Week Seven of ABA therapy

The staff at the Autism Center says that Andy cried a lot less this week. However, he continues to throw a fit whenever we pull up to the center. They have been trying to talk me into getting him to stay there for the entire school year, and pulling him from his public school program. 

I have thought about this for a long while, and have decided to not do this. He is going to go to school in the fall as planned. I don't feel comfortable completely removing him from his school and putting him only at the Autism Center. I think he is going to love school so much, and really enjoy it. I just can't imagine him not going to school with his therapists and friends right now. Everyone has done so much in preparation for him coming to the school. I really wouldn't want to have to tell the staff there that I'm pulling him out for a year or two. 

Then later, he'd end up there when the Autism program is done, which they told me insurance stops paying for 25 hours a week at age 7. Then people typically put their kids into first grade. I'm not sure if any services are paid after that. This is what staff told me, when they were urging me to keep Andy in for the next year. It might seem like, okay, now he's ready to come to school. When in fact, he would still be really far behind, and less comfortable with everyone. 

I am happy with my decision to go ahead and put him into Kindergarten. It just feels right to me.

My son's chromosome SNP array testing shows a deletion

Andy's chromosome SNP array showed that he is missing a small piece of DNA on chromosome 9 (formally designated as deletion 9q22.2, 600kb, containing two known genes). This finding may be the cause of Andrew's delays, and physical and mental impairments. It could also be a polymorphism, which is a chromosomal change that is often family specific and doesn't cause a disease. My husband and I will have to give blood samples to see if we are also missing these genes. If we are not missing them, then it may be labelled as the main cause of Andy's problems.

Andy has a lot of trouble learning, and remains very infantile. When I search for this deletion online, I find other children who are also impaired like Andy. Some of them took a long time to learn how to walk, but eventually did. Some of them still do not speak in a way that anyone can understand. The doctor assured me that each case is going to be different for anyone with this deletion, and that we cannot use the computer to know for sure what Andy's outcomes will be. Sigh.

Week Six of ABA therapy

I drive Andy to therapy each morning, and he is happy in the van. As soon as I pull into the driveway of the therapy building, and park the car, Andy starts to have a huge temper tantrum. Every day he does this. It tells me that he isn't thrilled about going to this place.

They tell me that he usually calms down ten minutes after getting inside. I ask them to keep me informed if they can't console him, if he isn't eating, or if he's so sleepy, he can't stay awake. They don't usually call or text me, even though I ask them to. I usually have to bug them, by texting, asking for an update on Andy's behavior.

Sometimes, I randomly show up thirty minutes to an hour early to take him home. Sometimes, I find him there happy, and sometimes he is very sleepy. I still feel that five hours is too long of a day for him, and that I will be cutting down his kindergarten day to four hours. At least, for part of the school year. I should be able to tell when he is no longer napping for me, that maybe he could withstand a longer day.

For now, he is completely worn out and ready for a nap, when I get him home from therapy. He is also quite angry. He often fusses most of the way home, and is sometimes outraged and in full tantrum as we pull into our neighborhood. I lay him right in his bed after we walk in. He usually sleeps for an hour, sometimes two, if my daughter doesn't wake him up by being too loud in the house. She will soon be in school again, and this shouldn't be an issue at that time.

I just don't know what to think of this therapy. I can see Andy trying to point a little bit more, however, it is hard to tell whether it is helping him or not. I do feel that it is positive for him to be receiving this therapy, but I don't feel that I would like to fully replace his kindergarten experience with the ABA therapy. I would like to try to mix the two together, but I don't know how that will work just yet.

I'd like Andy to be in a solid routine of going to school every morning, and possibly going to ABA therapy a couple afternoons a week. Only after he's come home for a nap, and has had a snack. I'll have to run that by them, and see if that will be an option.

Week Five of ABA therapy

Andy has been going to therapy for five hours a day, for five weeks now. I am still feeling that this is too long of a day for him. If I arrive 30 minutes early, I find that he is falling asleep. I feel that if he is too tired to work, we should just call it a day. They feel that he should tough it out. I don't see the point.

I expressed wanting to pick him up an hour early from now on, but it was just blown off. I think I am going to start doing this at least twice a week. When I see him putting his head down on the table, I think it would be fine to just let him go home.

They are working on trying to get Andy to point at what he wants, and to put his hand on a toy car and move it back and forth per their request. They say, "do this", and show him their hand moving the car back and forth. Then they pause to let him do it. If he doesn't, they then prompt him by putting their hand on his hand and having him touch the car.

When Andy's kindergarten starts, I don't think I am going to have him try a full day there. I think this is too long of a stretch for him. I think when Andy gets all the stimulation, and physical demands, he gets very worn out. Then I am left with an overtired and extremely cranky kid. Either that, or they should let him lay down for a nap when he shows he's really tired. In kindergarten, they will let him nap. At therapy, I understand that they don't want him sleeping, so I'd rather them call me to come get him.

Week Four of ABA therapy

All this week, Andy gets so worn out at therapy after about three hours. He is enjoying craft time around the other kids, and also song time. However, they keep him in the back on his own when they feel the noise levels are getting too overwhelming for him.

I think this is boring for him. I think he starts to fuss and whine because he wants to be around the action more. I have to bring this up at our next meeting. They have been meeting with me every other week, so that we can go back and forth about how Andy's doing there.

This week, they've been telling me it is hard to get Andy to eat anything. He usually just willingly eats all of his snacks and food, but for the last few days, he is showing them that he doesn't always want to eat. It isn't like him to pass up food. I think though, that they need to be trying to feed him near the other kids, and maybe they are. I have to look into this.

For today, I checked in with them after he had been there for two hours. I wanted to know if he had eaten a snack, and did he seem tired. They've mentioned to me that this week he was trying to put his head down a lot, and kept rubbing his eyes. He is so tired and worn out lately. I don't know if it is productive for him to be there.

I told them that if he refused to eat lunch, then I wanted to come pick him up early. I didn't want him to be there for five hours, and not have eaten much of anything. When this happens, he is a total wreck when I pick him up, and cries in a huge tantrum all the way home for 25 minutes.

I picked him up an hour early, it is Friday, and he is on week four of therapy. He had several days of not eating well at therapy only, but ate fine for me for dinner at home. Sure enough, an hour early, after four hours of therapy I pick him up. I take him to a fast food place and he eats like he's starving. I felt so bad. He enjoyed it so much, and kept saying "umm". It even sounded like he was trying to say "mine" to the burger.

We are going to discuss next week if we should cut down from five hours of therapy to four hours. He is just so worn out, I don't want him to stay there the whole time just for the sake of putting the hours in. I'm going to make suggestions, and am willing to see if they help. However, school will be starting soon, and I am going to want him to be among his peers again. I'm not sure how we will work in the ABA therapy and kindergarten. It is yet to be determined.