Finished HBOT

Well we finished up our last session of hbot for a little while. We completed only 30 sessions this time around. I felt I saw a lot of gains with it at around 10-15 sessions but don't feel I saw anything since so I decided to take a little break and then maybe try it again. It takes up a lot of our time bc the center is a 45 minute drive and then we are usually there for about 1.5 hours and then we have our drive home. I am looking forward to this week where we can spend our mornings working on RDI. I have been using RDI theory and lots of guided participation but not as much as I would like. I am glad we did HBOT. I definitly think it has helped little G. He amazes me everyday. He won the hearts of many people at the hbot center. He made a good friend with one lady inparticular. Her husband was having treatments and when Gregory got out of the "tubey" he would run out to the waiting area and sit up in the chair and talk with her. When we left yesterday she said to him, "Gregory it was my pleasure to meet you, you are a special little boy, your smile has been such a gift to me and one day we will see eachother again and I will remember you." She was really sweet to him.
We are so thankful for all of the blessings in our life...

Worms

It has been raining for a couple of days. Finally this morning it stopped and we headed outside. When we opened the garage we found tons of little friends at the edge of the garage and all over the driveway. The kids and I decided to save the worms. We broke twigs off of the tree and scooped up the worms and placed them gently in the grass so they could find their way home. This is really not one of my favorite things but it was a great RDI activity. Gregory had a hard time scooping them up so I was the scooper and her was the placer. He placed them in the grass very gently. It was fun. A lot of emotion sharing. They were a bit wiggly so we laughed a lot!

We finished our 20th hbot session on Friday. Yeah, half way! He is doing so great with it! He loves going and he loves the staff there. His personality is coming out more and more. It is amazing. He is such a sweet sensitive little guy. We were watching a movie in the chamber the other day and in the movie there were puppie snatchers. Gregory started crying when the "mean guys" got the puppies. We love HBOT, it has helped him so much!

Facial Gazing

Most infants are known to love faces. They start by studying their mothers face and then are usually drawn to peoples faces. When Gregory was 6 weeks old I noticed that my face was very overwhelming for him to look at, especially while I was holding him. I would lay in on the floor or put him in his swing and stand across the room to try and engage him. It was extremely hard for me to understand why my son could not look at me. Through floortime and RDI I learned that it wasn't me, it wasn't that he didn't love me, but it was because his sensory system and mostly his vision where not working right for him. I can't imagine what it felt like to be in his little body. He was very tactile defensive (hated being touched) and he would flinch at things coming toward him. I think his convergence speed was very slow. Slowly we worked on all of these things. We found an exceptional OT who helped us work on integrating his senses through brushing, swinging, excercises to build his strength... All systems were worked. It has made so much difference for him. The change in this boy is amazing. BUT, I still have been concerned about his ability to gaze at another persons face with ease. It still seemed awkward. He would look but then quickly look away. Maybe it was too overwhelming to sustain the gaze. He got his information (the reason for looking) and left quickly. Well over the past week things have been changing. Day by day I see this ability to sustain the gaze longer. He can shift his gaze more quickly from one thing to another, to another persons face and then back to mine. Seems as though his processing is speeding up. The only thing we are doing right now is HBOT. This is more then just subtle. A lot of people have noticed it. A girl who comes and plays with Gregory on Monday afternoons mentioned it to me today. She works at a school for children with autism. She had said in the past that his facial gazing or eye contact, as some call it was not as great as she would like to see it. Today she said he was referencing her so much and really able to gaze at her face so much easier. His whole sensory system is changing. Since we started our second series of HBOT he is so much more affectionate. He gives big hugs all of the time and actually finally lets his sisters hug him. It seems like his body feels better and he is able to let his sweet little personality shine. I have always refered to him as the grouch. But lately he is so happy. We were at church on Sunday and he smiled at everyone. Usually he would hide his head on my arm but not this week. A man at church said, he is such a smiley happy boy, he responds to everyone with big smiles. He asked me if he is always so happy? I said, yes, well lately he has been. This was not our regular church so he did not know Gregory's history. We are kinda past that now, I think. I don't feel like I have to explain his history anymore. In the past when he would not look at someone or respond to them I felt the need to explain what we were going through. I don't feel the need these days. Gregory can usually hold his own. Sure he has his bad days but that is not our norm anymore. I have to thank God first for guiding us on this journey. For leading us to all of the right people that were able to give me the information I needed to help my son. Gregory is headed in the right direction. His development continues at age level and I pray that he will stay on this path and he will continue to flash that amazing smile at everyone he sees!
My favorite conversation we had today:

Gregory~ Mommy can you open this for me (a little bag of candy corn)

Me~ Sure sweetie. Then I gave it to him

Gregory~ Thank you Mommy.

Gregory~ I love you so much.

Me~I love you too baby boy.

Gregory~ Mommy do you have work today?

Me~ Yes, I have to leave soon.

Gregory~ Will you come right back after you see your patients?

Me~ of course!

I Love this boy!!!!!!!!!

Well here we are. Gregory and I getting into our "tubey"(that is what he calls it). We are seeing it again. More good changes in him. The last time we did hbot we noticed changes in his overall attitude. He seemed happier and more engaged. His sensory system seemed to be working for him better. When I talked to our DAN! doc he mentioned trying hbot again to try and resolve his sensory issues. We are thinking about doing detox (chelation) too, but will take it one step at a time. Today we were at church and the minister invited us to the alter for prayer. A few people went up and then Gregory said to me, "Mommy can we go pray?" I said, absolutely baby boy. We went and prayed together. We have so many things and people to pray for. I follow a lot of other blogs with precious children who are struggling every day. Their parents by their sides day in and day out. Doing everything they can for their children. I am on my knees everyday praying for these little ones.

Gregorys Halloween parade at school

My little firefighter. Gregory had his heart set on being a firefighter for halloween. I searched high and low for this costume. They were all out in the stores so luckily we had enough time to order this one from online. He was so funny. He was trying so hard to hold back his smile.