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Wired News
Jake's Adventure To Conquer Autism
Monday, 22 March 2004
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Woke-up at 7:30 AM, biting breasts, a no-no. tried to rock him to sleep. enjoyed that for a few minutes, woke-up.

Observed him- take 2 empty water bottles, 1 full water bottle, took it to the next room & moved them around(did not spin them) just moved them. The shook the full water bottle to see patterns in the water.

Came out of bedroom & typed on keyboard guiding me using my hand to play drums on the chair's armrests, bedposts. Played hide-n-seek among the rooms, he played & observed himself in front of the mirror making various poses and pushing against himself. Played animal sounds associated with saying the animal sounds associated with saying the animal-- elephant, dog, cat, etc...

8:05AM:
took him down for breakfast; was hungry.
ATE: 2/3 raisin bread, O's, OJ
was excited to see/feed goldsifh, & made animal sounds(squeaks).
Brought me(dad) Henry the Octopus, wanted me to activate & then would run around the kitchen. asked him to get train: he made choo-choo sound but did not get it.
Wanted to play animal see & say instead, beginning to wait until spinner stops like instructed but does not have strength to push lever down all the way. Got frustrated eventually.
Sat on hop-n-scooter. next on to wiggles car. pushed down & chased it around.
Up to now, lots of eye-contact.
Uncle Leslie came down-stairs. & played peek-a-boo.
Read him first word book-- listed with complete attention as I pointed out pictures & associated words.
Played musical ball, made sounds & telephone while were were having breakfast in his high-chair. Loves music on his discovery ball.
Played hop-n-scooter with Uncle Leslie.
Played pass the train several times, would go get it and pass it back to me. Enjoyed this.
Back to Henry the Octopus, ran around the block only when we played the sound.
Spun tupperware for 10 seconds whole morning.

Posted by sonrisejacob at 4:56 PM PST
Post Comment | Permalink
Friday, March 12th
7:30-8:00AM: singing throughout morning
8:00-8:10AM: cried when left alone in seat with father in kitchen
ATE: OJ/Ezekiel Bread + butter/ Joe's Os
8:10-8:15AM: spinning tupperware; banging tupperware pieces together
8:15-8:30AM: father trying to get attention, tried to have him bring objects; running around kitchen.
8:30AM: Father called Jacob, he looked up & responded, did not come as requested. Called again, playing shy.
8:35AM: spinning again, putting blocks in shape sorter. spun a little bit, then played with Wiggles Car.
Likes to toss mylar balloon, sits & plays with scooter, watched Wiggles video, father blow-drys hair.
Eye Contact: with uncle for 2.5 minutes.

6PM: pick-up from day-care.
Activities: running in courtyard allowed by daycare provider, but told not to go beyond courtyard threshold. Made eye-contact, & mischevious grin, thought about disobeying.
nursed in car.
6:30-6:45PM: talked to & sang to him in car. not much reaction.
6:45-7:30PM: slept in car.
7:30-10PM: DINNER AT GREAT AUNT ALANE'S
All US-based Aunts & Uncles present
Great deal of eye-contact
voluntarily went to everyone to give hugs & cuddles
watched a movie
Ate: Chicken, too hot at first, ate again. ate some without help.
Outdoors: tried to go to waterfountain. Obeyed requests not to go 75% of time. stopped him without too much protest.
Became very fussy: overstimulated & tired
10:40 PM
Came home very tired. No fussing when removing shoes & pants. Wailing with diaper change. Calmed when nursing; violently kicked off sheets. Nursed then moved away to sleep: unusual for him @ night. He is normally a cuddler. He later grabbed my hand and placed it on his ack & held my arm. ;-)

Jake's Dad Adds:
Around 9PM played with Jake upstairs with his uncle Leslie. Tried reading; was not interested until i brought out his ladybug book. Enjoyed that; especially touching the ladybugs & being tossed up at the end of the story. Played with his doodlepad, enjoyed doodling; helped him draw several shapes using his hands about 5 times.
Outside calmed down a lot, enjoyed the cool air, ran to his aunt, explored the yard lights & touched the flowers, ran between same two lights a few times, wanted to climb up little stone wall, ready to go home.

Posted by sonrisejacob at 4:43 PM PST
History
Jake was born June 25th, 2002.

Jake was 1 year 3 months when we visited his pediatrician. We did so after his caregiver confirmed my fears that his development just wasn't right. I was even more determined when during a play-date with 2nd cousins whose ages ranged from 9 years to 9-months old, I noticed that socially, Jake seemed to be on-par with the 9-month old.

I was determined to get Jake into speech therapy as the "wait-and-see" period had passed without any improvement. In fact, my husband and I noticed that any babbling he attempted had stopped. Our pediatrician asked us a few questions about Jake's development:

Q. What words does Jacob say?
A. Not a single one!! Actually, he used to babble for a few minutes when he woke up in the morning, and he has hance stopped. He seems to have regressed in speech.

Our pediatrician expressed concern with the regression, and continued to ask questions.

Q. What about receptive speech? Can he follow simple commands?
A. He can if we repeat it **several** times. We have to tell Jake to get the ball, point to it, and ask him repeatedly to bring it to Mama, or Dada.

Q. Does Jacob like to play by himself a lot?
A. Hmmm... you know, come to think of it, he is content to play by himself for extended periods of time.

Q. Does he tend to play with toys repetitously?
A. Funny you should mention it!! We had to put his puzzles away since he would spin the pieces instead of putting them in their proper locations. He would do this for hours. He would bring them to us so he could have up to 4 pieces spinning at a time.

Q. Does he make a lot of eye-contact?
A. Not really. (At this point my husband got eye-level with Jake, & held him by the shoulders). "Look at Dada!! :-)" and Jake turns away.


OK... end of the appointment. Our doctor agrees that there is definitely a development delay. He says that Jake needs to be assessed for speech delay, other development issues, and see if it is Autism. He mentions that he would like to discuss dietary interventions as they can have a great impact on development. We would need another appointment of about an hour to talk.

As I walked out the door, I was bewildered. I was given the name of a couple of testing centers, and development specialists. I called them & scheduled appointments immediately when I got home. Then I started reading about Autism...

I CRIED ALL WEEKEND!!! InCurable, Be Prepared To Care For Your Child For The Rest Of Their Life, They May Be Able To Learn To Dress Themselves, Rainman(the Movie), Won't Be Able To Generalize Tasks: I.E. Can't Wash Dishes In His Apartment Sink With The Pink Soap Since He Can Only Wash Dishes In My Home Sink With The Blue Soap.

There had to be something better!! There had to be a cure. People have to get better. I spoke to my aunt who works with special children. She mentioned Greenspan's Floor-Time Method, and Son-Rise. I got both books, and began reading.

Son-Rise, what a beautiful story!! what a beautiful program!! My husband and I had been practicing Attachment Parenting, and the Son-Rise philosophy definitely fit right in. Loving unconditionally, lots of love, lots of fun!! This is definitely the program for Jake.

Please join us as we travel the Happy Road to Jake's Recovery!!!


Posted by sonrisejacob at 2:33 PM PST
Updated: Monday, 22 March 2004 3:50 PM PST

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