🍁November Update🍁

Hey guys! Some highlights from this past month include; thanksgiving break, SeaWorld, and school.

• In school, Isaiah still has incidents with PICA, especially with crayons and pencils. He really excels in his academic curriculum when he is one on one with the instructor. I have noticed that his teachers are trying to give that to him more often.  He has some good goals in place for this next quarter in school but because problem behaviors are dealt with frequently, progress isn’t made quite as fast.
• We took a few days in South Florida over Thanksgiving break. Isaiah enjoyed playing in the pool and hot tub all day. The weather was beautiful and warm. We took daily walks on the beach. Overall, Isaiah did pretty well. There were a few instances of extreme difficulty. He didn’t sleep well the first night and was up for 2 hrs in the middle of the night but he slept straight through the night the second evening. He didn’t do well at a Japanese steakhouse one evening for dinner, he just couldn’t wait and enjoy the “show”. I’m glad we went, it was a much needed break from the normal everyday routine. It’s so good for him to change things up. And it refreshes me to continue on with the normal everyday routine.
• Thanksgiving was hard. We went to a another families house and I brought a backpack of activities to keep him busy. He refused to do any of them and just wanted his iPad or my phone the entire time. I refused to give it to him…we lasted a couple hours and then we went home. He didn’t get his screen time when we got home because he did so poorly when we were out. That was a rough day. Holidays can be hard though. Trinity had fun ❤️
• Much of the first half of November, I was occupied with Trinity. She had pneumonia for about two weeks. A fever for 9 days, two trips to the doctor, several missed days of school, lots of medicine, and lots of care. Thankfully nobody else received the same illness as her. I think Isaiah developed a minor cold after thanksgiving break and still has a random dry cough here and there.
• So far, wearing socks and shoes and jackets because it’s “cold outside” doesn’t seem to bother him as much this year. He’s got another loose tooth on the bottom. He’s getting so tall 😍
• We got annual passes to seaworld and we went (for the first time in a few years) on Saturday for my birthday. Isaiah loooooved the roller coaster in Sesame Street and he loved the dolphin and whale shows. He loves to see the animals do flips and tricks. I look forward to taking Isaiah frequently. This is something we can all do as a family with minimal meltdowns and lots of fun. ❤️
• Isaiah currently loves…. StoryBots, our trampoline, s’mores by the fire, listening to Christmas music, taking baths with Silas, reading the Bible before bed, strawberries and blueberries and whipped cream for breakfast, taking sips of my coffee, hiking, and playing at a playground.
• Thanksgiving is a time to think about what I’m thankful for…. I am soooo thankful for childcare help. The help that I have with childcare is school. Public and private… I am soooo thankful for the help. School is life changing. For me and for him. The longer we have it, the more I see how needful it really is. Praise God for the ability to send my children to school. What an immense blessing.

Thanks for reading! I listed to this podcast this week and I can’t recommend it enough.

https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/5/3/2/532cf2ac91e083da/Special_Needs_Roundtable_2_-_Final_-_12319_9.38_PM.mp3?c_id=59093858&forcedn=attachment&cs_id=59093858&destination_id=338076&expiration=1575655490&hwt=7d727ce8834216bb58f83066642e3c63

Amen.

 

 

 

November Update

Hey guys! November was a fun month! The weather was warm, Isaiah had a week off for thanksgiving, and we went on a mini vacation. Check it out 👇🏼

