Monkey Dance

A Final Post

2009-10-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a year it has been since I last posted here. Tripp is doing amazingly well. We tried some new things this past year. We've done hippo therapy, and are continuing to keep Tripp in a therapeutic riding program. We also added a new supplement that has really made a difference. It's call MaxGXL and it increases his body's production of glutathione - a very important antioxidant. Those things along with lots of prayers, some amazing teachers and therapists, and Tripp's own efforts have given us a year of rejoicing.

Tripp is in his second year in the Head Start Inclusion class at Rock Prairie. It really is amazing how much he has grown and developed since this time last year. His ability to communicate verbally has sky rocketed. He is able to sit through circle time. His academics continue to amaze all of us. He's playing with peers - and his siblings! It's really just mind boggling what a difference a year makes.

Is he still quirky? Absolutely. He still stims, and has poor eye contact, and spends a great deal of his time in his own world. Autism/Aspergers doesn't go away. Instead, we learn to work with what we have and make the best of it. Tripp is indeed doing that.

So, the title says this is the final post - I want to explain why. When I started this blog it was to give myself an outlet for all the "stuff" I was going through associated with Tripp and our journey with him. Well, the journey hasn't gone away, but I realize now more than ever that it doesn't need a special outlet. Earlier this week our oldest daughter, Paris, was also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I started this blog so that autism wouldn't take over my life and every post I wrote about my family. Well, turns out that autism/aspergers is a big part of my life and my family. It doesn't need it's own separate outlet. It is, and always wil be, part of who our family is. Now please don't get me wrong - I still refuse to let it define us. God defines us. This world and the struggles it contains can not do anything to separate us from the love of God.

So, if you'd like to keep up with Tripp and the rest of the Fosters, from now on you need to go to my "regular" blog - www.sarahstation.blogspot.com

I'll leave this blog open for a while. Long enough to figure out how to save all my posts or print them out or something. I know I'll need them all when I write that book people keep telling me I'm going to write. :-) Thank you to everyone who has loved us and prayed for us along this journey. Please continue to do so and check in on us anytime over at Sarah Station. And whatever you do - never stop dancin' with those you love, even if the dance is unfamiliar.

News Flash

2009-09-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

this blog will become active again by the end of September. Stay tuned to learn what's happenin' w/ the Monkey - it's all good!!!

Long Overdue

2008-10-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

I can't beleive I haven't posted since July. There's no way to really catch up on all that has transpired so I will do my best to sum up how life has been since then. July continued to go fairly well. About the time we hit August things started unraveling. Folks had vacations and schedules had to change. Tripp had me and home as his main constant, but the rest of our routine was hit or miss each week. He start regressing quite a bit. In order keep myself sane I let him spend way to much time on the computer. I'm sure that didn't help much. So, by the time we were ready to start school he was going through 3-4 pair of undies a day and was pretty uch a walking stim. I will say that the brightest spot of the summer is that his language held strong. Thank you Tessa for working with us this summer! I have no doubt that our time with you was crucial in us not loosing any language.

When it got time for school to get going we had a few shockers. I went to orientation and found out that the co-teach program was going to be in was full inclusion, not partial like I had expected. Knowing the state Tripp was end by summer's end I had a very hard time believing a "regular classroom" all day everyday was really a good thing. I prayed a lot and went into his ARD with A LOT of questions. I even called Mom to come and go with me because I was afraid I wouldn't have sufficient backbone on my own. Truth is, I was just plain scared for my Monkey and I needed some confidence in that meeting. I came out of the ARD not happy, but satisfied that this was worth trying and probably the best fit the district has for T at this point.

The first two weeks were horrible....for me. I cried, and I mean ugly cried, the first day. That was the only day I shed tears, but I continued to get sick to my stomach for about the first week and a half. Things got better after that. I think Miss Devine and Ms. Alice have had a shock too. They were really surprised by how much Tripp regressed. Miss Alice even said to me one day when I picked him up,"This makes me sad." And she meant it. I think that is what has given me peace about T being there. Miss Devine and Ms. Alice really, really care about my son. They are doing everything they can to help Tripp settled and get back to where he was at the end of May. Alice even made him a token chart that is all numbers and calculators! Love that!

There have been a few other shockers like that day I got there and there was no teacher to receive Tripp and they actually wanted me to tell him to walk all the way into the building by himself. Like that was going to happen! They got a "concerned" email as soon as I got home that morning. That hasn't happened since. They also finally realized that having us drop off with all the rest of the K-4 school is a bad idea and moved our drop-off location to a different spot. The other big shocker came this week when we got a letter letting us know that the regular ed. Head Start teacher and aid are leaving the classroom and we will be getting new ones. We are finally starting, and I mean just starting, to get back on track and they are chaning 2 of the 4 staff in his classroom! Thank goodness Miss Devine and Ms. Alice, who I'm supposed to call Ms. Kowalik (ko-wall-ick), are staying. T won't call Ms. Alice anything but Ms. Alice and I don't blame him. Kowalik is hard to say. Anyway, I haven't written my letter about the teacher change yet, but I'm formulating it in my head. I understand that things happen and changes need to be made, but changing half the staff in a first year co-teach program six weeks in is a poor choice in my book.

There are a few other things going on, but I'll save them for another post. Mokey is happily playing on the other computer right now and the girls are playing play-doh. Easy is playing in a golf tournament benefitting Sonshine School. I need to get moving and get some cleaning done this morning. I hope you are all doing well and I promise to keep you more up to date on my sweet Monkey!

Fire Alarms and Freedom

2008-07-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

So, my Nana was in the hospital last week. When she went in (Tuesday)she lived at Bluebonnet house. When she came out (Saturday) she lived at Carriage Inn. Sunday we had a b-day party for Paris. My mom suggested that Nana would really like to see all the kids that evening, so after the party and dinner we loaded up the crew to go see Nana's new digs.

We had a lovely visit. Her new place is nice. This kids were starting to get a bit manic so we were trying to gather everyone up and get out of Nana's hair. I stood in the doorway holding a laundry basket watching the Goose and Monkey and waiting for the Bug, her daddy, and my mom to join us. Just as Mom is coming out the door I see my son out of the corner of my eye. He's touching the fire alarm. I lunged. I was not fast enough. The sirens start balring. I drop the laundry basket, Easy grabs Vivie and the basket, Mom took off to tell the front desk it was a false alarm. Paris walks down the hall with her hands over her ears screaming. I grabbed up Tripp who had covered his ears and gone completely limp. It was nice.

Turns out there are no covers on the fire alarms at Nana's new place. The little red box is at Tripp's eye level and right in the center on a round handle it says PULL. Tripp can read. Apparently this wasn't the first time this had happened. It does seem that we were the straw though - it was announced at their "town hall meeting" yesterday that they are purusing purchasing covers for all the fire alarms.

On a much happier note.......we were driving home afew days ago and the song "Free" was playing on the CD we were listening to.

I am free to run.
I am free to dance.
I am free to live for You.
I am free.

I've heard this song on KSBJ a million times. The version we were listening to was done for a kids worship CD. Same song, different voices. I'm driving along and I realize that Tripp is talking to me.

"Tripper is free Mommy. Tripper is free."

"Are you free buddy?"

"That's right," he says as his cute little hand pats his chest, "Tripper is free."

I know this could be chalked up to echolalia, but not really. He wasn't repeating the song, he was applying it. It felt like a big moment. A few tears brimmed as I realized that somewhere in my precious son was a feeling of freedom.

My sweet Monkey - you are indeed Free in Christ. You are a picture of innocence and love. You are a precious gift from God. Many people know of your journey and see that you are trapped, or bound. Yes, you experience the world a little differently, and you dont' express yourself like everyone else. But your core truth is that you are FREE in God's might love to do all He calls you to do. And as for me, well I'm just glad I have such a cute little reminder that I too am free. I love you.

