it’s been roughly 4 months since our Autism diagnosis, and i feel like we’re starting to now get into the routine of what life is like when you live with Autism
Jovie’s been doing great – she had a fantastic Christmas Day and there’s less instances of inconsolable crying because I think we’re understanding her a bit more lately. not to say there’s times were it’s tough – she still doesn’t respond to her name or to 98% of instructions or questions etc, we don’t expect a miracle in such a short time
we’ve started on OT twice a week for the next 5 weeks which i think will be a great ‘boost’ for Jovie at the start of 2012 🙂 we can’t afford to continue twice a week, there’s only so much funding will get us in 1 year and we’re still an one-income family right now. i’m trying to learn as much as i can from the OT, so that i can continue encouraging Jovie at home. she loves the swing alot so i’m glad we bought her one for Christmas as i think it’ll be valuable to her communication
Jovie’s starting to really like OT, we’re there early to catch her fed & well rested and she’s comfortable in the therapy rooms now so there’s less anxiousness. she still prefers to be able to go from room to room every few minutes (just part of how she processes things) which calms her down between different things we try. there’s a few fleeting moments where she does seem to be asking for ‘more’ and she definately knows when she wants to ‘stop’.
we’re continuing with the brush therapy, joint compression and sound therapy. today there was an awesome moment where she wanted to stand on the swing and ‘go’ – she had the biggest smile on her face and looked at me like she was saying ‘look at me, mum!’.
and the other day, Jasper was testing out his new crayons that his Grandma Sharon sent him for Christmas, and Jovie came straight over, looked at the orange crayon, picked it up and looked at it! i was so amazed that i didn’t say anything until Jasper batted it out of her hand (‘my crayon!’). it’s really startling to see Jovie do things with purpose, and i am sure that she will do it again (and again and again) soon
it’s really cool to be there for those moments 🙂
