Rainbow Connection: Catching Up After a Long Break

I am feel bad since it has been so long since I have updated this blog. So much has been going on with our family and with David since I last updated this blog. I was able to attend the Autism One conference in May which was amazing. It was so interesting and inspiring to hear doctors talk about different treatments and parents talk about the stories of their children improving. We also participated in the Autism Speaks walk-a-thon in Chicago. It was wonderful to have our kids participate in the walk with us and to have David see that he is not the only child dealing with these issues.

End of school has come and gone. We said goodbye to the third grade, a wonderful third grade teacher, great school support and moved ahead into summer looking forward to fun times at the pool and hanging out. Like most children on spectrum, David thrives on structure, unfortunately summer does not come with a ton of structure. My husband and I have thought about saturating David with camps and activities, but at the end of the day so much of our income goes into therapy and medication, there really isn't extra money available for camps and activities to fill the summer. So summer focused on fun times at the pool, hanging out with friends, karate, and karate camp.

We had fun over the summer going to the beach at Lake Michigan. We even got to meet my best friend from college's amazing little girl Charlotte. The boys were absolutely smitten with her. We also spent time as a family taking hikes, hitting balls and playing golf, playing tennis, swimming at the pool, and hanging out at the farm. The boys love going to our friends' family farm because there is a pool, trampoline, and most importantly they get to ride. Something both boys have come to love.

One of the big accomplishments of the summer included David testing and getting his brown belt in karate. He and his best buddies at karate will all be testing for their black belts next summer. I cannot believe how hard he has worked and how well he has done. David also had a wonderful time at karate camp. He loved being able to focus on karate and be able to do different activities that they are not always able to focus on in class.

Some hard times in the summer included some increased aggression and frustration which lead to some med changes. I definitely noticed the lack of structure and all the time with his brother taking its toll on him. Luckily tweaking his meds we definitely saw improvements. And then it was time to head back to school...