The EEG

2008-06-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

So I've been lazy about posting - sorry. I'm at work right now. I'm based out of the library today because I share an office with the youth interns and they are here today. They are not, however, actually in the office. Instead they are in the parlor - right next to me playing with the middle school kids and making so much noise that I absolutely can not be productive. So, I'm posting instead!

Before I tell you the tale of the EEG, I can't remember if I mentioned that we officially got into Head Start for the fall!!! WooHoo - Sherri, if your reading you can do the hip swirling dance for that one! My Monkey will have a full day of school all week next year with his current PPCD teacher as well as a "regular ed" teacher. It is going to be good. The only catch so far is that they don't want to accomodate our gluten-free status. Apparently as part of the Head Start program the kids are required to eat breakfast and lunch at school and they don't have to accomdate any dietary restrictions without a doctor's note stating it's medically neccessary. Nice. We're working on it though - God will make a way to keep me from having to glutenize my son everyday.

Now for that fun part..........the EEG. So, Tripp got referred to have an EEG done to rule out seizure activity. He zones out sometimes and doesn't respond to anything and then he comes back and goes on about his business. We realized this could be small seizures so the EEG was ordered - like over a month ago. I finally called last week to find out why we hadn't been scheduled and Helen - the secretary for Dr. Hall our developmental pedi - said enough that I knew they had forgotten. Apparently my phone call helped them remember because St. Joes called the next day to schedule it. I asked a lot of questions about how it would go and felt confident that I could handle it on my own. (ie - no need for Easy to stay home or have someone go with me).

Yesterday was the big day. Our appointment was at 10:30 and they said to be ther for check-in at 10:00. I wasn't sure exactly what sort of distractionary techniques I'd be allowed to use so I packed an assortment of things in the backpack and planned to just not show Tripp any of it until we were in the room. We got through check-in at 10:15 and then started the wait. And we waited. And waited. We pottied. We waited. We jumped, well, he jumped around. We pottied again. I started wondering why I thought I could do this alone. We waited. Finally, at 11:30 (!!!) they came to get us to take us to the EEG room.

Once there I started asking what I might be able to use to keep him still. They had told me on the phone that they would need him to be still. In fact they asked if we could schedule it at his naptime. Ha. He so doesn't nap. The tech that was doing the test clearly fell into the category of people that just don't get it. Everything I asked about using she would say "Sure, while we're putting on the leads, but then you need to put it away." Yea right. Like I could let him see we have the video player and then take it away. I kept asking questions and she says, "Well we really would like him to get comfortable and go to sleep." Hello? Does he look tired to you? He was dancing on his toes at that moment. I finally said," Look, he's 3 and he has a form of autism. If you want him to stay in that chair I need something to occupy him." She conceded to allow us a book. Yippee. 1 book.

We settled in the chair and started the process of putting leads on his head. She had to clean each spot with this stuff that looked like salt-scrub. He was not tolerating that well at all so she decided to just put the leads on with out cleaning all the spots. This seemed a good idea on the surface. Unfortunately, when she got them all on and went to callibrate the machine and make sure everything was getting a good connection she wound up having to take off about half the leads (as in pulling the tape out of his dry hair and take off the lead), scrub the spots with the cleaner stuff and re-do them. Man was THAT fun. Perhaps we could have just done it it right the first time. Oh well, I can only hope that her next victim, I mean patient gets the benefit of that lesson.

We finally get things settled and she start watching things. I'm trying to keep him calm so I'm rocking him in the chair. The tech calls in," I'm going to need you to stop rocking." ?!?! Why do you put a mother in a rocking chair and tell her to keep her child still and then say no rocking? Grrr... It just got better from there. She kept calling Tripp "Foster." "Foster, be still." "Foster, I need you to be quiet." I finally looked at her and said "His name is Tripp." (like she hadn't heard me use his name 600 times since we walked in) She looked very confused and pulled his little chart. Finally she figured out that Foster is our last name. Seriously, she really seemed to believe that I should be able to just sit ther with him in my lap and keep him silent and still with nothing to entertain him. Clearly, she didn't get it. He would start stimming and she would look at me with this "make him stop" look on her face. I just sat there thinking - "Woman, if I could make him stop I wouldn't be here!" I smiled and whispered to him and we somehow made it through.

The removal of the leads wasn't as bad since she got this enormous washrag wet and laid it on his head. I finally just took it from her and finished it myself. To her credit, she couldn't possibly know how to touch Tripp without upsetting him. She seemed grateful that I took that part over.

Needless to say, we were both spent when we got done. We left the hospital a little over 3 hours after we got there. We picked up the girls, cnaceled speech for the day, and went home to retreat to our corners. Exhausting!

We have about a two week wait I think before we'll hear anything on the results. I don't even care today. I'm just glad it's done. I think it was the first time I encoutnered someone who just so clearly didn't understand. All those movements and noises he makes - that IS him being still and quiet. You want to see his brain at rest, this is as close as it gets. Man, I hope we don't have to do that again anytime soon!

Social Steps

2008-05-26T07:06:00.001-07:00

Well, we're week one into the period of transitions and all is well. The Monkey has definitely had some crazy days, but all in all is doing great. As much as I love Sonshine School and all, it is clear after a week of just the PPCD class that Tripp even prefers the services he gets at the school district. He is thriving. One more week of that and then we swtich to summer. The first week of June will not be our true schedule - but it will be close and then the week after we start our new routine. Pray for smooth transitions.

Now for the fun stuff...Our precious Monkey has been taking some major social steps the last few weeks. I've seen him playing with his baby sister! That's right, he's not just tolerating her presence, and telling her "No, Vivie!" He is playing with her! He came running out of her room the other day squealing and then stopped at the end of the hall. He looked back and here came the Bug after him. He waited until she got close enough to touch his back and then he took off again with a squeal. They repeated this process for about 10 minutes. Beautiful!

He's also been making progress with our sweet dog Cowboy. He has let Cowboy give him kisses a few time. This used to send him into a fit - I'm guessing it was sensory overload or something. As of late, however he has allowed it and even said "Thank you kisses." To top it off I saw Tripp give Cowboy a kiss on top of the head. WooHoo - he's bonding with real living creatures!! That sounds bad - he's always been bonded to some of us, but his circle is a growin'!

Let's see, what else can I tell you about the Monkey.....oh, yesterday at church when it was time to pray during the worship service he actually got it. He stopped what he was doing, folded his little hands, closed his eyes, and put his head down. He waited for the amen and then went on about his busy business. It was awesome!

And one last funny thing he's done lately......While on the potty recently he was, um, examining his most male part and proclaims "It's a big (fill in anatomically correct word here)!" "Do you see the big -----?" "It's a very tall -----!" My response? Trying to not laugh or be mortified I said "Yes, I see the -----, now use it to put your TT in the potty." I'm glad he's learning to use some adjectives, but seriously do we have to talk about THAT?!?!?!

Funny Goose

2008-05-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I sat down with Paris and read her the book All Cats Have Aperger Syndrome. We started off by talking a little about how Tripp's brain doesn't work like ours. She saw the book and asked if it was about kitties. I said it was about kitties and Bubba too. We read it and made lots of comparisons/connections. After we were done I asked if she had any questions and she says:

"Yes I do. Why does Assboogers make Tripp and kittens crazy?"

I nearly fell off the bed laughing. I held it together and explained that Aspergers is just what you call it when your brain works like Tripp's. She didn't have any other questions and I left feeling like it went very well. Though I couldn't help but think as I walked out that a** boogers might make me crazy too if I had them!

Transitions

2008-05-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

We have a lot of those coming. I don't know if our Monkey is already sensing them or what , but he has been spending more time Monkey Dancin' than usual lately. We've had lots of tippy-toe dancing and nose huffing and quite a few tantrums, and can I just say that I am TIRED of changing wet undies!! Three steps forward, two steps back............

