The last several weeks have been very stressful around our house. Starting after Easter weekend, we discussed the need for some speech and developmental therapy for Lincoln due to his developmental delays. As his parents, it was difficult to see outside of our little "bubble" and admit that he needed some guidance and needed to be assessed for any developmental delays.
My family was instrumental in getting us in touch with the right people and to our advantage, we just happen to have a great set of Early Childhood Intervention services in our county.
So, Lincoln has had an initial and a more thorough Autism assessment and qualifies for the ECI Speech Therapy and Developmental Therapy. They said that he is very intelligent and active, but they saw a few red flags in his communication skills and social interaction. We have scheduled his therapy sessions and are looking forward to getting started. He has not been diagnosed with anything, but still shows enough signs to be admitted to the program. They will be holding the sessions in our home one to two times a week (roughly). If he still needs help after his third birthday, he will be referred to the local school ISD, which has a great program too.
Next on our agenda was to continue to investigate his frequent vommiting problem. So, we changed his diet to an all Gluten-Free one, and it has made a HUGE difference. He has only vommited once since making the change (outside of a 24 hr stomach bug). However, he was also on an antibiotic to clear up a sinus infection. He is now off of the meds and we need to wait and see how he does on just the GF diet.
Hopefully we'll get it all figured out and help Lincoln live the best life possible!! We've also started with swim lessons this week. It's going to be a busy summer!!
Jacob had speech therapy and developmental services through ECI for about 16 months (basically up to his third birthday) and it made a HUGE difference. You would never know he had speech delays now. You should check out the baby signing times DVDs, too. Both of my kids loved them and it was great for him to have a way to communicate while we were working on the speech part.
ReplyDeleteMy only problem is that Lincoln will only have 4 months of sessions until he is 3 yrs. Then he goes into the school program, if necessary. I wish I caught on earlier!! I'm still kicking myself for that.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard when it's your kid. I put off Jacob's assessment for a long time, too, and I work in the schools and DO those preschool evaluations. Jason was the one that started pushing me to look into it. The preschool programs are really good, though. It's the early intervention that makes all the difference!
ReplyDeleteHey don't know if you remember me but I am Lexy's sister in-law and yes I blog stock you. But I wanted to say we eat all gluten and dairy free so feel free to ask for any recipies. Sami bread is great gluten free bread (whole foods, kroger, or ask local health food store.) I know you are limited on shopping in Marble falls but this bread comes frozen so a trip once a month to austin would be worth it. Also have tons of great dinner stuff. Get my email from Lex and I will send you some. I know the transition can be stressful.
ReplyDeleteHang in there Mama!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are AMAZING parents and don't beat yourself up (you mentioned regretting not pursuing things earlier)...I'm sure that for reasons you may never know...this was the PERFECT time for Lincoln :)
Take pride in finding the resources you needed and you ARE a phenomenal support system for Lincoln and now you get to work on building a great support structure for YOU as his parents :D
I have several friends who have found success with a gluten-free lifestyle (for themselves) and I can just hear them gushing on your behalf for giving it a try as he's so young and you can try and prevent the years of struggle they endured....I'm totally stoked for you and I hope you are EVER so proud of yourselves for taking such a proactive role and being sensitive to Linc's needs...
I'll check in with them for recipes, tips and hints...I know in our area there is a really active 'Gluten-free support group' for families working with sensitivities to share information, ideas and to just BE there for each other as not everyone always 'gets it'...it may be worth looking into. If there isn't one in your area maybe there's an online version that would be helpful :) Just a thought...
Love you guys!!!!!
I'm curious how the diet is going and if you are seeing a difference? I hope you have seen improvements or felt blessed by the research you no doubt have become an expert on. love you.
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