Angels & their wonderful men...a new thread for a new year!!!

[mickeyfan1]

Melissa, my mother "died" in the hospital, she was gone. She said she saw not just a light but "something" telling her to go back. The doctors did not shock her, but she came back to life. She said she did not see tham working on her, just the light and the feeling of being sent back, and hearing it. The doctors could not explain it, either. This was at least 12 years ago. She jokes that she wasn't supposed to go "there" and they meant to send her somewhere else, not necessarily back to life. But I think it had an impact on her.

Science and faith are hard to reconcile. I don't think that what David is thinking is "normal" for a teenager, but it isn't "abnormal", either, IMO. I hope he can get some guidance from the priest, I believe that if you feel in your heart that you have a soul, and there is an after life for your soul in heaven, that that is true. No amount of science can tell it is not, there is no true proof one way or another. I wish there were, I would give anything to know where my fater is, and that he is having as good of a time there as he did while in the world of the living. But he has never come to me since he passed on, so I still don't know.


GO VOTE!!!!

 

[BethanyF]

About Sam, OT, Autism and SID

Ill try to keep this short, but I tend to babble when I get going.
When we went to WDW in 2002, I noticed a few strange behaviors from Sam. Most notably he was holding his hands over his ears at inappropriate times (it wasnt loud, etc). Then I started to noituce he was also holding his hands over his ears when anything exciting to him was happening. For example, the beginning of a new movie or TV show, again it wasnt a volume thing.
So I did a little research )gotta love the internet) and kept finding Sensory Integration Dysfunction.
At this point someone suggested I get him in to our school district for an evaluation. So I called the school and get an eval scheduled for Aug 2002 (4 months after the call). At the evaluation, the school determined he fit the criteria for autism and offered him a spot in the early intervention pre-school. The included speech, OT, PT, and a social worker to all work with him. Plus floor time therapy twice a week.
So within 2 weeks, I found out he might be autistic, get his IEP in place and he started school. I dont think I ever had a moment to really think during those couple weeks.
We went through a year of pre-k and he really blossomed. He became a different kid. I sometimes question the autism dx, but I do believe he has SID. However, the school doesnt offer services for SID, so I didnt argue the dx. Heck, whatever they are doing is working, so why rock the boat.
Now we are in kindergarten, he is in a regular class with pull-out services (speech and OT) as needed. He also gets weekly room visits from a couple different therapists.
He still does the ear covering thing, and I have come to learn he isnt actually covering his ears, but rather putting deep pressure on his jaw joint. Deep pressure is regulating for him. When he gets worked up or overwhelmed, the pressure calms him down.
He is still in need of OT, especially for fine motor. He is just now starting to correctly hold a pencil, however he still cant color, write properly etc. My beef with the OT today was that she didnt make up missed sessions, and he is only scheduled to see her once a week. More often than not, holidays, feild trips, and inservice days fall on Monday, his OT day. I wanted the day changed, and it looks like I finally got it.
The other issues we are still working on is phonetic awareness and social skills.
He is one of 2 kids in his class that can sight read incredibly well, but he doesnt understand sounding out a word. He knows all the sounds that letters make, but cant figure out how to combine them into words.
As far as social skills, he will not initiate play or try to jump into an established group game. So he does a lot of parrallel play, playing next to the other kids, but not with them. He is also unimaginative when it comes to play. During Floor Time last year, we really tried getting him to relaize its ok to pretend that a chair is an airplane or whatever. He went along with it if someone else initiated it, but he still wont make something up himself.
He thrives on strict routine, and his kinder teacher is pretty strict, so this is great. He is a different kid than he was on meet the teacher day. The entire team commented on this today.
Ok, I could go on and on, but I am probably boring you all to tears. Thanks for all the kind words after my post earlier today

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Originally posted by helenabear
now I have Weird Al on the 31st!

Andrew would love to go to that concert with you. He likes Weird Al.

Melissa, it is good that David will talk to your pastor. That should give him some information.

The weather here is stinking. Cold rain. YUCK.

Dinner is Carol's Smorgasbord, also known as left overs.

 

[BethanyF]

More about Sam

I forgot to include the part about obsessions....most notably anything Disney related. He recites movies, TV shows and commercials from memory after only seeing them once or twice. He tells his teacher 'when we go to Disney World, we are staying at Port Orleans Riverside. That is one of Disney's moderate resorts.......' and continues to recite the travel planning DVD. He is also telling them day by day what our vacation schedule is. 'On the first day, we will check in. Then we are taking the boat to Downtown Disney to go to World of Disney to buy my Pal Mickey. Pal Mickey will tell us when shows and parades are about to start. After that we will go to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort for dinner. After dinner we are going to watch the fireworks.....' and on and on he goes.
It can be cute if you dont know him, but it is an every day, all day occurance. I only let him watch TV for a couple hours a day, but with his retention, the school must think he is watching Disney stuff 24/7. I have to constantly defend myself from what they must think.
They are working with him and appropriate conversation times. They will talk Disney with him, but not when he should be doing something else. They told me today, that he has stopped raising his hand during carpet time to talk about Disney....this is definitely a step in the right direction.
They are also working with him to learn to read body language and when he can or cant interrupt someone. He thinks just because he says 'excuse me' he can start right into his topic. So he is learning he has to wait until his 'excuse me' is acknowledged before he can start on his topic.

ok, I am done babbling for now.

