Happy Birthday – September 2023

Welcome back readers! September was fun, Isaiah had a birthday! He turned eleven. He had lots of fun! We went to a water park and he enjoyed it very much. He got a blue icee there too. That is of his favorite desserts, also Publix sprinkled cookies, also air heads…. also chocolate cake. He has a MEGA sweet tooth! Anyways, we ate dinner at a restaurant, which he also enjoys to do. He opened presents and got lots of things he likes. Puzzles, books, dvds, candy, etc. we celebrated all weekend long. He knew his birthday was coming. He knew which day it was on the calendar. He knew about our water park plans. He brought it up almost everyday. He knew he would get presents. He asked for air heads. He even picked out which cake he wanted. He knew we would sing to him. And he was very happy about all of those things. He was excited! 🥹

But, his birthday can be kinda sad for me. I push those feelings down, and decorate the house and wish him a happy birthday multiple times. In reality, he’s not eleven. He’s maybe 4 or 5. Academically, he scores at a kindergarten level. He has for years now. It doesn’t seem like he will get much farther than kindergarten. He’s in the 5th grade now. I’m desperately trying to hold him back so he doesn’t go to middle school next year. I’m not ready for that. And I don’t mean that in a typical mom of a 5th grader who’s moving up to middle school. Because, he’s practically, not a 5th grader. He’s a kindergartner, on his best day. I tried to hold him back last year, they said no. I’ll probably get the same response this school year too. 🤧🤧🤧

If you ask him, “how old are you?”, he will still say “ten”. We’re working on it. Isaiah cares about the simple things in life. What show he will be watching and at what time he will be watching them, where we will be going on Saturday (or everyday really), bedtime, wake up time, and what foods he will be eating. This is what Isaiah talks about. The schedule. The next thing. Time. Dates. When we are going to the next hotel. He doesn’t care about reading or writing or math or science. He’s always focused on the next time he will be able to get whatever it is that he wants.

He’s very happy that we are going to the zoo on Saturday. He doesn’t show too much emotion. He seems stressed out daily but he doesn’t seem to be in some sort of deep distress. He was sick this week. He took a nap on the living room floor. I had to get a picture. He looks so cute when he’s sleeping! And wowzers is he tall! Just under 5ft! He knows about trick or treating. He hasn’t been telling me daily yet. But I bet as soon as it’s October, I’ll hear about it everyday 😏

Thanks for reading! Here are some fun pics from this month. 😊

April in Review

Hey guys! May is here so it’s time for a review of April. Thanks for checking in!

1. One of the biggest changes to our family was Chase getting a new job. Because of this, our insurance also changed which directly affects Isaiah’s therapy needs. After 4 days of withholding ABA services and many phone calls, we got it all figured out. I was nervous about the lapse in therapy but those four days went fast and I made sure to plan a lot of activities to keep us all busy and from losing our minds cooped up in the house. We now have Cigna and thankfully the ABA company he goes to is network with Cigna so we didn’t have to go looking for a new provider, praise God. But, we have decided to stop speech therapy services probably for a long while. Isaiah will start school in August and have ABA in the afternoons and there will be simply no time (or energy left) for speech. Thankfully, our focus at home and the focus at ABA is mainly social interaction. 
2. If seen some pretty neat things in regards to social interaction. I notice Isaiah is being drawn towards children. Used to, he was pretty much a Lone Ranger wether we were at a playground or around around other children. But now, I see him wanting to be near other children. If kids are sitting underneath the playground, he goes and sits with them. It’s true, that he doesn’t say word to them, but he isn’t avoiding them and that’s the first step! Isaiah has a pretty negative association with peers. Peers take things, mess things up, and take too long. One of the main goals at ABA is to get Isaiah to accept his peers and interact with them independently like he does with adults. Adults help him and don’t take his toys or step on his stuff so he naturally does better with an adult. Even at home, Isaiah wants to be near Trinity or me or Chase. When I walk away, I frequently hear “mommy please”. Which means, come back. 😆 I also hear Isaiah frequently say “Hi mom” to get my attention and for me to interact with him. 
3. Isaiah has been doing better with going walks. He typically has a meltdown when we don’t go a particular way. But, I’ve seen improvement and I intentionally change our route often to practice transitions and having the right response. Isaiah loves to climb trees and there are many fun trees to climb around our area and on our walks. One time, there were a bunch of kids climbing a tree and he pointed and said “climb tree” and ran over there with them. 
4. Isaiah loves the movie “ Monsters, Inc” and “Monsters University”. He asks for them often and we bought the dvds. 
5. Isaiah went through a streak of wetting the bed just about every day. But now, we seriously limit his drinking before bed which is hard when he is crying “water please!!!!” 🙄.  He doesn’t understand and I can’t explain to him why I’m limiting him so I give him quick sips and that’s it. The last 2 days, we have set an alarm at midnight to take him potty. He just wasn’t going when we would take him at 10pm. I figured he was peeing right when he was waking up. So far, the 12am potty is working and he has been dry. It’s just a little rough for the adults lol. 
6. Isaiah LOVES gum still and uses it in the mesh to chew. He still is grinding his teeth and has been chewing his chewy often. There is always on near him now. He loves his mini animal figurines and plays with them ALL the time. He sorts them by type and puts the horses together and cows together, etc. He has also been doing good with eating, chicken is becoming more frequent. I make chicken and cheese quesadillas for him for dinner pretty often especially  when our dinner is too spicy or something I wouldn’t expect him to eat like salad. 
7. His teachtown curriculum is moving along. M&Ms and gummies are very motivating and it’s amazing how many he gets right when those incentives are in place. He’s working on identifying things that are high/low, large/small, which one starts with an a/b/c sound, which face is the same, etc. Also, ABA is focusing on tracing lines and coloring within the lines. At first, wiki sticks were used as an outside of a shape for him to color in. Now those are faded out and the idea is that he would notice that he is at the line and go color back inside the shape and stop at the line. 
8. Isaiahs favorite song is “Nuggets of gold”by Sovereign Grace. Here’s the link to it. Isaiah says “diggy diggy diggy” for “dig in, dig in, dig in” 😂.  Nuggets of Gold
9. Now that summer is here, my goal is to get Isaiah swimming as much as possible. He loves to swim and it’s great way to get him to burn some of his energy. 

