a marathon

Well, our first week of Jake's new therapies went way better than I could have imagined.  He loves his new preschool.  When I picked him up, both days he met me with a smile.  He isn't able to really tell me exactly what he did there, but I could tell by his face that he had fun.  He did tell me that he "loves" preschool and thanked me several times for taking him there.

His new speech/language therapy went just as well.  He really enjoys his teacher and is in a therapy group with only one other little boy. All of his teachers (speech and preschool) are young and fun and so eager to work with him.  I can't say enough what a blessing all of this is.

Next week (hopefully) all of the paperwork will be to place so he can start his ABA therapy.  Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, his therapist is also his preschool teacher, so I'm hopeful that the transition will be easier for him.

After such a banner week with Jake, sometimes I can forget just how far we have to go with him.  At home or in an environment (like this preschool) that is catering to his needs, he can really seem like such a typical child. (I'm learning that "typical" is the PC way to say "normal" in the ASD community....it does sound better, doesn't it?)  

Anyway, as was the case this week, I can tend for forget(?) or just be lulled into thinking that things are better than they are, maybe?  Then, we go on an outing.... to get a haircut or take a sibling to the doctor or to the grocery store.  Wham.  It's like a punch to the stomach, as I realize we have much further to go in this journey than I wanted to believe.

I'm learning how to deal with his behaviors in public.  Honestly, I have no idea how to do that.  And what's more, is I'm trying to figure out how to deal with my other kids who are (justifiably) embarrassed by how their brother is behaving.  I would love to tell them not to be embarrassed or tell them not to worry about what others think.  But, quite frankly, I'm having trouble telling myself that sometimes.  How bad is that? 

In the day to day right now, we're beginning a gluten-free, casein-free diet. I can't tell you how overwhelming that feels.  I look at recipes and I've never even  heard of half of the ingredients.... much less used them.  Xanthum gum, anyone?  Making all of our own bread and eliminating everything with wheat or milk ingredients: pretzels, yogurt, cheese, milk, cereal, goldfish, crackers, sandwiches, pizza, tacos.... basically everything he likes?  Needless to say, it's a huge change for the whole family.

I know I can learn to cook this way, but boy, the learning curve is steeeeep. Thankfully, I have some great friends who are ahead of me on this journey... encouraging me and sending me recipes every step of the way. Even in the limiting dabbling that we've done in this diet so far, we seem to be seeing some positive changes.  So, I'm in.  If there is a chance that a diet change could help this little guy, we'll eat cardboard if we need to.  (And from the taste of some of this stuff....that just may be one of the ingredients.)

So, it's one step forward, two steps back.  But some weeks, it's two steps forward and only one back.  I'm seeing that this is definitely a marathon and not a sprint.  And I'm thankful for all the encouraging emails and comments from so many people that are helping us along the way....you're like the guys handing out Gatorade at the 2 mile mark.  There is still a long way to go, but God is still providing and I know He always will.