The appointment with the Vanderbilt doctor was really just a starting point for us to have our neurology appointment to rule out seizures (which none of these appointments that are in the future are set yet), a GI specialist to see if there is anything we can find out in regards to her food sensitivities and her digestive issues and a sleep specialist. We weighed and measured Bay and she is 31% in height and 50% in weight. Nicely on the charts. At least I do not have to worry over one child in this category! Our "new/other"doctor did not think Baylor is having seizures but she is willing to let us rule it out. As for the sleep doctor, we are not sure if there is some magic sleep potion but if we find out there is we will let you in on it. A beautiful thing she said was that our kids had immaculate behavior (God blessed us in this tiny room and they handled it beautifully) and she loved how Baylor had such inflection in her tone of voice and she sees a lot of potential for her speech. It was really nice to hear her say she had good feelings for the future. Sometimes it is really hard not to see that future. We have faith, we trust God but our flesh really wants to see it happen already! Just to let you know about my quotations on the doctor we just saw, we decided it would be good to cover all our bases and have a typical doctor look at Baylor just so we do not miss anything. Baylor's amazing doctor will not be replaced at all, we really just wanted the foot in the door on what all Vandy has to offer. Stephen and I only believe in Rx when really necessary as does Bay's doctor. Typical doctors will basically throw the stuff at you. We are much more conservative in this department than regular doctors. Having one foot in at Vanderbilt will give us access to other options for Baylor's benefit.
One of these neat Vanderbilt treats is a series they do every month with rotating topics on things that are difficult in raising a child on the spectrum. They hold a 3 hour seminar with handouts and PowerPoint, all the while watching our kids downstairs in a building on Vandy's campus. Last weekend we went to a seminar on Rapid Method Toilet Training. So we have visuals for Baylor, awesome notes, and a psychologist's email that loves to help potty train kids. Sweet. I will pocket that for when I am ready to tackle this. In a few weeks we will work on behaviors for the grocery store and restaurants. This stuff is great. If you have never potty trained anyone, just so you know, it sucks. Ainsley was great and it was still a no fun experience for me. Baylor is a stubborn little girl and I just do not know when we will both agree on when this should happen! Luckily, I had the conversation with Baylor's ABA, Carrie, and she thinks once we get some of her behaviors better controlled, it will be much easier on everyone involved. Whew. I am so not ready for that yet! Stephen was all, "Yeah, I think she could do it now." Sure, she knows what is going on but behavior wise.....no thanks. Not yet!
Speaking of Carrie, she is our BCBA certified therapist. What a God-send. She is top-notch qualified for behavior training and she works with the program Bay is in through the state until she is 3. Most therapists will not bother with the program because they do not pay like private pay. Carrie has more heart than 98% of the therapists that specialize in behavior in Middle-TN. Almost no one will work with us because the system does not pay well. What an amazing person to do her job in the first place. Anyway, she came last week and after an hour or so told me some more good news. Of all 20 kids she sees (her and other therapists under her) Baylor is the ONLY one who does imaginary play. What she said was ASD kids are so black and white, very concrete, and they do not play pretend because they see no point to it. They only ever mimic the play and none from their imagination. Baylor is creative with her imagination in how she plays with her dolls and her little Veggie Tales figurines. Not to mention her hands, as she will sit on the other side of the table and climb up and walk her hands over to my plate slowly and then they take my food. So, Baylor will be working on doing what we want and not always what she wants.
Mommy over here has been a real push-over with her for a few reasons. I do not want to stifle her learning (as I believe she sees the world and experiences it differently than most) and since she likes to ignore what I say some, I do not know if she listened to what I said! When a child does not really communicate, it is hard to know all the time what to do. I can not put her in time-out and I refuse to spank her for everything that is not spank-worthy. Here comes ABA to the rescue. They are going to get me in better parenting shape for Bay! Man, I bet this is going to suck a little for a lot of happy in the long run. Praise God! We are incredibly blessed!!!!
I will update sooner than later as we are preparing to walk with Autism Speaks to not only raise awareness, but money to help in research. I can promise you, you will know more than just Baylor who is on the spectrum and this goes to help everyone understand more to help Our Kids.
Please visit our site and if you only have a few dollars to donate, we would love your support. www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/tennessee/baylorsfamily.
Also, if you would like to join the team to walk with us in Nashville on September 8, sign up on our page and we will make whatever arrangements you need!
Thank you for your love, prayers and support.
Blessings,
Team Baylor
