Taking the Scenic Route

Zora is on the grumpy side the last day or so because she has the two top front teeth trying to break through.  Hopefully that will happen soon.  One of them looked like it might be out by the end of today, the other was visible, but still under the skin just a bit.  She is velcro baby again.

We are thinking we might need to reinstate nap time for Zane on school days.  He just gets totally wiped out and falls asleep too early, then wakes up and doesn’t want to go to bed. 

We also put together that he has a lot better speech right after some gross motor work, especially things like hanging from something.  I knew that on some level, and was interacting with him in a way that worked within that, but never really put it together that concretely to be able to tell other people.  This week one of his teachers noticed it (an expert in autism…her student is supposed to be his therapist, but she is working with him too…they don’t get verbal ASD kids very often and it is exciting for her) and tested it a few times this week and there is a clear connection. 

One good progress point:  Today he asked for help to move Zora away from him when he was on the computer with minimal prompting.  It is moving in the right direction.  After the verbal request, I put a little ‘fence’ of barriers around his computer so that he could play Blue’s Clues in peace and Zora could watch him from a non-irritating distance.  She is excited to be near him, he is happy she isn’t trying to grab his keyboard and mouse.  I am happy that he is starting to come to us to help him solve problems instead of trying to solve them by whatever means possible (pushing, smushing fingers, biting, ect).  ‘asking for help’ is a core issue and I am so happy to see it getting better.

Zach was invited to give a presentation tonight for the IEEE meeting for students and professionals.  Pretty neat honor.