week 12.

Therapy went great this week! And now that Ethnie is done with school, she was able to come too. I think she had just as much fun as Emmett did! She was able to join in on the activities with him. In speech, Zena continued to work on using verbs and using words to describe what they were doing. They did this through games. She also worked on him slowing down to listen and process what she says before he does anything. This can be hard for him when she is holding toys that he wants to grab. Emmett cooperated the whole time and was happy (and laughed a lot).
Occupational therapy with Tianna was very interesting to watch this time. I am really learning a lot about how the brain processes things and how the body reacts to how the brain processes anything we are doing. Tianna did some deep pressure joint massage and "brushed" his body with a rubber-bristled brush. These methods are good for calming the body. Both Ethnie and Emmett rode on the therapy swing together. They loved this and I think Emmett felt safer this time because Ethnie was on it with him. He seemed "distracted" by her so he wasn't worried so much about holding on or swinging higher, which is good! Then Tianna moved on to blowing bubbles with straws and painting with shaving cream. Emmett got pretty comfortable with the shaving cream and started to touch it with his hands and put some on his nose. He tolerated it for about five minutes then wanted it washed off immediately. He preferred using the paint brush. This activity is going to help him to slowly tolerate getting messy. The goal is to make the painting utensil smaller and smaller, and eventually skip the utensil all together. While Emmett was doing these activities, he was also engaged in therapeutic listening, which was fascinating to learn about! Listening to music is the only way we can utilize all the parts of our brain at the same time. Therapeutic listening is a form of auditory intervention and helps with sensory processing. The special headphones used make the music electronically modified to highlight the parts of the sound spectrum that naturally trigger attention and activate body movement. It also focuses on organized rhythmical sound patterns inherent in music to trigger the self-organizing capacities of the nervous system. It is amazing! Tianna had me put the headphones on and listen as well. For a normal-functioning person, the way the music is played seems strange and can actually make you sick. I could feel a headache coming on after listening for only two minutes! But for someone with sensory processing issues, it helps them do things easier and better.
The listening system Tianna is trying on Emmett is called Vital Links and here are things therapists have seen improvements in:

• sensory modulation
• posture and movement
• attention
• improved social interactions
• increased engagement in the world

Tianna is going to keep trying therapeutic listening with him each week. If we see improvements, she may recommend getting our own system to have at home. This would be amazing, but the system is very expensive.
On Friday, I had an appointment with Fraser Center, the most recommended clinic/school in MN for autism needs. The waiting list is very long, so I am starting this process now. Fraser has amazing day treatment programs for children with autism, one of them being a life skills program that I am pushing for. The first appointment was just for me and Kent, the clinician who will be working with us. Tons of questions asked, medical info to exchange, questionnaires to fill out, and goals for Emmett. The next appointment is set for July 1st, where Emmett will be given an assessment to see what Fraser can offer him. It's a long process, but I'm hoping within six months he can begin services there in addition to therapy with Children's.
Friday evening, Emmett and I went to a wedding reception at a country club. Matt and Ethnie were camping so I had to bring him with. I tried to prep him as best as I could throughout the day. Once we walked in the door and he saw all the guests, he got upset quickly. He stopped moving, started hitting me, and wanted to be held for a good 20 minutes. He was having a very difficult time, which made it impossible for me to socialize. When we found our seat at the table I gave him a snack and his cars, which helped a bit. Then I noticed on his face he had three patches of raised red bumps that he kept itching. At first I thought a mosquito might have been in the car biting him, but these didn't look like mosquito bites. Towards the end of the reception, Emmett was more calm and the bumps started to go away. By the time we got home, they were gone. I did some research and figured out that Emmett broke out in hives because he was so stressed!! I didn't see any bumps anywhere else on his body after we got home, but that may have been because they had already gone away. I looked up images of rashes and these bumps were hives. I also did some research on hives related to autism and found some articles/blogs about children with autism and getting hives because of stressful situations. I felt so bad that he was stressed out to the point of having a physical reaction. We will not be making him go to any receptions or large parties any time soon. He is not able to handle it.