Welcome to April: Autism Awareness Month!

*In order to highlight the growing need for concern and awareness about autism, the Autism Society has been celebrating National Autism Awareness Month since the 1970's. The United States recognizes April as a special opportunity to educate the public about autism and issues within the autism community .(National Autism Society) 

To start off the first day of April I want to give a few facts and a short look into our autism journey.  Jack was officially diagnosed with autism a few days after he turned 3, but we had many concerns before this specific moment in time.  When Jack was 18 months we noticed he stopped hitting developmental milestones typical for his age.  He did not respond to his name, he wouldn't make eye contact and he hadn't made any noticeable language progress (for more info on early warning signs click here).  We got him evaluated by ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) program when we moved to Texas and they reported he had a significant delay and qualified for services. Over the next 1.5 years Jack worked with a developmental therapist, SLP, and an OT.  When he turned 3 the ECI services ended and the school district took over. We got him evaluated by the school district and he started the fall semester at Lawson Early Childhood school in a STC-PPCD (Structured Teach Class-Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities).  After his first year of school we had our first summer break and life got kind of hectic.  Going from a highly structured routine of school to lots of down time, only 5 weeks of ESY (Extended School Year) services, the you know what hit the fan.  It was at this time we decided to find Jack an ABA therapist, and added a few hours of ABA therapy and Social skills therapy into his mix of treatment.  This past fall Jack started kindergarten at Willmeth Elementary school with a great new teacher and team.  He is still in a STC environment with a few minutes each day of inclusion time during specials (PE, Music and Art).

Jack has come a long way in his short little life, he is extremely smart and works hard every day at learning the skills he needs to function in the world.  He has come from being non-verbal and having practically no receptive language skills to being able to use some simple phrases to express some basic wants and needs, and to following some simple instructions.  His play skills have become much more appropriate and we even catch him pretending from time to time.  He loves to listen to music and recently got to experience going to see his first movie theater movie.  He still has a long way to go but we have found some wonderful people and organizations along the way that have helped make this very bumpy and unpredictable road a little easier.  

My opinion when it comes to spreading awareness is to do it daily. We do this by not shielding the world from our son and by taking every opportunity (within reason) to expose the world to him.  This does not always come easy and might require some creative planning on our part, but its the best way we know how to spread awareness for autism and for our family to enjoy life.  What I ask of those of you who might catch us on a bad day (and this one might be hard because its human nature) would be to please not judge and remember to treat others the way you would want to be treated.  Thank you and I hope we can continue to spread awareness and acceptance this April! 

 Here are some Autism Facts:

-Autism currently affects 1 in every 68 children today. 

-Autism affects each individual differently and at different levels of severity.

-Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the United States

If your looking to make a donation in honor of Autism Awareness month here are a few of the organizations that have become important of our lives and support our community:

TACA (Talk About Curing Autism)

National Autism Association of North Texas

Peyton's 3rd Birthday!

It's taken me a few weeks but I finally got the pictures from Peyton's 3rd birthday party uploaded :)  She had such a fun time at her Princess themed Gymboree party.  She loved seeing and playing with all her friends, loved her pink cupcakes mommy made her and was excited and thankful for all her new toys.  Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family who came to celebrate.  

Here is a little video I put together of all the fun she had at her party!

Spring break is here!

Oops I did it again, lol. It's been to long since I posted, I guess that's what happens when you get busy living life.  Since the new year came & we all had to recover from the flu things have been going pretty good. Jack has been doing really well in school.  We have had a couple snow days which will make for a long kast 2+ months of school with no breaks in the schedule coming up except spring break! which starts tomorrow, & Memorial Day. We had an evaluation done about a month ago to see if we would qualify to add in-home parent training into Jack's IEP & we got informed last week that it was a go.  We have to officially meet with Jack's teacher to iron out the details and a schedule after the holiday break and to sign the iep amendment.  I am really looking forward to working on a plan to help make the learning he does at school and therapy transfer more easily for him in our home environment. He does so well with the schools structured environment that working to add more structure at home and learning how to incorporate things we do at home in a similar way they do at school might help him make even more gains in the future. His expressive language is progressing nicely and any time we get a full sentence or spontaneous thought makes me smile. 

Peyton is getting so active and she & I been keeping busy while Jack's at school , keeping up with the house, going to play dates and we still attend Gymboree on Mondays. I am so amazed at how verbal she has become over the past 6 months. She defiantly keeps me on my toes and everyday surprises me by saying something funny she sees or a random thought that comes into her head.  She love to play with her Barbie dolls, my little ponys, read books & is obsessed with the sound track from Frozen, but her mommy is too ;) I can't believe that she will be turning 3 years old next week.  Were did my little baby go? 

