Special Ed doesn't always mean slow

Again I apologize for the long time between updates. I have found out that it's not that easy to balance everything I have on my plate and still have time to sit at a computer and write my thoughts. I have so many thoughts and things to say, but never the amount of time it takes to put them down. Someday I will have the perfect balance between all that I want to accomplish.
So with that being said here is my update...Things have been going pretty good lately. We've had a few therapy sessions and I feel like they have went well. Eric was able to attend the last session. We have a few concerns with Hunter in school and wanted our therapists advice on how to handle those concerns. At the beginning of the school year I went to the school and asked if Hunter could have OT services at school. The school has an OT on staff and I figured this would be perfect since I wouldn't be taking him out of school once a week and neither of us would be missing anything throughout the day. I've run out of PTO at work, so when I have to take time off I either take it unpaid or I work extra hours to make up for the missed time. This isn't always easy when there is somewhere to be almost everyday. I can't stay late on Tuesdays, Hunter and I have cub scouts (Much to say about scouts later) Lexi has dance class Monday and Thursdays. Eric can take her on Mondays, but Jack has hockey on Thursday so I have to get her to dance. Some people would say don't let your kids be involved in so much and then your not so busy..That's not how I operate. I want my children to experience as much as they can in their childhood. Being a kid is suppose to be fun and if you are stuck in the house and missing out on what could end up being your calling is not a way to live. I want them to look back on their childhood and say they truly enjoyed being a kid. So needless to say I wear our time thin and crab about it later. LOL Oh well such is life. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Back to the school subject..(sorry I'm random) At  the beginning of the year when I asked about OT they wanted to know Hunters diagnosis. When I told him that he had Intergrated Sensory Disorder, they said that didn't qualify for needing serviced because his grades were not in jeopardy. I mentioned in "Our story" that Hunter is a very smart young man..He skipped first grade and his readying class is a 7th to 8th grade level. So it stands to reason that his grades aren't in jeopardy and he's not failing. I took this news with a grain of salt and chalked it up to the federal government having to put limitations on things..I understand all of this, but now that my child is suffering I don't like it one bit. I have continued to bring Hunter to his appointments throughout the day and he continues to make progress, which is good.
We've started to have more issues with homework. It's almost like his homework is overwhelming. If he would sit down and focus he could get a week's worth of homework done in 20 minutes, however he crabs about it and makes excuses for 2 hours and still doesn't have it complete. It turns into a huge fight and usually ends with him stomping up to his room and hating me and Eric for some reason or another. It's days like this that I wish homework didn't exist. He's also been "stuck" about a reading assignment that he had months ago. They had to write a 300 word paper about a book. He couldn't seem to get more then 123 words onto the paper. This was an at school assignment so I didn't get the chance to help him with it. He is so upset at the fact that he had to do this. He makes excuses that don't really make sense  to most of us about it, but fails to mention the real reason he couldn't finish this assignment. Because of his sensory disorder gravity pushes on him harder then the rest of us. It hurts his hand to write that much, he has to work so much more harder then the rest of us. He pushes so much harder, pencil leads break and paper rips. When we brought this situation up to his therapist he put it into a really good perspective for us. He's analogy on the subject is that Hunter's brain is like a computer that's really fast. He processed the information quickly (good Internet connection) but his printer is slow. I've had a printer like this before...takes forever for the document to actually print. This is Hunter. Makes complete sense to me. With that being said I knew that something needed to be done at school so that he's processor and printer were on the same wave length. I waited to bring this subject up with the school until after his conferences. I wanted to see how his grades were and talk to his teacher about my concerns. His conferences went well. There was some lower then usual grades, Spanish he got a C+ and reading he also got a C+. The way his reading score was broken down was "adventures in writing 35%" Participation 93% Assignments 71% Story test 100% and Vocabulary tests 95%"  Because there is a big enough discrepancy between the reading level and the writing level I might be able to get him some "special accommodations" at school. We've thought of ideas such as when there is a big paper to write he can dictate it or type it. They have a great dictation program called dragon slayer or something like that. In order for me to get these accommodations we have to go through a special education evaluation. I'm not sure if he's going to qualify for this...I have my fingers crossed that we can squeeze in between the guidelines. If we can't get him to qualify we can try to get a 504 plan. Then they have to make the accommodations for him. I talked to the gal that's in charge of special education and they are going to discuss Hunter at their next meeting and see what they can do. I let them know that he has an Anxiety/Depression NOS diagnosis, and a behavior/mood disorder NOS along with the sensory disorder that is causing issues such as ADHD, and that he touches the spectrum of autism, but is not diagnosed with it. They asked if a medical Doctor diagnosed him...NO, we see a therapist and an OT, and PT. Because I don't medicate my child there is no reason to go to the medical doctor. Don't get me wrong I love our pediatrician, but we see the medical doctor for ear infections, strep throat, and yearly checkups. The pediatrician doesn't have  the time to sit down with us for an hour every week to properly diagnose what Hunter has. The process to get either an IEP (individual education plan) or the 504 plan at school could take 3 months....I guess I should have pushed for all of  this sooner in the year. Fingers crossed that we can get him the help that he needs to succeed in school and not be forced to fail before he can succeed. Because he's smart the law doesn't consider him special. Of course I think he's special (hehehe)
I'll hopefully have an update soon about what we have found out....

