Halloween!

Here is Elijah and his cousin Tabitha getting ready to go trick or treating! She was a witch and Elijah was Indiana Jones. He is now sitting wtih Grandma Linda watching Indiana Jones! It was a fun night! We went to two neighborhoods to trick or treat. They got enough candy to last them!
We didn't have too many people come by, so I have enough candy for a while! Elijah was good. He didn't want to wait for his cousin, but finally started slowing down. He told me after his bath that he had a GREAT Halloween!

Eight good days and then uh oh!

Well Elijah had eight good days and then "hit" the aide yesterday. I use HIT in the apostrophe, because I he didn't just HIT her as hard as he could. He was frustrated and hit at her. I wasn't told the severity of the hit, but his points were only frozen for yesterday and today, so it couldn't have been too hard. Grant you, he shouldn't be hitting at all, but this is something he is going to have to learn. When we have his IEP meeting in a week we will be discussing an evaluation for adaptive PE which would move him to a smaller class with other special needs kids. PE is the only place he is having a hard time with impulse control and with aggression. In the past, if he had hit, he would have lost a whole level. I just didn't think that was working for him anymore. He is being punished for a neurological condiation.....again the program has to fit him, not him fit the program. He did have a good day today!

There are a few more things I want to discuss at the meeting, like at what level does he get to participate in field trips and about the end of year field day. He missed it last year due to losing too many levels in a week. It really irritated me because NO one had told me when field day would be, so I couldn't reinforce that he needed to behave to participate.

I do like this school and his teacher. He has made SO much progress since a year ago and we have more work ahead of us.

He is going to be Indiana Jones for Halloween. I'll post pictures tomorrow! Jacob wants to just pass out candy, you know, he is getting too old for all of this!

Seven good days!

Elijah has had seven good days at schools. Seven days where he has had no hitting or kicking of others. This is a big step for him. The teacher changed up some of what she is doing with him and giving him rewards for behaving in PE(where he was having most of his problems) and also giving him sensory breaks during the day. She wrote me today that both of these changes seemed to have helped the most. He seems happier about going to school and continues to behave at home. I just have to remind myself that the school has got to make a program to fit Elijah and NOT have Elijah fit into a program they already have. This was one of the KEY things I kept saying in emails to get these changes to be made.

Elijah's tics seem better right now, meaning they are not as intense and not happening as often. This is such a strange disorder! We have an IEP meeting a week from Friday to discuss evaluating him for adaptive PE and about the changes that have been put in place.


Jacob is doing well also, although he needs to pull his grade up in US history! He just keeps growing everyday!

I am taking off in the morning to go to the doctor. I think I have the starts of an infection and just need to get in. I have been fighting it off for several days now and it is time to just give in and GO!

Pulled his tooth!

I woke up to Elijah telling me he had pulled a tooth this morning!! He was standing there with a wash clothe in his mouth and a tooth in his hand. It was a big tooth too. He has always pulled his own teeth. He pulled his first one on the bus on the way to school. We never saw it though, lost somewhere on the bus. He was only 4 1/2 years old. The teacher thought it had been pulled at home!

Saturday!

Elijah did great at his soccer game today. He started out a little iffy before the game. he was pointing that finger of his and yelling at others. I had a discussion with him and he straightened out. He did well on the sidelines and when he was put in he actually kicked the ball a few times! He also wasn't out there being silly which was nice!

We got home around 12:30 and Jacob was still sleeping. What a teen! Elijah is now back to playing the Wii but he earned it with his performance at soccer.

Elijah is now on Level 2 at school! He has to earn points to move up to another level. He has been stuck at level 1 for several weeks. HIs teacher talked to her boss and we have tweaked his program to give him more of an incentive to behave in PE. He gets an immediate reward after PE if he doesn't hit or kick anyone. So far that has helped. He has to get to level 4 to get to eat in the cafeteria for lunch and to level 5 to get recess.

