Little Bean and ASD update

First I just want to say that I know this blog has taken a different direction lately with a) all the stuff about Autism, and b) all the reviews, and I know some of that may not be of interest to my long time readers, who probably came here more for the homeschooling and crafty stuff. Have no fear, this is only a stage that my blog and my family are going through, so it dominates my blog right now. But once we get into a routine with these new changes, most likely this blog will return to a more crafty/homeschooling state! :)

Things are moving right along with Little Bean's new diagnosis. We visited an Occupational Therapist last week to talk a bit about his sensory issues. Little Bean's sensory issues are fairly mild, but the ones that concern me the most are the auditory ones (repetitive speech, easily distractable and aversion to loud noises) and the tactile ones (toe-walking, pulling away from hugs and physical touch unless it's on his terms). The OT suggested that I keep a log of all the sensory issues as they come up to see if there is a pattern. She also gave him a "sensory diet"; basically activities I can try with him to help make him less sensory defensive. One was to put on calming music to help with distractability. After a particularly exciting meeting, Little Bean was in sensory overload in the car--tons of repetitive speech, humming, singing, just a bit hyper over all. I put in a quiet CD and I mean, it was like instant silence. It was so weird. I am going to try using ear phones and classical during school time because he is highly distractable by any tiny noise while working. In any case, I am finding that he is very in tune with his auditory sense.

We visited his social skills group last week as well to just learn more about the program and see how he did with the other kids. There were only two others his age this time (well actually a bit older), but honestly, it was like seeing three Little Bean's playing together. It totally confirmed his diagnosis to me because these other kids were so much like him, it was uncanny. The therapists are all trained in ABA (basically behaviorism), and they will do an assessment on him and create goals for him like eye contact, greeting others, sharing, etc. He was apprehensive at first to join in, but quickly realized that it was a safe environment and had so much fun there. It was so good to see him have fun, and I know with the therapist's help he is going to learn so much about social interaction as well. I can tell already that this particular group is going to be good for him!

He will go for a 1:1 social skills training session next week, and then the following we will be doing IQ testing on him. Why IQ? Well, normally the school district would do an IQ test to kind of gage how he learns, but since he is homeschooled, we will do it through our insurance. It will be helpful to me I think, to know how he learns and I can better present lessons to him this way. Both his IQ stuff and his social skills training will be with the same therapist who diagnosed him, so I am really thankful for that because Little Bean seemed comfortable with her, and I personally think that she understood him very well.