Progress?

Today Elise had her appointment with Dr. M. She does have a sinus infection and she was prescribed antibiotics. I'm less fearful of giving them to her, but still a little nervous. The good news is that I FINALLY had a chance to talk to the Dr. about Elise's autism. She provided me with lots of great contact information, referred her to a gastroenterologist, and ordered blood work to test for celiac disease. It makes me feel like finally we're moving forward on ruling out underlying health issues. I don't expect that the tests will find much, but at least we won't be guessing about that anymore. She also provided the name of a parent advocate in the area who will help us with our IEP (individualized education plan) for Elise. She can also help us work with Regional Center to get Elise the services she needs and isn't yet receiving. Best of all, she provided me with the contact info of a woman whose daughter just completed the UCLA program we want Elise to attend.

Hubby took Elise to therapy and apparently she did really well. She moved from one thing to another in the gym instead of fixating on one activity. She used several words and transitioned well. For me, when I was taking her home from the doctor, I handed her some juice to drink . I purposely left the straw undone so that she would have to do it herself or ask me for help. While she worked on opening it, I heard her say, very softly "jugo". It made me so happy. That was a word she had before her language regression last December. We no longer speak Spanish to her, so it just shows how much is actually inside her head. I believe she has a strong capacity to be able to learn things.