Here is a photo of Freya going off to her nursery christmas party this evening, she looks very grown up and a little apprehensive and very beautiful but of course I'm biased!
She was very unsure when we got to nursery as she was expecting me to leave as I usually do and there was an awful lot of people with the parents and kids there. She slowly edged her way off my knee but couldn't settle to watch the magician with the other kids finding safety with her key worker. She was quite happy to go off for food though not surprisingly! She waited for a balloon animal at the end and was give a red one as requested before paying a nervous visit to santa.
She had visited santa a few days ago at the shopping centre which I was very nervous about as we had been advised it usually wasn't a good idea for autistic kids. However it had been Freya's choice, she wanted to see him and I had explained he was a big man in his red suit and she was keen to go in. She does look slightly terrified in the photo but she was quite happy to tell him she wanted a blue scooter for christmas, he thought she said computer so I now have to buy a blue scooter and a computer! Luckily I had picked up a v-tech laptop in the charity shop last month and put it away :)
Since my last blog we have had several visits to the carrot shop as Freya calls it (ikea) she loves trying out the beds, climbing in the kitchen cupboards, playing in the kids rooms etc
We have seen a few movies at the autism friendly screenings with varying success, we saw Frozen yesterday and she was better behaved than last time as there weren't any other kids running around this time. She loved Turbo as it made her think of her snail helper :)
There's been some cycling....
Some exercising.......
Some dressing up.........
and many many rides.....
I am still awaiting the piece of paper with her ASD diagnosis in black & white but have found talking to my own autism nurse very helpful. He provided me with a sensory list to check for Freya and I couldn't believe how many she had. I also used it for myself and was even more surprised how many I had! I have enquired about a private sensory assessment for her and hope this will help me understand how to help her. She seems to be under sensitive to most things and that explains why she is always on the move, she's constantly seeking out the sensory stimulation she needs.
New things we have noticed in the last few months have been a definate decline in her motor skills, she was always a good climber even though her movements were stiff but she has become very clumsy now and usually falls if climbing. I can guarantee at least 2 injury slips from nursery from her 3 days in, one day I had 3 in one day!
She has started making a weird noise more and more often, it's like a one tone groaning and she does it either on and off or for about 5 mins non stop. I can't see a definate pattern with it but she does do it when Lucas is getting attention, when she's been told off and at times of higher anxiety ie: when we're out in town.
In the last few days she has started rejecting anything to eat if it's broken, this can be hard if you've bought chocolate and it's got squashed in the bag so all the bars are broken and especially first thing in the morning when she's sat removing all the broken cheerios from her bowl before you can put the milk in :(
Although the tantrums seem less frequent she has become much more aggressive, Mike and I are now regularly getting hit along with lucas who gets kicked, pushed and hit on a half hourly basis.
On the up side she has started to interact with some of the kids at nursery, still playing her usual games with her rules, but it's progress.
The other day I saw her pretend she had a phone with something that was totally unlike a phone.
She is listening a little bit more when I say no as long as I explain she can have it later etc or offer an acceptable alternative.
Her play therapy has gone so well she doesn't need such regular visits, not exactly a reward for her!
During the last session her nursery nurse showed her a lego farm picture briefly and she had recreated it from memory in about 2 mins with fairly impressive accuracy.
She is very excited about christmas and seems to be understanding the countdown, she loves looking for the numbers on her advent in the morning and she can count backwards so seems to understand it's less sleeps left each day. She is very clear what santa is bringing and god help us all if he doesn't get it right!
I will be updating the blog with my own treatment progress in the next few days for those who are interested :)
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