Enjoy these pictures below! I’ve got some cuuuuute kids 😍😍

 

March in Review

Hey guys! It is April 2nd which just so happens to be “Autism Awareness Day”. I wouldn’t say that I really raise more awareness of Autism on this day or in April in particular. I did happen to put on a blue shirt today though. The blue shirt doesn’t seem to do much but being around Isaiah raises lots of awareness! I have many opportunities to make myself and others aware of autism while I am out and about with him 😉 So on April 2nd, we typically focus on my husband, because it’s his birthday 😁

Here are a few updates from the month of March.

• Isaiah and his teeth grinding 😫😫😫 It happens all the time now and I don’t think he even realizes it. We are just verbally telling him no and referring him to his chewy. He doesn’t really like his chewy though. He really prefers gum. He has been chewing gum in mesh a lot. It’s a great motivator and very rewarding to him to get to chew gum. He loves the flavor and the chewing. I’ve tried to give him gum a few times without the mesh but he swallows it. So for now, the mesh has to stay.
• His night time potty training is going well! He has far more dry nights than wet nights. Some days he just drinks a lot more and he will have an accident. But on normal nights, he is dry in the morning 👍🏻
• Isaiah bites and picks at his nails and skin around his nails all the time. I’m constantly correcting him which gets annoying. He has a couple of pretty bad habits.
• He has been loving his United States puzzle recently. I find him in his room doing it multiple times a day. I don’t know what has caused this obsession but it could be way worse and I know in a couple months, he will find something else he loves.
• Isaiah had an evaluation done at the school we would like to enroll him in. He spent the day in the classroom and one on one with his teacher the whole day. She was able to evaluate him on all the subjects and said that he had a very good day and he fit in perfectly. They noticed how well his behavior was and said that ABA has done him a lot of good. Many different therapists affirmed Isaiah’s competency to start kindergarten so they accepted him into the school 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 They use a “direct instruction” curriculum that I am VERY excited about. It’s very repetive and they won’t move him to the next lesson until he reaches 90% accuracy on his lesson. This is exactly how Isaiah learns. Repeating and memorizing until it sticks. And when it sticks, it sticks. Isaiah will start on lesson 1 which is just right for a kindergarten level. I’m excited for this next step in Isaiah’s academic life. I look forward to practicing the homework with him and I’m really excited for August!
• I found a sweet spot for his medication. He gets 1/2 tablet in the morning and 1/4 tablet in the afternoon. That seems to be working really well.
• Isaiah loooovvveesss to get underneath his fitted sheet in his bed. That tight feeling on his body is what he craves. He loves all blankets and covers but I frequently find him under his fitted sheet. Sometimes, I find two little bodies in there giggling. 😍😍
• Isaiah got a game called “count your chicken” for Christmas. Well, we played a few times and then 40 dime sized chicks went missing. 🤷‍♀️ I couldn’t find them for months until Trinity found them in a car piggy bank that had a coin slot. All 40 of them had been in there. 😆. Never occured to me that they would be in there! Well now we play the game which Isaiah enjoys but they frequently go missing and I always find the chicks in the same place 😏
• Isaiah is continuing to use 3 word phrases and practices phrases and sentences often. In speech they have been working on action word sentences. For example, he looks at a picture of a girl in bed with her eyes closed and Isaiah has to say “She is sleeping”. He’s getting better and better at recognizing male and females and using the correct pronoun for them.
• Isaiah frequently points while in the car or on a walk and tells us “bis way”. He guides us “this way” where he wants to go.
•  

