Ian's therapy and progress

Therapy:
Ian has been going to speech therapy twice a week, therapy at home twice a week, and occupational therapy every two weeks. He is really liking therapy, and interacts with his therapist so much more, and is having lots more eye contact then ever before.
Ian is a kid who needs lots of movement, so this can make it difficult to get him to sit in a chair and focus on an activity. The occupational therapist suggested putting movement in his therapy. Chelsea who comes to the house twice a week does this. It has been working greatly I think.
We decided that it would work better for Chelsea to do it with more room at our house. Keri at speech therapy is sticking to the same routine.
Keri and I did decided to do a little reward system with Ian. We think that this will motivate him to use his words or sign language. Chelsea is also using an reward system as well.
Matthew and I have changed up his bedtime routine some. Ian has a difficult time going to sleep once we get done with bed time routine. Our routine goes like this:
1: Lots of running, jumping and rough play= just whatever we can think of to wear him out
2: Bath: not every night but most
3: PJ's
4: Ian usually runs for a little longer while I get Chloe down to bed
5: Matthew and I both go into Ian's room with him, all the lights are out, night light is on
6: We read scriptures, maybe sing some songs, say prayer
7: Turn night light off, and tuck him in
Even with this routine Ian usually needs a little more movement. He will either kick the door for a little while, or run around in his room. It just depends how much we wore him out earlier. He hardly ever sleeps in his bed. I do feel like the routine is helping some, so I am glad we have stuck with it. He is going to sleep a little quicker then before.
We are still waiting to hear from the Danny's wish foundation to see if Ian will be given a ipad. Keri uses an ipad during therapy. This is will be a great tool for us at home to work towards Ian's progress in his speech.
Progress:
1: Ian is showing more eye contact to others
2: He is showing a little more interest in his sister. He doesn't want to touch her or her touch him, but he watches her
3: He has said a few more words but not consistently, but we know he knows them
4: Asks for our help when he needs it: He does so by bringing the object he wants to us or showing some sort of eye contact when we ask if he needs help
5: He is still so so happy
6: He is understanding our pictures schedule at home more, and uses it to ask for things


The other day when we were shopping at Wal-mart a guy comment on how Ian was acting while we were in the check out line. Ian loves Wal-mart for some reason, and gets super excited and yells/screams, flaps his arms, and just laughs the whole time. The guy in the check out line said "wow he sure is loud, and likes to flap those arms." I answered by saying "yep super excited to be here." I wanted to say ya know I am not a bad mom because my kid is overly loud in Wal-mart, my kid just has Autism, and I think he is perfect, but I never do. I try to be super kind about it.  I read a quote the other day that I loved that goes along with Autism.

“Walk a mile in my shoes, see what I see, hear what I hear, feel what I feel, THEN maybe you will understand why I do what I do. Until then, don’t judge me”

 Autism is tricky because every person who has Autism or is anywhere on the spectrum is different. Therapy is all experience with Ian. We use trial and error to figure out what works for Ian and what doesn't. I feel like the older he gets the more we will understand how he functions and things wont be as crazy. Lately I have been feeling like I have been pushing him through all these therapy sessions like crazy, and not seeing the tons and tons of progress. But really he has progressed. I need to remember that I am doing everything I can to help him, and no matter what the outcome is from it all, I will always know I did the best for him. I am so thankful for Ian's therapist who work so hard with him, and truly do love working with him. I am also so thankful as parents that we have prayer and our Heavenly Father on our side to help us through this with Ian. We would be a wreck with out it. I have been worrying about us leaving for a month in October for vacation. I worry that Ian will regress so much while we are gone. But I will be able to work with him while we are gone as well. Keri and Chelsea have reassured me that it could be the best thing for Ian and the whole family to take this break. We are super excited to go to Wyoming, and to have our family be involved with Ian as well. We need a break from our Pullman life and routine here for awhile. Matthew and I are so blessed to have Ian as our son. He is the sweetest boy, and teaches us so much of our Saviors ever ending love for us. Life is not always easy being a parents with a boy who has Autism, but it is so worth it. It truly is the best thing in the world to be parents.  It brings me to tears to think how blessed I really am to be Ian's mom.