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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Logan

Logan has been progressing some lately. When he gets really upset, I lightly brush my hand down his cheek and say, "What baby, what is it?" The other day he said, "What baby?" while he took his own and and brushed it down his cheek. He laughed up a storm when I smiled at him and said it after he did. A little later he was upset because he was in time out for smacking his baby brother and as he cried he was doing the hand brush and saying the "What baby?" It almost broke my heart to see it but I stood firm and made him sit in the corner until he said "sorry!" and came to his brother and said it while signing it too. He then proceeded to give Ryan a big kiss. Ryan stopped crying and smiled as soon as he got the kiss from his big brother. (Love to see stuff like this between them!)

On the way into Speech this morning, as the automatic doors opened, Logan said "open!" We have to go through two sets of doors to get into the hospital and he said it both times while helping me push the double stroller with his brother and sister in it. I get him to help me push the stroller or he wants to be carried and that he's getting to big to do anymore. Ms. Cheryl has been working with him for a while now as she normally meets us at the van and will take him inside. Each time they walk up to the doors she says "Open!" and tries to get him to but this is the first time I could make out what he was saying. Repetition or "practice makes perfect" really does work!!!

Update on the Flex Spending; they will not be able to help us with Ryan's formula at all. The only thing the would do is pay the difference between the normal formula and a special formula. Since he isn't on a special formula just the Toddler Next Step then we won't be getting help with that. It does look like they will be paying for their diapers though which is a big help. Better some than nothing at all so I'm happy with the outcome!

Friday, February 15, 2008

New Link

I just added a new link to Natural Laws. They have a very interesting article regarding Autism and heavy metals that every parent should read. Please take a few minutes and read this article just so you have some very useful information.

We didn't know about the vaccinations before Logan; after he was diagnosed with Autism we didn't allow him or any of our other children to have them. It is a choice we made that wasn't hard for us but for those parents that haven't dealt with the Autism Spectrum, it's information that you probably wouldn't get. I'm not telling you to not get your child vaccinated, I'm just saying be totally informed before you make that decision.

As always, thanks for stopping by to read, have a great day.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Another update

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've had two sick children and now I've got the creeping crud that Logan decided to share with Mommy. He does love to share with me especially any type of bug. That tells me that he loves me enough to share all the good and nasty stuff. I'm just thankful that he's feeling better and is back to normal. The other night I wasn't moving quick enough to get him something to eat and drink so he ran up to me, pulled on my hand and screamed "NOWWWWW" at the top of his voice. As he did this he had a very angelic smile on his face thinking that would make the screaming and pulling okay. (It did of course but I didn't let him know that!)

Ryan is now set up with the early intervention therapies finally! He has been with speech for about a month now. Monday he had his first visit with his occupational therapist for his evaluation. Today he has his physcal therapist coming to do the evaluation so we can get a set schedule for these. They had some employee changes and schedule changes at the hospital and we were to begin our new schedule this week so I had to call on Sunday to let the O.T. know we wouldn't be coming and then on Monday called back to let them know about the P.T. They have a good S.T. at the hospital and she was going to work with Ryan for O.T. until they had a replacement as she has another job. I would have loved to have her work with Ryan but I have to go with the E.I. as my insurance only covers so many visits. She's a sweet lady and said that when he turns three we can start seeing him again. You got that right! Once the school system takes over I will be in the same boat as I am with Logan. Ryan will need the outside therapy because their is no guarentee that he will get what he's supposed to at school.

I do have to give the school board credit; they did finally get a good speech therapist in Logan's school. I really shouldn't put it like that; it's more like they finally got the other ladies some help so they aren't so stretched out and stressed out. This newer therapist has seen Logan more than the two previous (granted we did up his ST on his IEP this year but....) It could also be that she's very young and still into everything must go by the book. I don't care what it is as long as he's getting what is on his IEP and he's progressing. He still has very very far to go; he will say thank you one day and not use it again for weeks. He's still not potty trained but I'm working with our Flexible Spending company to get his diapers approved. Once that happens those won't come out of our weekly grocery budget. That will be a big help as we buy two packs of diapers every week or so. One for home and one for school not to mention the wipes etc.

We are also hoping that the Flex Spend company will approve Ryan's Next Step formula since he has to have it in order to thrive physically. Due to his feeding issues, we have to give him something with all the nutrients or we back slide and I really can't imagine having that happen. They said all we needed was a doctors note with a diagnosis and explanation. Since Logan has been diagnosed as Autistic that one is a done deal. Ryan can't have a formal diagnosis until he hits 30 months so I have the evaluation from the early interevention psychologist that states he has characteristics of an autistic spectrum disorder. Keep fingers and toes crossed that will be enough to let them approve it. We spend between $40 and $60 per week on his formula alone. Some weeks it's more if we can find a sale we buy a couple extra cans to keep on hand. Never fail it will be a non pay week and we will get low on formula. If we can get it approved by Flex Spend then that won't be an issue any more.