It’s been six months and we’re finally at the last stage of setting up Niko’s Kirch appointment at the Kirch Developmental Services Center. Yes, setting up. Meaning, we haven’t actually gotten an appointment, but we’re one step closer to that now. The last step is having his teachers and therapists fill out some paperwork that voices their personal concerns and also gives the Kirch evaluators a written sneak peek into his behaviors in the classroom.
It’s hard to see your child’s overall development written out so blatantly. Nikolas is a great kid and he’s very sweet, but seeing his downfalls on the page, along with his shortcomings was a real awakening for me. I expected him to start therapy and just start improving, the way his sister did, but it seems that Niko falls a little farther down on the spectrum than Isabella.
As of right now, Nikolas is 2 1/2 years old. His primary area(s) of concern fall under pretty much every category.
He has sensory issues, and seems unaware of his surroundings. He appears not to hear who is speaking and he doesn’t respond to his name. He’s non-verbal, having not spoken a single word to this point. While he does babble, it’s not progressive, meaning, it doesn’t seem to be in an attempt to make an actual word.
When he’s left alone, he’s in a perpetual state of wander. He never stays in one spot for too long, he needs constant supervision to ensure his safety and when they do group activities in class, he needs constant and continued re-direction. He doesn’t play functionally with toys and doesn’t voluntarily make himself part of groups or interact with peers.
When he does interact with toys, he stims. He’ll constantly spin the wheels of a toy car, or bang a toy against a desk and even after being shown how to use the toy for it’s intended purpose, he goes back to what he was doing before.
While in his constant state of movement, he stims. Rocking, jumping, spinning in circles, finger flapping, ear flicking, walking on this toes, even with shoes on and something we call the squat-bounce; where he’ll squat down, but somehow manage to bounce around the room in that position.
With all of that said, there are few rays of sunshine here. We’ve found out that his response to music is amazing. It can instantly calm him down when he’s feeling overwhelmed or frustrated and it’s really the only thing that can get him to stop moving/roaming around, even if it is for short periods of time. The best part of music, however, is that it makes him smile.
Being honest though, the only real progress he’s made so far, is that he’s now able to sit still in his chair long enough to eat his breakfast at school. We’re still working on this one at home.
It’s discouraging sometimes when I think about what’s to come and sometimes just the idea of it all is stressful. I mean, Bella has made incredible progress but she’s still quite the handful at times and while I may be jumping the gun, I can’t help but wonder what Niko will be like in the future if he doesn’t make the same progress as she did.
Once this paperwork is sent off to the proper places, someone at Kirch will take ALL the paperwork they've received over the last six months, hand it off to a group of evaluators and therapist and then we'll get a call to finally set up the appointment for a formal and official evaluation that, no doubt in my mind will result in a diagnosis of moderate to severe, non-verbal autism with sensory integration disorder (or a sensory processing disorder). With that, we can get him ALL the therapy he needs AND qualify for some at home therapy and therapy equipment that I hope will help as well.
I have to keep reminding myself that the kind of progress we're looking for doesn't happen in weeks or months. It takes years... and that, I have high hopes for.
