"Stryders Journey"

I got a call the other day asking if they can get a photo shoot for Stryder for the community calendar. I am really excited for him. I hope that he will be able to look back on this an see that he did something great, especially because he will have a lot of trials in his life.

His SLP said that we need to get more therapy for him, at least 4 more days per week. We found out today that our insurance will cover 120 visits if it is a developmental delay (which it is) so that was great news. It wasn't covered with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

He has an infection still and we don't get insurance for another month and not a paycheck until the 8th. We thought it was getting better but then today it was worse again. We are trying to see how we can get him to the doctor and pay later. If nothing else, the ER will have to do.





These pictures were taken the first day of school on September 14- I thought he was adorable! My mom took some yesterday of him sitting on a saddle with a cowboy hat. He wouldn't smile at all, but still looks so cute. I will have to get those and post them when she edits them.

Let me start by saying that my keybo0ard keeps typing in letters random0ly, so I apologize in advance. Not sure why it's doing it though but every time I type the letter "o" it types ano0ther in capital and will even stick until I type a new letter.

Stryder has started preschool, but he has no0t do0ne the evaluatio0n yet, so0 he can't ride the bus. He has that o0n October 15 so until then, I have to0 take him and stay in two0n until he is out because it's so far away. The teachers love him and say they want to 0take him hom0e with them. The SLP, Miss Mo is wonderful! She is really pushing fo0r us to0 learn ASL and feels that because he is so smart it's not goi0ng to be long before he starts getting frustrated. My mo0m and I are able to take two classes at the scho0o0l my daughter goes to0. so0 every Wednesday we are in school from0 8 AM until almost 11 learning sign language. I don't know0 ho0w I will ever remember everything, but I'm trying. Miss Mo is very impressed that he know0s ho0w to count and kno0ws all his co0lors. She said she started his testing fo0r speech and he is pretty severe, which we knew. He o0nly was able to say o0ne wo0rd with an ending co0nsonant: Brush, he said bus, but was not0 able to0 repeat it. If we work o0n it for a long perio0d, saying it o0ver and over, he can say dah ssshhhhh. So0 it's there almo0st. We are now at a cro0ss roads because he needs to0 learn how to0 read and write so0o0n and we (and everyo0ne is spending so0 much time with speech and no o0ne even kno0ws if he will ever be able to 0talk, what do we do? Just do0 signing and spelling with hands and let the therapists do0 the speech or what. Miss Mo thinks we need to0 mo0ve o0n, but no0t give up. I try not to0 be sad abou0t it, he really is happy.

Lately we have no0ticed that his feet and legs are not0 "right" - it's as if he is walking and has braces. I have known that he has lo0w muscle to0ne in his wrists and ankles, fingers and toe0s, but it's getting pretty bad. He can't walk withou0t bending his ankle. We went to0 find him so0me boo0ts to0 help suppo0rt his ankles until we can get insurance and go to 0the DR and went to0 mor0e than 9 sto0res. ALL thou0ght he was wearing braces the way he walked. I am able to0 take his fo0o0t and with no effort, twist it completely around. We are sure he will need some sort of brace to co0rrect it and make them stro0nger. I hate that he will have struggles that we do0n't have, but as I have said, he is a happy little bo0y and so0o0o0o0 eager to please everyo0ne.

Well, we made it! Stryder is doing great, although he does not want to be anywhere alone, in the house, outside, etc. We have spent the last few days getting information on new services they have here. We went yesterday to an open house at the pre-school program they have. I was very impressed and excited! Usually the children need to be 3 to start, but they are making an exception for Stryder. He will go on Tuesdays from 8:30 until 11 and then when he turns three he will go on Fridays too. They have speech pathologist and Occupational therapists there and the class consists of a 50% mixture of special needs and 50% who are not so they have good examples to look up to. He will be riding the bus, but we will transition into it.

The SLP was WONDERFUL! she gave us a lot of resources that we didn't have in South Carolina and even told us about an ASL class we can take for free. That really means a lot to us because it's the only way Stryder is able to communicate. She also gave us info on the children's hospital and how to get into their program and also will be starting a new class called Toddler Talk; this class will teach us proper ways of speaking to our children who are not able to talk.