  Thanks for reading! He’s so cute! 😍👇🏼

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

January

Hey guys! This is probably gonna be one of my favorite updates ever because of our exciting trip we took this month! The Burchett Four traveled to Hawaii for about two weeks of vacation! One of the reasons why we went with the kids is because we knew how much they would LOVE it, especially Isaiah! We spent 8 nights in Kuaui and 3 nights in Maui and 1 night on a plane 😅. Here’s how Isaiah did! 

• Sleep.🛌 Sleep was one of my major concerns that I am so relieved that it went better than I expected. With a 5 hour time change, I expected Isaiah to not be able to switch over to Hawaii time but, he did! I figured out it takes our family a 24 hr period to transfer over which is faster than I thought. Don’t get me wrong…. the first night Isaiah went to bed at 7:30pm (12:30pm EST) and woke up at 3am (8am EST) 😵😵. That was a little rough, thankfully I usually function well with little sleep….. especially on vacation in Hawaii 🌺🌅⛰🎉 !! After that, Isaiah slept from about 7:15pm till about 7am almost everyday! Probably because he was getting sooooo much physical activity each day. Another thing is that, we slept in the same hotel room and he shared a bed wth Trinity every night. 
• Isaiah probably enjoyed the pool, slides, and hotel the most out of all the activities we did each day. But, he had no problem hiking everyday (sometimes for 4 miles on the side of a cliff) or rock climbing or being at the beach and boogie boarding. He wanted to hold my hand while hiking which was surprising. I think he felt safer and that it was easier when I helped him along a little. He hated the mud which was constantly on his shoes or legs or arms. He would pick at it or try to wipe it in his hair….just to get it off. It was distracting for him but thankfully not tantrum provoking. 
• Sometimes fiid was an issue… I didn’t always have food to give him and he had to wait. Waiting for Isaiah is excruciating. But, we did our best to keep him fed and went through the McDonald’s drive through several times. One evening, we received entry to a Luau from our hotel management. I knew it was gonna be a little tough. First of all, there was no food there that he liked. 😬 But, he did eat an entire chicken thigh and some bread roll with butter! Honestly, we often resorted to my phone or his iPad in times when he needed to wait for a long period of time. 
• Although Isaiah didn’t mind hiking because he could jump off of rocks, he did not like it when Chase used a rope to attach Isaiah to himself with a harness. This was for his safety and was attached to Isaiah’s belt/belt loop during times when the path was narrow and we were on the edge of a cliff. He tolerated it after whining for the first 5 minutes or so but I just kept making him go until he just dealt with it. 
• I would say that it was difficult to get Isaiah to do ANYTHING else other than the pool area when we were at the hotel. Pulling him away for the beach or eating was hard. He LOVED the slides and hot tubs that we had every evening. We stayed at 4 different hotels and they all had pools, kids slides, and hot tubs. Except for one hotel that we stayed at for one night… it had a couple awesome slides but only 1 hot tub and it was “adults only”. That was rough. It was HARD to explain to him that although he had access to a hot tub for the other 10 nights, this hot tub was not available for him to use. That first hour was rough, he kept wanting the hot tub, but he eventually got over it and stopped asking for it. We had a similar situation at one hotel when he was a few inches too short to ride a couple of slides. Times like those are when I really hate autism. It’s so easy for me to tell Trinity that she is not tall enough or that it’s for adults only. That’s the end of the discussion and if she grumbles and complains, she will be disciplined for her disobedience. I wonder what the other parents think when Isaiah is crying and screaming for “slide” or “hot tub”… He just doesn’t understand and doesn’t end up understanding why I’m telling him no, he just accepts it eventually. It’s hard and it makes me sad. 
• I am thankful to God that overall, it was a very successful trip. He was happy and said “cheese” for the million pictures we took. He flew on several airplanes for hours and sat in many cars and slept in many different beds and rooms. All without much issue. Praise God, vacationing outside our home would not be worth it if Isaiah had a hard time with all the changes. There was once, a #2 accident on the steps of the pool…. 😐😵😳🤦‍♀️. 
• Nobody got sick, nobody got hurt, everybody was happy. Selecting a few pictures was hard so here’s like 20🤣. 

October/November

Happy Fall y’all! Thanks for catching up on a few Isaiah updates 😊 Overall, it’s been a good month but there has been a few changes in schedule and behavior.

