Amanda
A lot has happened in the span of a month and most of it has caused more stress than anything else. So, where to start?? Zion had been complaining of his “stomach hurting” almost daily in between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks (we were in school for 3 weeks). I told Jeremiah that the last time he did this it was because he was being picked on. After being asked by his teacher, us, and my parents, Zion finally told my dad that he was being picked on again but that the student is not in his class. Luckily, Zion has an amazing teacher this year, so she was pretty quick to make sure our little guy was taken care of and comfortable. I worry about Zion because he is so nice at school and doesn’t really understand how to defend himself. He barely tells us anything that goes on in his life, and it can really be frustrating.
Speaking of frustrations, Zion has regressed dramatically on his language. What I mean is that he is not capable of holding any kind of real conversation with us. Everything that he talks about is “how do spell (fill in a word)” or “what is (number) + (number)” so it is all based on academics. Don’t get me wrong, some people would be happy that their child is so into school, but I want our son to communicate with us. I mean, really communicate as in “how was your day” or “oh today I did…” and that is something that he just isn’t capable of doing right now. I am not sure if this communication will ever really develop proficiently and that is a HUGE worry that I have for him. In addition, I also think that Zion may be developing ADHD. I have seen a lot of characteristics with him the past few months and it seems to be getting worse. ADHD and ASD are very, very common co-morbid disorders so I wouldn’t be surprised if this does happen.
On a positive note, Zion got glasses!! What is crazy, is that I didn’t even know Zion couldn’t see! He never complained that he couldn’t see things and at his last check-up he did fine on his sight test. However, I have horrible vision and his dad’s is not very good either, so it was pretty much bound to happen eventually. We also recently attended a birthday party and Zion danced the night away! That is something he has always loved to do was dance and I love to dance with him. He also danced with his baby sister which made my heart melt and smile all at the same time. Lately we have been tourist in our own city and going downtown to explore. We rode the river boats! I haven’t ridden these boats since I was little and the kids have never been on them, so we picked a day and got to view all the between christmas lights and sights that San Antonio has to offer. If you ever want to come to San Antonio I strongly suggest Christmas time! We have a beautifully lit downtown and the weather is usually great!
Thank you so much for reading! If anyone has experience with ADHD I would love to hear it. Although I am a Special Education teacher, ADHD is not something I have a ton of experience with as most of my students have ASD or are ID. We truly appreciate the support and hope that we can inspire any family out there that has a child with Autism. My son has changed my life for the better and I would never change anything about him. I hope you had an amazing holiday season and we are looking forward to 2020!! Thank you again for reading!