• Well first of all, let me just say that Isaiah did really really well on Halloween. The best trick or treating I have seen him do yet. He was a fox and he wore his fox ears headband for an hour without touching it! He would say “trick or treat” on his own imitating the other kids he was with. He seemed to understand the concept…. walk to a door, ring the door bell, say trick or treat, and get candy! He still needed our help at times, he would often want to choose his own candy from the bowl or open his candy immediately. Overall, I was very impressed with how he did. Typically something new and out of the ordinary like this would throw him way off. I know that they practiced trick or treating in school for two weeks so I bet that was helpful too. 
• I had another meeting with his teacher recently about how Isaiah is progressing in school. He loves his routine and being at school. He even knows how to say the “pledge of allegiance” and it’s just about the sweetest thing I have ever heard 😍😍😍. He loves to “check the weather” and he fits in nicely with the day to day work at school. He started the reading curriculum 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 So now he has math, language, and reading everyday for 30 minutes each. Things are getting more challenging and  he is going at a slightly slower pace which is to be expected with harder work and three subjects instead of two. He also memorizes weekly sight words and keeps practicing writing his name.  During recess, they practice sports like T-ball (which he loved), basketball and now they are doing soccer. 
• Isaiah loves it when we pretend to cry….Chase is a better actor than I am. And, he LOVES to “wrestle” and play “getchu” (get you aka chase me) with Chase in the backyard (since I do more of a waddle now and certainly can’t run #34weeks 🤣). We enjoyed one last visit to “yegonand” (legoland) and Isaiah loved it. Now, we have science center passes and he very much enjoys all the fun kid interactive stuff. 
• On his iPad, he has recently started to love watching “super why” and playing a hot wheels race car game. He also loves doing the math problems in starfall. 
• I think I have found a happy medium with his medication, only giving him 1/3 in the morning. 
• Isaiah loved going to Sanibel, where we were either at the beach or at the pool and hot tub for 3 days. 
• This morning ( he is home sick with an upset stomach) he pointed up and said “up up and away”. He kept saying things like “fly away” and “there he goes”. It was random but he used clear words to tell me what he was thinking. Probably from superwhy…. he often says “to the RESCUE!!” which is from superwhy (or super wide as Trinity calls it 😂). 
• His teacher told me that Isaiah was doing an ABC puzzle independently and came up to his teacher (who was doing math with 2 other kids) and said…. “Excuse me Ms. Meaghan. The Q is missing. Where’s the Q?” 😱😱👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
• Regarding the photos below… Isaiah loves to go to chik fil a and eat chicken nuggets and fries and play on the playground. Isaiah is not a fan of blackberries so he stores them in his checks to procrastinate chewing them (he does this with pineapple too). Isaiah loved going on the swan paddle boat and loves to go feed the ducks in our neighborhood.
• He has been eating different foods like a champ. Turkey on thanksgiving, kielbasa, chicken, pork, spaghatti, hamburgers, etc. 👏🏼

Thanks for reading Isaiah’s update! Isaiah has been practicing for a holiday show at school that is coming up in a couple weeks. He will be off from school for 17 days for Christmas break (including weekends) 😱 . Shockingly, he is taking a nap right now at 12:30pm. That’s when you know he has an upset tummy. Hopefully, he will feel much better when he wakes up! 

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! 

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!

 

5/1/2017

Hey guys! I’m trying to stay true to my word and actually write an update once a month. Isaiah had a great month of April and its exciting to see all the progress he is making.