• Isaiah has been getting excessively emotional when told “no”. Crying in a whiny/emotional way a lot when he doesn’t get what he wants. He usually does not react so dramatically. 
• I have noticed how tired he gets in the early afternoon and that definitely affects his behavior. He has been obsessive over iPad time. Looking for his iPad often and crying when I say no. 🙄 I am trying to play with him more intentially now. I would say having a 4 day thanksgiving break with no “structured” time was difficult for him and for me. Now, I need to work harder with him in the afternoons. 
• Speech therapy stopped last week when Isaiah hit 60 sessions for the year. A request has been submitted with our insurance for an extension of covered therapy sessions but I highly doubt Isaiah will get another session for the remainder of this year. Lord willing, we will start back up in January. 
• His vocal stims have increased significantly and it drives me crazy. Even his therapist noticed. He does it more when we are out of the house or at home or in the car. 😫
• His medication has remained the same…. .25mg in the morning and .25mg in the afternoon. 
• His mouthing has also increased, constantly finding leaves, beads, grass, little balls, etc and putting them in his mouth. 
• Progress on his iPad curriculum is slowly since I am trying not to “help” him through it. But, I still need to sit next to him while he does it or he doesn’t care and gets all the questions wrong. 
• He is currently working on at home on Teachtown: surprised, identifying singular vs plural (brush vs brushes), boy vs girl, loud vs quiet, identifying bedroom, kitchen, living room, dining room, pineapple. 
• His sleeping at night has gotten better since the time change and he goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up at 6:30am….. usually. Sometimes he still wakes up in the morning. He hasn’t been resisting going potty before bed quite as much which is leaving his pull up dry in the morning. He has been preferring to stand when he goes potty but he makes a mess typically so I have been making him sit. 
• We switched Isaiah to a booster seat as a trial run for when we go on vacation in January. He definitely has a lot more freedom but he doesn’t mind the change at all. He sits in the booster and doesn’t complain about the seatbelt across his chest. But, he does pull it until it locks up and is super tight on him. Which is fine with me, more restriction. 😜
• Isaiah very much has enjoyed our pool/beach time while we visited grandma’s house and he actually will now eat chick fil a chicken nuggets too. I’m still introducing new foods often and making him eat it and rewarding him with Halloween candy or some ice cream. It’s extremely motivating to him to have a lollipop to work towards and helping him have a clean plate. 
• Sometimes we catch him singing to himself… it’s so darn cute! He will sing the wonder pets theme song or one, two, buckle my shoe song, Isaiah LOVES to play “get you” aka “getchu” in the backyard when one of us chases him around and tickles him. I also catch him “dancing” and watching himself dance while looking at the reflection of a window. 
• In therapy, Isaiah is now working on 3 word phrases in ABA and also social interaction. Isaiah ignores children. A child will walk into the room and say “hi” and Isaiah won’t respond but when the therapist says “hi”, Isaiah will say “hi” back. I have also noticed how he frequently ignores Trinity and her requests and I have to get his attention to look at Trinity and respond to her. 
• Isaiah is still very much interested in the words of the back of a book. I saw him moving a legoland pamphlet around so that each line of words were uncovered line by line. It’s like watching the credits roll at the end of a movie or seeing a ticker flash words quickly at the bottom of a news channel. 
• The most quite and calm that I ever sea Isaiah is when he gets to play on his iPad. 
• Isaiah does really well playing games. He likes to play candy land and his Pete the cat matching game. Shuts and ladders takes a little too long but he will sit for that game as well. Isaiah’s favorite toys right now are electronic games that play music or make sounds. I’m looking forward to Christmas when he gets some new toys because I’m getting a little tired of playing with the same ones over and over. 😆

Overall, we have been able to function normally and Isaiah has participated in lots of fun activities. Her are some cute pics from the past month or so. Thanks for reading!! ❤️

August Review

August came and went so fast! Thanks for stopping by and reading a quick update on Isaiah’s life. Many exciting things have happened in August! 

• Isaiah received the gardener scholarship (praise the Lord) and so I used some of that money to buy Isaiah an iPad! Wooohooo! I have kept Isaiah away from this form of screen time for a loooong time but we felt like it was time. Isaiah will be 5 in 2 weeks! Gasp! 😭😳😍 Isaiah has started “teachtown” a computer based curriculum specifically designed for children with autism and incorporates ABA techniques into learning. Isaiah has done about 2 weeks now and so far he is really liking it and doing well. We started with teachtown basics and he tested out of a lot of the easier matching, etc. He is now working on “which picture is the arrow pointing to?” And “which picture is the big/little animal/object” and “which one has many/none”. He’s also working on labeling body parts and overall getting used to the program. He does about 30 minutes a day in the evenings after therapy. It is very rewarding for him because after about 7-9 questions, you get to choose a 45 second “reward” which is either a game or cartoon clip. We are on a 30 day free trial right now but I think I will use his scholarship money to purchase the curriculum for a year. I need to do some of the generalization activities but first I need a new printer 😁 

• Evrything is going well in ABA and he is doing lots of social interaction with peers like taking turns, asking questions, responding to peers, etc. 