I am very excited about the new services and help. Stryder LOVED the place and didn't want to leave so that was a great sign.

We will be starting with the occupational therapy soon. In the meantime, my Gray Haired Friend mailed us the book I wrote about in a previous post- THANK YOU Sharon!!!! This book has so many great tips and things that will help Stryder. He does not take baths without screaming terror and when he brushes his teeth, he gags even with the toothbrush on the outside teeth. The book says to put a weighted vest on him and do a few other things and it will help. Who would have knew that weight makes a difference, but I guess with sensory disorders it really helps. I should have known though, Stryder sleeps with a VERY heavy blanket, even in hot weather. Angie told me that most of us only know about the 5 senses but there are two others that are often haywire in kids with sensory disorders, which is Stryders Issue.

All in All, the move seems to be a good thing. I really miss South Carolina, but our son needs family help and support and it seems that we have a lot of resources that were not available in South Carolina, so I'm excited.

Stryder had his last OT session on Thursday with Angie. She is very sad that she will not see him. She said that we need to hold off on "brushing" him until we get over there because right now there are a lot of other stresses that he will have to seal with right now. She reminded me how important it is to get an OT ASAP when we get there and told be to purchase a book called Tools for Tots as soon as I can. She said that it has a lot of detailed info on some of the "habits" Stryder has and some good ways to deal with them. We won't be able to get it for a while though, this move and the DR bills are eating away at every last dime we have.

We are talking a lot about airplanes and going in one and once we make our final landing in Oregon, we are going to go to McDonalds to let him play before our 3 hour drive. Stryder loves NaNa Naaa as he calls it. We need to give him as much normalcy as possible and give him things that are familiar as much as we can as to not disrupt him and make him more anxious than he will already be.

Tomorrow we are going to go around and take lots of pics of the area, to remember where he spent the first few years of his live. I am going to miss it here too. We also have to go to the store and get some medicine to help relax him, but tell him that it is good medicine and "let him pick it out" so we have a better chance of him taking it. I don't foresee any problems on the airplane, but sith Stryder having Sensory integration Disorder (on top of everything else), we are just not sure what to expect. He is a great kid and will do anything you ask though.

Tonight, we went to Walmart and Stryder started to organize all of the soda packs and this lady was so amazed, stopped and watched him organize. It was rather cute to her, but not so much for us anymore LOL. He walked around saying some conversation, but it was obvious it was something important, we just don't know what.

Stryder has his speech therapy on Monday and then the Early Interventionist will come to see him on Tuesday. I'm really sad that we will not be with Jayme anymore. Stryder loves playing with her and she does so good trying to get him and his mouth to do what it should. She is even often sacrificing her own fingers to hold his tongue down, to no avail LOL.

Things are great with him right now, although he can't shake off his sickness. I hope that he gets rid of it before we leave. Even when our AC went out and it was 96 in the house, Stryder would not take off his shirt and he had to sleep with a thick flannel blanket. We didn't know this was common with kids with SID- they call it a weighted blanket. Kasiah said "Mom, look, his hair is brown!" It was brown because it was wet from sweat. We put a fan right next to him and tried to remove the blanket when we could. We are learning new things all the time, and new ways to help him and us cope, so I'm sure there will be a lot of bumps along the way.

I finally got a video converted. I have a few more that I will be posting too.
Stryder is outside playing. He is so complaint with everything, and will do everything you ask, we are working on giving him his own voice.

Most parents think it would be great to have a child that will listen and do what you ask, but it's not and I feel sad for him. He will do things that are even uncomfortable and not talk back about it. He is unable to make choices for himself, too. One of the 'tests" that Jayme keeps repeating is asking him what he wants and making him choose while playing with things such as play dough.

For example, Stryder said that he wanted green playdough and there were two different greens. Jayme held both asking which he wanted, but he would point to both and say the last thing you say. Jayme wanted to test this by putting her shoe in one hand and asking. Again, he wouldn't choose, pointing to both when it's obvious he would not want to play with. I am going to try to get a video of this but Stryder tends to not want to do anything when he is on camera LOL.

