"I Wish It Was Saturday Already"

It has been a couple of weeks since my last update. So I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Improvements:

Expressive Language: Jonathan's language keeps improving. I notice improvements daily.

• I was shocked today when he told me that he wished that it was Saturday already because he wanted to play with his Wii. We were so active this weekend, that he had little time to play with the Wii. But it isn't just that. The fact that he understands and can appropriately use the word "wish" is a tremendous milestone. I had never heard him use it before.
• More language examples. He came and asked me where his computer was. Daddy told him that it was in the living room and he came to ask me where the living room was (remember that he is just learning all these new words and definitions, so living room is new to him). I told him and he went to check it out. He couldn't find it and came back to tell me that he couldn't find it. I went with him and said "yeap, Daddy lied to you, it isn't here". Daddy screamed from the back telling us where he put it. I opened a drawer, and there it was. But I asked him why he wanted it since he couldn't play with electronics during the weekdays, and he said "I know mom, but I want you to put it on the table so I can see it. I won't touch it until Saturday. But on Saturday, I am going to play with my computer and my Wii".
  
• Another example was this morning when I dropped him off at school. I took him with Vanessa and getting them ready to go to school in the morning is challenging. They are both high-maintenance. Today was going to rain and Jonathan asked me yesterday to give him his umbrella (he has a dinosaur's umbrella that I bought him a month ago). Today he reminded me, and I told him that I didn't want him to take it to school because he was going to lose it and I didn't want him to lose it. And he said "but mom, I am not going to lose it. I promise. Please, I want to take my umbrella to school." When I asked him why he said "because everyone has one and I want to have my own umbrella too". That was pretty incredible to hear, so I let him take his umbrella. I didn't even care if he lost it. However, I made him promise me that he wouldn't lose it. When I got him, there it was!!!

Social Interactions: Jonathan really enjoys playing with other kids and in groups.

• Lately, it has been wonderful to watch him play with other kids and get along and follow their leads. He is not overwhelmed. And if he doesn't care about someone, he will tell me. He now can tell me who he likes to play with and who he doesn't.

Energy Level: out of nowhere, he is always full of energy.

• The past month has been incredible. I have not heard Jonathan complain that he is tired in a month. Anything we do, everywhere we go, he is engaged, curious, energetic. At home, he won't stop. He is either playing with Vanessa or looking for things to do. He is always on his scooter. Quite a change. Pretty dramatic actually.
  

Reading: He can read full sentences and small books.

• He is reading better and now is paying more attention to punctuation and meaning (pragmatics).
  

Areas of concern:

Obsessions: he is still obsessed with electronics.

• The Nintendo Wii, our telephones, PlayStation, Daddy's iPOD, my digital cameras. He is very drawn to electronics. Since we cannot remap his brain not to be to drawn to electronics, we are trying to control their usage. No electronics during weekdays and limited hours during weekends are the best approach. We let him play with the Wii on Saturday and Sunday morning and then we do activities outside the house for hours so that he does not have the temptation to play. We also let him play for 30 minutes to 1 hour before bedtime.

Social Interactions: he is bossy.

• If things don't go his way, he gets confrontational and bossy. He will argue, and sometimes he will compromise and others we need to intervene. This is one of the hardest things for him because he is still lacking social cues.
• He has turned into a sentimental and also empathetic kid. He is particularly concerned about Vanessa's well-being. A couple of weeks ago, at a playground, a kid threw a ball at Vanessa and Vanessa started crying. He confronted him and said "hey, do not hurt my little sister", and threw a ball back at the kid. That was quite incredible to watch.
• He is learning to express his emotions much better. He came to me a couple of weeks ago and looked at me and said "Mommy, I love you very much. I want to be with you forever." And when someone pushes him or tells him something he does not like, he is doing much better at controlling his emotions and letting them know that he is not happy.
  

Stims: Self-stimulatory behaviors

• He is still humming quite a bit.
  
• He is not walking on the tip of his toes that much, but he still does it.
  
• He is still sucking his thumb, but has dramatically reduced the frequency and length.

Health / Gut: still not healthy

• Since I removed a number of supplements, he started having gut problems. His leaky gut returned and he is having bad bowel movements. He actually had an accident last Thursday and my dad had to go get him at school. Nothing bad. I had ran out of Candex, and he is a yeasty kid. I added it back on Saturday, and his gut is doing much better.

Expressive Language: still a bit rote and lacks melody. Not age appropriate either.

• My biggest concern, even more than the lack of melody, is that he still does not speak like a 6-year old and therefore in certain situations, he does not know how to play with other 6-year olds. He understands a great deal, but since he has a lot of catching up, games like treasure hunts are not known to him and he cannot follow and direct other kids as well. But he is getting better and does not feel intimidated.
  
• Also, sometimes when he speaks, other kids and adults don't understand him. I don't know if it is because his language needs more melody and intonation or if his is just not pronouncing certain words correctly. I have a meeting tomorrow with a speech pathologist to assess him.

Despite the items in the "areas of concern", I must say that Jonathan has come a very long way. It is like a dream come true. 3 years ago I cried when he came to me, out of the blue being in his own little strange world, and gave me a kiss. I thought that was the biggest breakthrough. Then when he could tell me with drawings (happy and sad faces) how he felt. That was huge. I have somehow forgotten the terrible and saddest moments. The improvements from the therapies are sticking and we see little regressions when we change things in his protocols.

Last week I was notified that he is going so well in Kindergarten, that he does not qualify for ESY (extended school year) in the county. I was counting on that for the summer and we saw ourselves drowning with anxieties regarding what to do with Jonathan. I don't want to send him to camps with kids with special needs that are in worse shape than he is because I want him to be around neuro-typical kids his age as often as possible. First grade is going to be tough and I want to expose him now when kids are not as mean and he is still pretty innocent. So after much research, we enrolled him in 4 different camps with the county parks. I hope he enjoys them. A couple of weeks of sports, a week at a farm, an a couple of week doing all kinds of indoors and outdoors activities. I am scared of how the teachers will react to the fact that he is on the spectrum, but I will meet with them personally the first day to explain and hopefully they will embrace him. The public school system and public parks have an obligation to not discriminate. And since he does not qualify for special services, he needs to be admitted in regular classes. Keep your fingers crossed.

Okay, this turned out longer than I originally anticipated. I have an appointment with his DAN! Dr. tomorrow and I will write more about it then. Here are a couple of pictures from this past 2 weeks. Enjoy!