a $40,000 turkey sandwich

 For the past two and a half  years David has been receiving Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and ABA Therapy. It usually costs around a thousand dollars a week not including gas and travel time. We have had many milestones through therapy. We have seen David grow from using a picture book and sign language to communicate to carrying on conversations at a 30-36 month level! We have witnessed David having to have therapy in an isolated gym to now having good friends work with him that he calls by name! BUT, Today, September 12th, 2012, we had a milestone of gigantic proportions . HE ATE A TURKEY SANDWICH!!!!!!!!! Two slices of white bread, two slices of turkey, and some good ol' miracle whip. I cried as I watched my son pick up a triangle and precede to eat as if he hasn't eaten the same thing for the past 2 years. He has not added a new food to his list in over two years!

sorry its sideways....David eating his sandwich in Ms. Heidi's office

I quietly sobbed as the feeding therapist added a slice of Kraft American cheese to his plate. I watched amazed as he crammed the whole thing in his mouth. I have seen friends make sandwiches and place cheese on plates and always had a pang of regret that i couldn't just do that with him. I had to have perfectly square crackers that weren't to dark or, heaven forbid, chipped. This is just a milestone that I can't even explain how much it means to me. I will gladly keep paying the cost of therapy to see my beautiful boy make these changes and adjust to the life I know he can lead. I hope this is an encouragement to others to not give up but to have patient diligence with whatever you are working to overcome. You never know, you might just end up with a $40,000 turkey sandwich!

First Trip to The Dentist

Taking a child to the Dentist for the first time can be scary for any child, let alone an autistic child. Because David has many sensory issues, I was hesitant to schedule his first appointment. I was afraid of what would happen so I decided that the best way to overcome my fear was to become educated. I started by reaching out to my other mom's of autistic children that I write to regularly, going to my favorite special needs website, and by talking to Davids therapists and teacher.

I found a Dentist office that specializes in pediatric dental care for special needs children. They made sure to only schedule David when there would be no other patients there. They took him on a tour of the office for the first thirty minutes and let him touch and handle all the instruments. They had asked me what were his favorite things ( trains, airplanes, and firetrucks) and made sure to stock the room with them. They let me bring his favorite movie in so they could play it in the TV that was in the ceiling over the chair. It was important to find an office that had a staff that was trained to handle ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) patients and could accommodate all of his tendencies

To help overcome his anxieties we started about a month out with working out different scenarios with his OT therapists and his ABA therapists. We play acted that we were at the dentist. We let him pretend to be the dentist on work on our teeth. His teachers at school incorporated books about the dentist into their reading time. We also started driving by the office to familiarize him with the location and doing pop-in lobby visits.

They day of we started off by doing some relaxation techniques that he likes. We did "big breathes" were he places his hand over my chest and mine on his and do big deep breathes until our heart rates were nice and slow.We did some joint compression's and some dancing to get all negative energy out!

He did amazing! Although there were some tears at first, he walked away with a smile! They staff was very helpful and prepared for him. They allowed him to sit upright instead of laying down and he got to show  his favorite firetruck to everyone:) I was so proud of him for allowing them to touch and handle him. He, once again,  exceeded my expectations. It is amazing to me at the things he can handle. I give a lot of credit to the great team of people we have working with him . Whenever there is a situation, they have always stepped in and helped me show David how to behave. I think it is important not only for me to be strong for him, but to have a strong support team behind ME.