Getting back to business

This past week has been busy. I had to work every day last week until midnight. I was coming home for a few hours sleep each night and going right back to work. I only saw the boys a few minutes in the morning before leaving for work.

Talking with Jill throughout the week Liam was his typical self of late. He continues to have his moments of anxiety repeatedly throughout the day. It still continues to be quite difficult to deal with every day. Liam’s speech continues to be a problem. I have come up with something to help Liam slow down his speech. I took his hand and had him tap his leg and say one word at a time. It became rhythmic to him and it actually seemed to help. I have even caught him tapping his hand on his own when he realizes his words aren’t coming out right. I still remind him and try to help him slow down. It is not perfect, but it is helping. It seems to be helping more than the speech therapy he is getting at school.

Liam continues to have us read the TV the guide and tell him what is on his favorite channels each day. We will do this a few times each day. It seems to help him organize his day. Liam is also still in the routine of wanting to take a bath right after he is done with dinner. It is usually when we are still eating dinner. His anxiety then gets the best of him and he will whine and cry that he wants to take a bath. As soon as I finish dinner I take him up for his bath where he relaxes and gets ready for bed.

We have also started his new dosage of risperdal. He is on a 2mg pill now. He gets ½ a pill in the morning, and ¾ at night. We have had to use our pill splitter. That has become quite a challenge splitting the pills each day. It has been about a week and I can’t exactly say I have seen any or much of a change. We’ll see as we go on here. The other issue we think Liam is having with the risperdal is frequent urination. We at first thought it was a potty training issue, but after reading the side affects we believe it to be a result of the medication. Jill is contacting his neurologist Tuesday to talk about it.

This past Friday we attended a benefit dinner for one of Liam’s old classmates. As expected, the crowd and noise was too much for Liam and he and I went home early. The girl’s name is Dakota and she lives in our development. She was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease. This disease has no cure, only an experimental treatment that is highly expensive. The Olmsted Fall’s Women’s Club put on a fund-raiser to help pay some of the costs. The community response was incredible. It was really touching to see a community come together for Dakota like it did. We wish Dakota all the best in her treatments.

Typical days

Liam has been his typical old self this week with his anxieties. He has had a pretty good week at school. He has gotten back to his routine there. One thing we believe that has helped since he got back to school is that disruptive child is no longer in the room. Liam seems to be a bit more relaxed when he has come home. Jill and I are glad that has been done. Hopefully the disruptions at home after school will be over now. One thing we need to have is a meeting with Liam’s teachers and go over his IEP. Jill and I need to look at it and see if we want to make any changes to it. The one area of concern we have is with his speech. His stammering is still an issue. We may need to have him evaluated by a speech specialist for an opinion. This will help us when we meet with the school.

Liam has continued to want to take early baths for some reason. No sooner am I in the house from work and Liam wants me to give him a bath. I repeat to him that I have to eat dinner, help clean up, and then we can take a bath. His anxiety gets the best of him. He will repeatedly keep telling me he wants to take a bath. He gets very upset and will whine about it. This will go on until I give him his bath. By 6pm he has been bathed and ready for bed. By the time 7pm rolls around he is ready for bed. I don’t really know why he has been ready for bed so early, maybe it’s another phase.

This week Brendan continues to be sick with tonsillitis now. Aidan wasn’t feeling to well Monday so Jill took him to the doctor with Brendan. Since we have been to their pediatrician so much lately, she kindly prescribed some extra antibiotics for Liam, Aidan, and Brendan. Seamus and I have been luckily dodging it all. Hopefully we can get all this sickness behind us!

Back to his old self!

Liam has pretty much recovered from his illness. He has gotten right back to his typical anxious self! He has been running around the house screeching, crying, whining, and repeating the same questions over and over. The previous few days he has known he was going to see Disney on Ice, The Incredibles. He continuously would ask if it was time for the Incredibles, was it Sunday yet, are we going tomorrow, where’s the tickets, and what time is the show. This would go on each day. It tends to make for a long day!

