Part I of Our Autism StoryJosiah started developmental and speech therapy the first week of June 2006. First Steps is wonderful because they come to the home and step into the child’s environment and work with them that way. I just love First Steps and had such a positive experience with the program.
Josiah was 6 weeks away from turning 2 at the start of therapy, but speech wise he was on the save level as a 12 month old. So the speech therapist, Cindy Addie, had her work cut out for her. She started doing sign language with Josiah and using simple “contagious” words. He really caught on to the sign language. It was amazing to see him signing all different things. A few weeks into speech therapy, he was still not talking but he was signing like crazy! At this time Cindy told me that Josiah probably would need an occupational evaluation. Children who have sensory issues usually end up needing occupational therapy, so this was the next step!
On his 2nd birthday, July 19, he was evaluated for occupational therapy and he started with a therapist, Babbie Easter, the first week of August. The neat thing that happened with therapy was that speech and occupational came together for one hour a week to work with him. These women simply amazed me with everything they do.
I have to take a time out and give God praise. Keep in mind we just moved one hour away to the west side of Indianapolis. We really didn’t know why God lead us here, but we knew without a doubt this is where he wanted us. I believe that God went before us and paved a way for our family. We learned early on that therapists, especially speech and occupational were very hard to come by in central Indiana. If we still lived where we were Josiah wouldn’t have been able to have speech or occupational therapy. Not only did we get the therapist, but they are the best in the business and we had many people tell us just that. I am so thankful that God takes care of us even when we don’t realize it at the time.
There were many exercises that we did with Josiah on a daily basis. There was a lot of massaging, brush therapy (using a therapy brush to stimulate nerves) and many other occupational exercises. It was very time consuming, but we noticed a difference in him if we didn’t do them.
The one thing I did do was include the oldest two during these times. This is something that I didn't have to think to hard about. A special needs child is very time consuming, but I think it is very important to not make other children in the family feel left out. I didn't want Isaac and John in any way to resent Josiah because of something I could of advoided early on. They were still go young and didn't fully understand why Josiah was needing so much attention. It was during this time that I had to completely put any needs and wants that I had to the side. I used absolutely all of my energy to focus on my boys and getting Josiah the help that he needed. I researched Sensory Integration Disorder nonstop. Everything we did was based around Josiah’s sensory needs and we still were not leaving the house a lot. I tried to not do anything that could cause any of us a lot of stress. It was something that I avoided at all cost during this time.
Even though Josiah was getting 2 hours of therapy a week with 3 different therapists, his speech was still not increasing at the speed we thought it should. At the end of September I asked Babbie and Cindy what else I could be doing. As a mother I wanted to be doing everything that I was humanly capable of. I knew the window of opportunity would be fading the older he got, so I wanted to do as much as possible right then and there.
