Before the weekend starts we have another OT & SLT session with Christie and Joyce.  Elliot really enjoys his sessions with Joyce and is continuing to do well with out me staying in the room with him.  As I sit in the waiting room I can hear him screaming and laughing and generally enjoying himself.  The good news is that as the weeks go on it is taking less time before he is warming up to Joyce and really getting into his sessions.  Joyce as ever is really pleased with his progress and gives me a quick update.  It seems that Christie (his SLT) was concerned about the Specialist wanting to put him on Zoloft last week and has mentioned it to Joyce.  She has a quick chat with me and just reaffirms what everyone else has told me.  Whilst Elliot has issues he really doesn’t need to be on Zoloft there are lots of things we can talk about doing before we get to that.  I breath a big sigh of relief and am tempted to hug Joyce but think she may not appreciate it ;o) 

This year is proving to be a really hard journey not just for Elliot but for me too.  I know that Elliots “condition” isn’t life threatening and there are children with much worse forms of Autism that really struggle to function but it is still heart breaking as a parent regardless.  Trying to get him the right help has been hard and invloved a lot of soul searching on my part.  As Elliot is so borderline it is difficult to be sure where to start with him and to be sure that certain characteristics are not being imagined or to wrap bad behaviour up in the “or he can’t help it it’s his condition umbrella” and also to be sure that you are not missing anything and that you can fully see what is happening.  All this considered in a new country with a Health system that is so different with out the support of family and friends can definitely be very over whelming.

The good news is that after the sessions with Christie (SLT) we always feel and know we are doing the right thing as we can both see a huge difference in his speech and his language.  Elliot is always so receptive to her and really opening up.  It really helps that this weeks exercises involved Pixy dust and tootsie rolls (for anyone British reading this sweets)  Elliot thought this was great so much so that when I asked him what he had enjoyed the most in our fun packed day of, going to the park and playing in the sand box and the water sprinklers, then going to Bens birthday party at the splash pool then going for tea at McDonalds he said he enjoyed seeing Christie in the morning the best :o)  You can’t ask for more than that….