Little Clues

I think after experiencing so much with Dominic's issues, I'm picking up signs that Damien is following the same path on alot of the same problems Dominic has had. Either that or I'm just losing my mind. The speech thing by 18 months was pretty apparent. Lately though he's starting to show signs of SID (sensory Intergration Disorder) He has been itching his back raw lately. Cries when he hears loud sounds. He's only prefering a few foods and is extremely picky. He threw up last night as soon as I opened Mia's diaper. He threw up watching Dominic throw up at the dinner table last night and a few times before this. SID sucks y'all. I don't want two kids with it!!! I certainly don't want two kids at the table throwing up by certain tastes/textures we've asked them to try or by one seeing the other puke. (sigh)

SID In Action

I didn't record everything but I caught a few moments on video. This morning Dominic woke up all upset. Everything is itching, sticky, and loud. Usually however the morning starts is how the day will end up. So since he's only been up for a hour already whining about itching, everyone being loud at the table, and washing his hands twice in five minutes because something is sticky, I expect it to be one long day with him. We need to go to the store for Thanksgiving items so I'm alittle worried. Alex and I planned on spending a bunch of time in the kitchen.

This week Damien's Path really pushed the letter M. Damien makes MMM noises when playing with cars. He makes a "mooo" sound too when he sees a car. He won't say any of others but will say "mama!" He does try to say "mop" we think. So she knows he's able to get the letter out.

I'm noticing that Damien is much more out to share then Dominic. Dominic is always trying to steal Linda from Damien at therapy. She'll give him something to share with Damien but he won't but other way around and Damien will share whatever he is given.

Back Pedaling

Tuesday at Gymnastics, I asked the lead instructor about Dominic if he was doing ok in there the past few weeks. She said he has his moments but is doing pretty well. She thinks more repetition in the class and he'll learn to sit still and do as he's told. Not run off, etc. lol While there one of the assistant teachers from his school was there to work out. We talked for a bit and I told her I was able to talk to someone from this new EI center that deals with psychological issues for children. She tells me he is just fine with her and she doesn't think I should really worry about how he is acting. So she has me questioning myself again. Is he normal? Is he "just a boy?" Do ALL boys act like this? She says she's the only teacher out of the 4 that is able to get him to listen, mind and not have outbursts or wailing fits. That to me is not normal. When she's not there his day is down the tubes. I don't like that little changes set him off. It's not right.

I still plan on contacting them though to see what they can help with.

Auditory Bombardment and Making Progress

It was definitely interesting this week with Damien's Speech Path. He got a headset that we are talking directly into a mic which keeps him focused looking at our mouths. She is trying 2 syllable words this week so she gave me a list of words to read to him twice a day along with the oral therapy toys to "wake up" his mouth with sensation. I told her after she had asked me about drooling that all the sudden I noticed that yeah he does drool a lot. She said she has noticed while being here he always has his mouth opened, it's like he doesn't know HOW to close it. Interesting. lol So our homework with the words is hopefully get him to say 2 syllables. On Hot dog after hearing the word about 40 times he did in fact say "ha....."and then did the tongue thrust spit thing to end it. She said that counts as 2 syllables because he tried. When we talk to him, she wants us to clap or tap out the word. For example: Hot- Dog (2 claps) Cow-boy (2 claps) Da-mi-en (3 claps) He caught on quickly though and so did Dominic (who sits in on his therapy for attention lol) that the claps separate parts of the word.

2 New Words Damien can now say... ha (hot) Boo! (said a lot during Halloween)

Auditory Bombardment

Damien took something caled a Hodson Speech Test the other day. Not sure of the results but it will be interesting to see. Next week the Speech Path will start something called auditory bombardment. I believe how this works is she will focus on one sound each week to see if we can get anything other then a vowel sound out of him. Basically drill letter sounds into his little brain if you will. We'll see.

Words at 28 months:
Yes, uh uh, dis, hi, yeah, ha ha, uh oh, mamma, dadda, boo, cheese, whoa,

Good Days, Then The Bad

Dominic has had a pretty decent week. We had Parent Teacher conferences and his teacher believes they just need to figure out all his little quirks. I agree. I think once they find what sets him off, what to keep him from, what zones him, etc. they will have better days. That was how it was at Early Intervention. He's earning behavior bucks when he's good and they are sending home a daily sheet I send with him. They circle a happy or sad face for each day and that is how he earns his buck. The bucks can be then used for something like a hot wheel car or a happy meal, etc.

Bed wetting started happening so frequently (with him sleeping straight through it) that I've recently put him back into pull ups for the time being. I'm good at finding the deals so as long as I can get them cheap I'll just buy them again. I've looked at tons of sites for absorbent cloth pull ups but they are too expensive for one use ($20-30 for 1 pair!) and some sites can't guarantee they can even be used all night so that was a dead end.