• After about a month of trying out that disgusting liquid vitamin and after years of trying a variety of expensive supplements and vitamins…. Chase and I finally decided to try out a medication for Isaiah. His developmental pediatrician couldn’t help but notice his extreme hyperactivity has persisted (as well as his anxiety and OCD) and recommended a non stimulant prescription medication. Let me know privately if you want more details about 😉 So far, I have definitely seen (therapists have also seen) a difference in Isaiah especially before lunch. The first day, he was a little space but not anymore. He is more calm and not running around. He is more focused on his work and less fidgety. His overall attention has increased. I have not seen any bad side affects and he has been on it for 1 week. The medication wears off after lunch which for right now is fine. We will continue monitoring his behavior. Anyone who knows me, knows this is a BIG deal…. which is why I only give him a quarter of a tablet a day 😂

• The other day, Isaiah choose a rainbow to color out of a coloring book. He proceeded to grab markers out of the bucket to color the rainbow in order, one by one….. red, orange, yellow, green, purple. I was so impressed! 

• Potty update…. sometimes he pees outside 🤦‍♀️ I’m working on that. 

• Sleeping update… pretty good. Trinity slept in Isaiah’s room for about a week but they kept getting up so early so now they are separated. I can’t do 5:45am. 😐 Isaiah still typically sleeps about 7:30pm-6:30am with no nap. 👍🏻

• Trinity can be very loving to Isaiah. Wanting to help him, sometimes it’s too much though lol. She wants to help him keep his hands down when he stims or uses ABA technique and shows him two items that he can choose from. She praises him when he does something well and she gives him forehead kisses often. 

• Isaiah can almost independently put his socks and shoes on. His socks are tough but the shoes he can do on his own. 

• We have had a lot of fun this month swimming, feeding the ducks, going to birthday parties, going on walks, playing with bubbles. Isaiah requests “bubbles” every morning. He does very well at birthday parties playing on the playground and closes his eyes during the “happy birthday” song. I am already planning Isaiah’s 5th birthday party!!! 🎉🎉🎉

• Speech is…going… His speech therapist no longer works in the office and so now we are in a transition period. The work on big/little, answering “where” questions, “ing” action words, etc. We work on speech a lot at home and ABA is very heavely working on Speech with Isaiah. Specifically, demanding at least 2 word phrases from him. Like “Color Pete” without prompt, instead of just “color”.

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to all that September has in store for Isaiah! 

July ☀️

Hi guys! Thanks for taking the time to read a quick summary about Isaiah’s life this past month. Although there hasn’t been anything seriously monumental, I’ll give you the major highlights/lowlights.

• ABA therapy is going very well. He is mastering all his goals. A couple weeks ago, a goal was made to have Isaiah put on his socks and Velcro shoes on all by himself. He has made significant progress on this and can almost do all the steps by himself! 👏🏼
• A slight issue with ABA Isaiah has recently developed is his asking for a certain therapist. Isaiah has therapist A on Monday/Wednesday/Thursday and therapist B on Tuesday/Friday. Isaiah constantly asks to see Therapist B. He was even asking for her over the weekend! But, it’s an issue because he is crying when I tell him “it’s therapist A today” 🙄 I try to console him by saying “therapist A today and therapist B tomorrow” but he just has anxiety over it and cries.
• We have a daily issue of crying when we don’t go where he wants to in the car. Last week, we had an appointment with he developmental pediatrician after ABA. Isaiah cried as we passed by highways, familiar rides, McDonald’s, playgrounds, etc. he was in full tantrum mode when we got there. Thankfully (after some biblical discipline), he got his act together. I had to implement an “if/then” technique while seeing the Doctor. “If you do your work, then you will get a lollipop”. This worked pretty well and she was able to get a lot out of him. She definitely saw progress in his language. But, she noticed his anxiety issues and his hyper activity. She recommended to look into a medication but for now I’ve chosen a more natural route to help calm him down. Isaiah has been taking “Added Attention” which is basically a liquid vitamin supplement. It has “GABA” in it which is supposed to be a key ingredient for helping with anxiety and hyper activity. I haven’t really noticed any difference yet but it’s only been a few days. I mix a tablespoon into some applesauce. It smells disgusting, poor kid.
• I took the kids to Aquatica on a weekday when ABA was cancelled. Unfortunately, I lost sight of Isaiah in the kids water playground area. This was the second time I’ve had a scare like this. Isaiah went down a slide and I followed after him. By the time I got down, he was gone and in the huge water playground somewhere. I’ve learned 2 major things from this. From now on, #1 I’m going down the side first. And #2, Isaiah now has a wristband that has his name, disability, address, and our phone numbers on it. The wristband/bracelet stays on 24/7. Isaiah still messes with the clasp (doesn’t know how to take it off) but overall, tolerates having it on. That’s been a big deal, Isaiah will not tolerate a sticker, stamp, or any type of wristband on his arms.
• Isaiah has been enjoying going on walks, feeding the ducks/turtles, swimming in our backyard pool etc. We still fight the balance of living normal lives and keeping Isaiah engaged and not stimming all the time. It’s a daily struggle and sometimes a tiring balancing act. I try as much as I can to do what both children would enjoy doing while not having them run my life.
• Isaiah has still been eating a variety of foods although peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are still his #1 asked for item. Isaiah also currently asks for “Theo, little bear, & wiggles” the most when wanting to watch TV.

