Session Seven 6-22-09

~weekend~ The father’s day weekend was fun. Sevyn did lots of verbalizing and singing with us. We also practiced “walk with me” without holding hands in the drive way and he did good for about 8 feet! He still bolted at the end, but his attending skills are really improving! We saw some diarrhea on Saturday and a little more on Sunday so we’re adding more fiber and greens to his plate and offering them more often. He is doing good on the stricter diet. He’s clearly upset about not getting multiple servings of fruit everyday, but he thoroughly enjoys the one serving he does get now, he‘ll say “mmmmmm yummy bluburries!!” He also shared some fruit with his brother on Saturday and his Dad and I were so impressed! He walked up to Grey and put them in his hand! They have been working on giving hugs and sharing for a while now, but when it’s spontaneous my heart just melts! Oh, and we also noticed some of the sign language he used to use coming back lately. He signed “thank you” and “more“ to me several times over the weekend as well as the “I want“ gestures with the spoken words. He asked about the rocket (that’s what we call the hyperbaric chamber) a few times in the car over the weekend and told us “ I wan rocket!“ so we tried to talk about it and show him some books about rockets and space to reinforce the chamber. He is very interested in outer space, the stars and the sky. He enjoys being in the rocket and his time with mommy. In the future as his comprehension improves I want to teach him about space and the planets while we’re in there and really go on a rocket adventure in our imaginations!

Session 7 of HBOT with Sevyn
(diagnosis autism age 3)
6-22-09
Today’s appointment was highly anticipated by Sevyn! He was so excited to visit the rocket! We got in at 2:30 in the afternoon and Sevyn jumped right in the chamber! He thinks the PSI gage is a microphone and kept trying to talk into it! I filmed the chamber filling with air and us popping our ears as the pressure increased. Sevyn was genuinely happy to be in the rocket and when he checked the windows today he saw images of outer space! I made some space art to go around the rocket and Sevyn likes it a lot. We watched sponge bob and talked about sponge bob for the rest of the session. Sevyn was fairly calm and the chamber stayed cool which is so nice. I would really like to start weaning him off the cartoons and I tried to turn them off towards the end of today’s session, but wasn’t successful…and by that I mean he screamed until I gave it back to him. I want to get him to where his oxygen mask as well and that also makes him scream. I have been putting the mask on at home and trying to get him to where it. In the chamber I have been moving it closer and closer everyday. We’ll keep working on both though! At the end of this session he was totally ignoring me because he was so tuned into Sponge Bob and when we decompress I need him to pay attention to me and work with me to pop his ears, so from here on I want to try my best to turn off the DVD player when we prepare to leave the chamber. Sevyn had another runny bowel movement, seems to be getting better though. We have been trying to use more cloth diapers with him to help with the rash, and for the five days that he had formed poop it was awesome, but with the not so formed stuff it‘s harder. Less fruit more veggies! We’re still working on potty training. Sevyn has been sitting on the toilet since September of last year and has yet to even pee. The cloth diapers help because he sees his poop go in the toilet and flushes it. Hopefully he’ll start to make the connection soon. I took him for a stroll today around our block and just listened to him talk. He was babbling and saying a lot of “digga digga”, but there were also lots of clear words and expression in there too! My son has stories to tell and I’m starting to understand more and more of what’s on his mind!