 

[Lars624]

Bethany~
It is wonderful that you are so involved in his education......a caring parent makes a HUGE difference. I work as a para-pro in our school district on a substitute basis & last year I worked a lot with 2 little boys diagnosed with Asbergers. Does your son have a teacher's aid (para-pro) asssigned to his room for him?

 

[The LK 4]

Bethany - it's not babbling - we're here for you! He sounds like a great kid, and very fortunate to have you as his mommy!!! I did LOL at the Disney obsession part, though - I think I fall into that category sometimes too.

 

[MerryPoppins]

Bethany, I hear you. David used to hold his ears or pull the bottom of his coat up over his shoulders and weigh it down so it pulled on his shoulders. Both had problems with their writing.

How lucky that you were able to find out what was going on so early. David wasn't identified until he was in 4th grade and Amy was in 2nd. I've known lots of families with SID kids - I belong to a parent's group here in Norman. It's been very helpful and so has the "How Does Your Engine Run" seminar I attended. If you ever need ideas, I have tons of notes. We could do the email thing, so we don't bore everyone else to tears.

My kids problems are relatively minor. They compensated for them VERY well. But the changes in them is amazing over the past several years. We no longer go to the OT except for occassional fine-tuning. They now have tthe tools to deal with most of their problems.

 

[BethanyF]

Lars....there is a permanent aide in his classroom, there seems to be a special needs kid every year. She and the teacher make a great team, so she has been assigned to that class and any incoming student with needs also goes to that class.

MP...I would love to hear more about How Does Your Engine Run, please email me some info. Email is the same as AIM name @aol

LK...the Disney obsession thing cracks everyone up. I can understand how it can be frowned on in school, but it is pretty funny to hear a 5 year old quoting Walt.

 

[The LK 4]

Donna - clean out that mailbox!!!







now back to your regularly scheduled programming....

 

[firstmickey]

I just did: thanks!

 

[helenabear]

Bethany , I can't say much more than waht has been said. You sound like a wonderful mom and he sounds like a great kid too! Feel free to talk about it all you like... didn't seem much like babbling to me

 

[firstmickey]

E.
I think you mean Bethany.
Although, I do babble too!
(that's why you got confused)

 

[Ranatra]

Sorry, no time to catch up. Hasn't been a good day. Stayed home this morning due to the weather, and then noticed my poodle was walking on 3 legs and completely unable to do the steps. I took her into the vets right away. He said she has blown out the ligament in her back leg and there isn't anything he can do for her. We have hardwood floors and she isn't able to walk around on 3 legs upstairs. I keep finding her flat on her belly unable to get up. I have to carry her down the steps and out the door when she needs to go out. He said it's something that doesn't really heal but in a months time she get accustomed to it and will probably get around better. I asked him what do I do in the meantime?? He said he was sorry but didn't have any answers for me. THis is not going well.

 

[The LK 4]

Ok, who can tell me all about Disney Quest? Can you spend all day there or is it good for just a few hours? Ticketmania had a deal I couldn't pass up. Regular adult admission = $33, I purchased the tickets for $21! If they have the $20.04 deal at the Marriott again this year, we will probably drive down in August.

 

[The LK 4]

Awww, Sandi, that must be heartbreaking to watch for you. I hope your dog adjusts soon like the vet said. The poor thing. Here's a gentle doggy for her.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Sandi, that is too bad about your dog. One of my patients had a dog with hip dysplasia who had trouble walking on the hardwood floors. They put down carpet runners and the dog would only go where they were.

We went to DQ for a half day and that was long enough. The problem was it didn't open until 10 am and got really crowded later in the day. It is good to do on a sleep late morning after a late night the night before.

 

[helenabear]

Okay Donna/Bethany blame that on LK for saying Donna's name like that... it was on my brain... and right now I am on Benadryl so a tad bit loopy

Sandi, I am so sorry about your pup I hope that he recovers quickly

LK, I know Luis could spend the whole day at DQ!!!!! I spent about 6 hours there total the last time I went (split over 2 trips there though). So you could spend a lot of time there no problem!

 

[The LK 4]

Sorry, but "DQ" is making me think of ice cream!!!

 

[Lars624]

I was wondering if the twins would like DQ? My questions, even though they might be dumb, are...
1-Once you buy your ticket admission do the 'games' inside cost more $$?
2-How long could two 14 y/o kids spend there before becoming bored with it?

Sandi~Sorry to hear about your poodle I hope he makes a speedy recovery!

 

[helenabear]

DQ... sounds yummy

Lars from what I remember, there were no extra charges for any of the games at all. I think if you made a CD or something like that you did pay more. If the 14 year olds like games at all, they will last forever there... I could hardly pull Luis out. A huge range of games were there too... like Gameworks or Dave & busters but sooo much better