We had a BIG scare this morning-Ben played outside by himself for about 20 minutes today. I felt quite peaceful about it because he was playing either on the slide or right under the window where I could see him.  Then he began to cry and I went to the door to let him in, and his face was covered in red! At first I thought it was  blood, and began to hyperventilate. Then I realized it was some sort of berry residue, and really started to freak out.  The kids and I spent the next 10 minutes combing the back yard looking for any kind of berry. We asked Ben to show us the berries, but he just looked puzzled and shook his head.  Then Nate found another berry(it's amazing how many we found, time to trim the trees) and I said, " this looks like a cranberry!"  Then it hit me. I began to look around, and sure enough, right under the window where Ben had been contentedly playing was the plastic container for the cranberry orange sauce we had last week. *sigh* at least I didn't  call poison control or take him to the hospital to have his stomach pumped!

 We met with his speech therapist last week.  She was amazed at the progress he's made in such a short period of time, and says we can begin really focusing on pronunciation now that he offers so much speech. Specifically we are working on PBMN.  We're pretty excited that he is beginning to make comments about things that go on around him-today David slipped into the shower before me when I stopped to get a towel-when I griped about it Ben laughed and said "Daddy's funny". At lunch Nate was bonking him on the head with a pencil in time to a song that went bonk, bonk, bonk. (true confessions here-but Ben seemed to like it) When he stopped, Ben was giggling and said "Nate bonk, bonk, bonk me!"  This is huge beause it was a complete sentence, used the proper first person pronoun, and used someone else's name.  We are working out a shedule with her to maximize on our benefits for next year, this is a really good fit and she provides the support and direction I need to know what to do next with Ben.  Plus he loves her. :)

Another victory for Ben-last week we went to a science show. First of all, Ben sat pretty quietly through the whole thing. His noise was little enough that other parents thought he was cute, not annoying. The presenter popped a ballon with fire (yeah, pretty cool) and Ben yelled " the balloon go pop!:" he yelled this many times, but I was thrilled to have him tracking with what was going on in front of him.

ok, last story, but there are so many good things happening!  Last week at the doctors office the comment was made twice-" what a smart boy!" because of Ben's cleverness in problem solving. It was cool, because as the parents of a special needs child you don't get to hear that often. You hear what a great smile, isn't he cute, etc. but never how smart he is. So I reveled in the moment.

On the other hand, Ben is not sleeping well, the last two weeks have seen some seriously sleepless nights. We have introduced melatonin again out of desperation, and upped his dose on doctors orders. the last two nights have gone better, so we are really hoping we've got this mostly under control after only three years!

Over all things are going great. Nate has started basketball, Megan will begin gymnastics soon, and Home Zone is coming to an end. Home Zone being over frees up some time to go to Ben's OT which will give us further direction on how to handle the Sensory processing issues.  The speech therapist keeps bringing that up....

These vitamin B shots are really helping Ben to settle down.  He's still really busy, but stays in one place for periods of time and is able to really focus on his play.  Something that has come to our attention is we can now tell what is disobedient behavior and what is still hyperactivity and a result of his cognitive issues.  This is a big issue for us to wrestle with-how do you discipline a delayed child?  Phsyically 4, emotionally and cognitively two, with very limited social understanding, but great understanding of cause and effect?  Please pray with us as we sort this one out...I haven't found any books that addresss this particular issue and expect the child to learn to obey-not encouraging, but I KNOW he can do it.  I also know I'm going to have to get tough and get on it-and I'm really tired and frankly don't want  to deal with yet another challenge.  I know, it's deal with it know or deal with it later when he's bigger than me, and if Nate is any indication, that won't be long.  So I've got to figure this out soon.  Prayers and gentle advice would be appreciated!

We were supposed to have a session with Ben's speech therapist yesterday, but she got stuck behind an accident on 405 and never made it.  We're seeing her next week.

