Well, of course tons of sensory breaks. Also, we do sensory things DURING lessons. Yesterday, for example, our oldest was sitting at his desk (his choice of seats yesterday) with a pillow under his bum, one behind his back, his feet on a stool so his legs were exactly how he wanted them, a chewy P in his mouth, a weighted pencil for handwriting, moving to a beat. And it worked. It's not the most sensory he's been during a lesson so we have all their sensory tools in the room and they have access to them all through school. We have weighted blankets, chewys, whistles, theraputty, weighted vests, the list goes on. We also do a lot of sensory learning. We run while doing oral things, we hop while reading books, the list goes on. It looks like a mad house if you have a child with no issues. But his learning has increased since we started doing it. It works for him. Hope you get some great help as you learn more about what he's got going on. Sorry it seems overwhelming. For what it's worth, I have a self declared vegetarian in our home as well. Add in his new found allergies and life is interesting. But, I figure he's VERY healthy.

Days like yesterday are the type that make you wonder if you are doing the best thing for your child. But, days like today are the ones that scream "YES, yes you are!" DS #1 has speech on about a 24 - 30 month old level. He's a little over 6 years old with Autism. In January he came to me and asked me questions about God, Heaven, Christ, etc. He knew the answers to the questions he asked. He wanted to become a Christian. We talked with him long and hard and he knew what he wanted and what it meant, so we helped him. Today he walked in, out of the blue, stood in the middle of the livingroom and gave me a sermon that would rival any pastor. He spoke about the creation of the world, what we have done as sinners, coming to Christ, told us we needed to "all cry out in Jesus name" (have no clue where that came from), went on about how we love you God for creating our world, for loving us, how he loves that he has a relationship with God... and it went on for 5 minutes. It was totally clear speech. It was long. It had such emphasis and power in his tone and character. It was like he was 40 years old on a Sunday behind a pulpit with no Autism in sight. Yes, tears flowed. Sure, the message was actually incredible, but who the message was coming from is what made this Mommy cry. Today was a good day.

Could the call be BECAUSE you requested your records? They realized, "uh oh, we messed up and she's leaving, quick let's help her"? Or was it truly just bad timing? 2 months is way too long. It just is. If you don't want to burn bridges, you could just chat with them and tell them even though you are leaving their group because you feel it's just not a great fit at this time, you would love to keep them in your file if things change down the road. I have used that one many times and always had a very nice response to it and no funky awkward moments when I saw these people later on.

Unless she needs a lot of support, what about a moccasin type shoe? My younger son just started being able to handle a shoe on his foot. Until just a few months ago we put him in Robeez shoes (thankfully they now make larger sizes and he has a small foot) and then a moccasin.

Yes! Hehehe, sorry, but both. I think most of his not following directions is due to his ADHD tendencies he has with his ASD. He also can read a simple sentence and not only not tell you what it just said ("Mat sat on the cat" or even just "Mat sat"), but he doesn't even remember what the words said (would have to immediately sound out the words again) and can't tell you what it means (unless there's a picture of Mat sitting, then he might figure it out but probably not because he doesn't remember what it said).

I second covering the other problems/areas on the sheet. Our son had the same issue, still does. He has even started covering things that distract him. And MUS is really great. You don't have to use the book to get a ton of benefit from the blocks.

YES! Comprehension seems to be huge for our son as well.

Our current SLP wrote back. I emailed her since she works for a center and they aren't great at passing on messages (you should see the note they wrote to our doctor, put it on the desk, and 10 days later I had an appointment and the note was still there). She said she had experience setting up home programs and would look into how she could do it through the center (less problems with insurance and I wouldn't have to pay up front and wait for reimbursement). She's going to get back with me and then we will go over the details to see if what she has in mind is what we are interested in.

We have two with Autism and homeschool. We put our oldest in school and now know it was the worst place for him. Homeschool works so much better for him and his Autism (and it works great for our younger son). We can help him socially more than the school did (they didn't encourage, set up, or create social settings for him). We go to church, friends houses, the store, the library, to see family, and so on. He has a LOT of social training. As for curriculum, this isn't a one size fits all. I thought My Father's World would work great for our older son. It was a terrible fit. It's perfect for our younger son, however. Abeka works great for our older son. I understand needing the break. My husband is my respite at this time. He gives me time to just get out and be alone or to do things within the house alone. She can do it, if she desires. It's very doable. I hope she will come here so we can give her more specific information based on her specific needs.

Don't have a lot of time right now, but the singing might be a great benefit to you with regards to speech. SLP's like to use these small things to their advantage. Goodness, they used our younger son's love of picnics to help with his feeding therapy.

We have done this with doctors and therapists. I get their entire chart (remember, you are the legal owner of it, they are merely the custodian - if they give you issues with getting it) and walk. We did it with our last pediatrician and it was the best move ever. We did it with two therapy centers that ignored our children in a very twisted way. It was the best thing we ever did.

You just hijack away! I will be watching as well.

Thanks all. I am making calls this week to our current therapists (figured that's the logical place to start since they already know the boys needs and deficiencies). If they aren't willing to help us, then I will start looking at other therapists.

We travel at least twice a week for therapies. That's 5 hours drive time, plus all the time between therapies waiting, it's hard. It's an all day thing. We leave at 7am, don't get home until 4 or 5pm depending on what we have that day. I didn't think about having a therapist just oversee us. Great idea. I am going to talk to our existing therapists and see if they would be willing to do that. If not, I will check around with some other therapy centers in that area.

Do any of you do your own therapy at home? I don't mean someone come to your home, I am speaking of doing it yourself. We live in a very tiny town (280 people). The closest therapists are over 2 hours away each direction. It's just nearly impossible to manage that schedule with the boys (both need multiple therapies). It is beyond hard and they are starting to wear out. I have talked to our insurance company and they are pretty sure they can pay for training and supplies for me since this is not working and the drive is so hard on the kids (not to mention the cost of gas, having to deal with special foods, and so on). I am trying to figure out everything we need (we have NO one out here that does therapy for kids like we have) because it seems we live in the land of "what is Autism" and "special needs? Definition please". Sigh. Moving isn't an option, not at all. So we have to make this work. Does anyone do even just one therapy at home that might provide some advice?

I know, for us, a lot of the comments are tied to homeschooling. 1) They think we homeschool BECAUSE our kids have special needs - no, we wanted to homeschool before we even had kids. We discussed it before we even got married. 2) They think we are just homeschooling to get them up to speed with their peers then we will put them in "real" school. Once we fix their special needs, they can go because we caught them up.

I wanted to take just a second to introduce myself. I was referred to you guys by one of your members and this looks like the perfect place for us. I am married to a great guy for a bit over 10 years, we have two sons, and we homeschool. Both of our sons have special needs. DS #1 - Autism, hypotonia, few food allergies, ADHD, something with his legs we are still working on the diagnosis and treatment for, and possibly a learning disorder (our thoughts are dyslexia, but we are going to test soon). DS #2 - Autism, hypotonia, MANY food allergies, many topical enivronmental allergies, something else is there, but we aren't sure what yet. Poor buddy. Needless to say, our days are quite interesting, but never boring.