Today.

First of all, Happy Birthday to my friend, Alanna!  Alanna and I have known each other since elementary days, which means we are either closing in on the 30 year of friendship mark or we have already passed it.  ;)  Love ya, sis!  Hope you have had a great day!!!  xoxo

Today symbolizes something to me that sparks an emotional roller coaster.  I was never supposed to get to today.  This was not how I had my life planned, nor do I like to think about how things haven't turned out as planned in my perfect little world in my head.  But, it is a reminder that I am not in control of my life, God is.  And, apparently His timing and plan is SO much different than my own.  So, I have no other choice to sit here and remind myself that "there is a reason".  {And for those that have no clue what I am talking about, send me an e-mail and I'll explain it to you.}

I got to school to pick up Ethan for his private speech therapy and his school speech therapist (SLP) and occupational therapist (OT) were in his classroom.  The OT was actually working with Ethan.  Last week, she had sent home a note of concern for the redness between Ethan's fingers.  I let the teacher know that we were aware of the redness and have some antibiotic at home to put on it.  You see, Ethan does "mouth swipes" throughout the day to help himself swallow.  I am not a fan of this practice, but it is actually very smart of him to come up with his own way to safely help himself with his swallow.  I try to redirect to his "chewy" whenever possible.  We have found that saying "no mouth" to Ethan equals Ethan putting his hands in his mouth again.  *sigh* 

So, long story short, the therapists feel that Ethan can't work effectively while putting things in his mouth therefore, they suggested using arm restraints.  {This is where my eyes start to bulge, and my blood starts to boil, and I do my best to keep my Mama Bear claws from coming out}  I really don't appreciate the suggestion of arm restraints on my child.  I have arm restraints for him, but they are only used for certain things, and it is rare {like trying to keep his hands down so he can get used to wearing his glasses again, but for only 20 minutes at a time}.  Anywho, I felt bullied by these women.  The SLP has already made a couple of comments about how Ethan's sign is not functional which ticks me off because we have worked really hard to get Ethan to have ANY form of communication, so if he has adapted some signs in order to communicate, that's fine by us and it is quite exciting!  I hate that she doesn't see or know that.  Such drama...

On a better note, Ethan is making great progress in private speech with the PECS method.  He gets ice cream every single session *eye roll*.  I don't plan on that continuing once he really grasps the concept.  Ice cream is a treat that we don't give in to very often, but how can you resist when he came up with his sign for ice cream? 

Regardless of what the school therapists say or think, we are VERY proud of how far Ethan has come and the progress that he has been making.  Of course we would love to wave a magic wand and have these communication issues resolved, but since that is not going to happen, we have to be proud of where he is and look forward to even further improvement.