I can't believe the progress this kid has made. We finally got him to say his name and birthday at 33 months. Whew! For about a month or so he would say it when we pointed to it written on his picture book, but it wouldn't translate for him as far as answering the question, "What's your name?" He's starting a mother's day out program in August so we want him to at least be able to introduce himself since the rest of communication will be a bit shaky.
Here's a diet for you...eat with my son. In this picture, he's eating a bagel dipped in ketchup. It was enough to ruin both Jack and I's breakfast. Occupational Therapy is going okay. I say "okay" because I love the therapist and I think she's awesome with Cameron, but I think he just has more going on than we can figure out. Because of his regression in eating, we were referred to a Pediatric Development Specialist. I had to complete a 20 page packet as a pre-screen. They wouldn't even schedule an appointment if there weren't enough indicators warranting it. We got their first available appointment...in AUGUST. At least we aren't alone, right?
As far as we (the therapist, pediatrician, and I) can tell, he has some behavioral, some sensory and some control issues. Here's what I call an issue: On Thursday during Occupational Therapy, we sat down to eat snack. I wanted Nicole to help me with tips for his overstuffing food into his mouth so I served the Handi Snacks breadsticks. So he starts shouting, "Hold it! Hold it! I hold it!" (control issue) As fast as Nicole opened it to take the breadsticks out, he grabbed one and shoved the entire thing in his mouth horizontally. She took the rest of the pack and broke all the breaksticks in half and gave him back the pack. He took one look at the broken breadsticks and lost it. Here's what "losing it" looks like for us. He slams his forehead against the table. Throws himself off his chair landing on the ceramic tile and then repeatedly bangs his head against the floor. The OT just looks at me and says, "What do you usually do? Does it work if you ignore it?" I just looked at her and said, "He will continue to bang his head against the floor until he busts his lip, his nose bleeds or his head is severely bruised. Would you ignore that?" So I picked him up and he realized that he hadn't registered enough pain sensation so he started trying to head butt me. I managed to calm him down, but at that point he wanted nothing to do with the therapist. He refused to go anywhere near her, wouldn't touch her iPad or phone, wouldn't play with beans or play-doh. Nothing. In his eyes, she became a bad person because she ruined the one thing he likes to eat. (Any takers for a baby-sitter at this point???) So this is what we deal with all day long, everyday. Avoiding and containing the meltdown. As a matter of fact, he hasn't wanted breadsticks since that occasion. I guess it's because he's worried we may break them. I hope August will bring us some answers, but until that time we will only be serving bite size portions of everything. It's like a wedding reception at my house, which isn't so bad. Entertainment is provided.
