Improvements continue!

Some excerpts from the notes coming home from school lately:

1/18:  ..."Matched shapes and colors from a field of 6.  Matched big/little."

1/23: ..."Nathan worked on cutting.  We are moving on to receptively identifying 3 colors and shapes.  He was very compliant today."

2/6: ..."Nathan was receptively identifying shapes today.  Hurray!  Cut on a line [with scissors!] a number of times for 5-6 inches."

2/8: ..."Worked on receptively identifying colors and shapes.  He is doing great.  He did well cutting and making a pig from hearts."

2/9: ..."Nathan worked a long time today.  He is cutting with scissors better.  I will increase the length he must cut consecutively."

At home, we are seeing unbelievable progress on communicating with his iPad app.  He uses it so much it's almost like he doesn't have a communication issue!  He regularly tells us he wants a popsicle...and not just any old popsicle, but a GREEN popsicle!  And if I tell him we are all out of green and only have purple and red left?...He says "PURPLE".  He tells us he wants the "BUS" and "SCHOOL" and sometimes even says "GOODBYE" before we walk out the door.   He tells us he wants "BREAD" and "BANANA" and comments "BREAD" if he is eating it.  He asks for the "UPSIDE-DOWN" game and says, "I-WANT-MORE."  He even asked for some Sierra Mist soda by saying, "WATER + JUICE" when he didn't find an icon for "SODA".  Even my husband is marveling over this. 

As you can tell from the notes home, his cognitive progress (at least what he is aware of and cooperates in showing to teachers...we know it's in there!) is exploding!!  Colors, shapes, cutting with scissors??...is this still MY child we're talking about?

I asked Nathan to smile...and he did!!  Isn't he handsome? :)

  I'm so proud of how far he's come...

...and to think we've only been at this for the past few months!!

We are waiting for the school district to reevaluate his Assistive Tech needs.  He needs more than PECS.  He does so well with the iPad that it's a pity he can't use it at school.  We are hoping his teachers will see he is ready and recommend a change. 

Today will be the beginning of Round #14 in our AC chelation journey.  I'd say it (and our supplement regimen) are doing wonders...wouldn't you? :)  Will keep updating as we see more!

Communication WOW's!

Quick AWESOME update....

We went to my Secular Franciscan Order fraternity's Christmas party...not a huge crowd there, but the room was a big one, which usually drives Nathan giddy (lots of running room, interesting acoustics, etc).  He was focusing and engaging enough for people to notice that something had changed...which is exactly what I want! :)

However, at some point after we returned home, Nathan went over to his PECS book and started rifling through it.  He stopped on each page, looking for the words he wanted.  Then he touched a card, took it off, placed it on the sentence strip, and looked for the "I want" card that is usually on the first page...it wasn't there, so the closest one left was the "No" card, which had a face on it and was big, much like the "I want" card.  He gave us the strip (looking at us, of course!), gestured, and said something that we couldn't understand....still looking at us all the while.  The strip he gave us said this:

No + toy cars

I already explained the "No".  As for "toy cars", he has given us this card before when he wanted to go somewhere....in a car.  After he gave us the strip, I asked him, "WHAT do you want??"  He slapped his hands together and tried his hardest to make his mouth say the right things...finally, still looking at me, he said,

"Go go...go away, go away!"

He wanted to go somewhere...so my husband quickly obliged and took him to the bookstore at the mall (only indoor, Nathan-friendly place open at 6pm on a Sunday).  They have a great kids section that Nathan loves to explore. :)

Nathan's attention/attempts to communicate over the past month or two have been making our heads spin lately.  I feel like I'm on a train, watching everything go by in a blur!  The past weekend alone, we've seen differentiated, meaningful gestures, use of a new word, and continued retention of the famous 3-syllable popsicle.  All this progress coming after a stall in communication that has lasted as long as this kid's diagnosis at 26 mos old!! There still may be some unbelievers that it's the biomed/chelation combo that's at work here, but all I can say is this:

Before biomed:  Headaches, sound sensitivity, park meltdowns, diarrhea/constipation, bloated belly, NO verbal communication/word use, hyperactivity/lethargy.

After biomed/allergy management (pre-chelation):  More periods of calm, some increased eye contact, GREAT improvement on gut function, sound sensitivity GREATLY improved.

After biomed/allergy treatment/chelation (currently on Round #8):  HUGE increase in eye contact, "attention-seeking", use of novel gestures/PECS, improvement in motor and verbal imitation, verbal use of words we haven't seen in ages!, also receptive language through the ROOF!  My son now looks at people almost as much as an average peer would

 All this progress couldn't have come at a better time...Merry Christmas to us!!