Ramblings and Hippotherapy..

So here we are again, a fine Tuesday morning and Sophie is still sleeping in, so I thought I would review our afternoon yesterday.
1st Eli is in the midst of evaluations at school because next week is his IEP meeting and we are all getting ready to fight for what he needs. The schools in Florida are a little behind the times, just now learning to update their definitions of autism to include autism spectrum disorders like Eli's PDD-NOS as an autism thing and not just a developmental delay and language impairment like they have him classed now. The difference may not be plain to everyone, but it makes a difference so that he can get the appropriate classroom needs met. He still needs a lot of work and we need to fight for a lot. Florida is not known for great school services, unfortunately, and they also plan to cut funding to the disabilites department so that less children will get what they need. In this age of 1 in 150 children diagnosed with Autism, that is downright insane. More families will need more help in the coming years, not less. It's particularly hard for those of us who are known as "middle class", since we don't qualify for medicaid or state insurance, but we still don't have insurance companies covering enough of the things that autistic children need for treatment, and it's not like middle class folks make enough money to finance everything without incurring a ton of debt. Of course, this country thrives on debt.

But enough of my high horse..let's talk about Eli's horse!! His name is Jiggy and he's more of a pony for the smaller guys. Every week, Eli goes to Hope Therapy (www.hopetherapy.org), and rides Jiggy while recieving some occupational therapy atop the horse. He learns how to sit in good posture, how to direct his horse, and plays some motor skill strengthening games. There is a picture of this at the top. He loves this part of his therapy program. I'm excited to have him riding, as it was one of my childhood joys, too.

Back to reading. I am reading Susan Senator's Making Peace with Autism right now and while I've just started, it's helping me explore some emotions and thoughts that I had felt I'd already processed. I wonder if you can ever fully process the emotions you feel when you have a child with a special uniqueness like Autism. I'm not sure you can. So right now I'm only at the beginning but it makes me think a lot about Eli's infancy and wondering if I missed some signs back then that things weren't perfect. I believe in the individuality of all of us, so I think many times I chalked up his quirkiness as being himself. How would I have known otherwise? No one expects autism and starts looking for it from birth unless they've already got reason to be suspicious. No, we thought he was introverted and terribly gifted, but never thought autism. Every so often we'd notice a strange sensory type thing about him, but nothing that would make you stand up and take notice and get help. For example, he used to enjoy touching everything he approached with his feet. He used to find the sound of cardboard ripping unbearable, too. Later on, I remember him being really sensitive about being in loud, flourescently lit places. In any case, I'm sure there will be more of my ramblings as I once again make my own peace with autism. Let me just say, I adore Eli. I can't wait to see what life brings him and us as his loving family, but I'm still going to do all I am able to do to help him grow up. That's what all parents do.

Ok..enough of my rambling for today. I'm off to crochet while I can.

In OTHER news..nearly forgot, Alexis is now coming to florida circa June 1st, and will be living with my Aunt Margie down in Orlando instead of by me. So long lots of help and babysitting..but hello a better time of things and lots of support for Alexis, which is what really matters in the end. Orlando is at least only 2 hours away! Way better than 3,000 miles for sure.
And that's enough for this morning!