I had much more to say but as I type this Hunter is freaking out and yelling at us about gluten....He has chips that he can eat and freaked out because Jack is eating them...He has told us it's not fair, Jack is crap, and told Eric to shut up...Today is going to be a long day! I just about to the end of my rope with this....Most days I'm not sure I can make it to the next day with one more freak out. Some days I just want to walk away and never come back. I know that this is not the right answer and that I'd never ever ever do that, but don't think the thought hasn't crossed my mind. I think it would cross anyone's mind if they dealt with this everyday. It's sad to say that the house is so much more quiet when Hunter is away for the day. No one yells, fights, hits, and freaks out about anything. I thought this is how life was suppose to be. Kids fight I understand that, but they shouldn't fight every second of the day, and make the day miserable for the rest of us. I'm torn between my beliefs and what others think I should do. Am I doing my child a disservice by not putting him on medication? OR am I doing the right thing by going the natural route and trying to fix what is causing the problem instead of just covering it up. That's my view on medication. I want to know why you need the medication and what is causing the need for it. It works that way with everything. Thyroid issues for example...Why do you have the thyroid issue, not how can we cover it up...I don't really agree with covering up issues especially when the side effects to some of the medications are worse then the issue you have in the first place. (sorry another tangent)
I just wish I didn't have to work so much...If I could stay home even part of the day I would have more time to dedicate to what I know is right. We would have amazing gluten free meals, food in the fridge all the time, a clean house and exercises, homework, and chores wouldn't go undone because mom has so much to do in so little time. Someday my dream will come true...Once I can afford to play the lottery I'm going to win. LOL
We'll I better stop here and get to the grocery store before Jack's first hockey game! I can't wait to see him play, it's going to be so cute! To bad Eric can't be there, he has to flood our hockey rink tonight...So the life of the parent continues.
I hope everyone has a great week! Join my in my goal this week....Take an extra moment to appreciate a good time. Stop for a minute to just enjoy life. The dishes can wait, the laundry will be fine, take a deep breath and be happy that you are alive to enjoy the good and the bad times in life. Life is truly to short (thanks for reminding me dad, love you) (another topic).
~Amber

It's been awhile!