Otherwise things have been well. I was about to give up on keeping him in gymnastics but then he did great this week so now I just don't know! I know the involvement in sports and other activities really help but I hate putting others through having to work with him when they first don't understand why he acts the way he does. Most people think he's just spoiled or "hyper."

No Foods, Only Enviromentals

To see if foods have anything to do with Dominic's behavior, we had Dominic allergy tested the other day which was not fun. No food allergies but he was allergic to just about anything enviromental. I had no idea you could be allergic to Coackroaches. He'll never come into those with daddy's profession. LOL!! Again I was referred to Heartsprings so I researched their site online. Oh my! I hope they will take us in and help us!!! Not only do they deal with children on IEP's for speech and other delays they help with behavioral issues as well! Maybe we can finally get some answers figuring out what going on with Dominic. So today I am calling the insurance to find out if it will cover the appointments. I'm also going to call the ENT about getting his tonsils removed since the allergist thinks it needs to be done. We saw an ENT Dr about a year ago and I just couldn't put Dominic through it at that time because I didn't think it was necessary.

Mouth Helpers

I am still at a loss about all this stimulation Damien needs for his mouth to be zapped into working mode. I just don't understand how it works. She says his mouth is just "dead" and needs to be woke up. Anyways now he has his own little oral stimulation box equiped with vibration toys, horns, whistles and teether things. He is eating crunchy crackers (to wake up his mouth)and other things like she'd like but still prefers the smooth foods like the yogurt, cottage cheese, applesauce, etc. But she is the SP and I will let her do her job. lol She gave me an oral grocery list of item I could buy and put in his box.

I'm About Two Seconds.....

from calling Dominic's old teacher at his old school and beg her to put him back in her class. Dominic so far this week has been hiding under tables from the teacher, yelling "no!" running from them on the playground when it's time to come in. He's supposed to go to Kindergarten next year. HOW?!?! How is this to work? He is so smart but everything else just holds him back. I don't know what else to do besides call his old teacher. I think he needs to be back in that setting. At gymnastics he didn't get a stamp because he wouldn't listen. They were having a hard time and would have to hold him on their lap to keep him in place but when it came to doing somersaults or trying cartwheels he'd do a great job! He can do things when he wants to but when others want him to do something or NOT to do something he just can't mind. His limbs are always in overdrive. He always has to move, or act up. I am getting to a desperate spot with him again.

Notes for the week came back on Thursday (last day of the week for Dominic) I guess Dominic spent all day Thursday crying at school and then had an episode where he kicked and screamed at his teacher. This is not good. Parent Teacher Conferences are in 2 weeks. I'm sure there's going to be a lot they'll want to discuss.

Too Loud

I don't know what's set Dominic off this week but it hasn't been a good one. Dave tried coaxing him for 20 minutes into his Awana cubbies class last night and then finally brought him to the gym where we were with the bigger kids doing games. BUT when he brought him in and set him down, he was ok for about 5 minutes and then I looked over to see him start wailing, holding his hands on his ears and rocking. I didn't even tell anyone I was leaving and just ran to him, scooped him up and took him out of the gym quickly. I explained to him that I had to help with big kids and he really needed to go to his class. I asked if it was too loud and he said yes. So I decided to help out with Cubbies last night since it was the only way to get him in there. There's about 40 little 3-4 year old and it wasn't too loud for the most part but any shrieks and giggles he'd bury his head into my chest holding his ears. We made it through though and they were happy he stayed. I tried to explain that he was sensitive to sound and since they are all older and never probably heard of it back in the day they looked at me kinda confused and with this pity look. I sent him on the bus this morning in good spirit so I'm hoping he has a good day.

Another Note

Sabrina,

Dominic had a really difficult time today. He did a lot of grunting, yelling, and crying. He didn't like much of anything that we or anyone else did in class today. We tied to encourage him to use words, but he was pretty upset most of the day. Lunch did go well and he gave us a smile. Just wanted to let you know.

I'm so sad! I have no idea why he had a bad day at school and maybe this explains his non- cooperation and crying in gymnastics. (I just found the note before going to bed.) I have noticed lately the rages have been coming around more but I don't have a clue what's making him so angry again. He's been really knocking Damien around and just kicking and going nuts on the floor, flopping around like a fish when something doesn't go his way. This is the 2nd day in a row they've had trouble with him this week.

