(HBOT 24) Pretend Play to Get What He Wants

When I arrived at the daycare to pick him up, he was sitting on the carpet with another kid and an adult playing a game. He got up excited to see me and said bye to everyone. On the way out he asked: "Mommy, where are we going?" I said that we were going home to bathe and change and then off to the submarine. Then he said: "Mommy, after submarine I want go to toy store". I asked him why and he said "I want to buy a new cartridge". I told him he already had 15 cartridges (Leap Ahead Leapster cartridges), and he said "I want 16". Then I asked what cartridge he wanted, and he said "the hungry caterpillar cartridge". I told him that it was okay.

We was quiet on the way to the HBOT. He was playing with his Leapster toy and paying attention to the traffic lights and telling me when stop, slow down or hurry up and go. I tried to have a conversation with him, and he did well for the first couple of minutes. Then I asked him a more complicated question, and he hesitated, as he could not find the words and then said: "Mommy I don't want to talk anymore". I realized that he had everything in his head, but his apraxia won't let him express it.

HBOT Day 24

Today it was cooler. The technician fixed the A/C unit last night, so the chamber was comfortable. We got in and today Jonathan had a bit of trouble with the compression. His ears bothered him. He must have a bit of fluids due to allergies. I'll call the doctor tomorrow and order a prescription for Zyrtek.

We watched Dora the entire hour. Jonathan was totally into it. He answered all of Dora's questions, and laughed when it was funny. When we finished, he asked me where we were going and I told him that we needed to go to the grocery store to get bananas and then home. I knew he wanted to go to Toys R Us, but he has so many cartridges that I figured he would forget.

Well, he didn't. But instead of screaming at me, he invented a Dora story. He told me that I was Boots, he was Dora, he called the Map to map out the route he wanted. His motor planning was very nice and complex. He told me that we were first going to the grocery store, then toy store and finally home. He used his imagination, and pointed me to this pretend ideas (a bad guy was in the corner of the car, etc.). It was fun to play.

The plan was first grocery store, then toy store and finally home. We went to the grocery store, and he was excited to help me. When we finished, he took out his imaginative Map and put an invisible check mark and told me that toy store was next. We was so excited. When we arrived, he was jumping of excitement. He new exactly what he wanted and where it was. We took it and went to the cash register to pay. There were people in front and he was very patient. He kept walking in circles and it wasn't that he had to go to the bathroom. I believe he still has middle ear balancing problems. He needs to constantly move to find his body in space. We got our turn, paid and went home.

His receptive language has improved greatly in the past two weeks. But his expressive language has really improved. We desperately need a speech therapist. I think we need to work on some pronounciations and tones. And even though he still gets stuck with complex questions, he has improved soooo much in this area. Still not age appropriate, but definitely developing nicely.

One thing that I realized a couple of days ago as I attended a parent's group meeting is that I strongly feel that Jonathan is reacting well to the HBOT because I killed his instestinal strep. Strep feeds with oxygen, and I was scared it was going to increase. But instead, he is waking up!