I want to apologize for how long it has taken me to post lately. Being a busy, busy mom I don't always get a chance to sit at the computer without someone climbing on me, needing a drink, or help in the bathroom. Oh its a glamorous life I live!
Well there has been a lot that has happened in the last month. The gluten free diet is going really well. Hunter still isn't the happiest about it, but we've seen improvement from it. He doesn't have nearly as many spazy moments that he used to. I think with everything combined that we've been doing has really helped. He did get into gluten a few weeks ago and he was out of sorts that night and into the next evening. You could tell that the focus was off and the stimulation was running on high. I believe that I've proven my point and that we need to continue the gluten free diet. (love when I'm right)
Like I said there has been improvement but sometimes it feels like you take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. We've been experiencing this lately. I might have to put the blame on my mouth...whenever I say "wow we've had a really good week" then it seems as if everything turns around....Darn me and my mouth. We are still having issues with being "stuck" this is where Hunter gets an idea or thought in his head and that's all he can talk about, it's like an obsession. When he gets like this he just has to leave the room until he can join the family. It takes time, but each time it's less and less with how long he needs to be removed. The new thing that he's been "stuck" on is he's DS games. He brought his DS to school, and played it on the bus, well he left the case on the bus and in the case there were 2 games. He found the case in the lost and found, but not the games. This really upset him and he can't get over the fact that someone needs to replace them. He believes the bus company or school should have to replace them. I keep telling him that people don't replace things they didn't personally loose. It would be different if someone borrowed them and then lost them, however he lost them. It's no one's fault but his own for losing them. It really sucks that someone stole the games, but that's a whole nother topic we've been dealing with. He lost the DS games over 2 months ago. When it first happened he was only "stuck" for about a week, but now were back to being "stuck" about it and only talking about it. When you try to have a discussion about how it's not the school or bus companies issue he gets really upset and then stirs up even more emotions about how no one cares that his feelings are hurt and someone stole from him. No matter what we just can't make him understand what we're saying. This is the struggle that comes with having a smart child, he's so smart yet some of the smallest things don't make sense to him.
Therapy has been going great since the "hard" session that we had awhile back. Hunter would much rather go to OT & PT over therapy but it is necessary. If we are going to "fine tune" the engine then everything has to be in tip top shape!
I'm off to get Cub Scout popcorn ready for the parents to pick up. Did I mention that I'm in charge of the popcorn orders for the whole pack! What was I thinking!!!!

Everyday is a new adventure

Well today started out like every other Tuesday. 7:30am OT for Hunter. We had a great session today in OT. Hunter did wonderful at his exercises and I even got to play a game too. I like being involved in his therapies. After OT we met with his therapist to discuss any changes and progress we are having with the calming down techniques and behavior/anger issues. Like I said last week it was a rough week, and this weekend and yesterday continued to be a rough week. The anger was flowing and the behavior was totally off. It felt like square one again. There was issue with hitting and kicking Jack. Hunter tries to justify his hitting and kicking due to Jack being mean to Lenny (the puppy) yes Jack is rough with the puppy, however puppies/dogs will let you know if it's to much, but yelping or biting...If Lenny didn't want to play with Jack he wouldn't. Last night Hunter thought Jack was trying to "kill" Lenny by pushing him and pulling the toys out of his mouth. He then proceeded to kick Jack in the head and getting his foot stuck in the hood of Jacks sweatshirt. They both went tumbling to the ground. I brought this up in therapy today and we went through different ways that situation could have been dealt with. Hunter just couldn't seem to come up with any other ways he could have dealt with that. At the time that this happened I was up stairs putting away laundry, it seems that most of the hitting/kicking happens as soon as I leave the room. While in therapy the Dr came up with some ideas such as bringing the puppy to me and letting me know what was happening. Hunter said that I was always in the basement and the puppy isn't allowed in the basement. Now the only thing that is in our basement is laundry and storage...there is no way I want to spend that much time down there. We discussed more that it would probably be the best decision to bring the puppy to me whenever I am then to hit his brother. Hunter came up with every excuse as to way this wouldn't work. He even went as far to say that if brought the puppy downstairs he could get bitten by a spider and die...now he knows that in Minnesota we don't have any deadly spiders, but this was what he was obsessed on, that and the fact the puppy could get lost in the basement. Seems pretty silly to me that either one of these things could ever happen but in his head it was the truth.....He's such a smart boy but can't grasp the simplest things. Instead of using his "smarts" for figuring out good things, he's using them to make excuses and justify his bad behavior. It's very frustrating. This was the first time his therapist saw this part of him. I have been explaining that he does this but until you see it you really can't understand. His therapist agreed that it seems that we are on a roller coaster of behavior. We have a really good couple of weeks and then we have a really bad couple of weeks. He suggested that if things don't change we might need to think about some medication to help him control things. I'm not really sure what type he was talking about as I didn't really ask...I try not to hear the word medication. I really am doing everything in my power to prevent medication. I do understand that sometimes it is necessary; however I'm not ready to admit that in our situation. I'm going to stick with a more natural approach first and then if that doesn't work I will discuss our medication options. We are starting tomorrow morning with a Gluten Free diet. I a lot of the time Gluten is the culprit with behavior situations. I am Gluten intolerant so I know what to expect. Hunter is aware of this and isn’t very happy about the decision to make him Gluten Free. I told him we would try it and see if it made a difference but he have to be on board first. He is also starting off on new supplements tomorrow morning. We (Hunter & I) will be starting to take Fish Oil, Vitamin D, Repairvite, and a Probiotic. I am a strong believer in natural supplements and that our body works as a whole. I’m hoping that this makes a difference. It can’t hurt, if nothing else we will be getting a lot healthier, and that’s great! I will keep everyone updated on our progress over the next 30 days.

