A wii Victory!

I never thought I'd be so excited over a video game! We've spent a lot of money in the last year on wii games hoping Michael would play them appropriately. Unfortunately, he spends most of his time fussing with the menus, and little time actually playing the game. Today, we introduced him to the Active Life Outdoor Challenge game. He actually played!! He spent well over an hour playing the Whack a Mole and Timber Trail games!!

Now, I know that even with kids on the spectrum, playing video games isn't all that big of a deal. But, if you remember my post a couple days ago, Michael has a LOT of body awareness issues. For him to see the mole, figure out where to stomp, and then stomp the mole before it disappears… it's HUGE!! And, he really likes the game, even though it's challenging for him.

The other game he likes is a timber trail game. You basically run in place and jump over logs that come rolling toward you. Sometimes he finds it more funny to crash into the log than jump over it. But, sometimes he actually wants to get a good score. He's never played a game 'to win' before. So, I'm just extra excited about that.

He's still nervous about new games, and covers his ears a lot at the music. But, I'm still so happy that he found two games to play. There are probably a dozen more that he's afraid to try, but we'll get there!

A good day all around

Have you ever noticed that when your child has a good day, you have a good day? And when he's having a rough time, your whole day just seems to go downhill? Today was definitely a good day. We kept Michael home from school because he was scheduled to get an updated Auditory Processing and OT evaluation this morning. It was so nice to sleep in those few extra minutes and have an unhurried morning!

My husband took Michael to the exam, and I waited (not so) patiently by phone in case they needed my input for anything. The appt was scheduled for 10:00, and by 12:30 I was getting concerned. But, then the phone rang and I started to get a summary. Michael has made amazing progress in several areas: auditory figure/ground, dichotic listening, and even visual motor integration. It's a lot of technical words, and I'm not sure I understand it all, but one thing really stuck out: he had improved his handwriting by more than two years since the last eval one year ago!

Despite all this wonderful progress, Michael still has a long way to go. I've long suspected that he understands almost everything he hears, but it's so nice to have it confirmed! I've also been concerned that even though he does great with reading, he doesn't seem to understand math concepts as well. Spatial awareness and body control also seem to be weaknesses. We talked with the therapists for quite a while about all this and decided to change our focus from auditory comprehension to body awareness. This will mean a mini loop sometime before the end of the year, and trying to get in with a good OT.

I'm excited and overwhelmed at the same time: it's so nice to hear good news, and exciting to pursue a new path, but overwhelmingly difficult to get there. It's so hard to find an OT near us, and none of them take insurance. So, I'm committing us to even more expenses, paperwork, and scheduling. But, hopefully, the results will be worth it. Then, I look over at Michael, and see a happy kid playing appropriately with toys, and KNOW that he's worth any effort.