The only activity today with therapists was Cyndi the Social Worker coming over to chitchat. She helped me gather some goals to tackle after I unloaded some of the stuff that's been bothering me all week:
1.) Talk to the guy who founded that North Suburban Autism group to see if he knows about any updates to insurance compliance with therapy for autistic children -- I told Cyndi that this group doesn't seem to be as "with it" as the Naperville group, but I joined it nonetheless. It could be a nice group, but I posted something about our situation and had some views but no responses. Talk about a diss.
2.) Call Edie Brennan of ABCI Autism Behavioral Consultants to find out how she can help set up some home therapy (if I go this route) -- I am interested in what really happens to Nikko after he phases out of Early Intervention. Sure he'll go to preschool, but then what? They will give him therapy at school, but I think Nikko should probably have some home-based therapy as well. I think this is where the mega-research comes in, whether to try other interventions such as ABA or geez, I don't know all the acronyms. Gotta review my about.com info on all the different types of therapies. This is a scary area because there's no one around to hold my hand.
3.) Ask Dr. Keck how the program at St. Alexius provides behavioral help and support for parents -- Dr. Santiago referred us to Dr. Keck waaaaay back when, and now that we'll get to meet her I wonder what is supposed to happen. We're not going for another diagnosis, we already have that. I didn't know that St. Alexius has an autism program, so I'll have to research what that all entails.
4.) Work on "independence" skills with Nikko i.e. Sit Next To Mommy, not on her -- I told Cyndi how Nikko was clingier than usual to me. She said that I should practice more independence for him because he'll need that when he goes to preschool. Hard to do, when we're all together here in the house all day. I'm trying to get him to hang out with other people, it's not like I'm not trying. Even today, I really wondered where we could go, just us three, besides Costco. Right now I can't run after the boys while Audrey is in a car seat because I can't abandon the car seat somewhere. I have to mull over this. I wish there was just some kind of room that was protected (ok, padded!) and kid-safe that wasn't in our house and allowed us to be social! Getting Nikko to be independent also conflicts with Shelly's advice that with all the stuff we're pushing him to do, give him MORE hugs and MORE reassurance. He loves to hang onto me and I do enjoy his affection, but not the ball-and-chain kind.
5.) Limiting the opportunity with vitamins -- one alternative here would be to put two in a jar and tell him that when they are done, they are all gone. No more. So if he eats his two and there's no more left, that's really it. Until, of course, I can get a picture schedule going. Then I can put a picture of the vitamins on the board when they'll be eaten.
We didn't have many lows today because every time I started yelling at Ronin to get down from the high chair or the window or to stop doing something, I had to stop myself and say that it wasn't worth it right now. Sure, this all sounds easy, but it's not!
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