What feels like a set back...

It's been a rough week for us, that is way I haven't had a chance to post for awhile. Hunter woke up Monday morning and told me that his throat hurt and he should stay home. Well me being the mother and him being Hunter I told him that he was probably just tired, he went to bed way to late and it's Monday and no one actually wants to do anything on Monday. So..I sent him to school. About 10:15 I received a phone call from the school nurse..I thought oh great..now i'm the mother of the year that sent her sick kids to school. But you never can tell with Hunter, and in the past I have kept him home just to find out he didn't want to go.  His throat still hurt and his tonsils were all spotty with white stuff is what she told me, he didn't have a fever, but felt achy. I left work and picked him up right away. I called Lexi's school on the way to pick up Hunter. She had called me in the morning to say she had a tummy ache, I sent her to school too. I thought if I'm picking up one child and going to Urgent Care (his ped didn't have any open appts) then I might as well take 2 kids if I have to. When I talked to her she said she was feeling fine and would be able to make it through the day. So off I went with one child to the Urgent Care. They did a strep culture and the rapid came back negative. They usually do...They said they would culture it and let us know if anything developed. I spent Monday at home with Hunter and it was a great day. We were bums the whole day! Laid on the couch and watched TV together. I could really get used to this being at home during the day thing..Who knows maybe someday i'll get to. I sent Hunter to school Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday I had a missed call on my cell phone, they didn't leave a message so I called the number back. It was the Urgent Care clinic I took him to. I put 2 and 2 together and figured they were calling about the culture. I found it odd there was no message...what if I wouldn't have called back?? I spoke to the Dr and he said that it did grow strep and he would call in a RX. So now i'm thinking great he can't go to school tomorrow because he hasn't been on meds for 24 hours...Well that's a silly rule..If the kids feel fine then they should be able to go...He had the strep since Monday, but it just wasn't enough to show on the culture..I figure he's already exposed everyone anyways..So my plans were to send him today. Well...that didn't happen, he woke up feeling like poo or so he says. It was a crying fit to try to get him dressed this morning, which then turned into a screaming match. He wouldn't put his clothes on, he just kept yelling that his throat hurt and he was sick...my reasoning to him was your throat hurts from all the yelling, if anyone yelled that loud they would have a sore throat. Once I sat back and thought about it I could see that fact that he probably didn't feel good. If the culture just came back yesterday as positive then the strep has also been growing on his tonsils too. So he stayed home, good thing we came to that decision because by this time the bus had already driven by and he hadn't even put on clean underwear.

Why I feel set back....I don't know if it from Hunter not feeling well but holy moly has he been off this week. I call it the "old" Hunter...the one that used to exist before we started all of this. The one that we dealt with everyday. When your with him everyday you don't always see how much progress he has made. I have thought everyday this week "wow, I can't believe this is how everyday used to be" I sure hope it's not a set back and we have to "start over".  I can't take anymore yelling, name calling, degrading and overall meaness anymore. It's so hard to stay positive sometimes. I've even noticed a change in his school work he's brought home this week. His handwriting is worse and the grades are average, I'm chalking it up to being sick and with his sensory disorder it's throwing him all out of whack. Here's to hoping that this weekend brings fun and positive behavior and that next week will be back to as "normal" as possible...whatever normal is

Today's Appointments

Quick thought first----If you are trying to view by blog from your phone you can't see the extra tabs at the top of the screen, for you to understand more about "Our Journey" you are going to want to click on the tab, "how it began" tab to read my full story...