That’s all I can think of, I’m sure I forgot many things though 😬 Here are some sweet pictures of our month of July adventures 😁 Thanks for reading!!!

Hey June!

Hey there! Thanks for looking at my page! As promised, here is my post about the month of May 🙂

• Isaiah has been moving right along in ABA. He has very good days and is progressing through his goals. His goals are constantly changing because he meets them. One of the biggest things he has learned is saying “Casselberry” when asked “Where do you live”. But, he accurately responds to questions such as “How old are you?” “what is your name?” “What is your sisters name?” “What is your last name?” He is working currently on “what is your mom/dad’s name”. He is doing more verbal goals that do not have a picture as a cue. For example, answering the following associated items…. “Paper and…” “socks and….” “table and…” “toothbrush and….” bed and…”. He is also engaging in lots of social interaction with peers, waiting his turn, greeting his peers, asking peers to play, etc. He also is learning how to identify specific parts of different objects. For example, when shown a picture of a house…. “Where is the door/roof/window?” and identifying correctly.
• Right now in ABA his goals include… waiting for certain periods of time, following 2 step directions, imitating oral motor movements with tongue, blowing successfully, discriminating objected based on adjectives (full/empty, tall/small, hot/cold) etc. I have also noticed a decrease in biting behavior (with an exception of yesterday) but I have seen an increase of stimming using his hands/fingers. He wiggles them around. Its hard to explain.
• So Isaiah is a little sick for the first time this year (I think). I am so thankful that he doesn’t get sick often! Its honestly hard to tell when he does not feel well but he has a noticeable cough and he has done SO MUCH BETTER with medicine. I don’t need to pin him down and force the syringe into his mouth and keep his mouth closed until he swallow. He just drinks the medicine out of the little cup and doesn’t spit any out!  But otherwise, he is full of energy and you would never know something was goin on there.
• I have been doing the insurance dance on a weekly basis and it is very time consuming and frustrating. I am so thankful we pay someone else to do Isaiah’s therapy so that I can spend hours on the phone trying to get these therapists paid… LOL! Seriously, sometimes it feels that way. We even had to take a break from Speech Therapy because all of his sessions were denied and deemed “not covered by plan”. After calling and calling and having these claims resubmitted for reprocessing, the claims are being approved and we started speech back up this week! Each time I call, the representative tells me that my plan does not cover “xyz” and then I have to explain to them what my insurance overs. After they verify that what i just said was true then they start to work with me. Its rather silly that I would have to explain what my benefits are to my insurance rep. ANYWAYS, with that being said, only 1, ONE day of ABA has been approved. February 1. It is currently June 6. The drama continues….
• May kinda dragged its feet in a way as we anticipated our family vacation in June and now its almost here! But in May we did a variety of things (swimming in our little pool daily) and Isaiah is continuing to talk more and more. You can ask him questions and he can tell you what he wants. He replies accurately to “yes/no” questions which is VERY helpful. He cries sometimes when we go the “wrong way” in the car. Like when we take a different road or pass by a road that goes to a park. Isaiah points and says “this way!”. One time, Chase and Isaiah got in the car in our garage and Chase asked Isaiah where he wanted to go and Isaiah directed him (by pointing and saying “this way”) all the way to his favorite playground that is about 15 minutes from our house. He knows where he is going that’s for sure!
• He has become fascinated with the garage and regrettably SOMEBODY taught him how to press the bottom to open the garage… One time, I was in the shower at about 6am and I heard the garage open. Thinking, Chase just left for work, I was in no hurry. When I went to the garage, I found Isaiah standing on the driveway! This was scary and now we have a double lock policy at all times on the door to the garage. And we will not be teaching him how to unlock or open any more doors!
• Isaiah also likes to make loud noises, particularly slamming doors. I have been hammering down on that behavior as well. But, he also enjoys sitting quietly on the couch and looking at books, specifically “Pete the Cat” books.
• In regards to food, Isaiah has been doing really good! Eating deli meat, cheese, carrots, cucumber, fruits on a regular basis. He has also accepted spaghetti, broccoli, and red bell pepper.
• When we have a friend come over or someone to stay with the kiddos and babysit, Isaiah wants them to leave. He shows his discomfort by tugging at the persons arm towards the door and saying “Bye! Bye!”. I just assure him by saying “XYZ is staying.”
• Isaiah has had less “peeing in the bushes” and more telling me he needs to go or just going to the bathroom by himself. He has started walking to the bathroom by himself at 2 different parks we have been too recently. I have to keep my eye on him at ALL times and make sure he isn’t alone in a public bathroom. One time, we were at the library and I knew Isaiah wanted to leave but I wanted him to color for a little bit longer. He kept on saying “go car!” but I told him to wait. while standing 2 feet from Isaiah, I said one sentence to another mom there and then turned around and found Isaiah was gone. He had ran out the doors and was standing on the side walk looking at the door. Again, dangerous. Need to keep my eye on him at ALL times.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy these pictures of these cuties!

