AIDAN

I thought I would write a few entries on each of the kids, to update everyone on a few specifics since I have been so negligent in blogging. I also thought I would start with the one people ask about the most, my dear sweet boy Aidan. Aidan turned 5 in March, and continues to be a BIG kid. He is taller than Madeline now and weighs somewhere between 55 and 60 pounds. He is still solid, but has thinned out quite a bit and is stretching. As most of you know, Aidan has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). This disorder is quite varied and includes ADHD, ADD, PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified), Asperger's, Autism, Fragile X, and Ret's Syndrome. (The last three are genetic, the last two are chromosomal and some debate weather they should be included or not.....) Aidan does not have the classic genetic Autism, but something more like PDD-NOS, which is very broad in itself, but presents many of the same signs and symptoms. The major issues we deal with have to do with communication and processing. For example, Aidan can tell us if he needs something or wants something, but he is not going to have a back and forth conversation with us about anything. He does not answer questions unless the answer is yes or no or unless we are asking him to name or label an object or picture. He cannot tell you how he feels, emotionally or physically. Most of the time Aidan has a running monologue of a movie that he is reciting, lately it has been Peter Pan 2. His vocabulary is very large, but he does not always understand what he is saying. However, he will often use the lines he has memorized from movies to communicate with us. If he sees an action or a response in a movie and sees a real-life situation that is similar or desires that response, he will use the dialog in the movie associated with it. For example, in one of their Little People videos, Michael asks Farmer Jed for his straw by saying, "Farmer Jed, may I have your drinking straw?" The other day, I bought the kids icees and had not grabbed the straws yet and Aidan turned to me and said, "Farmer Jed, may I have your drinking straw?". Aidan saw that in the movie, Farmer Jed handed Michael a straw, so Aidan, wanting a straw used the same dialog. We notice this with him often, and although it is a "strange" way of communicating, we are encouraged that he is trying and making those connections. We use those opportunities to correct him and teach him that he can rephrase the dialog and use it for the appropriate person. So, that day I just repeated after him, "Mommy, may I have a drinking straw please?" I had him repeat that before I gave him a straw.
We also see processing gaps. For example, Aidan recognizes all numbers from 0 to 100. However, if I ask him to hand me 3 balls, he does not know what to do. There seem to be gaps between recognizing symbols, numbers, letters, etc. and correlating them with their meaning.
Last year we decided to send Aidan to a local public elementary school with a special education program that focuses on children with ASD. We are so pleased with that decision. Aidan LOVES school. He asks to go everyday, and runs to his classroom each morning when we drop him off. From 8 to 10am he is in a developmentally delayed class with other 3 to 6 year olds. There are 7 students and 3 teachers. (The class will not get larger than 10 students.) They work with the kids on basic skills appropriate to their age, numbers, letters, colors, shapes, etc. He also gets to go to music, art, and PE. In addition, he gets group speech therapy, individual speech therapy, and occupational therapy. Afterwards, Aidan stays until 12:30 for the ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) program. This program is wonderful. There are several tutors who rotate daily working individually with the children on specific needs. We work with them to set very specific goals for Aidan in the areas we see he needs help with. For example, one of his goals right now is "Aidan will group pictures of objects with other like objects; shirts, hats, socks together; bananas, apples, oranges together." We meet with the school psychologist as needed to update Aidan's goals. He heads up the ABA program and observes the students and tutors several times a week. We have seen a lot of improvement in Aidan and are very encouraged by the possibilities.
Aidan is still on the gluten free/ casein free diet and we are doing a chelation treatment to flush out heavy metals. (Last year, we tested his urine for mercury. A "normal" mercury level is no more than 0.025ppm. Aidan showed 0.4 ppm! YIKES!)
Aidan continues to be a blessing to us. He is very sweet tempered, he is very cuddly, he laughs often and is a happy little boy. He is beginning to play more appropriately with his toys - he loves Rescue Heroes. He has also become much more compliant and manageable. When we go to a store, he walks with us instead of running down the aisle needing constant holding on to. He follows directions pretty well, "clean up your room", "clear your dinner dishes", "put on your shoes". He is completely toilet trained, he can dress himself, brush his own teeth, buckle his seat belt and do many other self-help type of activities. We still have a long way to go with Aidan, we don't know what the future will hold for him or us, but we praise God for him and all that He is teaching us through Aidan.

"Aidan you're young
But Aidan you're growing fast
Me and your mom
And all the love we have
We can only take you so far
As far as we can
But you'll need something more to guide your heart
As you grow into a man

Let mercy lead
Let love be the strength in your legs
And in every footprint that you leave
There'll be a drop of grace
If we can reach
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break
They will find peace
And I'll meet you in that place
Where mercy leads

Aidan the day
Aidan the day will come
You'll run the race
That takes us way beyond
All our trials and all our failures
And all the good we dream of
But you can't see yet where it is you're heading
But one day you'll see the face of love"