Busy July

I've been pretty absent about blogging lately. It's been a busy month. After Nikko's ESY class ended, he had two weeks off before starting up with the second round of camps. He's participating in something called the Illinois Experiential Program for Autism every day this week. Sponsored by the NSSEO (Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization) it's basically a program where they train other educators/teachers on autism and the kids participating are the guinea pigs. We heard it was a great experience for the kids because they get all this attention from professionals and they could even shed some light on behavioral issues. It's day two and so far Nikko is rolling with the punches. He was upset and whining when first getting buckled in on the bus yesterday, but today he willingly got into his seat and was ok with me pulling the seat belt tight. I was a little freaked out because he was sitting with a lap belt on instead of a harness. The bus driver couldn't seem to give me an explanation as to why Nikko didn't get to wear a harness. Luckily for the driver, Nikko stayed in his seat the entire trip, but he managed to wriggle out of his seat belt. (Sigh)

After this week of training, Nikko will continue with his NWSRA camp, 3 days/week. I'm looking forward to his experience at this camp because he'll be having FUN, going swimming and just being around other people that know how to handle kids like him. I met Sam, his aide, and feel comfortable knowing that Nikko will have a guy showing him around. I just hope Sam will remember to change Nikko's diaper as needed.

Finally, it's important to note that this is the eve before Nikko's fifth birthday. I read back to my entry one year ago and Nikko was at the beginning stages of being verbal. It makes a world of difference to be able to hear his voice! Just today, when in the basement with Rebecca the ABA therapist, Nikko was scripting from one of the Signing Time DVDs. He was talking about the signs for Grandmother ("Just like the sign for Mom, but it moves forward) and Grandfather. I remarked aloud, "It's kind of neat to hear him scripting, because I think that must be how his voice would sound like if he were having regular conversations." For a split second I suddenly felt so very sad that Nikko wasn't actually HAVING conversations but was just repeating things he heard from another source. I had to shake it off, however, and just be grateful that Nikko has the capacity to talk, if not the motivation. His overall communication abilities has improved over the past year, using gestures, signs and broken speech (don't forget the whining) to communicate if he wants something.

And Nikko's been a very happy camper, especially when we head out to the park district pool. He is truly in a better place when he's in the water. We hope to take the kids to the pool tomorrow, since that is Nikko's most favorite activity. Happy birthday, Nikko!