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This is Gabe when he was 7 months old. He didn't mind sitting on Santa's lap, because his coat felt really neat. I don't think Gabe ever "looked" at Santa, maybe that's why he seemed OK with it. Our Santa looked like a 3 pack a day Santa. "Ho, Ho *cough* *wheeze* Ho!"
...Happy Holidays to Everyone! I appreciate how incredibly supportive of myself and Gabe you all have been. These past months I couldn't have gotten through without your encouragement. Best to all in the new year.
2006- What's in store...
We have managed to find outside funding for Gabe's schooling for only one semester, after that, we spend our retirement. He will continue through the same school, but a different program. Through this program, he will be working with two therapists for three hours a day for an entire semester. They will focus on his speech, life skills, generalization, motor, play and group activities such as games, crafts, circle time, using ABA. I will be implementing at home following the ABA therapy that I was trained in through their other program. I can not begin to explain the shear joy of having this opportunity. I am even more thankful after catching a glimpse of more things about about Gabe that have gone unnoticed until this holiday. The Big "A" was out and taking no survivors.
Sometimes it takes new places to really "see" Gabe. His eye contact with people outside our family, requesting things with other people and social abilities all come into perspective outside our realm as a family unit. We watched as we implemented opportunities for generalization and they failed over and over. Am I being too hard on him? Was it a crazy time? Yes and No. Did I give him slack? You bet. But all that we gained had seemed to be replaced with stimming, no eye contact, absent two word requests, gibberish, not eating food unless fed, Is this what it is going to be like outside of our "norm"? How do you generalize when you've "lost" the ability to reach the person? He was gone. Too much noise? Nope. Too many people? Maybe-8 people. It was a slap in the face of reality. I needed it. I had written about Gabe's diagnosis in our Christmas letter to all our family members (except mine, a whole another blog) and I think that helped. He no longer was aloof and ignoring people, he had a reason for his behavior. It eased the expectations.
This Program/School for Gabe is about $9,000 every 3 months (per semester). That's about $36,000 a year. I don't think my college tuition per year cost that much and I went to a state university. I can't go back to work to pay for it, because he has to be picked up around noon everyday and we live about an hour away. I did check back in on the Early On Program offered through the State and school district-No ABA, No RDI, No Floortime, No Kauffman Cards, NOTHING even remotely associated with Autism and its therapies and practices. He would have gone for 3 hours a week, with only a 1/2 hour speech per week for someone who has almost a two year deficit in language. Gabe would be going through the motions of what a preschool setting would entail. My son can barely speak, barely feed himself, and they want to socialize him. I am at a loss for words....
Ooops.....Gotta go....SD has 40 Year Old Virgin in Queue ...I need a good laugh. Take Care!