His tics have subsided some this week too and aren't as noticeable. Although last night after his bath he decided to "tease" brother, but his teasing meant getting in brother's face and having tics. Jacob didn't appreciate it, but he called for help. Of course, Elijah had no CIs on so he couldn't hear me so I had to get his attention and sign for him to stop. Of course, when behavior is good at school he sometimes acts up more at home! This was nothing too serious, but I am glad Jacob is mature enough not to blow his stack at his brother!

Tourette Syndrome

As I said before, Elijah was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome(TS) in July of 2008. He started school that year in the Plano Regional Day School Program for the Deaf. He had a great first 2 weeks of school and we added TS and OCD under Other Health Impaired to his list of disabilities(OHI).

Behavior soon became a problem though. He was having some tics at school, but he was always being bossy. He was also hitting and kicking others. We had an ARD(IEP) meeting in October and it was decided a 5 day observation would be done. We met again in November and from the information given we decided that language development(his deafness) was not as big an issue as his behavior. He didn't work well in small or large groups and he didn't like having an aide with him. We decided to bring him back to our home district in Wylie and put him in their behavior program.

We waited 2 weeks to make the move, so that transportation could get put in place and Elijah's dad could change his schedule and be home to meet the bus.

Elijah started in Wylie on Dec. 1st. I would be able to drive him to school each morning and he would ride the bus home. Looking back now, it was a good move, but a hard one. It was not easy for him. He really wanted his OWN way and didn't like having to be told what to do. Over the next few months he became more compliant but it was a lot of work at school and at home. We are still working on it now, but he is so much better.

Elijah is now still in the behavior program. We are having an ARD(IEP) meeting in a few weeks to discuss his placement and maybe changing his PE. That is where he seems to have the hardest time controlling his behavior. Some other things have been changed recently and I am seeing positive things with that.

I have spent the last 15 months learning all I could about TS. It is not an easy disorder to understand. We attend montly TS support group meetings when we can and I continue to learn. Elijah still receives services from a deaf ed. teacher three times a week who comes to Wylie to see him.

Right now we just take it day by day. Our family has had a lot of changes in the last few months. I am now divorced from Jacob and Elijah's dad. I won't get into all of that here. He still sees them and is a good dad. We are all adjusting. Jacob goes with the flow, but it isn't easy when Elijah is having a bad day. Thankfully he doesn't have many bad days anymore.

This is where we are now! I hope things continue to go well!

Added some links

Well instead of cutting and pasting all of Elijah's story, I decided to add links to his story that is already on the Auditory Neuropathy website. If you scroll down to the bottom of this web page....to the bottom right you will see two links. One is Elijah's journey and the other is Elijah Goes Bilateral! I hope you like the stories.

I have also added some links on Tourette Syndrome. Elijah was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in July of 2008. He started having some tics in October of 2007. We didn't even suspect tourette syndrome(TS) until February of 2008. The tics came and went, and were never really an issue. However, behavior was an issue. In June of 2008 the tics became severe and so I took video of the tics. I took him back to the neurologist who diagnosed him with tourette syndrome. He has also been diagnosed with ADHD, obsessive compulsive disotrder, and anxiety. This all happend during the summer of 2008. The school year for 2008-09 will have to wait for another blog. So many changes occurred.

A note

I know it may seem crazy, but I think people need to know the history behind Elijah and his birth so I will over the next few days add from his story. Jacob was such an easy baby. he came out happy and with this beautiful red hair. poor thing, he gets so over looked having a brother with so many needs. He is a great big brother and has been since Elijah was born. It is not always easy, but we try to maintain a balance. He is in 8th grade and in a video production class he loves.
I'll add more about them as time goes, but I wanted to give the backgroun on Elijah too! He has definitely had a journey!

JUST a note. instead of deleting this post, I decided to just add a post above. see the links on bottom right to read about Elijah and his journey. There are lots of pictures too.

My first blog

Hello all!
I think I said quite a bit in the description of this blog! today is Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009! We just finished eating some pizza and Elijah has a soccer game later at 7:30. He is currently playing the Wii. Jacob just went off with a friend! He is such the teen!
I am going to copy and paste some older stories about our family from the AN list serve about Elijah and his journey. I have much more to add!
I hope to post more soon!