Fun at the Shopping Mall

Last night we went to the Shopping Mall so Dad could get a haircut. I took the kids to the playground with a bit of skepticism because Jonathan did not want to play in it 4 days ago. To my surprise, he was very excited to play. He and Vanessa ran around, got on all the equipment and then Jonathan decided to pretend that he was going to buy dinner. He started to run outside the playground into different areas to bring me different kinds of food. Another 4 year old spotted Jonathan playing and asked if he could join, and Jonathan said yes. Then Vanessa joined. That was fun to watch.

He is still very very VERY obsessed with the CDs. But he had a better day yesterday!.

Regression not Preventing Other Advances

It has been a week since I posted. I was very very disappointed with Jonathan's regression. And it got even worse when I re-introduced Valtrex on Thursday February 22, 2007. On Saturday Jonathan started humming again and his obsession with the CDs got out of control. I know it is due to detox (both viral and metals), but boy is it hard to re-live.

Today he had a great day though. When he woke up, he already knew it was Monday and it was school day. So he did not even approach his music CDs. In the morning, he came down and told me he wanted breakfast and then had an argument with his Dad because he did not want to watch TV, but rather he wanted a DVD. He said: "Dad, I don't like TV. I want a movie in the DVD. Got it?". He is saying "got it?" to us a lot.

His OT was very happy today to see him play with other kids. She introduced him to a high functioning 7 y.o. and Jonathan started leading the play. When he got home, he and his sister went out to play with the snow. Yesterday he cried because he did not want to touch the snow. Today, he did not want to come in the house.

My big "wow" for the week is the fact that he learned an abstract concept and I don't know how or when. But last week he didn't understand it. He learned that when he is playing video games (PlayStation), he is not supposed to die. The past month, we introduced PlayStation to him because a couple of kids in the neighborhood he plays with were making fun of him because he could not play. He is great with video games. He has several kiddy ones like Leapster and others and he can play like a professional. But PlayStation was different. In a month he has gotten really good (he already reached level 4 of one rather hard Disney game). But he loved to get killed. Within the past 24 hours he learned that dying is actually not good, so in a manner of survival, he reached level 4 in just a day. Today he came to me and said: "mommy, help me please with level 4. It is hard and it is scary. I don't want to die. Please help me play". Yes, he used that much language :)

Regressive Behavior in the past week:

• Paying with music CDs for hours - this includes playing the CDs in every CD or DVD player in the house (4), in every computer (3), opening/closing the devices, fast forwarding, etc.
• More tired than usual
• Humming
• Mild hyperactivity
• Some sensory issues - especially touch

Improved Behavior in the past week:

• Better abstract thinking
• Better organization of sentences - more conversational language
• Feels a bit more pain when he gets hit than usual
• Lying :) - if I tell him no, he says that his dad said yes

Great Dentist Visit

Jonathan and Vanessa had their 3rd dentist visit. Today was the best visit ever. Jonathan remembered everything he had to do (except spitting when brushing his teeth. He still swallows). He let the Dr. clean his teeth, squirt water in his mouth and suck it with the suction device, and scrap plaque out. I am so proud of him. He was a trooper. His bottom front teeth are lose. He may lose them any minute :) The Dr. found a couple of spots on 2 molars that may turn into cavities. Despite the fact that I've heard that it is best not to put fluoride on our kids' teeth, I asked the doctor to put it on those two teeth. I don't want him to develop cavities.

Regression May Be Due to Detox

I got Jonathan's Urine tests results over the weekend. It is not showing that he is dumping loads of metals, but Dr. Yasko made a note that he is starting to detox. His Amino Acids are more in balance and his Beta-alanine is in the red area, which indicates that he is detoxifying if the methylation support is in place (which has been in place since October 2006). I don't like the fact that his obsessions (playing with music CDs in different CD players) are back, but he did make a couple of verbal remarks this weekend that looked promising. So I will be patient.

