I bow down to you, Exercise Ball!

Ok, so HOLY COW!  Can I just tell you how my life has changed since Arice came on Monday?  Praise God for Occupational Therapists!!!  If you read the previous post you know that Alexander played really well and calmly after his therapy session with Arice on Monday.  Well, to preface, it has always been pretty, I'll use the word "challenging" again (!) to get Alexander to settle down for his nap.  It is always a fight to get him to sit calmly and read books, a fight to get into bed, a fight to get him to lay down in his bed, a fight to keep the covers on, etc.  So, on Tuesday before his nap I decided to get out the exercise ball for 15 minutes.  I gave him a one minute warning before his nap, then we said "night-night" to the ball.  I picked him up, he calmly went into his room with me, calmly read books for 10 minutes or so, calmly got into bed, calmly put the covers on, and calmly said our "nappy prayers" and then calmly went to sleep!!!!!  Can you even stand it?  So, we still have some challenges and things that are difficult, but some things have gotten a little easier now that I am starting understand the whole sensory thing a little better. 

Today, Heather and Tracy came today to follow up with the observation session I had last week.  She did a little more observing and just getting a feel for who Alexander is.  She recommended that we look into getting him an official evaluation by a diagnostic pediatrician that specializes in diagnosis on the autism spectrum.  The earliest we'll be able to get an appointment is 3-4 months out.  We'll keep you updated on what's going on with that.

We also had speech with Danielle today.  (It was a busy day!)  He did great, which is saying a lot!  He usually has a really hard time there, but I think since we did so much sensory stuff when Heather and Tracy were here it got some of his needs met so he wasn't a maniac the whole time. 

Next Wednesday I have a meeting at a school with Heather for Alexander starting in the fall.  Heather said that classes are 15 kids and 7 of them are "normal" and 8 have IEP's (Individual Education Plan) so it is balanced. 

Thanks for your prayers...we love you!