Intensive Speech Therapy

This is an update from my other blog. Damien's home visit today went well. Not only was Jeanie (developmental therapist) working with him but so was Linda (speech therapist) She worked with Damien when he was about 22 months old at the Early Intervention center and this summer at the summer centerbased speech playgroup I had him in so she's familar with him. I told them if they really wanted to get him talking that they were more than welcome to take him into Dominic's room to play with the train table because he loves playing on it with me or daddy, it gets him really excited so they did that. He probably said "dis, Yes, and uh uh" a few hundred times showing them Thomas trains and scooting them around the track. He had a great time.

Linda realizes that creative and manipulative play are not working because he's not imitating, he's not parroting, he's not jabbering like most kids would TRY to do. So we are going to cut out the developmental therapy because he seems to be doing better on everything else. He will have intensive speech therapy with Linda on Tuesdays around 12:45. Still playing but in a more controlled enviroment (sitting at the kitchen table) So that was that! I can't wait to see how next week goes!

This Blog Is About To Change....

Now with 2 little boys with special needs, I am changing this blog a bit. I plan on posting updates on both boys and more frequently then I have. I plan on digging out the posts on Damien on my other blog and sticking them on here eventually.


Dominic has been in school for about 3 weeks. So far, no notes saying he's going to be expelled (lol) but I have received a few notes from his teacher about things she's been concerned with pertaining to the SID (sensory intergration disorder) issues. I visited the school recently and we talked about it and she's going to be as sensitive as possible and hopefully won't forget before it's too late. lol So far he's burst into tears from a tag on an apron rubbing his neck and when it gets too loud he cries. I begged her to watch anything soft food wise like mashed potatoes or applesauce because he will just gag and throw up and same with strong smells. So she will try her best to avoid anything that will set him off and I gave her a list.

Damien's home visits are going well! He is loving Jeanie. Still no new words though, still the same 8.

Dominic and Damien

Well Monday was Dominic's first day at his new school. This is the school I worked really hard to get him in at our Grade School. It's not a Special Ed setting like before. He LOVES it. We hung out for about 1.5 hrs and watched how the day normally goes there. Dominic had so much fun showing off his little brother. It was cute. There were 5 other parents there and I did feel abit ackward at times. It's hard because you feel like you need to explain how he acts so they aren't automatically thinking, "what in the world is wrong with her kid!??" He was so excited and a bit loud, he would do what he was asked for about 30 seconds and then wanted to go somewhere else and he was making all sorts of laser sounds from Action figures. lol There are a few things though that I plan on writing a letter to his teachers about. I did explain the ADHD/ODD thing already but I haven't said anything about his sensitivity issues. When they put an art apron on him, he flipped out. He started screaming "IT'S SCRATCHING ME, IT'S SCRATCHING ME!" He was really upset. They were loosing the belts and trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally he stopped. I probably ought to make them aware of the sensitivity thing because I'm afraid after seeing a whole row of bongo drums they will pull those out and he'll run out the door crying! lol He hates certain touches, sounds, smells will make him throw up easily, textures on his tongue cause him to gag at EVERYTHING. For 2 years he had Kristi as his teacher and she knew every little unique detail of him so now I'm starting all over so we'll have to do alot of communicating with his teacher the next few months.

Then Damien had his first homevisit today and will have visits every Tuesday at 9 am. It went well and he really clicked with his teacher. I like her too! Very nice lady. She tried getting him to point out animals, they played ball, tired to get him to say anything different then his normal little "dis, uh oh, yeah, and whoa!" She's going to talk to some of the other ladies about his tongue thrust and see what we're going to do. His tongue always comes out when he says his few words. She thinks that it may be more tongue thrust than Verbal Apraxia. So... we'll have to see. Whichever it is, I can already tell he's got a long road of speech therapy ahead of him like his brother. This is much different than Dominic though because Dominic just wasn't talking! Damien says a few words but he's more like Sylvester the Cat when he says "Suffering Sucatash!" That's the best description I can give of Damien. lol

So that's about it! It's weird having one sorta leaving this journey and then entering it again with another little one. I have learned so much through all this. I think Early Childhood Development would be a great field to take up once my kids have entered school. Dominic has came a long way on his speech although he does have a lot of other things on his IEP to work on, he's made SO MUCH progress! I am so proud of him! Damien so far just thinks this is all fun and games! lol Although he cried the first few times being in Speech Playgroup during the summer, he loved it in the end. Today when she arrived this morning you could tell he was thinking, "cool! Someone else wants to play with me!"

I'm really lacking on updating this blog! So I'll try to sum up our summer in a few paragraphs. First, Dominic language has completely exploded like it did last summer! It's amazing how much he says now. He's is almost caught up to his peers I think. He will be going to Alex's Elementary School in the mornings for preschool. He'll be only M-Th though which kinda bites but they're both at the same school which is awesome!