So, it's May and that means change. T has two more weeks of Sonshine School. That's a little bit sad for me. SSS has been so great to us, but we know that the school district can help him more so next year that is where he will be. I just know how much he is loved at SSS and it makes me a little bit sad to know he won't be there next year. Anyway, the last two weeks of May he will go all 5 days to his PPCD class with the school district. I just love the smile he gets when he sees his teacher. Clearly Miss Devine is at the top of his list! Throw in a few doctor appointments (one in Temple) and a first trip to the dentist and we have one busy month.

Once that's all done the big transition hits.........summer! I know I mentioned in my last post that he will not be with the school district at all this summer. I do think that was the best decision. We prayed a lot and worked very hard to find what we think will be the best arrangement for him. So here's his basic schedule:

Monday - stay home day!

Tuesday - Summer Camp at Sonshine School (9:30-1:30) Vivie will be gonig as well so that Paris and I can have some time together!

Wednesday - Play with friends at church while Mommy goes to Ladies' Class

Thursday - Miss Erika's house (this is all day so Mommy can go to work. Paris and Vivie will be with him) Erika is doing MDO-type childcare from her home. She is very proactive when it comes to structuring the schedule to best help Tripper and is even planning to only offer gluten-free snacks to keep it simple! We LOVE Miss Erika!

Friday - Miss Erika's house (probably just 9-2 ish)

On hopefully either Monday or Wednesday we will also have speech therapy with Miss Tessa. I plan to do lots of activities from the book on RDI Therapy that our In-home parent trainer from the district brought me to go through. There are lots of thing that I could do to involve Paris and still be helping the little man. I think that is our biggest challenge right now - learning how to handle the sibling dynamic. Paris is really starting to show signs that all this attention on T is bothering her. Since we have an appt. in Temple this week I think it will be a good time to sit down with her and talk again about what's going on with Bubba. Maybe it's even time to give her a label - she's so literal I think that would help.

So - that's us in a nutshell. I heard Tripp running around the house singing Hallelujah yesterday. It was beautiful. He is such a sweet spirit! I'll do my best to start posting the fun stories again. I'm sure that remembering and writing them out will help me get through what has the potential to be one booger of a month!

Delayed Post

2008-04-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. I got a bit sidetracked by Bug's birthday (she's 2!!!) and Monkey's health. So, here's the catch-up........

Thursday when I picked Tripp up from school he was limping. By the time he went to bed he fell about every four steps because his right leg gave out. Friday morning he couldn't walk. We already had a well-check scheduled for the Bug, but they couldn't do them both at once so we had a marathon morning at the Dr. office. Bug had her check at 9:40 - healthy as can be, and a shrimp on the growth charts - and Monkey had a 10:15 appointment. V was still screaming from her HepA vaccine when we got in for Tripp's appointment. Thank goodness my mom showed up as the doctor came in and took fussy pants out to the lobby! After an exam the doctor felt pretty sure that T had a viral infection in his right hip. We did xrays and some blood work to confirm. All the results came back supportive of that theory so we were good to go with some motrin and a lot of carrying. Mom and I swapped cars and she brought the littles home so I could go straight to the school for Tripp's ARD. Can we say stressed out?

I got there at 12:20 on the nose. Molley (our fabulous diag) asked to meet before the ARD to discuss a few things. We hashed out the ESY deal and all agreed that it would not be the best environment for our Monkey. During the official ARD we went over the proposed goals and schedule for our in home/parent training stuff (I am VERY pleased with this), officially stated no ESY, changed the IEP to allow Tripp to go all 5 days the last two weeks of school, removed the bus from his IEP (since we only rode it once and made other arrangements because it was unacceptable to me), and talked about next year's plan. That's the best part. I turned in all the paperwork to apply for the over-income exemption for Head Start. Next year Tripp's current PPCD will be co-teaching a full day with the Head Start teacher. If things go as "planned" Tripp would be in the co-taught class with a few of his current classmates and all the "typical" head start students. Two teachers, two aides - all day, every day of the week. I think this would be fabulous and Miss Devine is very excited at the possibility. Of course, we won't know anything officially until the summer when the committee meets to grant the exemption spots. Until then I ask that you all pray that it works out!

And just to finish the weird hip virus story......Saturday Tripp's face got very red, but he was outside all day so we didn't think much about it. By bedtime Sunday he had a read face and two very red arms. Nope, not sunburn. Fifth Disease. Both Goose and Bug had it within the last month. For the Monkey it apparently settled in his hip before the rash came out. He is down to one dose of motrin a day and is doing much better. Whew!

ARD Tomorrow

2008-04-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

We have an ARD scheduled tomorow at 12:45. Topics of discussion will be ESY, In-home Parent Training eval results, and scheduling for next year. I've got the paperwork ready to turn in for Head Start - plese pray that they give as an exemption. We are over-income and technically Tripp will be too young (he won't be 4 until October). Molley said to try anyway and has made recommendations that he be considered. I think this would be great for him. I'm concerned that 3 hours of PPCD each day wouldn't be enough for him. I'm sure he would do fine, but I think he would grow more if we can have him in school longer than that. I'll update after the ARD.

Underwear and Tears

2008-04-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Things have been good in Monkeyland lately. This past Saturday Easy and I went to an ABC's of ABA workshop. It was pretty good. I have to say that with the education I have it wasn't anything earth shattering or even really new. It did, however help me re-center my thoughts and I took away a few nuggets that I think will be very helpful. For instance - it takes a lot longer to fade a verbal prompt than a physical one. I am such a verbal person it's gong to be hard to shut-up, but I think it is something I need to work on. Easy also felt like it gave him a little bit of a different perspective so we are both happy we went and we plan on going to a more in depth workshop this fall.

By the time we got back to town and picked up all the kids it was bedtime. I got the Bug to bed and the Goose settled down watching a show and Easy sat down to have "working time" with the Monkey. They had a great session together and then they blew my mind. We got Tripp ready for bed and Easy handed him his boxer shorts and set "You do it." And he did. I sat ther with tears streaming down my face while me 3 1/2 year old son put his pants on by himself for the very first time. It was slow and deliberate. At one point he paused for a long time like he was stuck and then he slid off the bed and stood up to finish pulling up his britches. It was beautiful. So, of course, the next morning I tried it again with his undies (he's a breifs man so I thought they might be harder than the boxers he sleeps in over his diaper) and we had another success. We haven't looked back. He is a pants puttin' on little dude and I am one proud mama! He even tried to put his t-shirt on by himself, but he still needs a little help getting it over his noggin. He's also going potty by himself and coming back out with his undies back on! Woo Hoo for all of us!!!!!!!!!

And lastly in the updates...........we had our eval with the in-home parent trainer person and I am awaiting the ARD date. I thought the girl that came was wonderful. She fits Tripp's prefered profile - petite brunett. She graduated college with Tripp's teacher so them working together will be a breeze. I'll let you know how the ARD goes when we have it. For now I'm just celebrating underwear and pants!

Two Things

2008-03-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

First - an update on the Monkey himself. Tripp is doing well. Along with this amazing cognitive gorwth spurt (remember, he started reading some things!) has come some frustration. He seems to have discovered that he can refuse to do things. It's like he just turned 2. This is mostly frustrating because the Bug is about to turn 2 and has figured out the same thing. Most particularly Tripp like to refuse to wear shoes. He kicks and wiggles and screams "no shoes." It's nice. He's been kinda crazy the last week. Vivie has been sick so I'm wondering if he's not fighting of one of the 3 viruses she's had. Lots of toe walking and huffing through the nose. In the great news department.....I saw him try to initiated a conversation with a new (as in met her an hour earlier) friend on Saturday. "Hi Jaycee. How you?" is what he said to this sweet little girl after he'd been ignoring her and her brother Jayden for over an hour. It was pretty cool. He's doing well with the chalkboard schedule. He likes to "mark it off" and it's reduced tantruming by nearly 2/3 in our house.

