The Alex Report #2

An actual Spring day, April in Duluth at Lester Park.

And here we are today. Well, actually last week, but you get the idea. Alex is a very healthy and happy 4 year old. He will be 5 late this summer. We do all the usual kid things, like go to the playground, eat ice cream, play Candyland, and chase the dog and cat around. Alex is a charmer with the ladies, he especially likes college age blonds. You should see him blush. He likes going to stores with young cashiers, he will say hello and hand over the money, and maybe say hello a few more times if he thinks she is cute. But he flirts with the older ladies too and they generally adore him. He is very good at routine interactions and predicable scenarios. We have one friend in particular who babysits on occasion, and Alex likes to tell her exactly what is supposed to come next. "Time for the Cheezy Pasta!", "Time to tickle Alex!", "Time for pajamas, close the curtains!". He is the best kid ever for going to bed. Early on we followed the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book, and he is now a sleep hound. We prompt him for pre-bed activities (undressing, pajamas, toilet, and teeth brushing) and when everything is set he crawls into bed and boots us out of his room. He will not leave bed until the morning, and only with an invitation to get up. Otherwise he stays in bed and sings to himself or looks out the window. We finished the diaper battle a couple months ago, had to just cut him off from the night time diaper, and he has had exactly one accident since then. He does not like being messy, which works out well.

So, where does the infamous Autism show up? Well, like I said in the last post, he is not good at communicating with children. He does fine with Mom and Dad because we know his lingo, but other kids are usually stumped. He does really excellent with the early talking set, he loves 2 year olds. He can just hang out with them and no one is confused. The more sophisticated the language of other children, the more they notice Alex does not quite respond as usual. He also still is fairly Echolailic- which means he repeats phrases from videos or live people rather than saying novel and topical things. Usually his echos are topical in some way, but it takes a little detective work to figure it out. Like he will repeat highly emotional phrases when he is excited. He also repeats things like, "Ke-Vin!!", just like I say it when annoyed. Oops.

We are definitely making lots of progress. We have started some extra speech therapy because he is exploding with his language now and we need the pros to make sure we are headed in the right direction. They know what to look for, what is on target, and where the deficiencies are. We are also doing 1:1 play groups with typical kids to get him as much exposure in that area as possible. There are just so many things only kids know how to do. And he is catching on. At this time last year he would not interact with peers. It was not on his radar. Now he absolutely loves other kids and wants to be with them. He is following them around and starting to imitate them. Which confuses the older kids (his age) a bit, but generally they just accept him as a quirky play buddy. As he continues to blossom and learn I think he will slot in more with his same age group. We shall see. It is all good. It has been quite the adventure, so far, learning about this new world. It is not nearly as scary on the inside as the initial words "Autism Diagnosis" implied. He is our wonderful Alex. He moves at his own pace, and has his own gifts to give. We have met many truly amazing people due to being on this path, and I am sure we will meet more. Autism is hot in the media right now, which is a very mixed blessing, and there is a ton of mis-information out there. But that is another post. For now I'll just say that this challenge we face is not something to feel guilty about and it is not something to "cure". I believe it is an expression of human genetics, and a learning obstacle that many have faced before. Alex will continue to learn and thrive, and we will work with his strengths while we overcome the barriers. He has so much to give, I can hardly wait to see his exciting future.

Just one of the gang, at the Websters (with a Sido).

And another big smile for the camera.