Breakthroughs

It has been three weeks since we got the diagnosis. Since then we have been have set up an IEP, signed Mini Me up for special ed summer school and special ed pre kindergarten for the fall, and started going to speech therapy twice a week. In the these past three weeks we have had good days and also some very bad days. Today though, was a break through.

 Let me take you back to October when Mini Me switched preschools (pre-diagnosis). I switched him to a more academic preschool which also happened to be the same campus that had the elementary school Boy Wonder (his 7 year old brother) went to. Convenient for me. Bonus! Well as I soon found out this was the worst possible move I could have made. Mini hates change with a vengeance. I spent the first 5 months picking him up from school at least once a week (he only goes to school 3 days a week) and days that he didn't get sent home his teacher would tell me what a tough time he had at school. Monday was PT (perceptual training- bouncing balls, kicking balls, jumping, etc). Mini would lay on the floor and close his eyes. Wednesday was Music, Mini would flop down in the doorway and need to be physically moved. Friday was chapel. Mini would hide under the chairs. Any time he had to transition from the class to one of these other activities he would get very frustrated and lash out. For whatever reason he particularly hates Music. Since today was Wednesday Music class was on the agenda. Joy. Music days are usually the days that I get called. Morning came and went with no phone call. At pick up his teacher told me that he actually walked into Music and sat right down on the bench!!! He didn't participate, but he didn't fall apart either!! He even came home singing a song they had learned about Baby Beluga!

Since Mini was such a good boy in school today I decided to take him to lunch. Now, one thing about Mini is sometimes his sentence structure is hard to understand. All 4 year olds are tough to underdtand at times, but Mini's grammar isn't quite to level of his peers. As I mentioned before we started speech therapy a few weeks back. The first class he actually went off without me willingly. Ordinarily he hides behind me, clutching my leg making noises. And he went willingly! I digress though. So sitting outside Chipotle today we are talking about his day when all of a sudden he says "look she has a dress on". Mini has NEVER used the pronoun "she". Everything was "he" and "his". Part of our IEP was to improve his use of pronouns. And here in front of Chipotle, three weeks after starting speech therapy, my sweet Mini Me used the word "her" correctly. It made my heart skip!

This is just the beginning of our journey, but I will tell you I am over the moon excited about the changes I have seen in my Mini Me in just three weeks. The road ahead of us is long, but I am looking forward to the victories both big and small...

Diagnosis

Welcome to The Sensational Life. This blog is all about our lives- a mom, a dad, and two sons. One of which has Sensory Processing Disorder. So let me start off by telling you all about our diagnosis and our origins into our "sensational life"... Mini Me (our sensational son) was born through totally hippy birth means- drug free, widwife birth, whole food diet nourished. He was almost 9 pounds born full term. A week after he was born, he dropped to 8 pounds and was labeled a failure to thrive baby. Despite my best efforts to give him the best that I could, he got numerous ear infections as a baby,  was diagnosed with asthma at 10 months old, strabismus and esotropia at 20 months (that resulted in 2 eye surgeries), sleep apnea at age 3 (that led to a tonsillectomy and adenodectomy), and now the diagnosis that I have been dreading, autism with sensory processing disorder. In my heart of hearts I have known for some time. He has run from me out of the store straight into parking lot on multiple occasions, put a hamster in the freezer (don't worry he lived), popped the lock on the preschool playground with a stick, jumped off the couch and cracked his head open on the couch that resulted in 3 staples (which he cried for all of 10 seconds over), runs and screams when he's done something to get him in trouble, tries to choke the dog any chance he gets, is prone to violence and screams when he is not understood, dumps every bottle of shampoo/conditioner/shaving cream down the drain when he is in the shower, and has drawn all over my freezer in highlighter. Some of these seem silly, but having an older son I know that some of these things that mini me does just ain't right. And so, swallowing some pride I reached out. First I thought maybe he has a hearing problem because he rarely responds when he is called, so I had that tested. Nope, he hears just fine, he just doesn't listen. Then we moved on to a 2 month process involving a psychiatrist, speech therapist, his preschool teachers, and preschool director. The result came today- mild to moderate autism with sensory processing disorders. It hit like a slap in the face. The sting burned my eyes and my throat. To see the diagnosis in black and white hurt.

Now I have known many families with special needs children. My first experience was when we lived in Texas and I met a woman with two boys, the older of which was autistic. She was amazing. She took life in stride and was (and I am sure still is) an amazing mom to her boys. Nothing ever seemed to bring her down. Then, my sweet little nephew was diagnosed with Autism a few years ago. My brother and sister in law took it in stride and did everything that they can for him. I always admired them for their perseverance and patience even when things were crazy. So you would think that I would prepared and ready to face mini me's diagnosis. Unfortunately for me I was in denial a bit. I thought, he's just a 4 year old and they are all a little jerky he will turn 5 and it will be done. He will turn 5, but it won't be done. There will be speech therapy, special education classes, occupational therapy, specialists, the list goes on and on for who knows how long. I will come to grips with my new reality, but it won't be tonight. Tonight I nurse that sting and throw myself a pity party with just me and a bottle of wine...