Friday I took Seamus, Liam, and Brendan to our neighbor’s house for a little get together. A couple other neighbor’s came over with their kids as well. The purpose was to let the kids play together and the adults hang out with each other. A way to break up the winter monotony and have fun. Jill stayed home because of how sick she was still feeling. Aidan just wanted to stay with mommy. About an hour into the party Liam said he was done and wanted to go home. I think he was just done. He was having fun playing with the kids an suddenly that was it. I tried to talk him into staying, but he didn’t want to. As I was talking to Liam Jill called my cell and Aidan wanted to come over. So it worked out and we traded. Liam ended up just going right to bed.

Not too much went on Saturday with Liam. He stayed at home with Jill while I went grocery shopping and ran errands. Jill was still feeling terrible and had no energy. She said Liam’s anxieties were as they usually are as of late. Once grocery shopping was done I had to take Aidan and Brendan to their first birthday party. I expected them to be clingy to me in a social setting like that. As it turns out they weren’t. They both had a great time playing with the other kids from their class. They would occasionally run over and say hi to me as I watched. I was glad to see them being as social as they were. When we got it home we had dinner and it was time for bed.

Sunday was finally Disney on Ice, The Incredibles day! Liam was up bright and early telling us at 7am about it. This was all he talked about all morning. The same questions repeated; Is it time yet? Where are the tickets? When are we going? The last hour before we left Liam’s anxiety was high over the show. The big drawback today was Brendan and Aidan said they weren’t feeling well. Brendan looked especially sick and was. Jill still wasn’t feeling too well, but she’s finally made a turn for the better. Jill, Aidan, and Brendan, ended up not going. I took her brother Mike, Katie, and Bridget. Liam was extremely excited about going, he was quite the chatterbox the whole way there! When the show started Liam was thrilled because Mickey and Minnie Mouse came out. In years past his anxiety was horrible and he could not handled the lights, noise, and characters on the ice. As the show began he was good, but as it went on he started to say he was done and he wanted to go home. I was able to easily calm him and keep him focused on the show. He would get scared when the lights would be out as the bad guy “Supremo” would come out. We made it to intermission. We went back to the loge we had access to so he could use the bathroom and get something to drink. They gave out these wrist bands to all the kids to use at some point in the show. I played up the significance of what they were for and Liam was ready for the second half of the show to start. Liam really got into the show and had a great time. I was so glad to see him respond like he did. What may have made the show more engaging to him was the story line. The Incredibles family was at Disney for vacation and they had to save it from Supremo the villain. The Incredibles would from to each Disney ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland Tea cup ride, It’s a small world, and Liam’s favorite, Space Mountain. The Space Mountain scene featured someone dressed up as Buzz Lightyear. Liam was ecstatic! The show ended and Liam was still excited about it. He kept playing with his wristband. It was cute. He was tired from his big day out. We got home and had to help Jill clean up the refrigerator after a bottle of root beer froze and exploded inside. We cleaned up as fast as we could and Liam just kept whining for us to sit with him to put him to bed. We finally got him to bed.

We’ll see what this week hold’s in store. Hopefully a healthy week for everyone!

Getting better!

Wednesday we finally found out that Liam has an infection in his blood. He is taking amoxicillin to help fight it. After being on it one day he has shown a big improvement. He has started eating, drinking, and of course, running around a playing like he usually does. He has not been at school since he has been sick. He has just laid around all day with short periodic bursts to play. His anxiety and repetitive behavior still goes on. His latest thing to ask over and over every day is he asks when we are going to see the Incredibles in Disney on Ice. Every time I come home from work he asks if we are going to see the Incredibles tomorrow. We got tickets for the show and Liam has just been so excited.

