Greyson has been a joy and a wonderful child to parent. When you compare him to other children his age, he is easier to manage in many ways, despite the challenges Autism Spectrum Disorder gives us. He lives a very happy and joyous life most days and rarely overwhelms us with neediness, like other children do. However, we have recently hit a rough patch in our journey in this particular area.
Greyson has been very frustrated lately. Therapy has changed a lot recently once again, just like 4 months ago. I think it is really having a toll on him because his frustration level has been way up. He is having a hard time recently regulating and therefore, I do not believe his sensory needs are being met right now. I spend a lot of time together swinging, and tickling and lifting him up, but it is not always enough. He misses the sensory input from the therapists over the past few years.
Greyson was lucky because his therapists always embraced his sensory needs and it has taken a toll on all of us since that has been reduced. One reason we incorporated sensory activity into therapy is that it seemed to eliminate his sensory seeking long enough to teach him and have him interact and learn. At this point he is obviously not getting enough stimulation so we need to find ways to fulfill that need for him.
His behavior has not been the best and I think it is all because he is dis-regulated. We are working on some ideas and ways to overcome that. One thing we are going to do is go back on more supplements again. If you recall some of our former posts and podcasts, Greyson did very well on many of his supplements, but unfortunately, he stopped drinking his milk when he lost his front tooth. That was how we gave him his supplements and without a transportation mechanism we had to limit his supplements because he could detect some of them in his yogurt and food.
So we are going to make sure he gets on more of them and we make his supplement schedule easier for all of us. The supplements were so valuable for him and us in the past. We were completely overwhelmed and he was miserable every day. The supplements eliminated that within a week. We hope we are able to rebuild that with him again. I also plan to give him plenty of stimulation when I am home. At least an hour every night. I know Alex is going to incorporate it into therapy as well. So hopefully, our plan can make all of us happier, because when Greyson isn’t happy no one in the house is! not even the dogs.