Here is a video of him playing and talking in the front yard. At the end you will see Jayme show up, she is his speech therapist and he loves her- it's going to be hard to leave such a great person, but hopefully we will find another great therapist. It's going to be a lot of work0 I have to get him tested for the preschool program in Oregon and line up all of his therapy there.

Stryder had his first appointment with the occupational therapist and she went over his results. The poor little boy has been stressing about things- We have to take this brush and "brush" him on his arms, legs, back, feet and hands, and then we have to pull and stretch all of his joints ten times each- once every hour. We also have to do strokes inside of his mouth, top and bottom, before he eats and in between each eating. He really hates it, but it will be good for him and when he has an "episode" in the future, we can brush him to calm him. It's all foreign to me, but everything made perfect sense when she was talking about it.

Stryder gags whenever we (or him) try to brush his teeth and he chokes on almost everything that goes into his mouth at some point, although he doesn't swallow it. When he is on your shoulders, he will not hang on, even if you try to make him fall backwards, all of this has to do with sensory integration and balance. It's amazing how it all intertwines, but it makes a lot of sense as to why people assume he has autism, when he doesn't.

Oh and that reminds me. We went to a meeting with the school district to see if he would qualify for the preschool program and the school district manager (Dee) feel in love with him. She said that she foresees him in the program. She even picked him up, hugged and kissed him-although I did find it a little strange, but it just shows how adorable he is. Even Angie (the OT) said she has never seen a two-year old sit so long listening to nothing -Stryder watched her the entire time telling me about his results and the things we will be going through. Mandy (the early interventionist) said that she has never seen Dee hug or pick up any child in the 7 years she has known her and thought it was strange. He just has a bog heart and people want to be a part of his life.

I have some videos of him, I know I keep saying I will put them up, but he has been sick and I haven't had the time to do anything and living on an hour sleep at night. Warren and I try to take turns sleeping on the couch, but since he has to work, I usually take the weeknights unless Stryder has some really rough nights like he has been. I will get the on here as soon as I can. He is so adorable and cute. He is like a magnet to everyone and every animal.

We got our plane tickets and Stryder and I will be flying to Oregon on August 18. My mom is excited and so is Warren's family. There is a big family reunion the last weekend in August, so we will be going to that. I just worry because everyone always wants to pick Stryder up and hug him and he HATES it and can't tell them so. I don't want to over protect, but I don't want to cause more stress for him either.

I will try hard to put the videos(s) on this weekend for ya'll.

Hi everyone, sorry for taking some time off here. We have a lot going on right now. Stryder is doing wonderful. We had another evaluation for Occupational Therapy and the good news is that he qualifies for the therapy, the bad news is that he qualifies for the therapy. :) Angie is her name and she will start soon. She said that things will get much worse before they get better. The first thing she will be doing is brushing hi body. Sounds weird but I guess it's a technique that works with kids like Stryder. She diagnosed him with Sensory Integration Disorder and when I looked it up I was amazed that we never knew that before, although they were trying to get him evaluated for a long time.

We just realized the other day that every word that ends in "y", like bunny, money, funny, crumby, baby, etc, Stryder uses the word mie mie (long e sound). He also does not know how to make decisions. Stryder said he wanted the green playdough when they were playing and Jayme had two shades of green so she asked which one. He kept pointing to both, which we knew he would do with any choice he has to make, but Jayme wanted to put it to a bigger test so she took her show off and asked which one pointing to the shoe and the playdough. Again, Stryder would not choose, knowing full well he wanted the playdough and not the shoe. We are not sure what to make of it. He is so compliant with everything, even if he doesn't want to do something, he will just because someone told him too. Even during the eval, Angie asked him to help take his shirt off so she could see if he had the muscle tone and coordination to do it. He did, but then stood there, panicking, shaking and turning blue from fear, and looking at me as if to say "Help me plase" but he never did tell her to stop or push her, nothing. It's the saddest part of this whole thing: knowing that he cannot/will not express his needs and wants.

I will be posting some videos of him very soon. He's so much fun to watch- In the mean time, we are moving back home to Oregon in a few weeks. We love it here in South Carolina, but we need our family and friends for support. It will be so good for Stryder to be around his cousins who are the same age too. I promise to update here more often and apologize for the long break.