The Battle of the Sweatshirt

Bear with me here... it's been a rough afternoon.
Waylon left the house in full winter attire this afternoon to throw rocks in the dog's water. (His favorite sunny day past time.) It's a pretty deep water container, and he can throw gravel in it for hours without moving more than 5 feet. I kept a super-close eye on him from the window where I was folding laundry. Of course, I should know that no afternoon with Waylon can ever be that simple. I remembered that when I glanced out the window to find him naked. Joey, our crazy bird dog, was happily dragging his favorite sweatshirt through the mud.
When I say favorite, I mean it is the sweatshirt that he changes into every day when we get home. He flips when it needs put in the wash. He rips the laundry sorter routinely digging for it. He will climb onto the washer and put it on wet if I haven't gotten it dried yet.
Yes- it is the holy grail of sweatshirts.
Thankfully, Waylon hadn't noticed because he was too busy getting his wet pants off.
I ran out and got the shirt from Joey before Waylon noticed. And because it was pretty chilly, I drug naked Waylon inside screaming bloody murder (he wasn't done throwing rocks yet) to get some different clothes on.
I picked out the heaviest sweatshirt I could find that was clean to replace his fave. And when I got him cleaned up and dressed, I decided it might be easier to put in a movie than to let him outside to get filthy again.
Turns out that was wrong. First mistake.
I hadn't got the washing machine lid closed. Second mistake.
I hear a scream, run to the laundry room. Waylon is on the floor, sitting in an inch of water. The laundry hamper is torn to shreds. Not just ripped a little. It's annihilated. The wall next to the washing machine is wet 3/4 of the way to the ceiling. And the contents of the washing machine are covering the room.
Apparently, the replacement sweatshirt was not ok. Third mistake.
This is when I flipped.
The poor little guy just wanted his favorite sweatshirt. He doesn't know how to ask for it, and he knows it is either in the hamper or the washing machine. And when he can't find it, he flips out. Obviously.
But in the heat of the moment, he caught me by surprise-
When I was yelling at him, he covered his butt.

Here's the part where I should say- I'm sorry if you don't spank your children, but we do. We don't spank them all the time, or for trivial things. It's usually rare that they need one. But if they are in serious trouble, they know there will be a spanking coming.

AND WAYLON KNEW HE WAS IN TROUBLE!  WOO HOO!!!
I know- how bizarre, that accomplishments come in such strange packages. A year ago, I could yell at him and his facial expression would remain flat. He would have no clue that he was in trouble, or that his behavior was unacceptable. But today, he knew!

After cleaning up the laundry room, I really wanted to call and interrupt Trav's afternoon of peace at the lake to let loose with the events of the past hour. But I decided that it wouldn't be nice to lay it on him on his afternoon off. Then I thought the facebook world might get a chuckle out of the painfully exhausting afternoon I've had, but I remembered I gave it up for lent. Then I thought- if people out there in the blogosphere really want to know what "a day in the life of autism" is like, they might enjoy this story. Only, the real truth of it is- that was only an hour in the life of autism. And it was exhausting.

Waylon's New Room

I mentioned a while back we have been working on getting Waylon's room a little more "therapy friendly." Of course, I was making huge progress over Christmas break but that has come to an abrupt halt now that school is in full swing. We did get his room painted blue, Trav got his swing hung from the ceiling, and we cleared a little room for his mini trampoline. We are in the process of painting a book shelf for all of his therapy materials, and we're planning on moving in a bigger bed soon in hopes he is able to sleep through the night a little better. He got a new weighted Toy Story blanket for his birthday, big enough for a new bed. Unfortunately, the life-size Buzz Lightyear and Woody wall stickers didn't last long. I found them in a pile on the floor. =(
Since it's still a work-in-progress, I only have a couple pics, but here they are- as promised!

Waylon in his new swing.





Waylon's new bright blue.



