Karen's feedback

After his session today, Karen asked me if Nikko had any reactions (positive or negative) to the therapeutic listening she did with him last week. I told her I didn't notice anything different. He wasn't more scripty and wasn't in a bad mood at all. He was destined to go to school anyway. Same thing today, he wasn't more or less scripty. Other than the toe-door-slamming incident, he's been in a pretty good mood all week. I have noticed, as I mentioned yesterday, that he's very unfocused as of late. I'm still wondering if the orange cheese puffs are to blame, or was it the cheesy mac I made (loaded with garlic because I ran out of onions)? I may never know, but I won't give him any more orange cheese puffs just to be sure. Karen talked about their session, how it went well until near the end when they were doing a memory card drill. He was naming a card and then depositing it into a box, signifying that the action is complete. I don't know exactly what they were doing, but suddenly he wouldn't put the card in the box because the lid was on, and I heard him screaming up a storm. She didn't seem worried, however. He got over it once the session was over and he promptly asked for a lollipop when he saw me. Karen talked about how Nikko takes a few seconds, even as many as 30 seconds, to respond to identifying a word. That response time needs to be improved so that he can properly utilize the words he has learned/is learning in everyday interactions. But there is something in his head that is not making the connection fast enough. The unspoken word is, I assume, autism.

We came back home, had lunch and then the boys went to school. I ran errands with Audrey. We went to drop off some mail, some gifts for the Creens, and then to Costco. The boys came home and had snack, and then revisited watching some Veggie Tales episodes. It was an easy night, and Nikko was still in good spirits. His toe is probably not hurting as much as it did, but it looks nasty and black. Hopefully it's just the bruise.

Tomorrow morning we are seriously going to attempt to bring the kids for the blood draw. I don't know how it will go, but I do know we'll have to bring some strong reinforcers like lollipops and maybe even M&Ms for Nikko. I'm not looking forward to it, but it has to get done!