"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

Friday, July 9, 2010

Brycen is HAPPY!

Over the last month or so, I have noticed that Brycen seems so much more relaxed and content with life. His tantrums have lessened (cross my fingers! knock on wood!) and he just seems like he is really trying harder with everything. I know he loves going to school, but I think it was starting to wear on him in the end. While we know he needs structure to keep him from doing a lot of stimming and showing aggressive behavior, we also want him to have downtime to do what he WANTS to do! Isn't that what being a kid is all about?!



Here is a quick summary of the past week and half events:

  • He saw the pediatric dentist for the first time. Of course it was still traumatic to him, but so much faster and less stress overall than when we tried last year with the regular dentist. This one was so fast, counting/brushing/flouride, that before he knew what he was fighting, it was over that fast and with NO MELTDOWN! According to her, he has beautiful teeth and the grinding is doing no damage, and she is actually not even concerned about it until his permanent teeth come in.
  • He put on one of his sandals by himself this week with the OT after she demonstrated with the other and loosened them up. This is something I have been trying for about two months and he just refuses to do anything for me! Now I know the truth...and he's not going to keep getting away with it!
  • Speech is the same...imitating letters, some words, and attempting to count to 3 in imitation of a cartoon he watches. He is now starting to answer our "yes or no" questions without prompting...we ask the question, and it does take him 30 or so seconds to process, but then he answers on his own...whereas before we would have to prompts "yes or no?"
  • He sat through most of the parade and the fireworks fabulously! He seemed completely oblivious to the noise from the fireworks because he was so fascinated by the cars driving by on the street...and during the parade, he would hide his eyes from louder noises. Interesting that both had loud noises, but he had different reactions to each one.

We are heading to Kansas City on Monday for 4 nights to visit the zoo, Deanna Rose Farm, a Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit, hotel waterpark, Union station/train models and of course to visit family that live there. The whole week is entirely focused on the children and what they like to do...and that's the way it should be! Mike and I have agreed to save diligently so we can spend one week of vacation each year doing something focused on the kids and the other week of vacation each year focused on us and our needs (hence Vegas in February).

Surprisingly, I am much more relaxed about taking Brycen to all these places because of how well he has been doing lately! Of course there are some things we still need to stress about like his wandering away from us, the loud noises, certain sensory toys packed...but he has been demonstrating to us that he can be so much more flexible when away from home and that is making planning this vacation so much easier!

Posted by at
Labels:

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJuly 10, 2010 at 12:48 AM

    Brycen has done some great things besides what Melissa has stated....He could lead you to where to go at the Spencer Hospital. A great example of this: my first time taking him to speech, alone, I went once before with Melissa showing me the way. Brycen drug me to where we check in, that's good because I wasn't 1000% sure where to go. Then he leads me to the elevator to take, and he pushes the up arrow. He waits so patiently, directly infront of the door, it opens he bolts in regardless if someone might be coming out. After the door close he pushes the button for the 3rd floor. Then he turns and waits, because the back of the elevator is where the door opens. Once the door opens he goes directly to the waiting room and keeps himself busy until Laura comes to get him.
    I think that his memory is amazing and surprising! Like I tell people he isn't Dumb, he has Autism!!!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

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.