Deep Breath.....

So you may have noticed that I've been MIA allot lately on my blog.  All I can say is it's all due to the hectic life of an ASD mommy.  We found out our insurance won't cover ABA Therapy (it's private pay) so I am now going to become Peanuts ABA Therapist.  I joined a research study through the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (aka CARD) to get some free ABA training.  The training is great but I procrastinated and have 40 hours of ABA training to complete by March 31st (agh!).  I will say I'm very impressed with their program and plan to use it with my angel this summer.  Sassy saw the Pediatric GI doc and we left with little answers.  Yes, she suffers from constipation (no kidding, I didn't need a specialist for that!) and we can give her Miralax.  No, they don't know what causing the vomiting and abdominal distention she gets on occasion, but maybe she's an air swallower.  Her blood test for Celiac came back negative, her stool culture was negative.  She's doing ok right now so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.  We recently had many issues with our Naturopath and left her practice.  I then found a new Naturopath who is also a DAN! doctor and (by miracle of God) got Peanut in to see him last Friday.  I LOVE him and I'm confident he know what he's doing.  We now have an awesome long term plan in place and we couldn't be happier with it.

My Sassy

Finally, Sassy had her Sensory Integration Evaluation today.  I was looking forward to it because her behavior and sensory problems are getting worse.  I'm noticing more stims and it's making me nervous.  Well the evaluation went well.  The therapist confirmed my suspicions and agreed that she needs SI therapy. They now have her on their wait list for appointments to start treatment.  They are nicely going to try to schedule it for the same day and time as Peanuts SI Therapy.  She then told me that she had some other concerns and would like Sassy to have a developmental eval.  She told me she suspected that Sassy had PDD .  Okay.....deep breath.....what?

The more I watched her with Sassy I realized the eye contact just was not there, she was not flexible with her activities, her obsessions with certian toys and then we ended the session with a tantrum.  What I had been trying hard not to see was now put in front of my face, so now what?  I sat in silence on the way home.  I called my husband and was met with a lack of surprise from his end of the conversation.  At first my mind was a whirlwind of questions. (What are we going to do?, Where should we go for diagnosis? Will we bring her to the DAN! doctor too? Can I do ABA by myself with both kids?  What other services might she need?  How are we going to pay for this? ) 

After I was done letting my brain go nuts with "what if's" I came back down to planet Earth.  Why worry about it?  For a second I forgot everything I already knew.  Yeah, it will stink if she is identified with Autsim, but so what!  She's already GFCFSF.  We already have a DAN! doctor we trust.  We already have a neurologist.  We already have her in SI therapy.  We've already done transition with the school and they know our family already.  We caught it early, which is paramount!  What was I worrying about?  I have given countless families with a new ASD diagnosis advice as to where to go first, what to look in to etc.  How about I take my own advice?  I got home and made my first of many phone calls.  No big deal.  She's still the same Sassy.  It would be nice to know that her tantrums aren't because she's a diva, but is because of Autism, and with a little ABA and SI Therapy we can work with it.  All I can do is take a deep breath, and just keep going.  I'm reminded of one of my kids recent memory verses that keeps running through my mind today...

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Philippians 4:13

God Bless!

Mommy Provost