summertime

I haven't had much time to blog since school let out for the summer. 3 kids keep you very busy, to say the least.

I don't really have a lot to report with Holden. He's doing well, although now it's very slow, steady gains. As compared to big "wows" we were seeing. I'm not sure which is better honestly. The big "wows" tend to take you aback a little more, just because maybe you aren't expecting it. But, the slow, steady gains make me believe that he's just continuing to learn and progress on more of a regular basis. Make sense? Well, if not, it is early this morning and I have had only 1 cup of coffee so far.

He has been attending the ESY summer program through the public school. He goes M-Th, from 8-noon. They aren't teaching any new skills. Only focusing on maintenence and making sure he's retaining all he learned and mastered throughout last school year. Well, I decided the last couple of days of school to call our insurance company to find out if it covered any ABA therapy at all because I wanted to supplement the summer school program with additional therapy. And let me tell you, it has turned into a major shocker! Seems that our insurance falls under "Texas mandates", instead of federal mandates. Which, apparently, is GREAT. Over the past few weeks, I've found out that Holden will be able to attend a wonderful ABA clinic FIVE days per week, from 9am - 4pm!! And, our cost? We pay a one-time $50.00 copay. Insurance picks up the remaining amount. Crazy, I know. I wasn't expecting it, at all. So, I'm going to remove him from the public school summer ESY and put him into the clinic fulltime. I'll re-evaluate in a month and a half to see how he's doing there before I decide if I'm going to keep him in the clinic or put him back in his classroom. I love his school and it's a great program, but, we only have 2 years until he HAS to be enrolled in school in the state of Texas and I'm very hopeful that if we're aggressive enough, he can enter in a regular/mainstream classroom with the help of an Aide. So, I will keep you posted on how he does at the clinic. His start date is July 8th.

We are still chelating. Once a week, using EDTA + DMSA. Last week, I only did the EDTA because he seemed restless and didn't want to push it. He ended up sick for 2 days after chelation night. Not sure if it was because of chelation or just a virus he picked up somewhere. I've heard of some kids getting sick after chelation because of the redistribution of the toxins. I gave him charcoal last week, twice, and it seemed to help a little.

Well, looks like the little chickens are up for the day, so more later!

Here's a few pictures of our summer "adventures" so far (in HOT AS HECK TEXAS)