Day One - sort of

I forgot to start this blog by mentioning that Nikko was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder on October 6, 2008. Back in February/March, as a result of his 18 month visit at the pediatrician, he was recommended to Early Intervention @ Clearbrook, an organization that works with disadvantaged children and developmental delays. He's been receiving Occupational, Speech and Developmental Therapies ever since.

This isn't quite Day One of Nikko's therapies, but it's Day One of my attempts to blog our progress. While I stood doing the dishes, I thought about Nikko's therapy sessions and how critical a time it is for him to be improving. Not all the therapists write notes that allow me to have a copy, especially Jen the Developmental Therapist, which is alarming because she is the best of the three. I should be keeping a notebook on everything that's happening to him, so why not blog it? That's the revelation I had after doing all the silverware. It's late, unfortunately, so I won't recap everything yet. I'll just put some thoughts down...

I'm worried that Nikko's progress isn't happening quickly enough. We should be going through the process of evaluations for preschool very soon, and I think he will not be at a point where he can mainstream at all. I think he's destined for a special preschool because his skills are so delayed. Especially his speech. I've got to keep track of the stuff Jen tells me, because whatever she's doing with him seems to be working even more so now. Last week we talked about him making choices, which is frustrating him big time. He's been regressing and not wanting to participate in therapy sessions, but Jen can pull some kind of activity out of him even though he struggles against me like a greased pig.

Nikko didn't do great in Speech Therapy today. He was better than last week, but still difficult. He was resisting being in the corner and I got a good workout again. He may have paused 3 times to work on a puzzle briefly, but nothing was productive in my mind. I'm hoping that DT tomorrow will yield good results. I also hope that Audrey and Ronin won't be underfoot so I can concentrate on Nikko.