Liam had his swim class Thursday and this time it was with another child who has been struggling. Liam’s teacher is looking for him to be a role model for this child to follow. When she first told us this, Jill and I were quite shocked. When it sank in we were both very happy and proud of how far Liam has come in swimming. It is a thrill to know he is succeeding at something. Jill’s parents took Liam today since Jill is sick, more on that later. Jill’s parents said watching Liam dive and swim was amazing. Liam can dive, swim the length of the pool, and get himself out of the water on his own. A year ago he would have sunk to the bottom. Great progress. When Jill’s parents saw this other child who was the same age swim they immediately could see how far Liam has come compared to this other child. Liam is definitely in his element in the water. Jill’s parents said Liam was also very social with this other child. That is something else we are proud to hear because, as you know, social skills are often lacking with autistic children. This by no means indicates that his social skills are suddenly cured. It just shows that Liam was comfortable in his environment. So many factors common people don’t think about affect Autistic children. I know that had he been in any other environment, he would not have done as well as he did. It’s amazing all the different factor’s Jill and I take into consideration for any social setting Liam will encounter. For example, the previous Disney on Ice shows we’ve seen, we have had to consider the crowd, the shows lights, noise, characters that may be scary, having to sit still for an extended time, and all of these things occurring at the same time. This can all make for one stressful time for Liam. The first time we took Liam it went as bad as we expected. I ended up walking around the lobby area with Liam to settle him down. The sounds, crowd, and lights flashing, all made for a stressful time for Liam. Last year he was much better. He had a difficult time sitting still and at times was scared because of the lights and loud sounds. This year we hope he can sit through the whole show and actually enjoy it. We’ll see.

Now that Liam is feeling better, Jill isn’t. Tuesday night she started feeling sick. Wednesday she felt like she got hit by a bus. I looked at her throat and noticed how swollen her tonsils were. Thursday she felt worse and went to the doctor’s. It turns out she has a sever case of tonsilitis. So she is on antibiotics now and is wiped out. I will be staying home Friday to help around the house. That’s ok though, I got plenty of work that needs to be done!

Sick time for Liam

Liam has been sick the past few days. He has been running a fever that we have controlled with Advil and Motrin. Once the medicine kicks in Liam has been active and played. He will quickly tire and just want to be held. He has been periodically throwing up when his fever has been high. Liam has done a great job of making it to the bathroom when he has to throw up. He has only had one incident on the kitchen floor, luckily no furniture or carpet! When he has been sitting around and wanting to be held, he has been quite vocal about it. He will repeatedly ask over and over for Jill or I to sit with him. It is hard for him to understand at times that he has to wait while we do other things. He just keeps repeating “Sit with me, sit with me”. Saturday Jill called our pediatrician’s nurse about his fever and how long its been lingering. She suggested that if it gets worse that we take him to the ER Sunday. He didn’t seem that bad Sunday. Since he was seeing the pediatrician Monday we decided to wait. We will see what comes from his appointment Monday. Liam’s appointment Monday was initially to test him for diabetes. We are hoping for the best here. Hopefully it is not diabetes and just a urinary tract infection. We will know Monday evening, hopefully.

In other news, Seamus has started his winter session of soccer. His first game was this past Saturday. They started the season against the same team they beat for the championship in the fall season. They ended up losing this time. They played a great first half with Seamus having 1 goal and 1 assist. The second half though, the team seemed to fall asleep. They were constantly beat defensively leaving the goalie in one on one situations where he was easily beat. Luckily it’s early in the season and we will meet again! Aidan and Brendan have continued to be their silly old selves. Brendan has been enjoying his toys from Santa and playing with his brothers. Aidan continues to amaze us with puzzles. Aidan has put together puzzles for Seamus’ age with little to no help. He even plays the V-tech games with no help from us. We just sit and watch him go about his business when he plays. Listening to him you can hear he is learning from the games. His letter recognition from spelling the train names in Thomas the Train is amazing. It’s good to see an educational game paying off!