 

4/3/2017

Hi guys!!! Where has the time gone? It has been 5 months since I posted on my blog and I have A LOOOOOOT to update on here! This week finally seemed like a less hectic week even though I have wanted to write a blog post for months now. AND, April is Autism Awareness month so in case you are not aware… 😉 My goal is to update once a month (hopefully the first week of each month). Because I have so much to say, I will try to cut out the lengthy details and get right to the main points.

• I officially pulled Isaiah out of preschool and placed him in Applied Behavior Analysis. He receives an average of 25 hours a week of one-on-one ABA Therapy/Intervention in a center that takes me about 12 minutes to drive there! (Praise the Lord) He started on February 1st and I have seen his spontaneous communication erupt. He is meeting goals, learning how to socially interact with peers, complying to commands, practicing speech and articulation, waiting patiently, learning independent play, communicating his wants, decreasing self stimulating behavior, learning imitation skills, etc. There has been ups and downs but overall, I am very happy with this decision and look forward to many more months of ABA!
• Eating: 5 months ago, I introduced carrots. Today, he chooses carrots over his beloved pb&j sandwich. Overall, eating has improved. We all sit at the table and eat dinner as a family together. Wow. Isaiah has to sit (without screen time) until he is all done eating. He also faithfully eats cucumber. I recently introduced deli ham, which he has been eating a cut up slice of on a daily basis. He eats it, but is not a fan. I typically have Isaiah try at least 1 bite of our dinner and he does better with new foods than another 3 year old that I know… The other night he had a cut up hamburger and a piece of pineapple. Wooohooo! My goal is to get him to eat ham and cheese sandwiches. Then I could easily introduce other sliced meats. Instead of just chicken nuggets, Isaiah has been enjoying crispy chicken tenders too.
• Isaiah LOVES “Pete the Cat” books, his new Series 2 of “Signing Time”, saying “Dinosaur GRUMPY!!!” (from a book), pretending to “sleep”, pretending to “swim” on the floor (its hilarious), leaning in for a kiss and saying “kiss” and then pulling away at the last second and giggling at my reaction, Signing/saying “sad” when we make him do something he doesn’t want to do, playing “red light green light” on the drive way, catching bubbles on his tongue, intentionally saying “no” and laughing at our “surprised” (“what?!?!? You don’t like ice cream? You’re kidding me!!) reaction.
• Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy ended in December and then I began a search to find another company that took my insurance. I found one and insurance was a nightmare. It didn’t work out for a variety of reasons. It just wasn’t the right fit. I found a new Speech Therapy company just 5 minutes from my house. We have gone through the evaluation process and hope to start services this week. I am really hoping this works out. I have decided to put Occupational and Physical Therapy on hold.
• Isaiah still has moments of frustration and bites. It is not very often though. We use chewy tubes very frequently now and make sure there is always one in his lunchbox at therapy and one in the car.
• I am currently awaiting approval from the “Gardiner” scholarship. Hopefully, Isaiah will be able to receive some funding to cover additional therapy costs. I also have considered the “Mckay” scholarship but because of the public school requirement, I haven’t really pursued it.
• For the last 10 weeks or so, Chase and I have led a family devotion time on Saturday mornings. We read a bible story, watch a short video, color, do a craft, and pray. Both kids are struggling a bit but I have seen a lot of improvement in Isaiah being able to sit and participate for 10 minutes in bible time at home. We also have been going around our neighborhood to meet our neighbors and hand out gospel tracts and church invitations. Isaiah struggles a bit with going a different route than his usual walking route but I have seen GREAT improvement with this as well. Isaiah happily sits in the wagon or gets out an walks as we go to about 10 houses.
• Isaiah is doing better and better at church as well. In fact, this past Sunday he had no interest in going into the Sanctuary during the music worship time and cried to go back to his classroom. So, I let him go back for the full 2.5 hours. Our church has recently changed the bible curriculum/method of teaching and Isaiah is doing way better now. Still not perfect. But much, much better. He actually sits on his aids lap and listens during the bible lesson. I haven’t had to correct his behavior during church in a while and I have been getting good reports back. One aid even told me that Isaiah doesn’t need an aid anymore. (lol yes he does) For now it is going well and for that I am thankful to the Lord.
• Isaiah is understanding more and more and is demonstrating independence in a variety of ways.
• His favorite shoes: Flip Flops. This kid could not stand flip flops just last summer.
• We have implemented a “no jumping on anything other than a trampoline” and its a little rough on him sometimes. He defers to going to his bed, throwing all the sheets and pillows off, laying down, and pretending to sleep.
• Much improvement with playing with his sister. They chase each other and tolerate each other more. Isaiah looks at her and her reaction. He is sad when she gets disciplined or when she cries.