Second........a word about vaccines. So here's my two cents on this highly controversial topic. Do I think vaccines cause autism? No. Do I think they contribute to the onset and devleopment of an ASD in some kids? Absolutely. Do I think they had anything to do with Tripp's ASD? Nope. That being said, I'm still a nervous mom and with Vivie's 2-year well check coming up I was getting a little anxious about how I should handle this with her. Since we were at the pedi on Friday for one of her viruses (serisously - go read Sarah Station to see how sick she's been!) I brought the subject up. Easy and I had pretty much decided that we were gonig to request that she not be given the big combo, but instead receive her vacinations individually and spread out a bit. And if she so much as had a sniffle we would wait. I reminded Dr. Marquardt that Tripp is on the spectrum and that even though I know the research shows no causation I have some concerns. His response was great "Well, let's look and see what she's due for." Turns out all she's due for is HepA. She's already had the big combo shots! She had them at her 15 month welll-check - before I even really knew I was concerned about it! And let me just say that she is SO FINE!!!! I had no idea that was a weight on my shoulders until Dr. Marquardt lifted it with a simple sentence.....all she needs is HepA.

I hope you are all having a good week. We are waiting to hear from the school district about In Home/Parent training stuff. Once that eval is done we will ARD again to discuss the results of the eval, consider ESY services, and to add to his plan that he will attend the PPCD class all five days the last two weeks of school (Sonshines School will be over on the 15th). Until later.........

Monkey See, Monkey Read

2008-03-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

So Tripp has been showing some big time "pre-reading" skills the last month. This isn't all the surprising as we were told by our first speeh therapist (Ginger) last May that he could be reading fluently in the next 6-12 months. My thought was "yea right." I guess the joke is on me.

This past week he read the word "bed" and the word "free" off his "word schedule" chalk board without any prompting from me. So today I pulled out our box of site word flashcards just to see what he could do. Below is a list of words and phrases he read to me with the simple prompt " What's this say?"

on
or
no
I
if
and
a
the
that
then
see
over
of
now
more
my
what
up
to
two
is
it
in
can
call
from
get
did
do
for
are
at
go
good (he was trying to soud this one out "go-oh-d")
had
has
he
again
his
stop
think
know (sounded out as k-new)
it is
can run
can play
he is
would like

Um, he's only 3 1/2. I may have trouble keeping up.

Monkey BOUNCE!

2008-03-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

So last night my Monkey and I had a ton of fun together. Well, as together as it gets for us anyway. There's a group here in town that is I guess a support group for parents with kids on the spectrum. My sweet friend Kathy got me to a meeting a few months ago. I didn't really dig it, but this month Kathy was organizing the event and MAN did she choose a fab place for it!

Instead of a meeting where we sit and listen and then socialize some while our kids (if we brought them) are entertained in another room we all met at The Bounce. If you're not from around here you probably don't know what The Boune is. Here's a quote from their brochure:

"THE BOUNCE! is a 12,500 square foot party facility featuring your favorite inflatable castles, obstacle courses, huge slide, rock walls, and more, all in a safe, climate controlled environment."

My sweet Monkey bounced and slid himself silly. It was such a treat to get to see that joy on his face for such a long period of time. The owners (Mike and Betty Pinney - you rock!!!) kept the place open late for our group. We were there from 6:30-8:30 and from 7:00 on it was just our kids. I lost track of all the smiles. All the parents were relaxed and visiting. I ran into a guy I used to work with a lifetime ago who has two kids on the spectrum. Small world I guess. It was fabulous. Monkey would periodically look around for me and with a wave from Mom was off again. I'm seriously thinking this is THE place to have his b-day party.

I thought he would zonk out on the way home, but I guess he was a little overstimulated. I had to carry him to the car because he couldn't stop the tippy toe arm flap dance long enough to walk. So, we hit the grocery store together before we headed home. I had a hard time convincing him that I needed to pay for the turkey pepperoni before we could open it. I finally convinced him and then he forgot about it. He had a few minutes of time with his Daddy when we got home and then it was off to bed. He asked for "snuggle Mommy" and I of course obliged. It didn't last long though. One he got still his little body called it quits and with a softly spoken "OK. Bye bye now." he drifted off to sleep.

What a fabulous way to spend an evening. Just me and my Monkey experienceing joy together. So, maybe we weren't interacting so much, but he had joy from all the slides and bouncing and I had joy watching his face light up and that smile that stretches out a mile wide. I'll take a little parallel joy any day! Thanks you Kathy and thank you THE BOUNCE!

Cruisin' Along

2008-03-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

Well things in Tripp's world are cruisin' right along. He is loving school and doing very well. He went on a field trip today to Hungry Howie's Pizza. I reminder his teachers that he couldn't actually eat the pizza due to the gluten in the crust. They had already discussed it and assured me that would watch close and make sure he only nibbled on the toppings and not the crust. When he got home from school he had a goodie bag with all the different toppings in little containers so he could eat them - no crust in sight! God has been so good to us by giving us supportive understand teachers for Tripp. We are so blessed.

I had a session with Dr. Montgomery (SW Autism Team) on Monday. I didn't take Tripp because she needed to do a formal parent interview for some added documentation. We talked very honestly about the challenge of doing daily working sessions in the afternoon and decided that it would be best to reframe the whole thing. Instead of working on new skills in the early afternoon, we will be working on frustration tolerance in the evenings. Not much will be different except that he will be tired and cranky and we will only work on very basic activities - sequencing, some facial expressions, and my turn/your turn. Of course we will still require eye contact every step of the way so I'm sure he will get plenty frustrated! This change of approach will allow me to be MUCH more consistent and will also open the possibility that Easy can do the sessions with him sometimes. I think that's important.

I also talked to the Dr. about spring break. Since this is the only real chance the school district will have to observe any regression when the structure is removed she gave me the "OK" to not be structured at home over that week so that we have a better chance of them seeing a need for ESY (extended school year). I don't know how that will turn out, but I feel very strongly that he will need some formal school/structure during the summer and if he doesn't qualify for it at the district I haven't a clue how we would pay for it!

I better run. It'salmost time to pick up the Goose from school. Just wanted to take a minute to let you all know that things are going well!

Time Miss Devine!

2008-02-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

Miss Devine is Tripp's new teacher. He loves her! This is his third week in the PPCD class. When we pulled up at his school today he said "See Miss Devine!" and when he saw Ms. Alice, the aide in his class, he said "Hey Ms. Alice." He is talking more than ever and has finally begun regaining the potty training ground we lost over the Chirstmas break. He has even started having "rest time" in his undies as he is very much opposed to wearing a "pull 'em up" for any reason. He does not object to "Mickey sleeping" (his overnight diaper) at bedtime though so I'd say we are in a very good place when it comes to the potty!

The other day in the car he said "Hey Mommy. Guess what." Shocked and amazed that he just initiated verbal interaction with me I said "What bubba?" What followed was a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand but he clearly wanted to tell me something and was satisfied that I listened even though I haven't a clue what he said. Good stuff!!

I think the only "down" news I have is what we saw over the weekend. Tripp didn't go to school Friday - Paris had a fever and Tripp was "iffy" (99.7) so we all stayed home. Saturday I was home with the kids all morning and when Easy got home about 1:00 I left and was gone until nearly 9:00. So, two days - no structure. Result? Sunday was awful! He tantrumed, he screamed, he cried, he tippy toed, he flicked his fingers, he made weird noises, he carried belts around all day to make numbers with, and he koala-beared so tightly to me that I didn't even have to hold him. It was probably the most "autistic" day we've had in over a month. Tell me this.....if two days of no structure did that, what would an entire summer at home do?!?!? I'm planning to write an email to his teacher and copy the diag on it letting them know what we saw this weekend. I know they won't have time between now and summer to document much since spring break is the only holiday in there so I figure my documentation is all I'm gonna have to get him services through the summer. For Easy and me it was crystal clear what was going on - I hope the district will see it as clearly.

