Saturday, August 27, 2011

Watch the video and an update on Leila



The video above has a very powerful message so if you haven’t watched it already; I encourage you to watch it, right now. If you want to know what it’s like, if you want to know what a parent of an autistic child goes through and deals with he pretty much nails it.

Leila started school this week and her transition into a new classroom, with a new teacher, has gone really well. She had a rough time Tuesday when we dropped her off but her teacher said she was fine after about 10 minutes. She has two returning aides and two new aides. I really like her teacher, Ms. Nikki, so far. She is very protective of Leila and has said she “just loves her”. Who wouldn’t? J I’ve already seen small improvements in Leila’s eye contact and use of speech. But also seen the return of two old stims… taking a kitchen utensil (or anything she likes at that moment) and waving it in front of her face and taking sharp intakes of breath. So I plan to ask her teacher and our new ABA supervisor what I should do to discourage these old “new” behaviors.

This brings me to ABA therapy. Two weeks ago we completed all our assessments and met our new supervisor, Patrick. I like him a lot too. I let him know that I would not stand or hesitate to call him for therapists that do not call to tell me they are late or not coming. I also said I would not hesitate to call him if I thought a therapist didn’t “fit” right with Leila; that I would give them two weeks and if I still didn’t think they were right for Leila I would request they not come back to our home. He agreed with everything, told me to call him for whatever and whenever. I think we’ll get along just fine. J I finished all the paperwork (23 pages of paperwork, ugh!) and now we are in the waiting phase. Waiting for Patrick to write his final report and waiting for the Regional Center’s approval. Leila will most likely start therapy again in the middle of September/early October. Her day will be as follows: 8:30-1:30 school, maybe a 1 hour break, then ABA therapy from 2:30-4:30. That’s a long day for a 3 year old, but ABA works so we are doing it. I won’t be putting Leila in any other activities like speech or occupational therapy because she gets OT twice a week at school and I’ve been told by Leila’s previous speech teacher and Patrick (ABA supervisor) that speech therapy won’t exactly help Leila. Meaning, when Leila echoes or initiates speech her words are very clear. She does not need help annunciating or forming words. She needs help unlocking them from her brain. A speech therapist can’t really help with this.

I’ve been forcing Leila to use my name when asking for things lately in the hopes one day she’ll actually use it on her own. The day that happens I will update the blog with a simple “she finally said it”. I will be very happy the day that happens!!



1 comment:

  1. You're a great mom Jessica! And Leila is a great kid :) I'm sure it's not always easy, but you have such a great attitude and so much love to give... I'm glad you two (and your whole family) have each other!

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