Hello - new to special needs. - Page 2

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by BonnieNova 

Thanks for the info, Emmeline. Fortunately Im in LI - so I hope it will be a little easier for us.

With the info you provided, I think I have a great letter put together that Im going to drop off later on today. I don't have the money to pay for a consultation at the moment, so Im just going to do my best and see what happens.

I'm from Smithtown, but I live in TX now.

[Thing1Thing2]

Well, howdy!

I contacted Gray Krasner. Good thing the school was closed when I tried to go yesterday. My letter (that I worked so hard on) was probably not going to be acceptable.

Edited by Thing1Thing2 - 5/15/11 at 8:04am

[Aegis]

My son was 2.75 years old when we had him evaluated (too old for EI too).  At the time I was 6 months pregnant with my second, so I'm definitely feeling for you!  My son has a high functioning autism diagnosis, and we feel that occupational therapy has been very helpful for him.  He had many sensory issues, most of which he has learn to cope with; some don't seem to be an issue at all anymore.  He still hates water on his face, but he doesn't become upset like he used to (he'll just ask for a towel now).  Haircuts are still a bit of a challenge, but at least he'll tolerate it for a few minutes rather than me waiting for him to fall asleep to cut it.  (There was concern he was developing a mullet since I was only able to get the front, top and sides.)  Also, perhaps you can ask the OT if a weighted blanket might help your son to relax at night.  We use a weighted belt for my son every once in a while, and it really helps him calm down and get centered.

I hope you don't mind me mentioning this, but we found dietary intervention to be extremely helpful for our son (gluten-free/casein-free diet, plus we eat a traditional foods diet).  It took 3 weeks for the casein to leave his system, and 5 months for the gluten to be out.  I'm not sure what your son's digestive system is like, but my son's wasn't great (not horrible though).  After 5 months off gluten, his bowels began to move the way I felt they should.  When we re-introduced casein after being off it for 7 months, he became this crazy roller coaster of emotion.  My sweet boy would be fine one moment, then having a tantrum the next.  Things that hadn't bothered him off dairy were suddenly worth crying over.  The thing that upset me the most was when I heard he was aggressive to a classmate (he's in a special needs preschool).  My son is normally very gentle, so I really hoped it was the casein.  We removed dairy again, and 3 weeks later he was back to his sweet self.  His teachers keep a daily communication folder for us, and you can see how erratic his behavior became while consuming casein.  I highly recommend giving dietary intervention a whirl.  It's daunting at first, but with the internet, you find fantastic advice from the many others in the same boat who are making it happen.

Congratulations on your newest family member, by the way!  I hope the summer takes it easy on you for your final trimester.  Best of luck with your vax paperwork; how incredibly annoying!  I hope your son can meet with an OT soon and get things moving.  When we started this journey, I felt like all we did was wait.  Having a baby definitely made it go faster though...  Best wishes to you and your family!