Good Times At Church

It has been a week since my last post. I did go into a bit of a depression, but thankfully, my kids and husband were able to help pull me out of it.

One of the things that has helped me improve quicker is that Tim has started writing a fictional story from Flynn's perspective. I'm really hopeful that Tim will complete this story, because I want to share with others an idea of how Flynn thinks and reacts. We won't know for sure how Flynn actually thinks until communication improves, but this is a start.

I was nervous about church. Church is always a bit difficult for our boys, because it happens during Ian's naptime, and everyone wants to eat, and be loud. Flynn did very well today. He didn't fight me too much as I held him still during Sacrament. He also did very well when we were in Primary. Flynn loved running around and jumping, and made many of the teachers smile. I let him bring a toy that allowed him to adjust it's size and shape frequently. 

Last week during the lesson part of Primary was when Flynn had trouble. This time, he sat, only needing to get up periodically, and drank water. I appreciated that his Primary teacher asked Flynn specific questions which I then was able to answer for him. I like that she tries to include him. Flynn did get pretty mopey at the end, because he was getting tired. He had been up since about 5am, and was yawning a bunch. But, he made it until just under 10 minutes left of church. 

I am so proud of my Flynn and how he continues to try. Currently, he is trying to nap in his room. We'll see if he actually ends up sleeping.

Flynn, our wonder child

It's been ages since I've written in this blog. I was encouraged yesterday, after having a hard time in church, to write again.

Flynn has now been in daily therapy at Pediaplex on Monday-Friday 8am-4pm. He loves going to therapy, and has great rapport with his therapists. His biggest change over the past few weeks/months is using the tablet more consistently. We purchased a tablet to help with Flynn to communicate. On it, there is an app called "cough drop", which has pictures of different things that Flynn would want, like food, TV shows, different rooms in the house, feelings, etc. Pediaplex has made huge strides in having Flynn use the app and having him understand his actions through it. They have also been working on having him nod yes or shake his head no, which is slowly improving. Flynn still doesn't talk, but he does make vocalizations frequently.

It's difficult as a parent watching your child be upset, and not be able to communicate what is wrong. Just this morning, Flynn became overwhelmed because Ian was being noisy, and we had to shoo Ian out of the dining room so that Flynn could eat breakfast. I hate having to separate my children, but we unfortunately need to do it very frequently.

I get overwhelmed with Flynn, especially at church. At my church, we have 2 hours. The first hour we sit out in the foyer because between Flynn and Ian, my kids are very loud and energetic. Most of the time, we have no problem, except having to send Preston out to run after Flynn and get him back. Only on one or two occasions, we have had other church people sit in the foyer with us. When that happens, Flynn gets very curious and tries to befriend others, but coming close to them, or going for their hands or feet, because he loves things that match. We try to let folks know that he has autism, and try to get Flynn to come back to us. But, then the people get upset, and leave.

This week, I was having trouble with Flynn during second hour. In second hour, is primary, and he joins kids his age group to do singing in the first half hour, and then for a lesson in the second half hour. During singing time, he rarely sits still, and this week he was fixated on the pulley for the blinds. I get so worried that some day he is going to break it. I keep trying to redirect him, to have him play with the magnatiles that I brought, or to use the ribbon that was handed out, but he has so much energy. He jumps and runs almost non-stop. In the second half, we are in a classroom, with a few other kids and a teacher. I cannot keep him quiet or still and this week the other kids were complaining about him. I just don't know how to respond to that. Flynn ended up straightening out and hitting his head against my cheek by accident. It really hurt, and I had to leave the room with him. I know that it wasn't done on purpose, but it just added to my frustration.

People don't understand why he's loud, why he doesn't talk, why he likes to put similar things together. Don't understand why he has a mark on his forehead, why he will always have a mark there. And I'm getting tired of having to explain why. I know that I shouldn't and keep trying to cling to what I know and to lean on my husband, but it's just so hard.

I just wish there was more understanding in the world.