So that's what things look like as we keep Monkey Dancin' forward. I still haven't started the "working sessions" with him here at home, but I will do that this week. I intended to start last week, but since we were roating the fever (we includes me!) it didn't happen. Sometimes I think I'm not doing near enough for him, and sometimes I think I couldn't possibly do any more. It is my prayer this week that I really see what things are important and make them the priority for my time - that goes for my whole family, not just Tripp. Since we are one family, we all do the Monkey Dance so I need to think of us overall and not just as individuals. Your prayers for discernment and wisdom are greatly appreciated.

Want to play E?

2008-02-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

That is what Tripp says when he sees me anywhere near a computer. Translation? "Mommy, would you please click on Internet Explorer and go to Nick Jr. so that I can sit in your lap while you play a game and I cheer you on with shouts of "Good Job," "Watchout!" and "Keep Going?""

OK, I'm sure I didn't use those quotation marks correctly because it looks kind of silly to me but I think you know what I mean. He's so stinkin' cute!!

So it's been crazy since my last post. Last week I went and observed several classrooms. I saw the ABC class - this is the district class for kids with autism. I saw two PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities) classes as well. I knew which one the diag wanted to place Tripp in so I went back for a second observation. After many conversations and LOTS of prayer we decided to agree with Molley's (the diag) recommendation and place Tripp in the PPCD class. He will stay at Sonshine school on TTH and go to the PPCD class MWF. Next year he will be with the school district 5 days a week.

The ARD was scheduled quickly - we had it yesterday afternoon. I think it went well. I liked everyone in attendance (I REALLY like Dr. Wehrly!!!), I liked the atmosphere at the school, I liked having my mom with me! I think Tripp's new teacher will be a good fit for him. She fits his preferred dark hair/petite/pale complexion profile to a T. Her personality is a bit more mellow than mine (shocking, I know) so I had to really step back and look at her and her classroom as not something that I would like, but rather how Tripp would fit there? It is going to be good.

I think I'm feeling overall very good about the district and Tripp's placement and what he'll be able to do there. I feel kind like I've been in a tornado for, well, a long time and now we're going to stop going in circles and get on the highway. I'm sure the drive won't be straight and smooth but at least we're on a road and I have lots of friends and a faithful Father that will guide us as we move forward.

We also had our first session with Dr. Montogmery (SW Autism Team) on Monday. Can we say overwhelmed? On top of starting a whole new schedule with school somewhere every day, I'm supposed to start having "working sessions" with Tripp daily at home. I'm praying about this - mostly that Vivie will take a stinking nap so I can actually accomplish it. It may take me a bit to get the swing of what Dr. Montgomery taught and modeled for me, but I'm commited to doing everything possible to help my Monkey.

If I had blogged yesterday it would have been through tears. Today I'm much better. I guess it's all just so very real now. It's been another one of those weeks where I am forced to acknowledge that this isn't going to go away. There is still this part of me that wants to beleive that if we do absolutely everything possible that the ASD will become imperceptible. (SP?) I don't know if that's possible or even if it's something I should hope for. The truth is, he's only three. His differences right now don't look all that strange. At age 9 I have no idea what he will look like or how different he will be from his peers. There so much changing in the world of autism I don't even really know what this process of treatment/therapy is going to look like. Now that the district and our private sector people agree that he fits the criteria for Apserger Syndrome does that mean anything different really than just saying he has an ASD? Dr. Montgomery even pointed out that the criteria fo Asperger's is changing so he may not meet it in another 2 years. So many unknowns, so many changes........but one thing does not change. Well, two things really.

1. God is faithful.

2. I love my son.

For now I'm going to hold on tightly to those two truths and embrace the new structure that will become our life for the rest of the school year. Who knows, it may even be good for all of us to have a more scheduled day - I just for the life of me can't figure out where to fit in cleaning my house.

Monkey Business

2008-01-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

So, my last few posts have been all about process. I thought it time to post some actual Monkey business instead! Here are some fun & funny things going on with my sweet Monkey!

As we have made our transition into a gluten-free diet things have been, well challenging in some ways and surprisingly easy in others. The lack of crackers has been very hard on our little Bug. About a week into our no-cracker house we were up at Sonshine School early. I had dressed the kids and we were just killing time until school started. Vivie was doing the incessant cracker asking. Then I heard it. Tripp, in his typical no eye contact or any visible sign that he was communicating with his sister, says "No moh cackers!" I cracked up laughing! How ironic that my sweet repetitive boy seemed annoyed by Viv's constant cracker asking! It was funny. It did not, however, stop her from asking again.

Monkey has also added several new words to his vocab. Most of them have to do with food - no doubt again dur to the dietary changes we've made. He has spontaneously asked for things ranging from "pedut pudder and jewy samich" to "nacchos." The things that have mad me smile most are his request to "open du pantwy?" and the fact that he usualy makes his request in the following format: "Do you want a chip today?" Hello, pantry and today? Great words!!

Also in the food department I'm very happy to say that he has added a new food to his will-eat list! He started asking for a hot dog on Saturday. He's never asked for a hot dog. He's never eaten a hot dog. After an entire afternoon of asking for a "hot dog today?" I gave him one - cold - straight out of the fridge. AND HE ATE IT! He even added "Mmmmmmmmmm, yummy hot dog!" LOVE IT!!! Packing lunch just got a lot easier!

Decisions, Decisions

2008-01-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Well, our February 5th deadline for our first ARD is nearing. I've been in contact with the district diagnostician and we need to make some decisions about placement so we know which campus to have the ARD on. It seems that the district isn't sure that the ABC class (that's the one just for kids on the spectrum) is the best fit for Tripp. She presented me with three options, 2 of which I have vetoed already. One was to keep him at SSS and have the district consult with them. Nope - they are doing all they can at SSS and since I know some of the administrative dynamics going on I veto this option. I simply don't think they have the resources to do any more than they already do and I think Tripp needs something more than two days a week. Another option was to keep him at SSS and have him receive speech/language therapy. I didn't think this would be enough, and Dr. Montgomery (Scott & White Autism Team) concurred that he needs more than that. So that leaves us with option three which is to keep him at SSS two days a week (per my request so he can have that social time with typical peers) and place him in the regular PPCD class the other days. So, after conferring with my mom, Dr. Montgomery, my good friend Irene (who has experience with the district here) I have asked to:
#1 - get my hands on the district's official report on Tripp
#2 - go observe the ABC class they don't want to put him in
#3 - go observe the PPCD class

I have about a week to get that all done. The only part of this that has me uneasy is that the diagnostician told me on the phone she had hoped to hire another pre-school teacher and create another class that Tripp would have been well suited for - targeting high functiong kids on the spectrum. Apparently the hire is not getting approved by her superiors so I'm left with the options listed above. To me it sounds like if she got to pick he would be in a more specialized class than the regular PPCD. All that leaves me feeling like we might be settling and that is, well, uncomfortable. I'm going to go observe next week - please pray that I'm able to see both classes and that God will make the choices clear and the path available.

8 Random Things About Me - by Tripp, the Monkey

2008-01-17T19:08:00.001-08:00

My friend Jacob tagged me, so here are 8 random things about me. My mom is helping since language isn't my strongest skill.

1. I LOVE NUMBERS!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, numbers. I carry and sleep with a calculator all the time. I count everything imaginable (including my poo-poos) and sometimes even things that are only imagined by me. Mommy just shrugs here shoulders and smiles alot when she doesn't understand what I'm counting.

2. I can form numbers with my fingers - 1-9. I made Mommy do it with me once, but she said her hand hurt when we were done. Sowwy mommy.

