Nothing too new to report

Ben's doing okay, but he had a bad day with his Speech Therapist yesterday. He bit her and was throwing things, which he hadn't done for a while. He might of had a gluten infraction, or it might have been a reaction to the probiotics I gave him the night before. He did seem very antsy and chewy, not sure what is going on. The baby birds in the other planter have hatched and the ones that I took a picture of all almost big enough to leave the nest. That nest sure is getting crowded, since they're all big now and there's at least 5 and maybe 6 of them. They have little feathers instead of fuzz now. I got some good responses to my mother's helper flyer, I've got four interested girls, so I just have to make a decision. Rob has the next week off and today he went on Katherine's field trip to the science museum. I'm going to take Caroline to McD's before we pick up Ben from school, as she is a little bummed that everyone has something to do but her.

The baby birds

Two sets of purple finches have made nests in our hanging planters outside on our front porch. One of the nest's eggs hatched on Mothers day (how fitting!) and the other nest hasn't hatched yet. I don't know if it will. But the baby birds in the one nest seem to be doing well. The picture I took a few days ago. They sleep alot, all snuggled together, just like puppies. The kids are doing well. Ben continues to be on a path to improvement. He's mastered the picture exchange and uses it all the time. We're working on sorting between big and little versions of identical objects, and he seems to have the idea. I'm also working on his understanding of the color yellow, so that he will identify it when asked in all situations. He hasn't mastered that yet, but we work on it practically every day. He matches numbers without any problem at all now. I went to an "ESY" - that's summer school - meeting last week and he was approved for it. That starts the end of June and runs into the 1st week of August. We'll probably be gone for a week in July, as Rob is leaving for South Dakota the last week of July and we want to head to the beach to spend some time together before then. Also, we have another screening for Ben at the school we want to get him into on Thursday. They have a few spaces open for the fall so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe they'll pick him for their school this time.

The Baby Birds In Our Planter

I Saw This Video This Morning

and I'm giving the link, because it's really good. Here it is http://www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredevents/autism_every_day.php
This video pretty much sums it up, but I don't have it quite as hard as these people. Their kids look a bit worse off than Ben is, but I guess he could get worse as he gets older, as far as aggression, tantrums, etc. So many of this autistic behaviors have come and gone mysteriously. He chews all the time right now, but this started again around November after a six or so month hiatus. He's not yelling much right now, thank goodness and hasn't been for a few months. The constant yelling is tough to take, so I hope that doesn't come back. His stimming is still quite bad, but not as bad as it used to be. Much of his recent progress has been very consistent, he doesn't seem to gain and loose skills as easily as he did when he was younger. Nothing too miraculous to report today, but he did use the sign for swing spontaneously instead of the photo when I asked him what he wanted. Hopefully, we'll continue to see progress. I haven't found a mother's helper for the summer yet, but I'm still looking.

Kristin

I Have So Much To Say

That I guess I've been intimitated about doing all the catch up I need to do on this blog . . . First, let me say I think Ben is doing GREAT!!! True, he did bite his teacher's aide last week (hey, there always has to be something wrong), but on the whole he's making strides like we haven't seen in a long time. First off, he has mastered the picture exchange. Down low, on one of my kitchen cabinets, I have several pictures of things that Ben can request, like jumping on the trampoline, swinging, going outside, playing with his singing dog, eating cookies, etc, and Ben is using them on his own without being prompted. And I know that it is deliberate because he'll go get the picture and then lead me to the thing the picture is of, like the trampoline, if he wants to jump. He's been doing this entirely on his own! Even sometimes if he tries to lead me to something without a picture, all I have to do is remind him to go get it, and he does without hesitation! You don't know how big this is for Ben, this is real, consistent, deliberate communication, and that is a major breakthrough. And if that weren't enough, he has also picked up several new sign language signs that he will mimic with only minimal prompting, usually just a gentle reminder. He can sign "swing", "cookie", "candy", "jump", "dog", - all this learned in just the last few weeks! He's really doing awesome, and Casey has been a big help so far even though we've just begun. I really think the NDF + and the Liver Life have been a big help too. I am optimistic that we'll be able to get some words out of him this summer. I am trying to find a mother's helper to play with the girls this summer, so that I can devote some real time to making more progress with him. He's been working really well, and I've started trying to do jigsaw puzzles with him and giving him more challenging tasks. I am feeling much better about things these days. More good news to report later, I hope.