Progress

Ricky is moving right along with his vocabulary.  We made french onion-encrusted chicken the other night for dinner, and when he looked at the bowl of onions Ian was crushing, he said "oh that smells!" and made a face.  It is SO encouraging to see him making so much progress with his language, communication, and overall development!

I did a follow up appointment with the Burkhart Center a week or so ago, after they talked to his teachers at school, and we set up an appointment for them to do an observation of him for next week.  I'll bring him in and they'll do a series of tasks to see how he reacts, so they can try and elicit the same behavior he is demonstrating at home and school.  That way they can get a good idea of what exactly he is doing and how exactly we should respond.  I'm trying to get a game plan set up for this summer once school lets out and his routine is majorly disrupted.

While I was there, I was asked how he interacts with Olivia, so I spent some time talking about both of them.  Before I knew it, we were just talking about Olivia, and they think that she has some traits of Aspergers as well.  They told me to keep an eye on her, just in case, but didn't think that testing would be necessary since I should be able to help her.  During our support group meeting last week, I was the only one there, so we talked about Ricky and Olivia.  The therapist there also asked me if I had any suspicions of Aspergers with Olivia, and I told her that I had talked to Burkhart and what they had said.  She has actually interacted some with Olivia at some of the support meetings, so she has a better view of her behavior than Burkhart, who have not seen her.  She agrees that there are some strong traits.

Since we will probably be moving Ricky to the other school next year, I figure I'll just wait and talk to her teacher then, explain my concerns, and ask that they keep an eye on her.  Then we'll do testing if we feel it's needed.  I just don't want to NOT test her because I "know" she has Aspergers as well to avoid labeling, then find out that she needs some kind of accommodation later in school and have to fight to get testing done first before anything can be done to help her.  Not fair to her.

I'm coping much better with my Aspergers now.  I finished that book on dealing with anxiety and found a lot of things that have helped me pay better attention to my triggers and reactions.  Switching my anxiety medication to bedtime has helped me sleep better at night and wake up feeling more relaxed.  I don't have that immediate sense of terror that the day is going to be a struggle.  I didn't even realize I felt like that in the morning until it was suddenly no longer there. 

I'm making the kids penny boards to help with setting chores and rewards.  It will also help Olivia learn to add and understand money, since once you get the hang of pennies, you can start exchanging them for nickels, nickels for dimes, etc.  I think this will be good for both of them.  I still need to make a big visual schedule for us to use this summer, but I'll get busy on that next.  One day at a time.