Ok back to today....
Tuesday's are usually our busiest days when it comes to appointments for Hunter. I try to put them all in one day so we don't have to miss more then a half day of school. The morning started off with OT. He is making great progress in OT!!! We talked a bit about his bike riding and how it's really going to help with the muscles that are weak and the joints that are locked up. I mentioned that he is a great rider, but his pedals keep breaking. She said this was due to him pushing to hard. He doesn't know when his body ends so he keeps pushing. This makes sense with the fact that Hunter seems to enter people's bubbles. Also, when he goes to hug you sometimes he'll almost knock you over. His spacing is off. I'm hoping this will all begin to be fine tuned with the OT. After OT we had a therapy appointment to check in with how things are going at home. Like I've mentioned in our back story the main issues we have are at home. Not listening and issues with Hunter and Jack, not to mention the over stimulation for the day at school. I have always said that I would rather him work his hardest at school and at home freak out, it's his comfort spot. Your home is where you can be yourself. Now we shouldn't always act crazy at home, but you know what I mean. We're learning new coping methods, and catching himself before the over stimulation kicks in. Before there was no stopping it and then it was out of control, since working on these things, it has gotten better. We're also working on ways to work the OT into everyday life. His therapist spoke with his OT and they are working together so that everything can intertwine. It seems like everything is falling into place and I couldn't have happier. After his therapy session we went to PT. He's been working on his exercises at home and they taught him some more today. This is only his second session so I haven't really been able to judge any results from it yet. Today was just such a good day, and full of positive feedback!! I love those days! Tonight Hunter and I have Cub Scouts, it's popcorn kickoff and I am the chair for the popcorn fundraiser (let me know if you want to order) We have to do a presentation to the pack. I stayed up way to late making charts for each den. I used glitter, but I promised him it wouldn't be girly colors. LOL. On the good side....my crafting skills are so little that it looks like the scouts made the charts themselves. Oh well...At least I tried.

Something not so cool...

Today Hunter spent the majority of the day outside riding his bike with the neighbor kids. We live in a great neighborhood, with wonderful kids and parents, however sometimes children from other blocks come over and attempt to play with our children. I have to say that this makes me less then happy, it's not I don't want my children playing with others that aren't on our block, it's that these kids tease Hunter. I would be happy with him making friends all over the globe, but I'm not ok if kids make fun of him. While he was outside biking and wrestling with the neighbor boys, these other boys came over and started to name call at him. They called him fat and chubby. The truth is we could all stand to loose a little weight however we don't need to name call others. My neighbor said that when she looked over one of the boys pushed him in the head, she was just about to go say something, but then it stopped as I came out to see how he was doing. I guess they chased him around before the head pushing. Hunter thought they were playing with him. He doesn't really get it when kids are teasing him verses when they are playing with him. Sometimes I think this is a good thing, because then his feelings aren't hurt over and over, but on the other hand it makes him a target for bullies. He doesn't stand up for himself, because he doesn't get that he should. When I asked him if they were being mean, he said no and they were just playing and they told him that when he said "we're playing right?" I have a really hard time with this....as a mother I want to protect him for anything harmful, keep him home so no one can ever hurt his feelings. I think we're going to start him in karate so that if ever did come down to someone trying to hurt him he could defend himself if mom isn't there to kick some butt!!! LOL Plus as a bonus karate is good for flexibility, conditioning and stability, all things were working on it OT and PT.

Weekend Adventure

We had such a wonderful weekend! We took an adventure to the Renaissance Festival. I have never been there before and was more excited then a kid in a candy shop! I thought I was going to burst from excitement! We had so much fun! My favorite part was the jousting. It was so cool! The kids had a blast looking at all the shops and playing some games. We tried a bunch of different food. Hunter's favorite was his chocolate dipped frozen bananna. I have to admit it was really good! I sure hope that this is going to be an annual event that we attend!!

Here we go...

Well here we go....I've never blogged before. This is a new adventure for me in this crazy thing I call life. I titled my blog "Our Journey" because that's what our life has been, a journey. We've had our ups and downs, our struggles and our achievements. Life is always been a journey and will continue to be one. I want to tell our story about our son, Hunter. I want to raise awareness on the condition he has and how we have come to find out what it is, how to deal with it and how to keep "Our Journey" alive. If I can help one person in this lifetime to understand what their child might be going through then I'd say this journey has been a success. You never know what may come of this.... Maybe I'm on to something or maybe I'm providing entertainment for others. Either way I'll be satisfied with the outcome.
I'm not the best writer, I tend to type as the the thoughts are going through my head as if we were speaking face to face or over the phone. I tend to jump all over the place with random thoughts and ideas. I'm ok with this..It all makes sense to me in the long run. LOL
Well here goes nothing and everything all at the same time!