Dominic did a few productive things this summer. He passed swimming lessons, and tried really hard at T-ball although when that sun started blazing during the games he wanted to quit so we'd have to bribe him to keep him out there. One thing he really will have a hard time with after school starts back up is detoxing from websites. lol He's played Starfall, Hotwheels, Cartoon Network, PBS kids all summer long. Usually about 2 hours a day! He's really good at chores and helping out if he gets a reward for doing so.

The biggest change as of lately is he's transitioning from that preschool stage to a young boy. He's facination of Thomas is still there but not as much. He likes bigger boy things like Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Monster Trucks. He's using her bigger words such as ridiculous. He's saying things like "mommy! I told you....." or "you have got to be kidding!" He's just a riot.

This is another long overdue update. Things are going well as they could be with Dominic I guess. We're still not medicating or going to counseling. Our main problem right now is emotions. He is constantly breaking down crying about everything. Constant mood swings. The other day Alex had a dentist appointment and he didn't and the tears started welling up in his eyes. He fell to the floor bawling hysterically in Target last night because we told him he couldn't have something (Thomas Legos) and at home anything that Damien does that really doesn't affect Dominic will put him in tears. Other times he's just the best kid ever! I think the hardest part is explaining why he acts he way he does to new people we meet. I explained to his T-ball coach some of the things to watch out for. In gymnastics last month I saw a friend I hadn't seen forever. His son was in the same class and I explained to him why Dominic wouldn't sit still and why he was acting all goofy and weird while the other kids sat and listened to the teacher. I always feel like I need to tell people why he acts different and that makes me sad.

His aggressiveness is about the same. Dominic and Damien are always taking toys from each other and fighting. Usually he gets really mad and will sit on Damien or push him hard. He hasn't thrown anything in awhile which is great. He still disagrees with me on alot of things. He'll say "I told you NO MOMMY." when I ask him to do something or "I SAID YES!" if I tell him no he can't have a snack right this second. His hitting me has slowed down quite a bit and he'll usually just end up crying in the end about whatever we're disagreeing about.

So far this summer has been going well. We're working on workbooks and a CDRom trying to keep up with school. He is having a hard time writing I believe because he's left handed. I don't know how to teach him how to hold a pencil left handed either.

Damien has started Early Intervention Playgroup and he really enjoys it. Dominic is sad that he can't go since it's at his school. Damien unfortunately is starting to show some of the same "signs" as Dominic did early on so I worry abit that we could be going down the same road with Damien. We'll see though.

Long Overdue Update

Well I haven't updated on here in a bit so I will today! Dominic is doing really good. I had his IEP appointment about a month ago so he'll be able to get into any preschool when we move at a short notice because he has that. He's doing really well at school except for a few issues, alot being social, some cognitive, and speech. His misbehaving at home is about the same. He back talks alot, calls names, and just will do something repeatitively after we tell him no. He is constantly battling it out with Damien on toys and just starting fights out of the blue with Alex which normally end in someone getting hurt. He still is not falling asleep till 9:30-10 after he goes to bed at 8 and I couldn't tell you when the last nap he had was, it's been that long. We still have no answers on why he acts the way he does. I feel like I just don't know anything with him anymore. Some days I feel like he's fine, or then sometimes he's got the ADHD that he was diagnosed with, but then other days I wonder if his teacher is right about PDD's. Then days like last night when he was upset about his shirt tag in his pj's and not wearing a certain pair of shoes that he adores when I think maybe he does have sensory intergration dysfunction. He desperately needs couseling but this small town we live in doesn't provide Child Psychologists specified in these areas. He can get help but I don't think we'll all get the help we need.

So things are going pretty well. He will not do summer school this summer so I plan to get some workbooks and homeschool so we don't forget anything. We want his last year of preschool for 07-08 to be a good one! Thanks for reading!

1st Dentist Appointment!

Thank goodness for Camera phones. LOL Dominic had a great 1st dentist appointment. We found out that even though he's missing a bottom front tooth and only has 3 that it may come in as a permanent and it may not. If it doesn't there's no reason to worry about it because most of the time with just 3 you can't tell anyways according to the dentist. Dave actually has 5 on the bottom so the Dentist joked that maybe dad took Dominic's. His teeth look great and he'll go back in 6 months where we'll attempt to get x-rays. The first 2 four year old visits are usually just meet and greets so they don't scare the kids. Then on the 3rd visit they will TRY to clean his teeth. He gave me some disclosing tablets for the kids (they LOVE those!) and he got a new cool looking toothbrush, kid's mouthwash, floss dinosaur, and toothpaste. Then he picked out a ball out of the toy basket. He told EVERYONE last night about his visit to the funny dentist. Our Dentist thinks he's a comedian. To me he's just a bit strange but the kids adore him.