Quote:
Originally Posted by Sun Tzu
Just read through all of this. Any updates?
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Thanks for asking Sun Tzu. I had to re-read the thread to see how much things have changed. He's made tremendous progress in some areas, but even 2 years later, we still have issues with some... mainly potty training. I heard that some kids on the spectrum don't get fully trained until they're 7-9... eek! Each kid is different though. Our son still has issues going #2 and we still have to remind him to go #1.
I was nervous about Kindergarten but he did surprisingly well. He had great support and they slowly integrated him in a typical classroom. He did so well he even got a "Pride Award". 1st grade is going to be different since they focus more on academics. His math skills are way up there. The kid knows multiplication and we don't know how or where he picked it up (see attached pic). There are issues with reading comprehension, though. The kid can read and write, but if we ask him a question about something he read, he doesn't know how to answer. BUT, on the other hand, we recently discovered he made a journal entry. He doesn't tell us what goes on in his noggin so finding this was completely shocking (see pic).
He's getting better at the social aspect, but still would rather do his own thing. It's only when he wants something that he'll seek other kids out. The communication part is much better, not where it should be, but much better than last year. He'll speak in full sentences but sometimes they don't make sense, but he gets his point across.
Before the school year ended we had a meeting with the school panel to discuss plans for 1st grade. The early diagnosis “expired” so they diagnosed him with Autism Disorder with Speech Impairment so he can continue getting the support he needs. I still wonder about the autism diagnosis though. Not because I'm in denial, but he does things that are not typical for a kid on the spectrum. Usually, autistic kids don't understand pretend play or sense of humor... Landon understands both. He'll pretend to pull my cheeks off, run to the bathroom and flush them down the toilet. Or if he doesn't wanna eat something he'll say, “No, eating lettuce is for suckers”. Stuff like that. But then there's the potty training, the hypersensitivity to light/sound, social interaction, and communication that has us thinking it's the right diagnosis.
Anyway, here are things he's done in the past year that make us scratch our heads:
Landon's obsession w/ numbers. He was asked by his kindergarten teacher to decorate his page with lines, stickers, etc. and he wanted to write all numbers:
I come home from being out and I see this on my desk... wtf?
Same page but on the back. Some of these are wrong, but I have no idea how he learned to multiply.
Landon's first journal entry. He won't talk about his thoughts but he's really good about writing them down, lol
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If you're still here, thanks for taking the time to read this tremendously long post.