9 Rounds of DMSA/ALA

We completed 9 rounds of the DMSA/ALA quelation this past weekend. We all have the schedule down pretty well now (including Jonathan). He is reacting well. I do believe his candida has increased. But he has not regressed, nor has his OCD increased.

Observed improvements:

• Expressive language: His language has really improved in the past month. But I don't know if it is the left-over reaction from the neurofeedback or the chelation. His reading comprehension has improved. He gets what he reads much better.
  
• Memory: both his short-term memory and long-term memory of experiences he lives have improved dramatically. He is retaining experiences better and can remember them. He really does not recall much of anything that he lived the first 6.5 years of his life.
  
• Social interactions: His social skills are also improving. We went to a sports store this weekend to get him swimming goggles and he saw a ball he wanted to buy. After much convincing (I didn't want to buy it, but he begged), I gave him a $10 bill and he paid for it. He started a bit weird with the cashier telling him that he had "magic money" but the cashier was very nice and played along. After he paid, the cashier gave him the ball back and Jonathan said "thank you man!" and the guy responded "your welcome bro!". That was incredible. He is really starting to pick up on idiomatic expressions. That is very exciting to me. He also loves to order his own food at restaurants. He is even funny sometimes.
• Play skills: his pretend play is resuscitating. He is playing a lot with Vanessa lately. And he even likes to carry a dalmatian puppy stuffed animal with him around when Vanessa has hers.
  
• Empathy: he is more affectionate lately and when he hurts someone, he is now saying "I am sorry" and really meaning it. So I believe this area is improving too.
• Asking questions: he is asking a lot more questions lately. We went to the movies to see Night at the Museum and he asked a lot of questions. Then, when Roosevelt came up, he said "Mommy, when you were my age, who was the president of the United States"? Well, I could not answer that. I really don't know my American history that well, but I it impressed me that he asked me such question.
• Humming: he is humming 1/3 less the time that he used to. I am not sure what helped with this. But it is great. His humming drives me crazy.
  

Areas of concern:

• Strange movements: I did notice today that he was making strange hand movements, but nothing too annoying.
• Stims: besides the humming, he now talks to himself more than before. That is driving me crazy. And he is continuing to walk with the tip of his toes a lot.
  
• Weather Awareness: this question keeps coming up in assessments and I keep noticing that Jonathan does not get it. He does not pay attention to weather it is cold or hot to select the appropriate clothes to wear. He has swimming lessons on Sunday. I told him to change and he came back with his swimsuit and a long sleeve shirt.
• Language: this is still not age appropriate, but he is really making nice progress here.
• Voice: he is still loud. His voice is not as flat as it used to be, but it is still a bit flat and robotic.
• Too sentimental: he cries whenever I say no, or if I get upset for something, or if he doesn't get what he wants. And whenever something does not go his way, he is very dramatic and says "I will NEVER ..."
  
• Low muscle tone: I continue to struggle with his low muscle tone. He cannot sparrow at Tae Kwon Do (at all). He can't kick, punch, etc. He is a strong kid, but cannot control his muscles well. He can do the form very well, but cannot sparrow. He is having difficulties with riding the bike. The bigger he gets, the worse it is because he is heavier. One of the things that will help him is lose weight.
• Low metabolism: he is overweight, but he does not each lots of sweets. He eats lots, but not so much to be a good 10 lbs overweight. I enrolled him in 9 weeks of sports summer camps. I hope that helps him lose some weight and increase his metabolism. I am working on changing his diet a bit to decrease the carbs a bit and increase veggies, and fruits. He does well with protein and I don't need to increase that.
  

Last week I ran out of one of the homeopathic drops. I didn't buy it (forgot) and 3 days later, Jonathan's throat tic returned! It excites me to know which homeopathic drop is the one that is turning that off. I have run out of the other ones for a couple of days without the same reaction. It is the apo-INFEKT. It is supposed to help with the strep.

I like this new method of chelation. I believe it is working for Jonathan.