3. I love my big sister Paris. I used to call her Diggadauh just to irritate her. Now I call her Pawis and my favortie part of the day is when we go in Pawis from school. (that's go get Paris from school for those not fluent in Monkey speak)

4. My mom calls me her Monkey. I don't get it.

5. Every Friday I play with my friend Jacob at Miss Temaphie's house. (That would be Miss Stephanie!) Even though I usually just play by myself when I'm there I really like going and I try to play with Jacob - he makes me laugh sometimes. And sometimes Mister Ewic is there and I watch him on the puter. (computer)

6. I love to be outside. I think running on my tip toes in cirles in the backyard is really cool. I also like to play ball with Daddy. He throws it and I go get it. I saw them do this with Cowboy, that dog that tries to lick my face, and it looked like fun.

7. I don't like Cowboy to lick me. His breath is yucky.

8. My mommy doesn't know that I know this, but every night before she goes to bed she comes in and lays down on my bed. She puts her hand on my head and she talks to God. She loves me a lot. I don't always wake up, but most of the time I smile while she's talking to God.

I'm not sure what it means to tag someone else, and mommy syas most of my firends have already been tagged so I think I'll just go to bed now. Night night.

A bit overdue

2008-01-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. We could call it a holiday hiatus, or maybe Christmas crazy - regardless I haven't posted in a while and I apologize. So in an effort to catch up..................

Tripp had his assessments with the school district done on the 19th. Everyone there is also in agreement that he's on the spectrum. They just need to score all their little testing tools to see where to place him. He absolutely entertained the diag and speech pathologist while they did their stuff with him. He started the whole deal off by spontaneously counting by 7's. Yes, by 7's. We were all a bit amazed. I went to do my interview with the psychologist while they did all there stuff and when I came back they were all having fun. Apparently they got further in one of the testing tools than they ever had before. The diag said shell be interested to see all the "results" because he struggled with the lower level stuff and then all of the sudden they hit a point and he blew the rest out of the water. Clearly he is missing some basic components in his development, but once they got to a section he "got" he was on fire! So, the aboslute latest we will have our ARD is February 5th, but it could be before then. That's when we will find out what services they are going to provide. Keep praying over all of that.

Since that week I've been distracted a bit by the busyness of the holidays. I have these moments of reality where I think about what life will be like when our Monkey is 8 or 12. I mean, at this point lots of what he does could easliy be chalked up to just being a silly three year old. I sense, however, that the older he gets the more different he will look from his peers. I have some saddness when I think of the future at times. I just want all good things for him and reality is that it isn't going to be all good. But I guess that's true for all kids. Maybe it's just that I see it coming, or that I feel like it should be different for him because he's special. Then again, my girls are special too and I want all good things for them, and the first boy that breaks their heart deserves to be smooshed into nothingness.

I've had other reality check moments - the ones that just blow me away because Tripp is just so amazing. I mean, hello, he counted by 7's. I have to think hard after 35! And for all his disconnect and quirkiness, he has a tremendous amount of love to share. So, yeah, he's kinda picky about who he shares it with, but when your the recipient of a hug that he initiates the rest of the world just seems to melt away. I like those moments better than the ones where I worry about his future.

One things is for sure - this holiday break with no routine, no schedule, no structure has taken a toll. I've seen a lot of tippy toes this week in particular. He's not sleeping well. He's not eating well. And no, he's not pottying well. He actually peed a puddle in my kitchen floor on Monday. He hasn't done that in months! I'm ready to get back into our routine for pee patrol alone. I am so tired of wet undies!!! (of course, about the time we get things rolling again I'll start potty trainging Viv and have went panties as well!)

SSS starts back next Tuesday though, so we only have a little more chaos to endure. It's really driven home how important it's going to be to find something for the summer. I don't know if the district does any kind of summer program. If not, I'm going to have to find somehwere for him to go so we don't go spirally backwards. Who knew relaxation could be so stressful?!?!?!?

I Really Don't Know

2007-12-17T17:03:00.000-08:00

what to title this post.

At this moment my gut wants to post the short, just the facts version of how our visit to Temple went today. In an effort to be a little more authentic however - here's how the last 26+ hours have gone.

Saturday night I had trouble going to sleep. All I could think was "what do I pack?" I mean seriously, what do you wear to this appointment?!? I'd love to go comfy and pack sweats, but I'm afraid that would send the "I don't really care and I'm over-extended so I won't be much help for my son" message. I also don't want to go too put together because that could send an "I run a tight ship, have it all together at all times and accept nothing less - so I won't be much help for my son" message. Not a lot of sleep happened. ( I ended up packing jeanes, sneakers, and a button down collared shirt.)

We got all packed and ready to leave yesterday afternoon. Tripp was kind of wild all day, but we figured he'd zonk out in the car. I had gone in to "quiet mode." That's what I do when I'm facing a reality that is hard. (like the day my mom left to go home each time after I had a baby) It's a combination of fear, sadness, and a host of other emotions. I walked around to where my dad was sitting and gave him a wave good bye. He grabbed my hand and said "I'll be prayin' for you." I cried as I walked out the door.

We get all loaded and head out. Tripp seemed overjoyed to have Mommy & Daddy to himself. In fact, he was pretty much in Tripp heaven. Mommy, Daddy, Elmo, Blanket, and the Video Now Jr - does it get any better? The trip was uneventful itself. Our Monkey did NOT take a nap in the car. We picked up fast-food dinner and checked into our motel. We went cheap (like we had a choice!) since it was just one night. The Econolodge was, well, an Econolodge. It was clean.

Tripp thought it was the coolest place ever. He was pinging off the walls. There was more tippy-toe monkey dancin' than I've seen in quite some time. He even kept running into the closet and back out like he'd found a secret hiding place or something. My genius husband had packed his laptop and Tripp's favorite movies so that helped us calm him down enough to eat his dinner and then go to bed. He wasn't too happy that Mommy & Daddy were sleeping in the big bed and he was sleeping in his Winnie the Pooh bed, but he got over it and went to sleep by 9:00.

I turned the TV off at 10:00. I know I was still awake at 10:45. I slept for a while, but from about 3:00 on it was in 20 minutes spurts. There was no alarm clock in the room so we were relying on my watch and Easy's phone to wake us. I was terrified we'd over sleep. We didn't - everyone was up and ready to hit the road at 7:30 which gave us plenty of time to get there....so we thought.

We drove over to the address we had been given. Turns out the the ENTIRE Scott & White medical facility has one address. It also turns out that the valet at the hopsital gives incorrect directions to the pediatric clinic. As does the receptionist at the main clinic information desk. We got to our appointment after WAY too much walking in the cold about 15 minutes late. Fortunately no one complained about our tardiness - I may have blown a gasket if they had.

So, we check in, wait all of three minutes and meet Dr. Montogmery, the psychologist that is the first point of contact on the Autism Team. Our time with her was, well, anticlimatic. (not sure I spelled that right, but I assume you know what I mean) She did a lengthy background interview. There was no paperwork to fill out. The interview felt as much like a conversation as anything else. She choose to not do any testing since he has his appointment for testing through the school district on Wednesday.

So, here's the bottom line based on our interview...........he WILL clinically be on "the spectrum." As for exactly which box on the spectrum we don't know yet. Her inclination is that he will eventually be given the diagnosis of Asperger's. At the moment, however, he is a bit young to be given that label so as we continue throught this process we may be given "high-functioning autism" as our label. So, there you go. And there I sat, hearing the words I expected to hear, and still I found tears streaming down my face. I was surprised by them. It's not like I didn't know it was coming. I don't know if it was that last little part of me that had been hoping this was all a dream finally letting go, or maybe it was simply relief that I am not crazy and the things I've been concerned about are real. Regardless of where the tears came from, they were needed in that moment, and then they passed as we started making a plan.

Here's the really good news........Dr. Montgomery will be coming to College Station once a month starting in January!!! She is referring us to see Dr. Hall, the developmental pediatrician. She said we don't really NEED him at this point, but we will eventually so it's better to see him now and stay in touch as Tripp gets older so he will be "on board" from the beginning. I am supposed to email her after his assessments on Wednesday and let her know exactly what tests they did. If she feels the need to do any additional tests she will work us in on her January visit to CS. We have appointments already booked with her for February and March. She had VERY positive things to say about our school district. There are a lot of more technical things I could tell you about treatment approaches and recommendations and upcoming changes, but I'll save all that for another post.

