I don’t get to update as often as I would like. Every two weeks we are supposed to assess where Ezra is, and then write goals to progress towards the end of the program, and full recovery. The problem is that we weren’t really taught exactly how to assess him, and how to write the goals. It isn’t too much of a mystery, but I do feel that the next program, NEW FRONTIERS, will be helpful in teaching us how to do that exactly. Because we haven’t assessed him with all tools, it is a bit difficult to determine the difference a month of home therapy has made. Difficult, but not impossible. Perhaps I should say, general, not specific. These are some of the things he never did before which he does now on and off:
- answers who, what, where questions about 70% of the time
- has answered two or three why questions
- shows empathy (when I hit my foot on the table and said “ow”, he asked: What happened Mommy? When I told him I hurt myself, he came over, gave me a hug and said: “it will be OK, mommy”)
- asks us questions that are about our feelings:”how was your day?”, “how are you feeling?”
Other than that, his eye contact has improved as well, and he calms down quicker. He has discovered a coping mechanism. When he is angry or frustrated he wants to bite things, which is potentially dangerous to his teeth, and to anything or anyone coming in contact with them. Now when he is frustrated, sad, or angry, we give him a towel to bite. Identifying a coping mechanism is one of the first fundamental mile stones any infant must learn. The ability to self-soothe is what allows us to move past images, sounds, smells we can’t process, that frighten or overwhelm us. The ability to be calm is essential to learning, analyzing, and processing. Anyone who has ever tried to reason with a ranting toddler will know how much easier it is to explain to a calm child why they can’t have something right then.
My personal experience with the program so far is that I go through phases of great motivation as well as frustration. We simply need more volunteers at this point. The children barely let me get away from anything during the day. I clean when they’re in bed, tidy the playroom, and then am supposed to continue to watch webinars, plan playroom activities, coordinate volunteers, schedule, and all of that after 8 pm. I get tired sometimes. I spend all my day with the kids, and autism is all I work with and think of during the day, so in the evening, I don’t feel like learning and reading more about it. I want a break and want to recharge, and yet there isn’t really a time I can prepare the next day activities until the kids are in bed. It’s a dilemma I haven’t solved yet. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is still much more productive than me driving him all around to get ineffective therapy. At least we are seeing beautiful results.
