Mands: 17 (Thursday) 12 (Wednesday)

This is a compound blog encompassing yesterday and today’s events. We found out Tony’s had a gluten infraction. The topical antihistamine (sp?) that was applied to his bug bites contained alchohol. In addition to exacerbating the bites themselves, the glutens had many ill effects on Tony including decreased concentration capacity, high level of frustration/irritability, and pronounced display of undesireable and typically autistic characteristics such as hand flapping and walking on tippy-toes, running back and forth across the room, and being extra loud. These behaviors have all but fallen by the wayside for the most part, but it is easy to tell that when gluten seeps into his system there is slight temporary regression.

Yesterday morning was really very good. The glutens didn’t set in until the afternoon after his OT session which started at 4:30. Before that we actually had a lot of success with our ABA program. Tony sailed through the receptives body parts category and the motor imitation with ease, getting most correct on the first try with only the appropriate SD. Way to go! When he didn’t seem to want to do intraverbals I tweaked the format slightly so it would be more fun. I brought out a microphone that he enjoys playing with and conducted an intraverbal ‘interview.’ He really liked it and thought it was funny. Today when I tried the same thing he was unreceptive to it and only wanted to focus completely on something that took little to no brain power. Yesterday was so good we’d gotten almost everything done before we even got the fifteen minute warning for his early nap!

Today, because the glutens are still affecting him somewhat, we were unable to do much of the program. Motor imitation and tacting animals were still do-able, but he was definitely getting visibly frustrated with anything I tried to hone in on after he’d given any signal he wanted to ignore that specific activity and go on about his business. He even started to almost cry and just reach for Turtle and cup and sit down. I decided to let the poor thing relax and play. We all need a break sometimes! And Jill was still on her way, so he needed some R&R.

When Jay arrived, Tony was able to show off some of his newly acquired skills, and that was fun for everyone.