The light at the end of the tunnel

We are finally experiencing 'the calm' after having a storm for 2 years. Adrian's schedule has been anything but routine and yet Liam's world is not disrupted by this anymore. Adrian can get Liam off the bus and he's greeted with a smile. Liam can walk in the house and things are not the way he left them and not get hung up on something changing in the environment. We have faded his reinforcements so that now his desired behaviors are natural and do not need as many reinforcements anymore. I believe we have found our balance and we can only grow from here. I still continue to seek out all the ABA workshops and books that I can so I can keep us on track. We did try ABA Services in the home over the last 4 months but it turns out that it was a year too late. We pretty much handled the severe maladaptive behaviors and the Self Injurious Behaviors on our own and by the time Insurance approved Services for us, it wasn't very beneficial to us. I just never thought that Liam or I had learned anything from those Services.

Here's some examples of how life has changed for us...
We started out having dinosaur cut PB&J sandwiches waiting on his table after school. Then I had them already made but waiting in the kitchen. Next I waited until he got home to make them, so he had to wait a little bit. Finally I can give him two choices of a snack after school and he doesn't have them until an hour after he's home.

We started out having 'fits' for 4 hours because Daddy was home before Liam came home off the bus. Now Daddy can go get him off the bus and Liam welcomes the surprise of Daddy being home.

We started out not being able to have Gwyn come with me to get him off the bus, or she couldn't be hanging in the living room when he got home. Gwyn had to be away from Liam for at least an hour after he came home. Now he is happy to see Gwyn and tell her about his day.

We still have some things to work on but his Self Injurious Behaviors have diminished. We still have maladaptive behaviors when something is spur of the moment or when I am not in the frame of mind to have reinforcements or social stories ready for him, but they have greatly decreased. We went out after school to McDonald's and ate it at the park and he was the happiest child and he felt special for being able to do something like this, instead of having a 'fit' and crying all the way until we all went home full of anxiety and regret for even trying to do something so out of routine. It really touches my
heart when we can experience something so little to many people but it's huge to us, we waited 4 years to be able to have McDonald's in the Park and have him run around without a care in the world.

Liam has now discovered how to live in the moment. (to some extent) and not get carried away by anxieties and emotions.

Liam's full diagnoses as of May 2011:

• PDD-NOS, r/o Asperger's Syndrome

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Anxiety Disorder