Brycen has always been pretty good at sports, hence he IS his father's son:)
Mike has been working with Brycen on catching again as he used to have this skill almost mastered over a year ago, but lost some of his fine motor skills & hand/eye coordination during the regression that are required to be able to catch a ball.
Here is a video of his progress and the result of this hard work!
Note in the video you will see Brycen looking at himself in the TV screen often. This is something he does a lot lately. Now that he is starting to do some dance moves again to various songs on cartoons, he tends to sit down on the floor in front of the glass door to the TV stand and watch himself as he does the moves. He will also turn around in his chair at the table so he can see himself eating in the microwave door that is directly behind him on the counter. I'm not quite sure what to make of all this, but I think that his awareness of himself and interest in watching himself is a good thing.
Oh, and almost forgot to mention that Brycen did a great job imitating "bubbles" today! I distinctly remember him saying this word quite clearly before he regressed. Shortly after Aubree was born and while my Mom was here visiting, I remember sitting in the living room at the old house feeding Aubree and could hear Brycen outside on the porch with my Mom clearly saying "bubbles" while she would blow them and he would chase them. His fascination with bubbles has not ended, though that word did disappear. He is now saying "bu-bu" with prompts from us...and would even put together the sign "more", "bu-bu", and the sign "please" with prompts today. While the words we do get from him are prompted, at least we are getting a few more word approximations out of him...and not just once, but multiple times! The key to working with Brycen (and many children on the Autism spectrum) is repetition, and while it does get boring to say the same phrase over and over for 1/2 hr of "work", and then have to take "breaks" to let Brycen finish his flapping so that he can concentrate once again on the "work", the rewards can be amazing! Good job, Brycen!!!
"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
Sunday, July 11, 2010
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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.
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.
Awesome Brycen!!!! Makes grandma so happy to see you in this video playing catch with daddy and saying bye to us. Love you sooooooo much!
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