(HBOT 153) - Summary of Outstanding Issues

I am over Jonathan's DAN! Doctor's observations and prognosis, and back to my "looking for a cure" mode. For the past 4 years I have been focusing on sensory/OCD/stims/anxiety/language problems. And he has overcome many many obstacles. But he still shows ASD symptoms besides language. So this week I observed him very closely to try to pin-point those areas:

• Stims: he hums constantly. He cannot help it. I tell him and a second later, he is humming again.
  
• Odd behaviors: they are subtle, but they exist. For instance, yesterday when we arrived at the rec center for swimming lessons, he went to the front desk, got really close to the clerk and just stared at her with his eyes exaggeratedly opened and a big smile. He didn't say hi and he looked weird. So I immediately intervened and told him to say hi. He does this behavior with strangers all the time. He also likes to get very close to people's faces, particularly other kids or people very close to him like parents and grandparents.
  
• Play skills: even though he has shown to be able to do some pretend, it does not come naturally for him. Vanessa yesterday sat on the floor at my cousins house with 7 princesses dolls and played making up stories and having each doll talk to each other. Jonathan on the other hand was bored. He doesn't know how to entertain himself unless it is with video games or playing with other kids (particularly when it is tag or hide and seek). I keep getting small toys, but he looks at them and then puts them down and moves on.
  
• Empathy: Jonathan shows some type of empathy, but lacks in my opinion the ability to put himself in someone else's shoes. If he hurts Vanessa, he is not concerned about how Vanessa feels but that he did something wrong and I am going to say something to him so he apologizes to me instead of Vanessa. When someone cries around him, he points it out but doesn't really go to the person and hugs the person. Vanessa, who is only 4, will do that. When Vanessa is watching a movie and something bad is going to happen, she covers her eyes as she can put herself in that actor's shoes. Jonathan just watches what is going on, and may get scared, but does not put himself in the actor's shoes. Or if someone is sleeping, he doesn't care to wake them up. Vanessa on the other hand is very gentle.
  
• Dyslexia: as part of 1st grade, Jonathan has to read for 15 minutes every day. We read at night and I noticed the past week that he skips words, reverses words and puts words where they don't belong. I need to put my finger on each word so he can concentrate.
• Eye contact: his eye contact is odd. His eye contact is best when he is listening to instructions or comments, but he has very poor eye contact when he speaks. I keep forcing the issue and tell him "look at me" every time I remember to. It is hard for him. Facial expression looks a bit weird when he does engage in "forced" eye contact. It is like his eyes are looking at me, but his sight is lost somewhere. But because he has fairly good eye contact when he is listening (his expression is normal), most Drs. make a note on this behavior as "good eye contact".

I will continue with the therapies that I have in place, and will continue to look for new and innovative ideas. I am not sure how much actual brain damage there is and how much of that damage can be "reversed" as Yasko puts it. But I guess that is my quest.

New observations:
I started him on diflucan last week and his stools are getting better. I am also waiting for the Listening Therapy home program which should arrive sometime soon. I am considering, after HBOT is over, to do a few neurofeedback sessions at 7am so he doesn't miss school. That may help with some of those brain connections. I am also considering re-doing Yasko's nutrigenomic test since there are a few new mutations that I don't know about. Always looking for new alternatives.