Short Week of Therapies

Due to the snow in the DC Metro area, the public schools have closed all week. Jonathan spent all day at the daycare again. Today, fortunately, his ABA Shadow could make it to the daycare. She indicated that he had a good day. He needed slight reminders to pay attention to the class and sit down with the group. They did a group play and Jonathan was not at all interested in participating. But on the positive spin, he is doing much better transitioning from activities.

The schools are again closed tomorrow. No SMILE (Sensory Gym Program). No ChildFind (Public School Pre-school Early Intervention program). He normally has 3 hours in the morning of SMILE or ABA and 3.45 hours in the afternoon of ChildFind. So he normally spends little time at the daycare. Abuita (Grandma) is going to try to take him snow sliding so he doesn't have to stay in the daycare all day. He has trouble tolerating that.

Happy Valentine's Day! - No School Today

We had a snow/ice storm last night and all the schools and daycares closed today. The kids missed Valentine's Day at school and exchanging their Valentine's cards. But they had fun at home while Mom and Dad tried to work.

Improvements Since December

Even though Jonathan had difficulties at school during the first 3 weeks of January 2007, he actually had a tremendous developmental improvement during the past 2 months.

The biggest breakthrough is amount of complex pretend that he has developed playing with Vanessa. His imagination is taken off. They play with the kitchen where they cook and eat, they feed themselves, and us, animals and babies. They pretend they are going to school and Mommy is one of the teachers and Daddy is the other teacher. Jonathan knows the names of the 3 schools he goes to and pretends he goes from one school to another. He also pretends he is Dad and he is going to work. They love the movie Monster House and now pretend that a robber house that they have is the Monster House and they feed the house. It is quite remarkable to see them come up with ideas.

The other great improvement is his ability to tie events together in his mind. He is now able to tell me what he ate today, what school he went to, and even what games he played and what stories he read. He really liked reading "Peter and the Wolf" last week and asked us to go to the Bookstore on Saturday to get it for him. That is a complex motor planning thought :) .

I stopped the Strep herbs for about 3 weeks and I believe that the Strep returned. He had eased up on the obsessions but they returned (specially with playing music CDs). This week he is playing more than being obsessive. I started giving the herbs again 2.5 weeks ago. Nonetheless, there are many areas where there is still a lot of work: expressive language is still at about 3 years old (he will be 5 in 1 month), imagination is still at about 2 years, social skills is an issue, his receptive language is also at about 3 years old, and he is starting to show ADD trends.

Besides the EDTA suppositories, I also started a new chelation therapy: DMPS suppositories. So far I have given him 3. I can see great cognitive improvements the day after. I want to be more aggressive with chelation therapies, but I am terrified of IV chelation. I also started giving him the Methyl B12 shots along with the Nasal spray. I did an Amino Acids urine test and a urine toxic metal test but have not received the results yet.

Difficulties During January

Jonathan had a major set back in January. In order to re-arrange his daily activities so I could start my new job, I worked with his current daycare to change his schedule from half days to full days. In doing that, I changed his morning Pre-School classroom to another room full of 5 year-old children (25 of them). Jonathan the first few days was confused but tried to cope. The second week he was not very happy to go to school but did not complain much. The third week he had a meltdown. He told me that he was scared of going to school. That he was "different". And other comments. I spoke with his shadow therapist and she told me that Jonathan had completely regressed emotionally and socially in that room. I spoke with his afternoon public school teacher and she said that Jonathan had been very sad since the beginning of the year. I went back to the daycare and talked to them about changing Jonathan to a room with younger children (ages 3.5 to 4). The week we did that, he completely changed and started enjoying going to school again.

I am concerned because I am not sure that he is ready for Kindergarden. The County is going to do a full assessment this month to see what kind of services Jonathan is eligible for. We are thinking about holding him back 1 year, so he would repeat preschool this September and go to Kindergarden when he is 6. We have to find a full-day private preschool that accepts children with high functioning autism.

Jonathan was selected to be part of NAA's 2007 Calendar. His picture was selected to symbolize "Hope" at the end of 2007 (December 2007). Let's pray for a miracle!

Purchase one to help donate money for research. The website is: http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/proddetail.php?prod=2007Calendar