"When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
Helen Keller

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Extreme symptoms...and Start Smart Baseball, Brycen's way!

The last couple days have been a little different with him...some of his symptoms have been very extreme and have worried me a little bit. I know every child on the spectrum can vary each day which is a part of the disorder and that is hard for many people to understand...but I've NEVER noticed it to this extreme. Yesterday when he came home from school, his jabbering and noises were very loud...very disturbing to me since sometimes I can tune him out as I am used to the noise, but that was not possible yesterday. He is well known for not answering to his name when we say it, but yesterday it was so much worse. I think I said his name about 15 times, in different ways and he still did not respond. His eye contact has been getting so much better, but yesterday it was back to what it was about a year ago. When he was getting ready for bed after I got home from work, I stood him in front of me and tried to talk to him, and he continued to look to each side and trying to turn his whole body away from me like he was overstimulated by a simple conversation I was attempting. Today, baseball started like it did last week, but when the kids started running a lap, he seemed very slow and kept stumbling around. I am hoping both days is because he is tired, but that even seems like an odd excuse considering he has actually slept through the night the last two nights.
Anyway, here are two videos I shot at baseball tonight. One is of Brycen doing his version of the crabwalk after watching another parent help his two children do it (I admit, Mommy was way too lazy to get on the floor to try this) and then the other video is his version of the frog-hop.
He just likes to play by his own rules and in his own way. Way to go Brycen! I know you are learning so much and are trying so hard...we are very proud of you!
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Autism and Our Family

"Autism"----It's one word that can change the life of a child and family in so many ways. Autism Spectrum Disorders are being diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 68 children currently. If you do not already know someone that has been diagnosed, the statistics say it won't be long before you do.

Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!

Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.

Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.