Well I just had to tell everyone this. Benjamin is starting to do more and more small normal things. Just like a little child who has watched someone do something and tries to do it themselves.
Benjamin was setting on the couch with me 2 nights ago, eating some of his sweet potato chips. He all of a sudden started scrunching the bag a lot and and I thought what is he doing. He then handed me the bag and I thought to myself well it is empty now and said as much to him. But, when I took the bag from him it wasnt and it dawned on me what he was attempting to do was roll the bag up, just like we always do when we get thru eating our fill of chips.
I never showed him how to do that. He just picked it up on his own
/\\
Also, he as finally figured out how to make that latest 4 wheeler go fast and he is back to wearing batteries out again. But, get this, the forward and reverse are controlled by buttons and he is starting to put himself in reverse using those buttons now. Wont be long until he will be doing that completely independent. Oh, and something else that is so funny that he does on the 4 wheeler; he will go along dragging one foot as he is turning. Bob says he is doing like our neighbors do when they ride their dirt bikes on their track in their pasture.
He is calming down soooooo much. His patience is getting much longerrrrrrrrr. If something happens that upsets him, he will be okay within just a minute or two, compared to the hours before.
Well just had to share that with you. Oh, and Pam on your question about the toe walking. Yes, he is still doing it but has really started to experiment with flat footed walking, like dragging one foot along sideways and then putting it down flat and then dragging it again.
I dont think I told yall about what Dr Stewart said about Bens world Monday. He has recommended that we take him to see a theraputic optometrist in Dallas. Dr Stewart said that Dr Shidlofsky would probably put him in a prism lens glasses. What they do is make the outer edges, all the way around the glass lens, blurry, and only the center is focused. What that does it forces the brain to use his macular vision and weeds out his peripherial vision. Benjamin has relied on his peripheral vision for so long that Dr Stewart felt that it is probably why his is still in the "touchy - feely" world and hasnt moved over to the visual world yet. He said he thought it would probably make a great impact on his stemming also.
So, I am writing up some stuff now to see if I can get funding for it from one of his current programs. I have to keep an eye on the funds he has because I dont want to run out when all these therapies start coming into play. His insurance will only pay for so much and then they think anything else is useless. That, I believe is going to have to be my next move, to really start pushing for these alternative therapies that really do impact these children and getting them approved by insurance companies. It would seem much cheaper in the long run to do things with these kids and turn them around rather than have to support a disabilty for a lifetime. Kick me, but I think it would be cheaper by millions of dollars to fix problems early rather than paying for them for the life of someone.