Thanks for reading! We have been very active with the kiddos… going to the beach, playgrounds, science center, Aquatica, Seaworld, Islands of Adventure, etc. I am so thankful to see Isaiah’s continual improvement in speech. I can’t believe he will be turning 5 in just 6 months!

Fall is Here!

Hey guys! Thank you for taking the time to read about Isaiah. Isaiah had a really good week except for Sunday. I dropped the ball a little and made a mistake that affected his day… more on that later. We also had a little bit of a cold front this past weekend so we offically busted out the long sleeves and jeans! Here is a quick summary of my week:

• This week is a little more busy, there is a lot going on but I will tell you all about it next Tuesday!
• Isaiah did great at school this past week. I remember he did well with Ms. Sharon in Speech Therapy on Tuesday. In Speech on Thursday, Isaiah worked on his CVC words. He is getting more accurate but still needs the verbal cueing. They worked on “I see +CVC word”. He keeps wanting to say “I want” (which I have noticed at home too). But, doing the sign for “see” helps and he does better. Overall he did really well. And he did well in OT. I brought in a copy of his IEP so his therapists could see what his goals are in school. I think that was helpful for them.
• I spent more time each afternoon with Isaiah. We have worked on many puzzles and activities. I have been managing his stimming and engaging him a lot. On Sunday, I thought it would be fine if I just skipped his nap. I was selfishly thinking that I would be able to put him to bed earlier.That wasn’t the best choice. He was super stimmy and difficult to control. Learned my lesson, next time put him down for a nap and let him stay up later and die to my own selfish desires. Sometimes, I need days like those to remind me of what is best for Isaiah. But! he did well in church with his aide and I didn’t have to go back and correct his behavior.
• He did very well in ABA yesterday, which I was worried about because he took a nap at school. Typically, he is super cranky when he wakes up (like he was on Friday, and did terrible in ABA and screamed a lot). But this time, I noticed when I picked him up, he was sleepy but not angry. He did very well in ABA after school. He told her potty when he had to go and he sat still on the bean bag chair while she read a book. Typically, he is all jumping around when she tries to read to him.
• We went to Seaworld on Saturday and we were there open to close. The weather was beautiful and the kids did so well! We started of with touching the sting rays and Isaiah LOVED it. We saw all the shows and did the rides in Happy Harbour and Chase even took him on Atlantis which he had not been on because you have top be 42 inch. The kids took a nap (at the same time) in the stroller which was awesome.
• Isaiah and Trinity had a baby sitter stay with them last night and Isaiah did well with that. Leaving him with a sitter has never been an issue and I am very thankful for that. I know a lot of children with Autism do not do very well with other people and other people do not do well with them. I am thankful that Isaiah is easily manageable and I don’t have to be concerned that he will have a 20 minute meltdown about something.
• We have been going on walks and playing the backyard almost everyday. We went to a friends house on Friday evening. Isaiah got in the pool for a few minutes but he was done really quick because the water wasn’t too warm. I was impressed with how well Isaiah did there and we were there for about 4 hours and he only watched a 30 minute movie of my phone. I was thankful for a pretty typical Friday evening at a friends house.
• Isaiah doesn’t like long sleeves and pulls at the sleeves often.
• He has been screaming/crying in rebellion for when he is upset or doesn’t want to do something or wants to do something that I don’t allow him to do.
• Thanks for reading! In the pictures below, I included a day of his communication log and an activity from OT at school. Have a great week!