Developmentally we haven't seen much more progress over the last little while...
- Nate continues to strengthen physically, although he is still pretty unbalanced and uncoordinated when he is running. While he loves to try to hop, it is only possible when he holds into a wall or furniture - and even then he can't quite hop up in the air as yet - that takes a fair bit of muscle tone and co-ordination, but it's super cute to watch him try!
- He has yet to toilet train, or to even understand the sensory component of toileting so we are likely a ways off that. He is also unable to fully undress or dress himself, although he does endeavour to help and can take his pants off by himself.
- His eating has improved and his diet has widened a bit (bacon, hash browns, spinach smoothies, baked beans, spaghetti, chicken nuggets, vege chips etc), and he likes to feed himself and be independent. He has yet to master a fork, but copes well with a spoon and a cup with a lid on it.
- He has yet to master circle-drawing (which is needed as part of pre-writing development), so we have more work to do to build up his finger and hand strength, as well as his shoulders.
- Speech wise we haven't progressed much beyond our existing words, although he is getting a LOT better at using his core board so that might eventually be our best communication route. He attends both speech and music therapy as well as watches Gemiini, and we remain hopeful that that will come over time.
Having said all that, he has done so much better already than we ever thought possible upon his diagnosis. Certainly our regular therapy sessions at home and with therapists (speech and music, as well as a group music class), our day-trips out and about to new places (see other blog posts for those) which are designed to help him overcome his behavioural anxiety, and his weekly time at daycare to practise engaging and interacting with other kids, as well as lots of routine and repetition, is definitely benefiting him (and us!).
We really are so proud of him, even though we know that we have a very long way to go and likely some incredibly challenging times ahead of us. I do try to avoid thinking too much about how he will cope with school - while it's still a ways off, and developmentally he may make some leaps and bounds before then - at this point I can't even begin to fathom how he will cope especially as it is highly unlikely he would be given any one-to-one support. That's pretty tough when you have a child who can't toilet, or even use a fork, let alone one that can't speak, or follow instructions or social norms easily :-(. I'll be honest I'm not feeling good about the reality facing us.
Anyway all of that said...let's remember what he can do! He is a great little sleeper and has good bed habits evening and morning (cue, doesn't wake his parents up in the middle of the night (unless sick!)), he adores his little sister and gives her 'Nate kisses' on a regular basis, he loves to wrestle and play fight his Daddy, he is a pro on a playground, and a real delight to be around. We love that he is so happy :-)
He has been super busy around the home a lot of late - helping Grandaddy and Daddy outside with the deck cleaning, and (sort of) helping inside with the laundry. Well helping as in sitting in the laundry basket and pretending it's a car while the laundry is being folded. Talented chappie!
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