At this moment I feel pretty good. I am releived that I'm not nuts. As I typed this I fought back tears more than once, and I'm sure that will continue throughout this process. That's just part of being mom. I'm tired, I'm hoping to go to bed early, maybe I'll even go to sleep. Keep those prayers going, we've got a long week and absolutely NONE of it is part of Tripp's normal routine. Pray for my patience, endurance, and please pray for peace in my precious son's mind as his world each day will simply not be what he is expecting.

Sigh.....

2007-12-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

What do you want first, the good or the sigh? Sorry, you don't get to pick. We'll go with the sigh first.

I somehow managed to be a little early picking the littles up from school today. I got Vivie from class and found that her cold was getting worse and suspected a rising fever. I headed down the hall to get the Monkey and since the Bug was in a trance in her stroller I decided to peep through the window and try to see what he was doing before he saw me. I saw his teacher and most of the other kids in the class on their knees scooting around acting like a choo choo train. I even heard her call out to Tripp to try and get him to join. I looked around excited to see him act like a train. I looked, and looked, and then I saw my boy. He was laying on the floor flicking his fingers up and down like he was counting something only he was aware of and compeletely ignoring all that was going on around him.

I've never been punched in the gut, but I can imagine what I felt in that moment was pretty close to it. I watched a little more and he did eventually get off the floor, but it wasn't to play choo choo. He went where I couldn't see him anymore so I really don't know what he did. Then I got spotted by one of the little girls in the class so I went ahead and went in. I was greeted with a "Hi Mommy." and he was perfectly happy to gather his things and head home. I couldn't shake that sinking feeling though.

When we got home I got them both down for a nap and went and checked the mail. I turned in the paperwork I had ready to the school district today and left a note that I had still not received anything from the psychologist to fill out. Well, it was in the mailbox when I got home! So I opened it up and was hit by another heart sinking moment. There was nothing special about the paperwork itself, it was just so official. The questionnaires were real - you know, professionally printed. The title on one of them rang a bell in my head as an instrument I had learned about at some point in my education. It all just seemed so big at that moment. I shoved it all back in the envelope and threw it on the couch. Sigh..................

Now, here's the good bit. I took my sweet Monkey to have his hearing tested last Wednesday. I was a bit anxious about how it would go given his sensitivity to sounds and detest of things covering his ears. I was sitting in the little booth when the Dr. came in. The first thing she said to me was," I've been reviewing Ginger's notes." I about fell out of the chair. Ginger is our speech therapist. She is the angel God put on my team. She didn't even do the referral for the hearing test, our pedi did. The week before we had a session with Ginger and she apparently made a point of making contact with the audiologist and sharing her notes with her. Dr. Dubona didn't even attempt to put the headphones on my son. She felt like it would just frustrate him and then make it even harder to try another option. Praise God! Praise him for Ginger who is so clearly an angel for my family and praise Him for the audiologist who took the time to read before she walked in the door.

She did the test by having sounds come out of different speakers and when he turned to the sound she would make a little animal dance to reinforce his response. Tripp, being Tripp quickly figured out who was making the animals dance and tried to pick out a pattern. He kept looking at her through the window and saying "Do duh bunny!" as he pointed at it. Of course, she couldn't do it if he was asking for it. Then at one point he wasn't turning his head to the noise but said instead "Whassat?" She came through the speakers laughing a bit and assured me that would count as a hearing response! Needless to say, he passed his hearing test and she gave me a copy of the results before I left the office. I honestly can't imagine how it could've gone smoother. I did find it interesting that he responded better to the white noise sounds than he did to her voice calling out his name. Odd.

And by the way, I did get all that paperwork back out and I filled it out tonight. I'll drop it off tomorrow or Thursday. (tomorrow will be hectic between Vivie's sickness and my Nana moving into Bluebonnet here in town) Keep those prayers going. Things seems to be getting more hectic everyday. I'm holding my breath to see if Tripp will catch the cold (?) that Paris seems to have passed to Vivie. Sickness always makes him act weird. Of course, in the midst of these assessments that could work to our advantage I suppose. Pray, pray, pray - I know God's the one keeping me from loosing what's left of my mind so please, pray for us as the month speeds up.

Verbs, Siblings, and a Busy Month

2007-12-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

Well, the Monkey has been doing VERY well as of late. I'm happy to report that we have verbs! To some of you that mat sound very strange, but for Tripp to actually use a verb is really impressive. The two verbs he is using most are "run" and "flying." He's also using "go fast" and has used "scream." They are usually used when talking about himself, (Wook, I run!, Mommy I scream.) but he has a few times used them regarding someone else (Skeeter flying!). I know verbs are not the most exciting thing in the world, but since my last post I have done many a happy dance for verbs!

Siblings........well, as usual Monkey is tolerating Bug and LOVING Goose. Well, he loves Goose most of the time. Sadly, when you love someone, you spend a lot of time with them and you inevitably hit a point in time when the love isn't brimming over and you get flat annoyed. That happened last week in our house. I was upstairs getting the first of our Christmas decorations out when I hear Monkey's "I am really unhappy about what is being done to me" whine/cry immediately followed by Goose's "holy cow I am really hurt and scared" scream. Being half way down our spiral stair with arms full of stuff I though quick and decided it was best to shove it all back on the landing (thank goodness we don't have that railing up yet) and go as quickly as possible to the scene of the crime. I knew what had happened as soon as I saw Goose. Her hand was over her mouth and nose and blood was running down her chin. See, Tripp is a headbutter. (that looks funny when you type it out - maybe I'm spelling it wrong) Up until last week the only person he had headbutted intentionally was me - usually in the gut and since I have some cushion in that region it hadn't been that big of an issue. He has given a few of us the wayward headbut (just ask Nana!) and left bruises, but really nothing intentional...until last week. Apparently Goose was trying to force him to sit in her lap and received two butts to the face in rapid succsesion. It was ugly and they were both VERY upset. Monkey went to decompress in his room and was reminded that "We do NOT headbut our sisters!" Goose got an ice pack and at the end of our lengthy discussion about what had transpired said that she had indeed learned a lesson. What lesson did she learn? "Let go!"

Since I told a somehwat "ugly" story I'll tell a cute one too. Tripp has learned how to open his closet and turn on the light. So, now, every night, we go through a process of getting him out of the closet where he is playing and back in bed a few times before he actually goes to sleep. One of the first nights this was going on I decided he could get back up and hang with me and Daddy for a while. We don't get much time with just him so I figured it would be nice. He snuggled down in the couch between us with his calculator and looked very happy. Then has says,"Wet's count backwards. Mommy, 40." So, I counted backwards from 40. "Wet's count backwards. Daddy, 61." So Easy counted backwards from 61. He skipped a number to see if Monkey would notice - he didn't, which was a testament to how tired he really was. "Wet's count backwards. Twup (that's Tripp in his language) 100." And he sat there and counted all the way down to 0. He then did some multiplication on his calculator with his daddy before heading back to bed peacfully and not making another peep until the next morning. I'm still trying to figure out if he saved 100 for himself just for fun or if he doubts our ability to do it properly. Either way, it was cute and we enjoyed the time with him!