• Isaiah is in a season of “vocabulary explosion”. I know this typically happens at around 2 years old and Isaiah is 4.5. But, its very very exciting to see! He uses his words soooo much now. Isaiah does so many cute things. For example, he comes up to me and says “I love you” and sits on my lap and then I sing the Barney “I love you” song and he sings it with me and hugs and kisses me. Another phrase he picked up was from a video (leapfrog, I think). He says “Hey!! Whats goin on here?” He thinks its so funny when I say it and Trinity and Isaiah frequently say it together.
• It is really interesting to note how much Trinity is helpful to Isaiah. She understands that Isaiah goes to therapy to learn words because he has Autism. She sees that Isaiah is different then the other kids. She seems to know how to interact with him and what he likes. She tries to “help” him with his puzzles and frequently tells him what to do and what not to do. And I frequently have to remind her that she is not Isaiah’s authority and that she needs to be kind and loving towards Isaiah. Isaiah won’t stay “stop” when he doesn’t like something but he will show signs of frustration that are easy to see. Trinity can definitely be an annoying little sister to Isaiah but sometimes she can be very sweet to him. Isaiah has been opening her car door in the mornings (without prompt) because she can’t pull it open herself.
• I have also seen an increase in social interaction. Even this morning, I heard them screaming and laughing as they chased each other back and forth between their rooms. The door would slam and an eruption of laughter. I didn’t dare break that up. I often see them under the covers in Isaiah’s bed pretending to “sleep” as Isaiah frequently requests to play. He says “goodnight” and “sleep” and gets under the covers. Its one of his favorite things right now. That and being in the backyard. He is particularly liking the backyard right now. We got a small above ground pool and that is probably adding to his desire to spend all his time back there. Problem is, he has a hard time waiting for me to catch up and I frequently find him stripping down and trying to put his bathing suit shorts on lol!
• I’ve noticed how Isaiah will watch doors close or cars drive by. Or he will watch his feet as he climbs up and then down stairs or playground steps.
• The other day, we were in the backyard and I heard an airplane fly over us (as we typically do, living just north of MCO. Isaiah (without prompt) points up at the airplane and says “airplane”.
• He is doing really well with saying “hi” and “bye” to adults but seems to ignore when peers greet him. I’m going to intentionally work on this at home with Trinity. It is also much easier for him to share his toys/activities with adults than it is with peers.
• Isaiah is LOVING splash pads this year and we have been going to one at least once a week now that its frequently hitting the upper 80s and low 90s.
• Isaiah is continuing to eat new foods. He consistently eats ham, cheese, cucumber, carrots, and red pepper on a daily basis. He is also eating more bread like items such as bagels, garlic knots, and pita bread. He has tolerated trying a variety of items such as pork, chicken, rice and pinto beans, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, mango, banana, etc. And, I no longer have to pick everything off of pizza, he will eat the veggies and meat.  He loves to eat apples. Unsliced and with the skin, apple. He will eat it down to the core and chooses an apple over crackers!
• We are now on our 3rd week of Speech Therapy. Isaiah has been going 3 times a week for 30 minutes in addition to his 23 hrs of ABA a week. It has been going well. The first day, Isaiah cried as we drove there, parked, walked to the office, went back with the therapist, and during the session. Slowly he has been crying less and less. Today, he whimpered a little when we pulled into the parking lot but that was it. I am trying to give him plenty of heads up, explaining where we are going and what he is going to be doing and how much fun it is going to be! This is definitely helpful and I frequently do this to “prepare” Isaiah for the next activity we are going to do. It is really interesting how things throw his schedule off and how much he doesn’t like it. We have been faithfully going to the same church every Sunday since before Isaiah was born and he STILL whines/mildly cries on the way when we pass by McDonald’s, the rode to the park, the highway, the rode to therapy, etc. Even though, all morning I keep saying, “It’s Sunday, we are going to CHURCH”. It is really silly.
• Isaiah was granted the Gardiner Scholarship for the 2017-2018 year! Praise God! So, I have decided to not enroll him in preschool this fall but instead, continue with therapy until his starts kindergarten in Fall 2018. The Gardiner Scholarship can be used towards therapy and private education. He is not allowed to be enrolled in a public school and still be awarded with Gardiner Scholarship money. This has really solved a lot of questions and I am thankful to finally have a plan for Isaiah’s near future.
• Isaiah has been meeting his goals in ABA and they have been making new ones for him. He has days of increased biting. He has bit his therapist and a peer this past month. But, I typically always hear that Isaiah had a great day at ABA.
• Isaiah also more consistently labels “Papa”. We were out to eat dinner the other night and Isaiah was sitting next to me and he wanted to get down from the table. I asked, “What do you want Isaiah?” and he said, “Papa” and went and climbed up on Chase’s lap. Or he will hear the garage door open and I will say, “Who’s that”? and he says with a huge grin “Papa!”.

I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking. I hope I didn’t leave out any super important detail. Looking forward to that June post! Thanks for reading! Bye!

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!

Hurricane Matthew

Hi guys! We had a pretty fascinating week lol! Due to Category 4 Hurricane Matthew, school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday. Central Florida was panicking and so we decided to pack up and leave for Sarasota on Thursday afternoon. People were saying that power outages were going to happen…and they did. I didn’t want to be home all Thursday and Friday with the power out. It would have been Hurricane Isaiah Matthew at our home hah! Anyways…. lets start from the beginning.

• Isaiah has been eating his omega-3 powder in his applesauce without any problems. On that note, I feel like I see more focus in Isaiah… maybe I just want to believe its working. His teacher also said he had a great day back to school yesterday and he did very well and was very interested and happy to be at school! Isaiah’s aide also noted that he was “less rambunctious” than normal. (Although he did bite his aide when she tried to hold his hand and take him to the potty… and I had to discipline him for it. But interestingly, he knew he was gonna get in trouble. When his aide pulled out her phone to text me, he was visibly concerned and wanted her to put the phone away.) I will continue to watch his behavior on this. I have also made a few healthy choices in some of his common everyday foods. More organic, natural, sugar free stuff.
• Isaiah had fun in Sarasota swimming in the pool and at the beach. Overall, his behavior was pretty good. Even on Sunday, when he went to the park with our church for baptisms, his behavior was pretty tolerable. But, more and more we see Isaiah initiating social interactions. Saying “buh-buh” for when he has a “bug bite” or an itch. He also likes to play pretend sleep. He’ll drag us to the bed and make a snoring sound and lay down and pretend to snore. LOL its pretty cute!
• We had 2 MyGym classes this last week (1 was a makeup that we missed from Labor Day). Isaiah goes and puts his “toes in” without me needing him to bring him there. He really enjoys circle time and specifically making a “table” with his body (tummy up with feet and hands on the ground). He loves the bars, trampoline, trapeze, and balancing beam. Next week will be our last MyGym class for now. Every time we pass MyGym Isaiah wants to go there though. Maybe we will start back up when we don’t have so much going on.
• We had our 2 sessions of speech last week but no ABA or OT due to the Hurricane. Those speech sessions went well and Isaiah is saying a little more each time.
• His potty time is going well, at home and at school he is practicing answering to yes/no questions. He always says “yes” even when he means “no” so that can be frustrating for him. But, he tells me when he needs to go and goes by himself. His sleep at night is also going well. Bed at 7:30pm and up at 6:45am (typically, unless of weird circumstances which happen a lot in our lives lol).