FRENCH FRIES

Ok, ok, so I haven't been so timely with my updates lately. Forgive me!
Although our lives are more hectic than ever, it's paying off big time. You wouldn't believe the progress Waylon is making! He has officially moved on from the picture exchange system to WORDS.
Yes you heard me right- he is coming up with WORDS. On his own!
He is getting SO good at answering the question- "What do you want?" He can almost always come up with a one-word answer to help us understand what he wants/needs. And a lot of times, the results will surprise us. Last week, he was in his carseat whining, and I assumed he wanted the McDonald's cup in my cupholder from our lunch that day. Still, though, even if we think we know what he wants, we ask him "What do you want?" to encourage him to form a word. I was expecting him to sign and say "drink" but instead out came... "FRENCH FRIES."
Seriously! Turns out he wanted the left over fries from lunch!
What I find truly amazing is that "french fry" is not a word he is getting drilled into his head at school, unlike "drink" or "help." This is a word he has heard us saying and he stored it inside his little head until the time was right to use it.
Truly amazing.
Within just a few weeks (maybe even less) he has learned his colors (red, orange, blue, yellow, green, and purple so far) and he is occasionally wandering around the house counting to three.
At school they are working on getting him to say two words at a time now- and last week he said "on bubbles" to request that his teacher turn the bubble machine on.
So, from my post a month or so ago, he was repeating lines from Dora, which was music to our ears.
Now, he is coming up with single words, and sometimes two, completely on his own, and we are ecstatic.

Wonder what next month will bring?

April 2nd is almost here!

Monday is the fourth annual World Autism Awareness Day.
Of course, helping others become aware of Autism is part of our everyday lives, but it's good to know the powers that be think autism is worthy of a "day." (Cancer, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Diabetes, COPD, AIDS, and Autism are the only disorders that the United Nations has officially proclaimed a "day' for.)
Some wear blue on April 2nd for autism, some use it as a day to raise money for research, and many attend special events to raise awareness. The Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs have a program called "We've got your back" as a support for people with autism, and every year they partner with Autism Speaks for a rally and balloon launch.
Check out this video from last years World Autism Awareness Day at Arrowhead. Zach went along with me to help with the kids, and you can find him, Caden, and Waylon all in the video with the Chiefs.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/media-lounge/videos/Chiefs-Celebrate-World-Autism-Day/56aed618-0cba-4b09-bba0-0857595f3b21

Well hello again...

So we are all still alive and well in the Katzer house. I know it's been a while since I've blogged, so here's a quick catch-up on our lives the past month.
After our visit with Dr. Hoffman last month, we decided to make some serious changes in Waylon's therapy. Travis started a new job with long hours, and my classes kicked up a notch, so getting him to and from ABCnD Autism Center was no small feat. We decided to try a different ABA program for Waylon 5 mornings a week, and having him go to afternoon preschool every day.
After just two weeks at Autism Concepts, Waylon is doing awesome. We had an IEP meeting this week with his teachers at preschool, who said if he worked as hard as he did last week for the rest of the year, he will make huge progress.
We did a week trial off of the artificial colors diet, and decided it was worth it to go back on. His teachers feel like he is more focused and works harder when he is off artificial colors.
The other night the kids were watching Dora and Waylon repeated every word Dora said. It was music to our ears!
So thanks to about 50 people who are helping us by watching the kids, hauling them to and from school and daycare when I am at school, and working with Waylon, we are trucking right along.
In the meantime, we have been working on finish Waylon's room and turning it into a "therapy room" for him to work with his speech teacher. Pictures to come!