Busy Month.......it will definitely be that! Let's see, we have a hearing test on Wednesday. That ought to be fun. Not sure how he will respond and since he doesn't really follow directions outside of his routine it should be an inetersting experience. We have to have it done for the school district as a "rule out." Then, on the 17th we go to Temple for the first meeting with the Autism Team at Scott & White. I dreamed the other day that we went and they told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my child and said they thought I had Munchausen's (sp?) Syndrome. That's where the mom acutally makes her child sick for attention. Nice. I think since he's been doing so well with his language development that my brain was starting the whole "maybe he's really fine and I'm crazy" thing again. Then on the 19th we start the assessments for the school district. Their diagnostician has already contacted our preschool and will be observing him therein addition to her time with him one-on-one. The district psychologist has sent me some paperwork and will be in touch soon to schedule her part as well. She may even do her interview with me on the 19th while he's getting observed by the diag and speech person. That's a lot before Christmas, don't you think? It's good though.

I feel like we will be starting 2008 on the road to finding the best way to connect with and teach our sweet Monkey. The book our speech therapist loaned me really had some good stuff in it. It really focused on joining your child's world instead of trying to make them fit into yours. I did some simple things like just imitate the sounds he was making when he was in "the zone" one night and he immediately stopped, made eye contact, and smiled at me. Of course he then went right back to walking on his tiptoes in a circle, flashing his fingers in front of his face, and repeating the language from our cash register toy. That instant when he connected with me was amazing though. The look on his face was absolutely beautiful. And it gave me such joy to realize that when he's completely gone into his own little world, I can join him and connect - even if just for a few seconds. I better run. The critters are all getting hungry. I'll try to post after each appoitnment. Pray for us all this month. There will be a lot of running the roads, and a lot less of our regular routine so it could get dicey. Have a great week and don't forget to stop and Monkey Dance every now and then.

Quite a Week!

2007-11-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a week around here when it comes to life with Monkey. I'll try and keep this as concise as possible..........

Tuesday we had his 3-year well-check/ear infection follow-up appointment with our pediatrician. Let me start by saying that I really do like our pediatrician and how he cares for the physical health of my children........except when it comes to Monkey Dancin'. It was yet another visit that left me feeling like our pedi, who is otherwise fabulous, just doesn't quite "get it" when it comes to Tripp and his quirkiness. We were going through all the basic developmental questions and as he was asking me about language stuff and I was giving honest answers he was looking at me sort of confused. I finally said, "I'm not sure if you have it in your notes there, but we have an appointment with the Autism Team in December." His response......."Really?" Like he didn't sign the referral forms!!! He asked if was the team in Temple and I said yes and he made a little note and we continued. I will say that at that point he started watching Tripp more than just talking to me so I guess that was good. We get down to the ear check and he looks in both, looking extra hard in the right one, and then says to me, "Has he complained at all about having ear pain?" Hello?!?!? My response..."He doesn't complain about pain ever." Him: "Hmmm." Me: "Now, what I can tell you is that as he took the last round of antibiotics he seemed to get better. He started using his words more, and he even was interacting with us way more than we are used too. Yesterday, however, that all stopped and he spent the day either focused on his calculator or melting into tears on the living room floor." In the end he said something like "Well, since he doesn't show you much, but he is showing you what he does show you, we'll go ahead and treat it." So we got put on a 10-day round of Augmentin (yuck!). The cool part is that on about day 3 some AMAZING stuff happened. Are you ready.......you might want to sit down..........this is big................

TRIPP HAD A CONVERSATION ON THE PHONE WITH DADOO!!!!!

I'm talking an actual conversation! Tripp listened and said "yes" to some questions at the appropriate times and then said "I love you" and "Bye Dadoo." HUGE!!!!! I literally was laughing and crying all at the same time. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. To top it off he then walked past his daddy and said "Daddy, what you eatin'?" I nearly fell off the couch.

Needless to say, I think keeping Tripp healthy is going to be VERY important in this journey.

In other news......we had our first meeting with the school district folks on Wednesday morning. I met the diagnostician and the speech pathologist and I really liked both of them. They asked me a lot of questions and watched Tripp as he ran around finding numbers and counting things. They tried to engage in him in some activity, but to him they didn't seem to exist. I like the way they handled everything and at the end we all agreed that he is going to be evaluated completely by the diagnostician, the speech pathologist, and the district psychologist. Unfortunately, before they can start any of that I need to get his hearing checked so they can rule out a hearing impariment. We need to finish the antibiotics before we do that so we know his ears are clear when we have it done. Our pedi had even said (not sure why, but he did) that if we were testing his hearing the day we were there he probably wouldn't pass with that much fluid behind his ear.

So, we are waiting again. We have a follow-up with the pedi a week from tomorrow. If his ears are clear we will get a referral to the audiologist to have his hearing tested. Once that's done we will call the district back and start scheduleling the evaluations. The good news is that the district is bound by law to complete the evaluation process in a finite amount of time. If he qualifies for services through the distrcit we will know and have access to them by February. Yea! I'm also thinking about asking (pushing) our pedi to give us a referral to ENT. The doctor that treated Vivie was fabulous. I'm thinking it would be good to just have him checked out. He was sick ALL winter last year with a sinus infection that we didn't know he had and this first cold of the season has resulted in two rounds of antibiotics. I'm realizing now that when he's sick we regress. Regressing is bad. It might not bother me so much if it just meant 10 days of feeling bad and being grouchy, but he really goes into himself and I'm afraid he might not come back out. Besides, if he's going backwards he can't go forwards and we loose valuable time. I know I can't keep him from getting colds, but I'm thinking it couldn't hurt to see if there are some kind of structural issues that cause his colds to turn into infections (ear or sinus) every time.

OK, there's the catch up. He had a good weekend, but seemed a little frustrated and was really hanging on to his calculator at Bible Hour tonight. I had to physically carry him in and put him in the chair. He was, of course, fine when we picked him up. I'm praying for a happy, healthy week with more of this conversation stuff. It really was amazing.

For My Monkey (and my sanity)

2007-11-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I suppose the last thing I need is another blog, but it seems somehow the right things at the moment. For those of you that haven't been reading my Temple Remodel blog I'll give you a quick history. Over the last 8 months or so we have begun to have some concerns about our son's development. A few mnonths ago he was referred to be evaluated by Scott & White's Autism team. This was not a huge shock, but painful to hear nonetheless. The last 8 weeks have been hard.

Today, I decided to start this blog in order to provide myself a place of release. I didn't want my Temple blog (which is supposed to be about my journey toward physical, mental, and spiritual health) or my Sarah Station blog (which is just about the fun things that happen in our family) to be taken over by this journey we are on with Tripp. So I'm giving it its own space. I'm sure there will be many times that my blogs overlap, but creating this one makes me feel like I am in some way preserving normalcy by not allowing this part of our family's journey to become the only part I see.

So....this blog is for my Monkey. In case you are unware, Paris is my Goose, Tripp is my Monkey, and Vivian is my Bug. Call me weird - I don't care. My children are all so special and they each wound up with their own special name.

Today is what I would call a "two steps back" kind of day. Tripp had a dynamic week the last week. He seemed to come out of his world and interact with ours more than he has in a long time. He was using his words in appropriate ways - answering questions, and even showing (and voicing!) concern for his baby sister. "What happened to Vivie?" is what he said. I nearly fell off the bed I was so amazed by that simple sentence. Then we woke up this morning. It's been a day of few words, lots of tears, lots of whining in a pile on the floor. The one word we've heard a lot today is "Mommy." Imagine it in a whiny, sing-song sort of tone. Then repeat about 500 million times. That's my day today.

It should be an interesting week. He has his 3-year well check tomorrow at 2:00. Then on Wednesday we meet with the school district's diagnostician to start the process of evaluation through them. I'm hoping this will result in him receiving services through the district. It's strange, part of me hopes he's having a day like today when we go in so they will understand my concerns. Then there's that part of me that wants him to shine through all the evals so in the end we're told he's really just fine. It's a catch 22. I don't really want him to NEED help, but I know he does so I want him to get all that's available.

I better run. Monkey is "resting" - he doesn't actually nap anymore unless he's sick. Bug is playing happily and I have a brief period of time where I can indulge myself with my soap opera before we have to leave to pick up Goose from school. Have a good week, and pray that we do too.