Today we saw the paediatrician who has been observing him now for 12 months alongside the other team (speech, ot, physio, hv, etc!) and he has now made a formal diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder. He has requested more input from Speech therapy and also occupational therapy regarding his fine motor skills because due to his bimanual synkinesis he has difficulties with drawing, dressing and feeding. He has also been diagnosed with IBS which explains some of the problems he has been having over the past couple of years
In 2 weeks we are seeing the spinal surgeon and Reuben will have more x-rays done and they will make a decision on the next stage of treatment for Reuben's scoliosis. This photo shows Reuben's back with his vest on looking down, you can see the bulge at the ribs where the spine curves and pushes them.
Next Monday is a bank holiday - this really distresses Reuben because he cannot understand a break in routine, here's how the last bank holiday week panned out:
Monday - Andy off work, Esther and Jordan off school, Reuben's nursery closed, Reuben could not understand why he wasn't at nursery, we went out for a day out instead but he still had 'moments' of crying, frustration and episodes of his little ways of expressing that he couldn't cope - (smacking, rocking, banging) resulting in exhaustion at 3pm where he fell asleep. This lead to when it was his actual bedtime where he was not tired and ran around the house completely hyperactive until 10pm.
Tuesday - Reuben's highlight of the week is seeing the bin truck go past at 8.15am. He waits eagerly anticipating the truck at the window, he can hear it come round the corner and gets very excited to see the flashing lights and the men wheeling the bins onto the truck. Today the bin truck did not come due to the bank holiday, as it comes on the Wednesday instead. 8.15 he waited and waited getting very frustrated and could not understand me saying that it wasn't coming. By the time we got to nursery at 9am he was in complete meltdown mode, threw some breakfast around, knocked over chairs and ended up in a screaming pile on the floor. The nursery are excellent with him, I mentioned his break in routine and the bin truck and they knew exactly what was going on so I was confident to leave him knowing in 10 seconds he would be eating breakfast and back into their routine which he loves.
Wednesday - Due to bank holiday again the monday nursery session had been swapped to Wednesday, he doesn't usually go on Wednesdays but was accepting going - until the bin truck arrived. Because he hadn't been anticipating it's coming, this provoked another complete meltdown because it was here on the wrong day and he just couldn't understand it. By the time he got to nursery he was in full meltdown - I said to them that the bin truck was here on the wrong day and they understood.
Thursday - By thursday Reuben was really confused, and due to the bin truck coming on wednesday and him going to nursery he must have thought that thursday really was wednesday and that he should be staying at home but he was at nursery and couldn't understand it! Cue a less dramatic meltdown but he was happy to be in the nursery routine once he had settled in.
Friday - Reuben had had enough of the week by now, he was exhausted. 5pm while eating his tea he fell asleep and slept right through until the next morning - he didn't even get up in the night which is very unlike him! Saturday morning he woke up and was ready to start a new week back in the usual pattern.
Here is his latest nursery photo, I love this picture :) His cheeky smile and long eyelashes - I think he really looks like his Daddy too
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