Sometimes, change just comes

We rolled a little differently today.  Hey, what can I say.  We fly by the seat of our pants around here!

"A" the occupational therapist was sick today, so there was no OT this am.  We could have just skipped the whole thing, but Diana, the speech therapist, wanted us to come in.  So...we did!

This means Nea had no OT prior to speech therapy.  This is an experiment in "How well can you handle your sensory issues, without being centered and grounded."  (Note to self: IEP must include sensory breaks)

She really did alright, overall.  But you could certainly tell it was hard to focus and it was difficult to stay on task with things she didn't like.  When Diana pulls out the word cards (practicing words and annunciations) Nea slinks down her chair to the floor as if she's melting.  She throws out sighs and cries of desperation.  But Diana wasn't buying it and let her know immediately.  Nea stopped with the whining, but she wasn't happy about it one bit.  Ahh, there's that little 2 year old personality we all know and love!

Busy Beads in the Lobby of Pedi Rehab

At one point Diana was getting out a game to play with her, but apparently it wasn't something Nea wanted to do.  So there was immediately melting, immediate crying and immediate frustration.  Diana ignored her at first and then said....

"Nea, if you don't want to do something.  You just have to say, 'I don't want to do it"

Nea squared her shoulders, leaned in towards Diana and glared, "I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!"

Uhm....Wow....alrighty then.  Coming through loud and clear sister!

Moving on Diana did more cards, more words and more work.  Nea hung in there, but she really had no patience for much of anything.  Finally Diana said, "Nea, what do YOU want to do?"

Nea's response, "Thomas.  I want Thomas"

Diana had not pulled out any Thomas things for their session (she presets the room up before we get in there) so she told Nea, "Well I don't think I have him in our toy box."

Nea then offered, "Can you find him?"

What?

Diana was impressed that Nea took an abstract idea and used it in an appropriate way.  Nicely done my sweet.   I told you, we were functioning a little different today.

Someone told me there was inside snow at the mall that fell every 90 minutes from the center of the mall.  We made a beeline for the mall to see this magical snow, but we didn't see a thing!  Of course we can't get through the mall without a train ride!  We also tried the Carousal, which was new for us!

Learning about the carousal

Train ride!

In my time absent from the blog, I have had the initial meeting with the school regarding Nea's transition out of the 0-3 program (Early Intervention).  I've said it before how nervous it makes me and I'm sure I'll continue to think that way until the "unknowns" are figured out for me.  Once that's done, I'll be able to settle a little easier.  Transitions are hard for kids with autism.  Transitions are hard for parents of kids with autism.

Believe it or not, my statistics course may afford me a little more breathing room when it comes to out of class work.  There is no 20 page paper to write, but rather homework packets to complete.  I may be able to juggle my time a little better.  That's good.  I have these 3 books to study before February 6th, Nea's evaluation with the school district.

One step at a time.  We'll just get through the holidays and move on from there......