:: Marshmallow ::
As you can read in other recent posts, he has been doing amazing. We are constantly shocked at how far he has come in such a short amount of time. A year ago was when we really started on the this journey, and we were told that falls on the autism spectrum. It has been a never ending roller coaster since. I have not had much time to stop and breathe. We have just been chugging along, bulldozing it as we go. I just know I can not stop. And the results of doing it it all, is clear as day. No matter how tired or worn out I am in doing this all, every moment has been worth it. Yes, we have good days and we have horrible, no good, I want to start over days. Some days are just long and frustrating for us all. And for as much as it may be frustrating for me being a parent, I know it is just as frustrating for Marshmallow with all his limitations and not being able to to express himself the same way as a typical preschooler. But we all push on and keep moving forward. One day at a time, whether a good day or a bad one. We move forward.
Back in September/October we lost our therapist. She no longer works with the agency we are using, so we had a bit of a break where we did not have someone coming for his ABA therapy. We still met with our BCBA//Hab-M to keep her posted on his progress and keep moving forward with his goals on our own, until we had a new provider assigned to his case. Well mid-October we got a new one, we shall call J. As soon as I was told that the new provider was going to be a male, I was stoked. Marshmallow has always like men better than women, even as a baby. I knew it would be a great pairing for him. And sure enough, within moments of J first coming over Marshmallow was dragging him all over our house showing him things. It took no time at all for them to build a relationship. J has a ton of experience in this line of work and has a sibling with autism as well. So none of this is new to him. We are definitely excited to have him working with Marshmallow!
The first couple weeks was just doing some pairing and J seeing where Marshmallow was at on the currently list of goals. Just getting a feel for what all Marshmallow needed, while building that relationship. He was able to attend a party with us that a fellow austim family had for Halloween. It was perfect. J got to see how Marshmallow is doing socially and how he interacts with is peers in a relaxed setting. J also took some time one day to stop by and visit Marshmallow at school. To see how he is doing in the classroom setting and to hope to get a good gauge for some new goals there as well. After a couple weeks, he has started to work with Marshmallow on his current goals. It has been going very well. I just need to do better at helping to make that time better organized and have our day planned out a bit better. Right now a HUGE focus has been on Marshmallow adjusting to Skywalker being mobile and wanting to play in his space, with his things. Sharing is hard. So we have been creating some of this, to really force Marshmallow to work on this area. He does well on small scale, but lots to still work on. We also have tons of other goals that deal with communication and various skills. They are always changing as he meets the ones we are currently working on. Most of the time he just flies through his goals, making such huge progress.
6 months ago one of his goals was just getting him to label items. Like door. Not out of need or want. Just to label things in his environment. Now, he tells me "Butterfly outside", "Skywalker crying", "Clouds raining" making all sorts of observations and wanting to share them with us. We have always been working on using words for needs and wants as well, and have gone from 1-2 words for these requests to full sentences. Sometimes needing prompting, but he always gets it. He will say "I want popcorn, please." And if I do not put butter on it. He will ask for butter. Or ask for a bowl to put it in. He is filling in the missing gaps. Asking for what is missing. He has just come so far in 6 month with his communication skills.
Another big change has been in his social skills. 6 months ago he needed someone else to initiate play with him and keep him engaged. Now not only does he fully engage with his peers on his own, he also initiates play with his peers. He will grab a hand or tell them to come. He has a sparkle when he plays with his friends now. He also pretend plays a ton more. He takes everyday activities and puts them into play. His imagination has gone wild. He has a blast when playing with his Legos or his Little People. He makes up these big scenarios and plays them out. He also knows the names of the friends we see regularly and gets excited about seeing them when I tell him that we are seeing certain people that day. This is not the same boy from less than 6 months ago.