Ben's doc said to me this morning "is it my imagination, or is he getting better every day?"  This was thrilling for me to hear-we see these things, but observers often do not.  I was able to speak with Dr. Mark as we call him, for some time this morning.  He has some thoughts on Ben's Pica-as in he probably needs more mineral supplements, and injections would be best because Ben is currently not able to absorb minerals properly. What the doc really wants to do is hook him up to an IV once week-but we both laughed when he suggested that. No way Ben would sit still for that one.  But he has some ideas and directions to take us now that Ben is finally showing measurable physical improvement.  He's handling the shots pretty well, and still seems happy to see Mark, so far so good. His Pica is improving some which is a huge relief, and he is not as hungry lately, which may also be that his body is more satisfied with some actual minerals. His speech is clearing up and he is using more words and sentences, and offering more speech without prompting.  These are all great signs of great things-we no longer expect miracle cures with each new thing we try-Ben is way to complex for that. But we are ecstatic to have found one more piece of the puzzle!

Ben got his first injection on Thursday this week-Has has been more focussed and calmer since. this is such a blessing, I actualy sat in one place to 15 minutes the other night, and if you've ever tried to pour out your heart to me, you know this is unheard of. We have scheduled his next injection for Monday, and he will be getting them 3x per week for a while,as we get his levels up. His  Naturopath cheered when he heard Ben respnded well, so we're taking that as a good sign.:)  Here's to a few moments peace!

Teena

We've found something new that really works for Ben-video modeling. the idea is he watches something in order to learn it.  It really works for Ben, he learns a lot from his videos for reading and language, so we thought we'd extend that.  Luckily, a liscensed speech therapist prepared several and posted them on her website. http://autismgames.googlepages.com/  Obviously we can also make our own to suit any occasion.  I wonder if you can make one about how to keep your clothes on?

When I figure out how to post this properly, this will be under links and the info will be under sessions.  Today we did the one about non-verbal pass the truck game, and Ben was able to play the game with Nate, Megan and I.  It was great!

You may have noticed it's been along time since I posted.  Dave has been working pretty hard to get this new version of the site up and running, and here we are. i think I may still be blogging in the wrong spot, but I will sort that out later.  Lots has gone one, so here's a list of all the stuff

Ben learned to really, truly jump, with 2 feet and everything!

Ben learned to color, and not only that, will acutally sit still for 5 minutes and do it!

Ben learned to sing "someone's in the kitchen with Dinah"

Ben learned to trick or treat, and he really got it! he LOVED it.( I traded his candy for SCD home-made stuff. He's still thrilled)

I sucessfully added small amounts of coconut and medjool dates to his diet.(there are these coconut cookies... oh and this yogurt pie...YUM)

The school district called-they have an opening for Ben in the higher functioning class in the afternoons at preschool. While it feels great that Ben is lumping in this group-there will still be 8 special needs kids in this class. He will still be getting only 20 minutes of therapy per week, which his private speech therapist says is basically a waste of time.  So, what are the benifits? At the moment we're not sure. Ben is making such significant progress at home we're thinking maybe I can do this after all. But taking on Ben's education for myself is a big, scary step. But it looks like the best choice right now. We decided to wait a couple of weeks to make a final decision, because they are taking a week break in 2 weeks.  Please Pray with us-there is no ego involved here, I just want to do what is going to help Ben best, right now that seems to be me.

We've been the recipients of some financial blessings lately (thankyou!) and I spent the morning choosing non-metal leeching pots and pans, and stoneware baking sheets. None of Ben's food will touch anything that can make him sick any more. I am so excited! This was a huge and expensive step, which is why it took  me so long.

I think Ben will start Vit B injections tomorrow. His reaction could really go either way, some kids have immediate improvements in cognitive and speech development, some struggle with the supplement. Since it isn't going through his digestive system we have highg hopes(its supposed to help with hyperactivity too-Please God!)

We survived Megans birthday-it was a great party and she got to feel special. ( a BIG thank you to all my helpers who made that one come off-I couldn't have done it without you!) Grandma Terry was here on her birthday, and she got to hear Ben tell her Happy Birthday. Then she and Rick babysat so Dave and I could have a DATE! Second one in three months, I think we're on a roll! Dave and Nate completed the soccer season with the tournament( 3 games, 2 days).  They didn't get to move on, but had a great time playing.  We now have three whole days with no scheduled events in them, oh what will we do with the time?

Teena