The I.E.P. Has Arrived!!!

Jo Jo's first I.E.P. arrived today!!! A copy for us and a copy to sign and return. I was able to read it over today and so far I am very pleased. I still need to read it over with the hubby, but I'm pretty sure he will be happy with it too. Everything that we talked about with the school is in it. Everything is covered.

I plan to turn everything in on Monday! I still have to complete his enrollment paperwork and make copies for proof of residency and pick up a medical form from his doctor, but we are so excited for February 10th!!! First day of school for Jo Jo is coming up so fast!!!

Until the first day of school we are trying to cram in as much ABA Therapy as we can. Which Jo Jo is tolerating very well so I am happy he is able to handle the extra load of work. Which means school should not be to stressful for him because if he can handle 6 hours of ABA a day then he can 2 1/2 hours of preschool.

I also got some amazing news today! I know someone who work's at South Shore Therapies and they work with a lot of children with Autism. They wanted to run our insurance and see if we are able to get therapy through there office so Jo Jo can get something extra besides school. Well we are lucky because the insurance is going to cover Jo Jo!!! We have to go through a step by step process first before we can start. First we have to have a phone intake interview which I am doing tomorrow! Then we have to schedule a Evaluation at there office, and after that we will have to get a referral from our pediatrician. Then once we have the referral we can start therapy. They offer several kinds of therapy such as Speech, Occupational Therapy, Sensory, and more. This will probably be a once a week type of thing but it's only 10 minutes from my house and we will have a copay every week. This news has made me so happy because I have been so bummed about all of our home services ending and not being able to continue ABA so this was news we really needed!

Jo Jo will be 3 in two Week's!

Can't believe my little man will be 3 in two week's from today! So many thing's will be changing, no more play group, no more ABA at home, no more speech, and no more visit's from our Developmental Specialist. But he will be starting school which I already know he is going to love it! We have started our enrollment paperwork and we are still waiting for the official IEP to sign.

The past two week's have been very long, Jo Jo dislocated his elbow, then we all got the stomach bug that took day's to get rid of. Jo Jo has been very cranky with ABA and becoming very picky. I am hoping it is just him still recouping from being sick. But he really has become extremely stubborn and starting to become very set in his ways and if it is not his way he has a tantrum or just cry's. I sure hope it is just a stage or something.

I am looking forward to all the changes! Kinda tired of our crazy schedule and always being home in the house because most of our services are at home. Having a regular schedule will make thing's so much easier for everyone. I really hope that when Jo Jo start's school it will make my morning's at home with Caylee getting her ready much more easy going. She hate's getting ready for school but once she is there she is happy. So hopefully her seeing Jo Jo getting ready every morning she will be more motivated.

Half way through January!!!

I honestly can not wait for January to be over! The rest of the month has filled in with ABA and meeting's. I am looking forward for Jo Jo to start school and have a more smooth schedule. Monday morning we had speech Therapy and our Service Coordinator was over for our 6 month review and to sign more paperwork. Today we had ABA therapy for 3 hour's, then play group in Brockton for 1 1/2 hour's, and we were supposed to meet with our Service Coordinator and ABA Coordinator to sign the consent to add 6 more hour's of ABA to our schedule. The meeting got cancelled after already waiting for 20 minutes with a very uncooperative little boy! Tomorrow we have 6 hour's of ABA therapy, 3 hour's on Thursday, and 3 hour's on Friday. I'm exhausted! Oh almost forgot also on Friday is our first IEP Meeting with everyone!!!

I also have bad new's which I am so bummed out about because I feel it is working for him, We will no longer be receiving ABA Therapy after Jo Jo turn's 3. Our insurance plan does not cover ABA Therapy after he turn's 3. Although we can request it at our IEP meeting. I hope they will help us with the ABA Therapy.

30 Days and Jo Jo will be 3!!!

Hard to believe that those little toes will be 3! In this picture Jo Jo is enjoying sitting in his basket of book's reading all the page number's from his favorite book's. I find it adorable, funny and cute when I glance over and just see the feet sticking up. Also in this picture is his favorite blanket, it goes everywhere with him, he also like's to chew on the corner of his blanket and make's it all wet and soggy and not to mention disgusting. I have tried to get him to stop chewing on it but he keep's doing it. So I just wash it once a week and the corner is getting frayed but he is happy with his blanket so I have stopped fighting with him over the chewing. I just hope it will be something he will grow out of.

We had three hour's of ABA yesterday and Jo Jo seemed to have a really hard time tolerating the work. He didn't want to clean up when it was time, and had a hard time following commands. But we also had someone training with out Therapist so at the same time it could have been because of the new face in the house. He had almost two week's without ABA so we are all readjusting to our schedule.

One thing I would really like to share, and that is how amazing the Rockland Preschool has been!!! I am overly impressed! They have not missed a beat!!! Before Christmas they observed Jo Jo during his session with the developmental specialist and we had our evaluation at the school, and this week there were three therapist who drove all the way to Jo Jo's play group and observed him during group, and just yesterday his actual teacher came to our house and observed during his ABA session. Next week is our big meeting at the school for his Evaluation/IEP hearing and they requested that Early intervention and Beacon ABA be there. I can't stop bragging about them. They have never been late and have never rescheduled anything. I have heard so many horror stories and this experience has made me realize how lucky we are to be living in Rockland Massachusetts!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time is Everything at the Moment

There is just never enough time in the day!

Hope Everyone had a amazing Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!! Jo Jo enjoyed Christmas, he was really happy with the first thing he opened and could have cared less about opening any other gifts. Caylee opened everything else LOL! We spent the day with family and Jo Jo just ran around my sister's house playing with toys and trying to sit on the dog's. He didn't eat much but I'm pretty sure that was due to all the excitement and visitor's.

Only 5 Weeks till Jo Jo will turn 3 and Early Intervention ends. I'm having a hard time getting past that idea. I just love Early Intervention! The service's have been amazing and we have been very lucky and blessed to have them come into our lives and teach us so much! They have been amazing with Jo Jo and scheduling was always flexible. I just can't say enough about BAMSI!

Things have been quiet at our house around the holidays, Jo Jo's play group was cancelled last week, and we didn't have much ABA therapy due to weather, holidays, and everyone has been getting sick. We did have our developmental specialist so he did get some therapy. We also received some good new's that our ABA Therapy is going from 9 hours a week to 15 hour's a week. 4 days instead of 2 days a week. Then after he turn's 3 and if our insurance will cover ABA, he will continue with 12 hours a week. So much to remember!!!

Lately Jo Jo has been making a lot of changes, most of them are good, some thing's are driving me crazy lol! But mostly he is talking so much! He is mimicking almost everything he is watching. He is picking up on sign language. He is trying to put words together and complete phrases or sentences. He still loves counting and can count to 31 now.

Some of the thing's he is doing that I am not so happy about is his lack of fear for height's! He has been jumping off of thing's, he is climbing on top of his little table and jumping off, then I caught him jumping off one of our kitchen stool's which is like a foot higher than his little table. He is such a boy!!!

But most of all he has been covering his eye's a lot lately, even hiding behind a chair curled up in a ball with his eyes shut tight and hands over them. I wish I knew what was bothering him. I can only assume that is a sensory processing issue and he is over stimulated. There have been commercials that he has been hiding his face too when they come on. I used to be able to take his hands and say hands down and he would follow but now he is fighting me with the hands down. He get's upset and try's to keep his hands up if not he won't open his eye's. It started as a once in a wile thing now it has progressed to several times a day. Anyway hopefully when we have ABA this upcoming week we can talk about it and work on it.

Here is to the next 5 weeks!!!!!