6 months ago one of his goals was just getting him to label items. Like door. Not out of need or want. Just to label things in his environment. Now, he tells me "Butterfly outside", "Skywalker crying", "Clouds raining" making all sorts of observations and wanting to share them with us. We have always been working on using words for needs and wants as well, and have gone from 1-2 words for these requests to full sentences. Sometimes needing prompting, but he always gets it. He will say "I want popcorn, please." And if I do not put butter on it. He will ask for butter. Or ask for a bowl to put it in. He is filling in the missing gaps. Asking for what is missing. He has just come so far in 6 month with his communication skills.
Another big change has been in his social skills. 6 months ago he needed someone else to initiate play with him and keep him engaged. Now not only does he fully engage with his peers on his own, he also initiates play with his peers. He will grab a hand or tell them to come. He has a sparkle when he plays with his friends now. He also pretend plays a ton more. He takes everyday activities and puts them into play. His imagination has gone wild. He has a blast when playing with his Legos or his Little People. He makes up these big scenarios and plays them out. He also knows the names of the friends we see regularly and gets excited about seeing them when I tell him that we are seeing certain people that day. This is not the same boy from less than 6 months ago.
Last month we decided to add in Occupational Therapy to his schedule. The main reason for this is for Marshmallows sensory issues. As his communication and social skills have flourished, we have noticed an increase in sensory behaviors. This is very typical. Lots of ebb and flow in the autism world. Steps forward in one area and steps back in another. Marshmallow has been stimming a lot more lately. Such as the arm flapping, spinning, and jumping. He also is having harder times focusing in crowded areas and is bothered a lot more by noise. He constantly covers his ears and tells me things are loud. He hates when I run the washer machine or dryer with the laundry door open, as it is loud. He will go shut it or tell me loud covering his ears. So at OT they are helping him manage when he has sensory overloads. They are working with him in the open gym area focusing on an activity while he wants to bounce around to everything else going on in the room. They have him doing some fine motor skills as well to just help fine tune some of them, especially in the personal care area. Such as putting on his shoes and socks. So for now we have added an hour of OT a week into our routine.
He has been chugging along at speech therapy as well. He has been doing fantastic. They have him working with another little girl during his sessions to help with the sharing and social skills some more. It is good for both of them. We have talked about adding in feeding therapy at some point as well. But we have found some things that have been working to get him to eat different food. Even if just one bite at a time. It is a start. So we are putting that on hold to see if he really needs it.
Preschool is the last piece that we have been working on. He is doing amazing. You can read more about school in this post :: Fresh Start - Preschool. In short, I am so glad we decided to pull him from the public school and put him in a typical private preschool. He is doing amazing. I know he is behind his peers in what they are learning, but he is learning. He is gaining so much from his classmates and his teachers. He has a great support system there. I know he would not be doing as well if we had decided to keep him in the public school.
In addition to sending him to preschool, we have the ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Award) to use for his education. I decided to get a ton of things for us to use at home to allow me to do some home school preschool with him. I have so many of the same resources available at home that they use with him at school. It is wonderful to be able to reinforce his learning at home. I try to spend a little bit of time everyday doing something with him. And do a bit more on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. I am always looking for new resources to get for us to use at home. Things that target his current goals in ABA, speech and school. Right now our big struggle is colors. He is just not grasping colors. So I have been doing a ton to help him work on knowing his colors.
Overall, I can not express enough how proud I am with Marshmallow. He constantly surprises me with new skills. It is amazing to see.
In addition to sending him to preschool, we have the ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Award) to use for his education. I decided to get a ton of things for us to use at home to allow me to do some home school preschool with him. I have so many of the same resources available at home that they use with him at school. It is wonderful to be able to reinforce his learning at home. I try to spend a little bit of time everyday doing something with him. And do a bit more on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. I am always looking for new resources to get for us to use at home. Things that target his current goals in ABA, speech and school. Right now our big struggle is colors. He is just not grasping colors. So I have been doing a ton to help him work on knowing his colors.
Overall, I can not express enough how proud I am with Marshmallow. He constantly surprises me with new skills. It is amazing to see.
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