New year, New hopes

The past week Liam has actually seemed to settle down a little. He is still quite full of energy, has moments of anxiety, and stammers. His speech continues to be an issue. We aren’t sure exactly why. Some may be age appropriate, but at times his speech indiscernible. We have also had him on his increased Risperdal. That seems to have little effect, but there is a slight difference. One thing we think may have helped him settle down is being away from school. Since early November when a disruptive child was added to Liam’s class he has not wanted to attend school. Jill has had struggles getting him to go. This other child was physical with other kids and regularly disruptive in class. I posted previously on this matter and just before Christmas break Jill left one of the administrators a message to talk about the situation. The day before Liam was to go back to school he started showing signs of anxiety and kept repeating he didn’t want to go. He went reluctantly Tuesday. Jill got a phone call Monday informing her this disruptive student was being removed from the class. I believe the school received several complaints on this student. Tuesday after school I intentionally asked Liam about his day in school. He told me this other child was not there anymore and he seemed happy. I asked him if he was glad and Liam said “yeah, he was mean to me”. The next 2 days Liam was no problem getting off to school. What we believe was going on was Liam’s anxiety over this child was part of the reason why he was difficult to go to school, and so difficult afterward. We will see how he does in the next few weeks.

Liam has been quite active playing with all the toys from Santa. One toy he got that he really likes is a V-tech game system. These games are educational for children. We bought him a Toy Story game specifically. He really likes it, but one thing we notice is he doesn’t really grasp the concept of what he has to do. Jill and I have spent time with him explaining what to do and just does not seem to get it. He really like one thing in particular in the Toy Story game. Woody shoots at numbers or letters and will occasionally turn around and wink at you. Liam just loves that. He almost just seems to focus on that in the game. A few of the other games Liam will just randomly move the joystick around. Our direction seems meaningless to him. The controllers are nice and big for children. Liam seems to struggle with holding it in one hand and using the joystick with the other. In comparison, Aidan has a Thomas the Train game he loves. Aidan has played several different games on this and easily knows his way between games, how to play them, and easily manages to handle the controller.

Thursday we met with Liam’s neurologist. This was first time I met her and I was thoroughly pleased to meet her. In talking with her I was quite impressed with her memory. She remembered a conversation we had about a year ago quite vividly. I was impressed considering the number of conversations she probably has every day with so many different patients. We brought her up to speed on how Liam has been lately. The only changes we are making are with some of Liam’s medication dosages. He will still stay on Risperdal and Prozac for now. One thing we are doing is testing Liam for diabetes. We are having tested to make sure the Risperdal is not causing it. Another symptom may be the frequent urinating Liam does. He goes often and in small amounts. Jill has also noticed his teeth are not as shiny white as they should be. One reason for this may be the Risperdal or the fact that he does not like to have his teeth brushed. That is always a struggle to do. We’ll see how these changes go.

Liam has started a couple new things lately that have been a bit amusing. One thing he has really taken to is the TV guide. He continued to give us the TV guide to read and tell him what shows are on at what time on his favorite channels. We do this several times a day. He has at least stopped the 6am routine waking us up to see what is on. Liam has also started taking his hands and rubbing the whiskers on my face. It is usually at night when he is sitting on my lap and going to sleep. He will take one of his hands and just run it across my whiskers gently. It is funny, but it seems to give him sort of stimulus. I don’t mind when he does it though. Dis

Here we start a new year. 2005 is behind us now. While it was a constant challenge and struggle throughout the year, I believe Liam has made a lot of progress. He still has a long way to go. Persistence and hard work is the only way to helping Liam. Liam himself is a real hard worker and I know he will do his best.

We begin 2006 with high hopes, new goals, and a renewed spirit to help Liam. Jill and I continue our work with Greater Cleveland Autism Society. We hope to really develop this organization into an asset to the Cleveland area. If you are interested in joining, meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month. Anyone can attend, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends, or anyone that is just interested in learning more.