I took a few photos in Sarasota! Thankful to the Lord that the Hurricane didn’t affect us as bad as we thought. Other than a mess of branches in our backyard, we had no serious problems. Till next Tuesday!

Legoland

Welcome back y’all! Thanks for stopping by to read an update about Isaiah. I feel like it was a pretty normal and typical week in regards to Isaiah. But here are some updates:

• Isaiah went to school everyday and even had picture day on Friday. He got good reports back all week. Nothing was said about biting. The 4 of us went to Isaiah’s classroom for open house on Thursday. I was able to see his classroom, his cubby, the toys there that he likes, etc. I was also able to talk with his teacher a little more. I pretty much just encouraged the staff to discourage Isaiah’s stimming by distracting him or keeping him busy on another task. And that they shouldn’t be afraid to say “no” or “stop” to Isaiah. Also, Isaiah has been either communicating that he needs to go potty or just going at school so that is great news!
• Isaiah had Speech and OT with Tahnee and Lindsay but no speech with Sharon. He also had 2 sessions of ABA last week. In Speech, they worked on playing pretend with pretend food and making animals eat and drink and run. They did turn taking and practiced waiting with “quiet hands and quiet mouth”. He was at about 50% in learning it while taking turns with a monkey game. They also worked on common objects by function. He can do basic “what do we eat with?” but they they stepped it up and asked questions like “which one do we use to eat yogurt?”. I’m sure they will continue to work on those types of things this week. In OT, Isaiah follows a line better with cutting when there are stickers on the line to help him stay on track.
• I have noticed the need to bite and chew at home. Chewy toys are our go to. Yesterday at MyGym, he needed the chewy toy just about the entire class.
• Isaiah had his 6 month dental cleaning last Tuesday. I think he did about 1% better than 6 months ago. He still is very unhappy and screams and cries. I still have to hold him down. But, they cleaned his teeth quickly and the dentist said that everything looks ok. Phew. See ya’ll in 6 months. I take Isaiah to Threshold Dental and they are very accommodating to patients with special needs.
• We went to Legoland on Saturday and had the BEST time. A huge thanks to Merlins Magic Wand for giving our family free 1 day admission tickets and free parking! Saturday was definitely one of the perks to having a child with a disability! The best part was that Isaiah was measuring at 42 inches on all the rides so he could go on almost every single one! Isaiah got to go on the roller coasters twice, once with papa and once with mama. Even Trinity was able to do more rides than last year. Duplo Valley was still a huge hit but this time we spent way more time on the other rides in the park and we didn’t even go to the waterpark. We were there from 10am- 5:45pm. The clouds started to roll in and the park was closing down the rides but we were wiped and ready to go! Isaiah had a super awesome high volume of sensory input that day and as a result was awesome with waiting in line (although they were pretty short) and sitting at shows. It was a great day for everybody!
• Isaiah also had a good day at church on Sunday with no biting. He took a nap when we got home. I woke him up 2 hours later and he played near the other kids that were at our home. All and all, he did pretty well with all that. Also, Isaiah is now on a prescription Omega-3. His doctor recommended it. Isaiah was already taking omega-3 in gel capsules daily so I decided to try it. This new fish oil comes in a powder and it tastes terrible. His gel capsules were at least sorta flavored and he would chewy and swallow them with no problem. I am having to be a bit more creative now. The best thing I have found is mixing in 2 capsules of the powder into a cup of applesauce. its only been 2 days but that has worked so far. I have enough for 3 months so we shall see if we see a difference in his attention span/focus and his hyperactivity.

Thanks for stopping by! Tune in next Tuesday on Isaiah’s Journey!