School programs for a 2 year old

I went to look at an ABA program today. They are expanding and have several openings available. I really liked the place. The therapists were really nice and really good at what they do. It was nice to see ABA in practice. I’ve learned about it but it’s much different to see it in action. I don’t think that it is what I want to do though. One issue is that it is in Hopkins right now and when they move to their new location it will be in Plymouth. That’s a rather long drive. And since we both work full time we would have to use a transportation service that would be covered by insurance. I’m not sure I trust someone driving my child that far every day. It would make me nervous. I also think that Thomas does better with more active learning, a more physical environment.

So I made up my mind that I was going to start pushing for him to get into the school preschool program. I knew it was going to be a fight since they were getting in trouble for starting kids prior to age 3. But he is ready for school and I think he would thrive there. I’ve actually been making calls all week already but nobody has returned any messages. So then I got a call from Bridget, and she said that she knew we really wanted to get Thomas into the program and approached the new autism program director that just started and they said OK. So we have a meeting in two weeks to do an evaluation and then he’ll start within 45 days of the eval. I’m really excited. I just know that it was meant to be.

Update

I haven’t updated in a while. Thomas is doing really well. He doesn’t have too many new words (bye bye, one, go, down, stop), but he is doing great with his eye contact and interaction. I keep getting reports that he’s doing great at following directions too. And the times that he doesn’t, it’s not that he doesn’t understand, but because he’s being naughty, just like a normal two year old. He’s been having a few more tantrums too, probably not to the level of a normal two year old, but I still think that’s a good sign. Previously, he could be so easily distracted or redirected and it’s good that he’s being more persistant when he doesn’t get what he wants.

We had a wonderful time in Colorado. It was so nice to spend time with family that we haven’t seen in so long. He had a great time with Great-Grandpa. He would sit next to him in the chair and they would read together. It was usually a whole string of “uh-oh”s. We spent a couple days in the mountains. It was nice to get away and it was so peaceful. There is a horrible beetle killing all the trees. I would estimate that about 2/3 of the trees in the area were dead and the other 1/3rd all eaten up too, but hadn’t turned brown yet. It was rather sad. We went on a couple nice hikes. Sam had Thomas in the backpack for the first, which was a bit rockier. The second one Thomas walked for a while, with his doggie backpack harness. We ended up taking turns with him on our shoulders for the last half, but it was a short walk so that was just fine. There was a really nice overpass where we had someone take our picture. Not the greatest, but Thomas was having a hard time sitting still for that. We really did have a nice time. Grandma and Grandpa are having a harder time getting around, but I guess that is to be expected. Aunt Linda was having a really hard time with her legs too. She just seemed miserable a lot of the time. She’s always so positive, but I could tell she was in constant pain. I wish that we lived closer. She would be wonderful to work with Thomas if we weren’t so far away. I love all the stories of her classes and students. She generally taught the troubled students from 1-5th grades for many years. This year is her first year of actual retirement. She technically retired two or three years ago, but still worked part time. I think it was just getting too hard to move around. I hope they figure out why her legs hurt so much so that they can fix it. She’s too young to be moving like that.

My sister, Lily, has been having issues with her legs. It started almost three months ago and her legs just shake and twitch. She’s 32 and walking with a walker. It got much better suddenly for a week and then suddenly much worse. They have done a ton of tests and haven’t figured out anything. She seems to be handling it well, but that pretty much takes all of her independence away. She even needed help going up the one stair from the living room to the dining room. It seems like something like MS, which I guess they have not entirely ruled out. It seems at least something related. I hope they figure it out soon. Why does it seem like doctors can never figure it out?

We’ve also been hoping to give Thomas a new brother or sister. I didn’t ovulate at all with the first month of Clomid, so we are onto the second month. This month the side effects were horrible, so hopefully that means it really did something. I hope this happens quick because I’m not sure that I can handle many more months of those side effects.

My new niece Halley is the cutest thing ever. She’s finally starting to be more aware. She’s just so little. Even though she’s a month old, she still smaller than Thomas was when he was born. But he was a really big baby. I hope the next one is much smaller. The metformin I am on now is supposed to greatly reduce my risk of gestational diabetes, so hopefully size will not be the issue it was last time. Thomas did not really notice the baby or anything. I’m not sure he ever slowed down enough to even notice I was holding a baby.

We found out that we can get Thomas into an ABA school this fall, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to do. It was when we first got the diagnosis, but I’m not sure that’s the best approach for him. I am going to start fighting the school district again to get him into the autism preschool. He’s ready for it. I just think the overall approach will be better for him than the ABA approach. And if we did the ABA it would pretty much replace the services he’s getting right now, which he is doing so well with. I don’t want to do that. I would like to defiantly get him more OT, but I think I will probably just keep it the same if we can’t start the preschool. I don’t know. There are so many things to choose from and so many waiting lists and trying to figure out the right combination is really hard. I’m sure he’ll be fine though.