This week's OT and Speech sesions.

Both of Garrett's therapists mentioned some great improvements in his attentiveness and interaction.

From Garrett's Occupational Therapist:

Garrett is now on a GFCF diet and mom feels he's really responding well. He is now pointing!

Garrett played with us for an hour with just one trip to his room to get a book. We introduced brushing with a sensory brush and he enjoyed it, especially on his hands. He played and explored a variety of toys and showed true joy when playing with the accordion tubes. He also let us help him with a hammer toy and shape sorter. He did much more referencing of mom and big brother.

From Garrett's Speech Pathologist:

Great Session! Garrett was both easier to engage and stayed engaged for longer periods. We were able to get Garrett to let us intrude on his play with a magnetic writer and beads. We imitated him and then he imitated us! ... Garrett loved Row Row Your Boat. A slow version with lots of pull & push calmed him. Garrett said "down" at the end, playing up/down from mom's lap!

He did say something that sounded like "down" after I said down and let him fall backwards. He wouldn't repeat it again. I am going to keep working on it.

Garrett is making excellent progress.

Garrett flew to California with me for a week to attend my sister's wedding. He did very well on the flight there.

I am constantly amazed at the progress that Garrett is making. He gave us a lot of good eye contact this week. He even played a face to face game with my sister, Stephanie. I had to get it on video because I wasn't sure that people would believe me.





He would not have done this a month ago.

Garrett's occupational therapist came yesterday. She was so proud of him for staying with us. He had to get away for a few minutes, but he came right back. He attended to the activities and even let me take turns with him for a little bit.

Garrett started pointing!

While at the TACA "coffee talk" last night, Garrett grabbed someone's phone off the table. He pointed to the screen.

That was the first time that I've ever seen him point. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, so I didn't make a huge deal about it.

But he did it again this morning! We were playing with the See n' Say and he pointed to a few of the animals. Now I'll just have to focus on getting him to point to things that he wants and we'll have some non-verbal communication going on.

I'm so excited!

We've gone GFCF!

We are on day three of the GFCF diet. Garrett doesn't have much variety in his diet anyway because of his food aversions and sensory/texture issues.

Things he will eat:

waffles
pancakes
cereal
yogurt
chicken nuggets
cold baked or grilled chicken
peanut butter sandwiches
french fries
popsicles
candy

I have found GFCF replacements for most of those items, but our go-to meal for Garrett has always been a peanut butter sandwich. If he wouldn't eat what we were having, he would have a sandwich. I refuse to pay $6 for a little tiny loaf of gluten free bread, so he's going without right now.

One of his other problems is that he won't eat what he doesn't recognize.

For breakfast this morning, I gave him GFCF waffles, scrambled eggs, banana and rice milk. I knew that he wasn't going to eat the eggs, so I spread some peanut butter on his mini waffles. He wouldn't touch them. After watching him pushing them around the tray for 10 minutes, I finally stepped over and shoved a piece in his mouth. I know that it's something he'll eat, but he doesn't recognize it as something he likes. We have to do that a lot.

Official Diagnosis

Garrett had his appointment with his Developmental Pediatrician today. We weren't sure what to expect at this visit. We weren't sure if he would just be gathering information for a future diagnosis or if we would be jumping right in.

The doctor took Garrett's history, some family history and asked us questions about his development. He then did some tests with Garrett (a peg board, cup and blocks, etc.) and did a quick physical exam.

Then came the hard part.

Although we were expecting it, I don't think we could ever be fully prepared to hear it. Garrett is autistic. We've known that for 3 months, we just needed an official diagnosis.

Now that we have a diagnosis, we can enroll him in the Exceptional Family Member Program. He will also qualify for ECHO, which will cover his Applied Behavioral Analysis.

Audiology, appointment #3

Today we went to Walter Reed for another pediatric audiology appointment. They asked us at our last visit to have Garrett practice wearing headphones to prepare for the tests. Garrett doesn't like having things in, on or anywhere near his ears.

They tried inserts and Garrett pulled those right out. I held his hands, but he still rubbed his head and moved all over so that the inserts would fall out.

The ditched that idea after a few minutes and started the normal testing. Garrett remembered this part and was looking for the bear and the bunny as soon as we sat down. They brought out the pegs to get his attention centered. Unfortunately, with Garrett there is no middle ground. He is either not interested in the toys and is looking around too much or he's so focused on the toys, he doesn't turn at all when they start the sounds.

They tried the individual ear testing again, but with headphones. That lasted all of 30 seconds. Garrett wanted nothing to do with them.

They tried to get a fluid reading. This is when the meltdown started. He had already put up with us putting things in and on his ears, but holding him down and sticking stuff in his ears... He was done.

They want us to come back next month for a PABR (Pediatric Auditory Brainstem Response) test.

General Testing Information:

For some children, reliable results from behavioral hearing tests cannot be obtained. The ABR can provide useful information about the amound and type of hearing loss and the function of the auditory nerve.

During the ABR, sounds are presented to the child's ears through earphones while he/she sleeps or rests quietly in a bed or chair or in a parent's lap. Small electrodes are taped to teh ears and head to measure the response. The test usually takes about one to one-and-a-half hours.

The ABR is a noninvasive, safe and painless test. It requires that the child remain still and quiet. Some children will lie quietly or sleep, but many will require a light sedation. If sedation is indicated, your child's appointment will be coordinated with the Pediatric Sedation Unit; a pediatrician will evaluate your child prior to the sedation and give medical clearance.

They want to sedate him. I don't blame them. Todd isn't too thrilled with this idea.

Speech Therapy session 3

Garrett is still not talking, but we're really working on getting him to communicate in other ways. Eye contact is a big thing right now. We've been trying to wait until he looks at us to do what he wants.

Today during speech therapy, he was playing with a Little People house that has a bell on it. He can't make the bell ring by himself. He needs either Chris or I to do it for him. He would try to push it and when it didn't work for him, he would grunt. Chris would wait until he looked up before she would ring the bell. At first, he would only look as high as her hand, so she raised her hand up to her cheek. That brought Garrett's attention upward and he began to look up at her to communicate that he wanted her to ring the bell again.

I've been doing the same thing when he wants to jump. I'll make him jump once. I know that he wants more because he bends his knees, but I wait until he looks up at me before I will respond.

Garrett loves it when Chris brings out the beads. He loves to shake them around, or put them on the ground and rake him fingers across them. Chris would like me to put some beads in a container that Garrett can't open. He'll need to communicate to me that he needs help to open it if he'd like to play. I have a plastic shoebox that I can use, but I'll need to go buy some beads for him.