An Artifical Coloring Free Birthday

Well, so far we've survived the holidays, the start of no artificial colors, Waylon's birthday, and back to school for everyone. Although it sort of feels like I'm doggy paddling with my head barely above the water, we are still afloat!
Of course, in usual Lindy-style, I piled way too much into the day of Waylon's birthday, which left Travis home with the kids to clean house while I was getting groceries and a hair cut. By the time I rushed through the frosting isle at Price Chopper I realized there is artificial coloring in every single brand and color of frosting (even white!). So I made a phone call to Mom for the homemade frosting recipe on the way to the ice cream isle, where after a hunt of most of the freezer section I found three flavors of ice cream without artificial flavors for his party. Do you really think they need to add caramel color to the ice cream? No. I don't think so.
Anyways, of course Waylon was asleep by the time I got home, (but Trav did get the house pretty clean!) and he was in no mood to wake up. When we got out the presents, he had absolutely no interest in finding out what he got, so after a couple tries we decided to wait until after cake and ice cream.
Mom helped me whip together the frosting real quick and we threw together a pretty cute little birthday cake. Of course Waylon wouldn't open his eyes to look at it.

Trying to get Waylon to blow out his candles

We sang Happy Birthday and tried for about 5 minutes to get him to blow out his candles, but finally gave up and decided to try again the next day.
The next morning we got up and headed to Monkey Bizness. He LOVED it. He just went crazy with all of the sensory input there; man did he go to town! We saw one of his friends from ABCnD Autism Center there with his parents, and he was in sensory overload with all of the kids and noise and was not interested in playing at all. Monkey Bizness was definitely a good choice for Waylon though!

Waylon climbing high at Monkey Bizness

When we got home, we sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candle like a champ! He ripped open the rest of his presents and played with the ones he (actually I) opened the day before. It was like a whole different kid!

Waylon's birthday party, Take 2

Waylon found a bag of Doritos after the Chiefs game Sunday, and had an artificial coloring fix. But other than that, he has done really well. I've talked with his teachers, and the schools are on-board with it, but I sent extra snacks just in case the rest of the kids are having a snack with artificial colors. I've called the bus barn to let them know of our new schedule (because of nursing school.) Talked with both daycares, and got the extra days lined out there. Thanks to my awesome sister Amy, we are still going to be able to get him to ABCnD while I am in nursing school crunch time. Mom's helping out with Caden after school, and Travis is pulling a huge extra load of picking up all the kids when he gets off work. (They're in three different places!) We have also restarted the fish oil and beefed up the gummy vites, and I'll be searching health food stores this week for the other few vitamins that aren't in his gummies. And I've found some great therapy ideas online that I am excited to try at home in the evenings. I'm hoping they'll be fun for all of us to do together. I'll let you know!
................................................................
Here's to a stressful, but fun, successful, and happy, artificial coloring-free 2011!

A visit with the doctor

Yesterday Waylon had his regular follow-up appointment with his developmental pediatrician. Basically, we just go to ask questions and make sure we're on the right track.
We've been stewing over starting Waylon on a diet lately, and Dr. Hoffman agreed we should do something. He suggested starting by removing artificial dyes from his diet, and if that doesn't help try removing casein, then gluten. He also suggested we beef up the vitamins he is getting and be more consistent with his fish oil supplement.
He said that although Waylon has obviously made progress since his diagnosis, he is still moderately-severely autistic, and only one point away from being categorized severe. He said the therapy Waylon is getting is not enough, and suggested we try for at least 15 more hours of ABA a week. Yikes! Getting Waylon to ABCnD Autism Center two days a week is already a challenge!
He did feel like Waylon will talk eventually, but obviously couldn't tell us when. He said it's promising that he will be able to talk because he has already learned the benefits of communication with PECS.



A PECS book (similar to Waylon's)

 He also suggested we see a behaviorist to target some of Waylon's problem behaviors now, before he gets older and they become a serious problem.
So, now we have a whole new set of goals to work on. We're going to jump on the artificial dye restriction right away and we'll talk to the school district and see what we can do for more therapy. Maybe we can find someone closer to do extra ABA with Waylon. We're also going to try to do some more work with him in the evenings- although we're not trained ABA therapists, I think I've seen it enough to give it my best shot! Then we'll probably call the behaviorist Dr. Hoffman suggested to see if he can give us some tips to try at home.
We see him again in six months, hopefully with a much improved Waylon!