A DX for Austin

Yesterday was a difficult day for us. We went to see the dev. pedi and Austin was diaganosed as having a global development delay and autism spectrum disorder. He said that Austin was too young to be specific on how mild/moderate it might be or to dx him with a specific disorder on the spectrum. We did get some lab work done to see if this is genetic but that chance is very low.

As a parent, this is not the news I wanted to hear. I have told others that I thought Austin could be on the spectrum but to hear it from a doctor, a good doctor who knows what he's talking about, is a completely different thing.

I know that this is not a bad thing but I am not going to say that I am not upset because it does hurt and it is not what I wanted or expected to hear. I also know that my baby is still the most wonderful and perfect baby to me and DH but that does not make it hurt any less. The wonderful thing though is now my baby qualifies for OT and 20 hrs. weekly of ABA. The only thing now is for us to find a program with openings near us.

Also, I have recently been researching sensory diets. The dr. said that although Austin has sensory issues, they are at the bottom of the list when it comes to his issues. However, from what I have been reading, these diets incorporate a routine and structure into a child's day. By doing therapeutic activities throught out the day, every couple of hours, you can help your child out. We are going to give that a try because right now, Austin does not like/can not handle structure. He pretty much flies off the handle if we try to make him do an activity with us unless he is the one in control.

Egg Chalk!

One of the things Austin has trouble with is coloring/drawing. He doesn't quite get the concept of holding the colors and making marks on the paper. We have worked with a magna-doodle before and his therapists have also recommended that he try to use egg shaped chalk. With this shape of chalk, he can just hold the entire "egg" and draw. The only problem is you can't find egg chalk in stores unless it is Easter. Yes, I could have took the easy route and ordered a box off of crayola.com but I wanted to get creative after my MIL found a recipe to make your own egg chalk. I thought it would be a neat idea to share. If you have older kids, this is fun craft that you could do together and if you really want to get creative, you could make this at Easter and put them in little goodie bags to pass out at their school. The picture above are the ones I made. The only thing that I did different from the recipe is I took the chalk out of the plastic eggs a few hours later and then let the chalk finish drying by setting it out. It really does take about 24 hours before you can use it.

Below is the link that you'll have to copy and paste since I can't figure out how to link yet:

http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/egg-shaped-sidewalk-chalk/

Also I found that the website actually has alot of other neat craft ideas if you want to take a look.

It's been one month and counting

Officially today, we have been GFCF for one month. Has it been as hard as I first thought? Not really. But I have a toddler who doesn't require a gazillion different menu ideas and he doesn't really like bread. We've been eating lots of hot dogs (hebrew national), gf pastas, gf fish sticks, beef, pork, and tons of veggies and fruits. Anyhoo, we have 2 more months to go before I officially decide to scrap the diet if I don't see any improvements.

In other news, my ST quit this morning. Actually she quit on Monday morning but that day I just thought she called in sick. Her reasons were personal but it sure sucks. First of all, I have no idea how long it is going to take to get a new one. And second of all, this will be the 3rd ST Austin will have to adjust to since July. The only good thing is, once we do get a new ST, they will make up any sessions lost.

And finally one more note: Austin is feeling better. Still icky and coughing but getting that yucky stuff up!

the culprit

Good news : Austin's sick so that's why he was fussy. Bad News: Austin's sick.

Last night was miserable for the both of us. He hardly slept and was up every 45 min. He also has a really bad cough and with all the news about cold and cough medicines not being safe for kids under 6, there isn't really a whole lot I can do for him. We are using a humidifier, vicks, warm liquids, and steam baths to make him a little more comfortable.

I wish I had something new

So nothing new here but just a quick check in. Austin has been very fussy the last few days. Everything and anything sets him off for no reason so I am hoping that he either is feeling slightly under the weather or he is teething. He has some new k-9s (sp???) but I have no idea how long they have been there so it is possible that they are the culprit. Meanwhile, I am just trying to be patient with him.

Oh and on Friday evening, he decided he was going to tear off a piece of his foam blocks and jam it up his nose. Yeah, that was real fun but luckily I have long nails and was able to dig it out with out too much trouble.

The new signs are going ok. So far, we are working on "book", "drink", and "eat". He did "drink" once by himself but all the other times he only does it as long as I am holding his hands.

Terrible Twos and he's still ONE

I told my friends that therapy has become a nightmare. Austin has decided that he doesn't want to be forced to do anything (ie..sign for "more" or "all done" or complete tasks). When we try to get him to do things in sessions, if he doesn't want to than he throws temper tantrums where he lays on the floor screaming and kicking his legs. This really has me worried and I don't like it but for now I guess I am going to chalk it up to those terrible twos. Going forward, we are going to implement more structured routines daily and incorporate more signs into his "vocabulary".

Also, not to be pessimistic but we have seen no big improvements on this diet either. Things like this are hard when you are not having a good day.

YUM-O!

I finally got around to making those Mexican chalupas (See Sept. 28th post for recipe) and they were so yummy! They had great flavor and literally took less than 30 min. to cook. The original recipe did not call for corn but I had a small can on hand so I mixed that in. I really think they would have been even better if I had topped them with either guacamole or just plain avacado slices and lettuce but I didn't have that on hand so maybe next time. This is just easy for the little ones to eat and puts a little variety into ground beef.

Austin did not have a whole chalupa though; he had smaller tortilla chips mixed in with his. But mine was prettier so that pic is what you get!