Day 28-32: FOUR WEEKS post steroid
July 8th:Hunter walked right into his private preschool today- little hesitation, but no hitting, no throwing his backpack...and he had a week off! I expected the exact opposite. He had a great day at school, almost no issues (one time became upset b/c the teacher said he couldn't listen to a CD at one point). We decided not to go to the IOP because his lead therapist had strep- I am so paranoid about it that we didn't chance it. Things are going too well right now to risk it, if somehow it was passed to someone else.
Had great eye contact throughout the day and good conversation. One instance at home of taking away tablet and getting hit- put him in the laundry room to be "safe." He was in there for over five minutes, banging the washing machine, slamming the door...but eventually came out and apologized for hitting me. Made three stops this afternoon, which required him to stop playing the tablet (puzzle building is his new thing). The first time, he became angry, threw the tablet, and hit me as we tried to walk into my office. Once inside, he was very sweet, and back at the car I made him have a two minute time-out from the tablet for hitting. He complied, and we made two more stops with him stopping the puzzles, no issues.
His new thing is, "After I finish this, I will go." Or "After I look at McQueen's tires, I will go." He is taking control of his OCD!
Played outside after dinner and he truly chased me. Wanted me to play Catch the Monster, and he ran away from me, giggling, waiting for me to catch him.
July 9th:
Here were the notes from his ABA session:
Hunter needed prompting to take 1 break today and agreed to go back to work after only 3 minutes.
Therapist: “that looks hard!” Hunter: “but I can do it!”
Daddy was out of town that night, and Peyton was having an especially hard time going to bed. I heard Hunter downstairs playing the tablet, and all of a sudden he came upstairs, by himself, sans tablet, and said, "Mommy! Paige and I are taking turns on the tablet! Isn't that so nice??"
I sat there, as I had been singing one of my praise songs to Peyton, baffled that the child I had witnessed throw an all-out 17 minute tantrum over taking away an electronic device had just willingly given it up to his sister.
After I got Peyton down, I saw these two on the stairs:
July 10th: Had another great day at preschool. No issues! IOP was great...
When we got home, our old neighbors came for dinner. The girls finished eating and decided to play "vacation." They ran upstairs and shouted, "Hunter! Come play subway with us!"
He ran up the stairs, with his backpack, and packed it up with his little treasures.
The kids pretended to travel, sleep, and were being silly with one another- and Hunter was included! A little prompting from the girls and he was there, playing pretend. Warmed my heart.
July 11th: The kids had a fun morning with the sitter- no issues. Hunter had therapy in the afternoon and had a mostly uneventful session- he did hit his therapist b/c he didn't want to get started. Sweet at night and semi-easy bedtime.
July 12th: Good day at preschool but did have his shoes off when I arrived- he had wanted to watch a video and his teacher had told him no. Haven't seen the clothing removal in a long time. Took all the kids to our farmer's market and made it through the entire store with a cart full of groceries and not ONE meltdown! Pinching myself. I used to not even attempt it! We took the kids to the pool for night swimming and pizza. Had a blast and no issues of non-compliance. I was hit when the lifeguard told him to wait on the diving board until Paige exited the pool. Wish I could get him to use his words instead of being aggressive. Still, 1,000 times better than over a month ago.
I can't tell you how much I love to see him smile. Love to see him enjoy life.
And most of all, how alive his eyes are.
There is something about a child with Autism's eyes...they always seem to be looking through you. I can pick out a child on the spectrum in a group of people by their eyes.
Hunter used to have those lost, blank eyes...until the steroid.
Love my baby's eyes...
Had great eye contact throughout the day and good conversation. One instance at home of taking away tablet and getting hit- put him in the laundry room to be "safe." He was in there for over five minutes, banging the washing machine, slamming the door...but eventually came out and apologized for hitting me. Made three stops this afternoon, which required him to stop playing the tablet (puzzle building is his new thing). The first time, he became angry, threw the tablet, and hit me as we tried to walk into my office. Once inside, he was very sweet, and back at the car I made him have a two minute time-out from the tablet for hitting. He complied, and we made two more stops with him stopping the puzzles, no issues.
His new thing is, "After I finish this, I will go." Or "After I look at McQueen's tires, I will go." He is taking control of his OCD!
Played outside after dinner and he truly chased me. Wanted me to play Catch the Monster, and he ran away from me, giggling, waiting for me to catch him.
July 9th:
Here were the notes from his ABA session:
Hunter was in a great mood today!! Hunter had a hard time giving the tablet back
after his first reinforcer break, but after practicing giving it back, he told
his therapist “Next time, you know what I’m going to give the tablet right
back!”
While coloring, Hunter’s therapist leaned over
and started coloring on his picture, and Hunter very calmly said “You know what
Ms. Lara? I think I’m just going to color this by myself.” Hunter needed prompting to take 1 break today and agreed to go back to work after only 3 minutes.
Therapist: “that looks hard!” Hunter: “but I can do it!”
Daddy was out of town that night, and Peyton was having an especially hard time going to bed. I heard Hunter downstairs playing the tablet, and all of a sudden he came upstairs, by himself, sans tablet, and said, "Mommy! Paige and I are taking turns on the tablet! Isn't that so nice??"
I sat there, as I had been singing one of my praise songs to Peyton, baffled that the child I had witnessed throw an all-out 17 minute tantrum over taking away an electronic device had just willingly given it up to his sister.
After I got Peyton down, I saw these two on the stairs:
July 10th: Had another great day at preschool. No issues! IOP was great...
He ran up the stairs, with his backpack, and packed it up with his little treasures.
The kids pretended to travel, sleep, and were being silly with one another- and Hunter was included! A little prompting from the girls and he was there, playing pretend. Warmed my heart.
 |
| being silly |
July 11th: The kids had a fun morning with the sitter- no issues. Hunter had therapy in the afternoon and had a mostly uneventful session- he did hit his therapist b/c he didn't want to get started. Sweet at night and semi-easy bedtime.
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| reading books on the stairs |
 |
| He colored Lightning McQueen other colors! This has been unheard of in our house- he HAD to make him red, since he is a red car...our therapists have been working so hard on this. |
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| singing and dancing to VBS songs |
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| breakfast with the boys |
I can't tell you how much I love to see him smile. Love to see him enjoy life.
And most of all, how alive his eyes are.
There is something about a child with Autism's eyes...they always seem to be looking through you. I can pick out a child on the spectrum in a group of people by their eyes.
Hunter used to have those lost, blank eyes...until the steroid.
Love my baby's eyes...
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