongly encouraged to find an Autism Support Group, which is at the top of my to-do list (after the piling up laundry and cluttered bedrooms).

In the midst of all this craziness, I know that God is inviting us to something greater...not a life full of schedules, therapy, and housework; but a season of greater reliance on Him.  I know the days will be longer and more tiresome with our adding schedule challenges.  This is a calling to lean ever more on His strength and to follow His lead.