Therapy, therapy, and more therapy

Blake enjoying a car ride from Uncle Al:


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Brett and Blake's therapies have begun and who would have known keeping track of everything could be a full-time job? This therapist needs to come this day, but so does this one. The other has to take this week off! I really need to invest in a good day planner. Right now they are undergoing speech and occupational therapy, as well has having a couple hours a week with a special instructor. The special instructor amounts to a private preschool teacher who is also educated in speech therapy (though NOT a certified SLP), signing, etc. She'll incorporate everything (OT and ST) into what she does with the boys. She is the only therapist we haven't met yet. We will do that on Tuesday morning.

Our speech therapist, Miss Becky, has come a couple times. Unfortunately, we won't see her again until mid-April because we only get 2 hours a month with her and we already used our time for this month. We are working on getting more, but early intervention in GA is in crisis mode and some programs in neighboring counties have actually gone bankrupt. Our county is just trying to stay afloat and as a result, the services are severely limited for the first 90 days. After that you can contest what you're getting. So, this is what we're stuck with for now. It's frustrating because it's the therapy the boys could really use the most. We don't have any long-term goals yet because Becky likes to work with them a few times and get to know them better before making long-term goals. Short-term we're working on increasing their eye-contact through playing peek-a-boo and other interactive games. Becky feels very strongly the boys have apraxia which can also affect the limbs. It all involves motor planning problems. The brain knows what it wants to do or say, but the communication with the mouth and/or limbs is impaired. That's the condensed version for those of you who don't have time to read the links. Becky is working on blowing bubbles with the boys (requires a lot of motor planning) and we're also starting simple sign language with them. I am learning tons myself! I've always wanted to learn some signing and now I'm getting my opportunity.

Miss Betsy (Becky and Betsy, I SWEAR they did this just to confuse me),the occupational therapist, comes once a week for an hour each time. Right now we're alternating boys every week. It was Blake's turn this week. She is SO wonderful with them. She told me she has a thing for autistic children and they have a thing for her. That is very apparent. She did an autism evaluation on them and it scores them from 30-60. A score of 31-40 is mild autism, 41-50 is moderate, and 51-60 is severe. Blake scored a 31 and Brett scored a 30. So, they are at the lowest end of the spectrum, just as I suspected. OT is very fun. The boys don't even realize they are getting therapy. She is working on the boys sensory issues which are probably worse than I originally thought. They both have sensory issues, but in different areas. Blake hates things on him that aren't supposed to be there. The wristband he had to wear while at the evaluation drove him nuts. He rubbed his arm on me, on the wall, wherever he could to try to get it off of him. Brett has an extreme aversion to toys that vibrate. You turn on a vibrating toy and he flies across the room in fear. To overcome these sensory issues, this week we started brush therapy and joint compression. These are supposed to be done every 2 hours while awake, but Betsy suggested every diaper change would suffice. WHEW! Blake seems to really love it although it really tickles him from time to time. He even tried to brush himself during his diaper change today. The first time I did it to Brett, he really wanted to get away, but now he's come around and seems to like it although he's still a bit more cautious than his brother. It's supposed to calm them and you can even do it during temper tantrums to get them under control. Fortunately, we don't have too many of those in our house.

Lots of people have been asking me about what I think about the link of autism and vaccinations. I have to say, I don't know. No one really knows. In my heart of hearts, I believe it's something more genetic with an environmental trigger. That would be extremely difficult to figure out because there are just too many things in our environment that could be the culprit. I really don't care what caused it, I just want to love my children and help them in any way I can. I am going to try some supplements. They already take fish oil which is supposed to help with the apraxia and I'm also starting some vitamins and some digestive enzymes which is an alternative to the gluten free, casein free diet. I just don't think I could be disciplined enough for something like that.

Brett had his re-evaluation with the orthopedic surgeon yesterday and he is almost completely healed, but not quite. Everyday, every week we can go without a fall, the stronger that bone is. The good news is he doesn't have to wear the stinky sling anymore-YAY! If he was in daycare the doctor would have recommended keeping it on as a reminder to others that he still is recovering from an injury, but since it's just us, we can toss it! We go back in another 4 weeks for another x-ray which will hopefully reveal a 100% completely healed clavicle.

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I don't know if the chicks dig Brett, but Mommy sure does! And, he sure does dig chicks and not the feathered variety. He's my little flirt!