Daniel had a great day at school (Mother's Morning Out therapy). His regular teacher was out of town, so the therapy center owner, Ms. Gretchen, was his teacher today. He actually transitioned into the classroom surprisingly well to have a "stranger" in the room. She said that she feels like she can tell a difference in him from the short amount of time that she has spent with him. That was very encouraging. She said that he is not only interacting well with her and other adults but also with the other children in his class. Yippee!!!
She scheduled his occupational Therapy evaluation for next Monday morning at 11am- hopefully we will have the approval for the eval before then; otherwise we will have to postpone. I will be able to observe the evaluation through a two way mirror. Ms. Gretchen is an OT, so she will do the eval, and she is pretty certain that he will qualify for an hour of therapy a week. I am hoping to schedule that outside of his MMO time. I hate to use the time that I am paying for for him to be in therapy. I don't mind that some, but I definitely do not want him to be in therapy the entire time that I am paying for MMO. I feel like that time should just be EXTRA instruction time on top of the approved therapy.
There is an OT at the therapy center that I really wanted to be Daniel's therapist. His name is Mr. Brent, and not only does every single child that ever lays eyes on him, LOVE him, but so do the parents. That says so much about him. Unfortunately because of funding and insurance cut backs, he is having to leave the center. I was very sad, because he was definitely my first choice. At that time though, I did not know that Ms. Gretchen was currently seeing kids as well. She is awesome, and I think that she will be our therapist. The really cool thing is that she lives about ten minutes from us, so maybe we can work out an in home therapy time.
I also talked to the psychologist who evaluated Daniel. He says that the report will be ready in about two days- only four and a half weeks later. Dr. Hobbs is really really good at what he does. He also is the typical doctor of his field who is much better at interacting with patients than he is staying on top of his paperwork. I gave him a gentle reminder, so hopefully the report will be waiting on us Wednesday morning when Daniel goes to MMO. :) Keep your fingers crossed. There are many steps in the therapy process that hinge on that report. Some things are moving forward- the extra evaluations, the special instruction (although we will be approved for more hours with the report), and the family therapy (behavioral therapy)- but other things will have to wait- the Applied Behavioral Analysis, the actual OT therapy, and the additional special instruction and speech therapy.
Right now our schedule is as follows:

• Monday- Daniel MMO and Jonah Preschool
• Tuesday- Jonah speech
• Wednesday- Daniel MMO and speech, and Jonah Preschool
• Thursday- Jonah speech
• Friday- Jonah preschool (Daniel and I get to stay at home because Jonah carpools with a neighbor and eats lunch at school, so he leaves the house at 9am and doesn't get home until 2pm). That is almost like a full school day. :(

We have also drastically changed the boys diets. They are on a gluten free/ casein free diet. That basically means no wheat, oats, barley, rye, or dairy. I have noticed dramatic improvements in Daniel especially even with the "cheats" that have been allowed. We pretty much have to keep them completely off of any gluten and casein for three months, then the occasional slip up won't matter so much. They are also taking DMG, a supplement to aid in digestion. This seems to be helping as well. I am only introducing one supplement at a time for three to four week periods so that I can see if each one is making any difference individually. I was advised to try the DMG before trying the B6/ magnesium supplementation. A B6/ magnesium combo is one of the most effective autism treatments with drastic amounts of scientific evidence to back it up. Some people report that their children have been "cured" when starting them on B6 and magnesium together. These reports are few and far between, but I will take the 50% across the board improvement either way. :)

One last bit of miscellaneous info for today- Jonah's Developmental testing is scheduled for October 24. Please pray for us as this day approaches. I am not even going to make that prayer request specific because I don't know how I want you to pray. Just pray as the Spirit leads, and then pray that the Spirit will lead us and that we will willingly follow.

I will try to be more consistent in my blogs so that there is not so much ground to cover each time.

I am so blessed by each of you and the encouragement that you are in our lives. That sounds so trite and cliche, but you really are so important in our lives. Thank you for sharing it with us!!!!!