Sean is on the upswing again. He's doing really well, probably the best he's ever done. And after my rant about needing to put him back on his GFCF diet, he's still eating gluten - and plenty of it. I'm totally confused as to what's going on! Though there are several issues here that have played, or may now be playing, a role:
We went through a move 5 months ago, as you already know, and that may have affected Sean more than I realized. It was chaotic for a few weeks, and just settling in might have been more of a strain on him than I realized. During that transitional period, Jen, his speech therapist, was having to deal with a defiant child, or an extremely spaced out child. She would ask me what I was trying (in terms of biomed treatments) lately, and I would tell her we were "au naturale". I had no idea what was causing the annoying behaviors. Thankfully, they cleared up on their own, with the help of time and a little discipline (yeah, kids with autism need discipline too - that's half the battle if you ask me, but I'll save that topic for another post).
He also went to summer camp for the first time, and he was clearly upset when I left him there the first few times! If I wasn't sure if Sean truly loved me before that, I knew he did without a doubt after that. I could see him in my rear view mirror, trying to run after my car. It really broke my heart, but it also helped me to realize that he was acting like all kids do who are attached to their parents. And when I picked him up in the afternoon I got misty eyed to see the glee in his face when he saw me pull up. He ran up to my car and I could see him saying, "Hi Mommy!".
Also, Sean had been off of school for 4 weeks due to a summer break, and was now back again, but with a new van driver and leaving from a new house. That must have freaked him out, though to what extent I don't really know. He's a pretty stoic child, so I think when he gets confused or frustrated, it shows in ways that are non-typical to those who are on the outside looking in.
When school started up at the end of August, right after coming home from Disney, Sean was excited to ride the bus (the little yellow bus) and settled in very quickly to his new routine. His teacher Jaime is wonderful, as are Mary and Beth, the classroom aides. The kids are all adorable and it all seems to agree with Sean. We hit the jackpot there.
Sean can say all of our names now, so that everybody can understand what he's saying. Emily and Lily are still a challenge for him though. Emily is pronounced "Em-a-wee", or sometimes "Em-a-me" and Lily, the dog, is "Wi-wee" because he can't pronounce the "l" sound yet, but he will. Last year he couldn't even say "cookie". I remember fighting with the old speech therapist from Tawanka over it at an IEP meeting. He couldn't make the "c" sound. And now look at him, saying so much. Wow.
Last night, Annie was playing with a V Tech laptop that Sean has been really into lately, and he was extremely bothered by it. He covered his ears and and was humming because he didn't want to hear those computer sounds if he wasn't the one making them. I immediately went over to him and told him he needed to cut that out and asked him what was wrong (I already knew of course, but wanted him to communicate with me). He said, "Annie, don't play with the pink computer." I told him he did a great job using his words, but that Annie was having her turn and after he took his bath, he could have his turn again. He was satisfied with that. That's huge.
The last thing I want to mention today is that Sean's OT from school sent home his weekly progress report and told me that Sean is making AGE APPROPRIATE letters. He couldn't even hold a pencil very well over the summer (I would fight with him over it). His coloring has improved so much too. He's trying to stay in the lines. His fine motor is really coming together. I'm taking for granted how much he's progressing, because there are so many more things I want him to start doing. But when I stop to think about where he started, and how one of his therapists, when he was in Early Intervention, called him "low functioning", I feel so blessed that my child has come so far!
