An update on Moose, for those who are interested…
He’s receiving speech therapy twice a week, and occupational therapy once a week, all in our home. That’s the best thing about Early Intervention as far as I’m concerned. We don’t have to worry about going anywhere, and I don’t have to figure out what to do with the other three children–they just play in the playroom, and we do the therapy thing in the den. I’m still having a tough time finding the correct balance for my time with the three hours of therapy a week, plus homeschooling and my usual mommy stuff, cooking, cleaning, laundry and taking care of the finances (I know three hours doesn’t sound like much, but it can throw a wrench in the day, especially when the appointments take place at weird times!), but we’re working on it, and the main thing is, Moose loves it.
Both therapists have told me that they are impressed, and frankly shocked, with how quickly he is progressing. According to them, most children do not move at the rate he is, and since I’m assuming they have no reason to lie to me to make me feel better, I guess he’s doing fantastic. It can be hard for me to see the improvements, probably because I’m with him all the time (kind of like how you can’t notice your own children growing, until you see that their pants are too short), but when I think back to how he did with the evaluations in our home back in late July, I do notice a big difference. His attention span, particularly for adult-directed activities, is phenomenally longer. He is still not talking much on his own, but he’s making many more attempts at repeating what we say. His eye contact seems to be improving, and he’s interacting more. Oh, and he’s doing a great job with following directions, and not just when he wants to! All great things, and all what a mommy wants to hear! Yeah, he still has his moments, but what almost-three-year-old doesn’t?
His therapists tell me that there’s a very good chance he’ll “outgrow” his diagnosis in a few years, which would be fantastic. For now, I’m not going to think ahead to then–obviously, that’s what we want, but I don’t want to get my hopes up for something that might not happen. He will be going to “preschool” four days a week once he turn three–I wish it was a three day program, but I’m feeling much better about it after talking to an actual representative from the school district (probably the best source of information, huh? That doctor had no clue what she was talking about in regards to our schools!), and he’ll continue to receive therapies there, which I know will be good for him. If I can swing it with insurance, we may even be able to keep seeing our speech therapist once or twice a week, and she even said she’d keep coming to the house, so that’s something I’ll have to work on before his birthday.
Overall, things are looking good, I’m feeling a little better (although, I still have moments where I break down sobbing, thinking about my sweet little boy having to deal with being autistic for the rest of his life!), and most important of all, Moose is happy (as always!) and improving in ways I’m sure he doesn’t even realize, but which make the rest of us feel really good!