week 10.

Emmett had his first appointment of occupational therapy on Wednesday. It will be each Wednesday directly following speech therapy. His occupational therapist's name is Tianna and she is really nice and has a lot of experience. Emmett's first visit with her was a little tough because he was already tired from speech. He is going to have to get used to doing two full hours of therapy in one shot. Tianna spent most of the session getting to know Emmett. She showed him the big therapy swing, played in the bean box, put together a puzzle and played catch. While playing their games, Tianna noticed Emmett may have issues with depth perception. She is going to look into that more next week.
We are still waiting to get our assessment back from special education in the mail. Once we get that we will know more details about preschool. We are pretty confident that he will get a spot in a good school. Our fingers are tightly crossed!

week 9.

A few good things happened this week:

• Emmett will be starting OT next week, once per week directly following speech therapy. So he will be in therapy for two hours every Wednesday morning.
• Speech therapy was the one thing that didn't go the best this week. Emmett was only engaged for about 20 minutes, then started having a hard time. Zena said some days will be like that.
• I set up an appointment in June to talk to someone at Fraser about services in their day treatment center. The wait is very long so I want to get started with the process right away.
• We met with Mary, the psychologist at Children's in Minneapolis for the first part of Emmett's psychological assessment. We are doing this mainly for insurance reasons. This appointment was mainly directed to Matt and I. She asked us a ton of questions and observed Emmett. The second appointment will be on June 19th. One test she will perform is an IQ test and I am nervous for that one. Dr. Mary reassured us that an IQ score for a child is much different than one for an adult, and that we should not worry about the score at all. It can change many times as Emmett progresses. 
• I had the amazing opportunity to attend a presentation by Temple Grandin and I got to meet her!!! I was a sponge, soaking in all that she had to offer. She even signed her movie and a photo of Emmett for me! The full story and photos are on my family blog.

week 8.

This week was busy for Emmett. It was also full of hard news for Matt and I to hear. I think we expected to receive some bad news, but we were pretty shocked from what we heard. 

On Monday, Emmett had his evaluation with the special education team. There was a speech therapist, occupational therapist, and a psychologist who took turns working with Emmett. Afterward, they met with me to discuss what he qualifies for. 

For language development, Emmett scored in the 5th percentile. For large and fine motor skills, he scored below the 1st percentile. Sigh. This was hard to listen to and a hard reality to face. Emmett definitely needs help and I want it to start now. So the team recommends he be in a co-taught preschool mainstream classroom, where there is a regular teacher and a special ed teacher in the room the entire time. We will start with this recommendation and see how Emmett responds. I think as long as he doesn't get too overwhelmed, he will excel quickly. The special ed team told me they feel Emmett has a lot of potential, which is comforting! Now, we wait for a call for more details. 

On Wednesday, we had speech therapy with Zena. It went well. Emmett seemed a bit more distracted or tired because he wasn't as focused as he has been in the past. He and Zena worked more on following directions. 

On Thursday, Emmett had his first occupational therapy appointment. This was more of an evaluation for the therapist to see exactly what Emmett needs help with. His therapist's name is Tianna and she seems really nice. Emmett was really confused because he expected to see Zena again and was a little upset when we went into a new room with a new person. Regardless, he enjoyed playing with the toys she had and was really cooperative. Now we need to wait for a call from Tianna to let us know when we can get on her schedule to start OT every week. It should only be a two-week wait. 

I am overloaded with information at this point. I am looking forward to the autism 5k on Saturday and spending time with family. 

week 7.

Not much to report for this week. Speech therapy went really well again. Matt was able to come again and that was nice. Emmett is already expecting Zena to do the same games in the same order during his sessions, so she switched things up and introduced some new games. Emmett liked the new games, but was bothered by the change. Zena said it's great when kids have a routine, but with a child who has autism, their routines can become rigid and obsessive, which makes change hard for them. 

Emmett had a few meltdowns this week, which was hard. Things were smooth sailing for awhile, but this week was harder for him. When Emmett has a meltdown, if I can't get him to tell me what's wrong or what he needs, he shuts down and stops communicating. When this happens the only option I really have is to wait until he calms down or "snaps out of it" so I can help him. 

I just finished my second book on parenting a child with autism and it was very informative and relatable. I am learning a ton. The next book I'm starting is on a drug-free approach to autism, which should be interesting. Matt and I have agreed that we are going to try as many different methods as we can for Emmett to avoid putting him on any medication. We feel he is too young and can progress without it. His developmental pediatrician totally agrees, and wants medication to be a last resort. 

Best news for last: Emmett has been a rock star this week on the potty!! He's been peeing on the potty 2-3 times a day at home and I've been keeping him in underwear out in public. :) I make sure it's only a 1-2 hour trip away though because he is nowhere near ready to go into a public restroom. This makes things stressful and inconvenient, but he's progressing confidently at his own pace and it's working out just fine. I'll take what I can get at this point. 

The next two weeks are going to be busy with more big appts for Emmett, including psychology, special ed, and OT. 

week 6.

This week has been pretty successful! With prompting, Emmett has said "I want ________" multiple times! And therapy was a huge success this week. Emmett was very cooperative and was catching on to things Zena wanted him to say very quickly. I was so proud of him! Our job is to keep working with him exactly as we have been for the next week.
I was also able to make three appointments this week!! So grateful! May will be a busy month for us.

• On May 12th, Emmett will have his evaluation with the St. Paul Special Education team. After this evaluation they will be able to tell us what he qualifies for as far as services with the school district.
• On May 15th, Emmett will have his occupational therapy evaluation to see what he needs specifically in that area. He will then start OT regularly once a week.
• On May 22nd, we head back to the specialty clinic at Children's in Minneapolis for the first (of 3) part of his Psychological assessment. In order for Emmett to be covered for most of the services he needs, most insurance companies need proof of a medical diagnosis on the behavioral end AND proof of a medical diagnosis on the psychological end. This makes things extremely inconvenient and annoying for anyone going through this. It also makes it a slow process, I've learned. Regardless of all the hoops we have to jump through, I am so grateful for the insurance we have. It is worth paying for each month! That "there-will-come-a-time-when-we-really-need-this" moment in our lives has officially arrived. It is a blessing.

The Autism 5K is coming up on May 17th and we are getting excited! We have 9 people on team Emmett so far and are so grateful to those who are able to make it. PRAY for nice weather that day!