The kids are I are going to spend the first half of spring break in springfield with my parents & sister. We will be leaving tomorrow and coming back later in the week to get ready for Peyton's birthday party. She is very excited for her birthday party & I can't wait to see her celebrate with her friends. 

I hope everyone has had a great week & I wish everyone luck on the time change coming up on Sunday :) 

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe it's been since October that I have posted.  We have been so busy which is why I havent had a lot of time to post, so here is a little overview/update of what's been going on lately.  Having justin back home has been great! We had a wonderful thanksgiving which we spend at home with my parents and sister who came down to Texas.  This past weekend was full of fun holiday activities which included my first Santa run 5k, respite for the kids & a visit to storybook ranch to see Santa.  

The 5K was a great event to get me back on tract (thanks Candace) with my workout routine which was very sporadic and practically none existent while Justin was away on his last trip to Asia.  I have really enjoyed getting back to the gym and adding a few early morning running sessions into the routine. I signed up with a few fellow warrior moms (which is our nick name for autism moms) I know & got to meet a few ones as well. Autism isn't something you want in your life but it has introduced me to so many new and wonderful friends who make this journey a lot less bumpy & give you a reason to smile:

The kids attended a respite on Saturday afternoon and while they had fun at church justin got some alone time at home & I spend the afternoon with one of my best friends Heidi having a late lunch & coffee. 

On Sunday we went to the annual Christmas event ,'visit with Santa' at Storybook Ranch put on by the organization Especiallly Needed. Both of these organization are wonderful & the events and services they provided for the special needs community is such a blessing. This is Jack's 3rd year going to the Santa event & we are happy to say we had another successful picture with Santa.  This was also the first year Peyton got her picture with Santa (the first year she was to young and not having any of it, and last year she was out of town visiting her aunt and uncle with justin). We arrived at our scheduled time, which is one of the best parts about this event not having to wait in a long line to see Santa. We took the wagon ride down to the old western town were Santa was set up, but Peyton gets nervous sometimes in new  places & is not a fan of places that have loud or unfamiliar noises, & this had both.  So I took Jack inside to do pictures while justin & Peyton waited outside. When we were done Peyton was looking inside through the door from the porch & waving to Santa. He didn't have anyone waiting to see him so he slowly came outside to see her.  She was hesitant at first but after a few minutes talking to him & giving him high fives she let him hold her :) 

This is the last week of school before Christmas break, and with the snow days last week I am looking forward to a nice "normal" yet busy week before the holiday break begins. Today Peyton & I went to gymboree & over to home good to grab one last Christmas present. We have two cookie exchange play dates this week and I am really looking forwards to my moms night out for our holiday dinner/ white elephant gift exchange Wednesday night! Jack has his school holiday party on Friday morning, and we are hoping to take the kids out one night this week to look at Christmas lights.  Our family will start arriving this coming weekend, my parent and sister this Saturday or Sunday (if the weather in Springfield cooperates) and Justin's patents get in on Tuesday. We are looking forward to the kids getting to spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both sets of grandparents his year. I hope everyone has had a great December & I will hopefully post again sooner rather then later ;) with lots of fun holiday pictures. 

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Parent Teacher Conference Day and a few other things...

The past two months have been a whirl wind.  Justin has been back on the road for all of October and was back home from traveling for only a week in September.  We have had a few visitors the past two months and life in general has kept us pretty busy.  My dad had a minor health scare in the form of a TIA but he is doing really well and we are looking forward to having a visit from them this coming weekend.  My sister and her boyfriend Sean came in town for a quick weekend visit last weekend, and Justin's mom was here back in September.  Its always nice to see family and since traveling can be challenging we greatly appreciate everyone's willingness to make the trip down to Texas when its possible.
 
Jack had off school today for parent teacher conferences.  My conference this morning was very positive and it is nice to see how well Jack has adjusted to his transition to Kindergarten.  He love his new team of teachers and I am right there with him.  She has been working on his ABLLS which is the yearly assessment the school district uses to track his progress and to determine and write new goals.  We have a IEP meeting scheduled for the 19th of November which will be when we look through the finished ABLLS assessment and get all his new goals put in place. 

Jack keeps busy with school, ABA therapy and his social group, and Peyton and I have been keeping busy going to Gymboree, breakfast meetups and play dates with our friends.  I know I haven't posted in quite some time but everyone can thank my sister for introduction me to Instagram ;) We have been doing some fun fall activities which included decorating our pumpkins this past weekend.  I am also planning to take both kids to a pumpkin patch this week after school.  I will try and post again soon with more pictures of our pumpkin patch adventure and Halloween. 

 

 

Here are a few picture links to some albums of things we have done the past few months including Jack's Fund run at school which he participated in and came in second place for in fundraising :)

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

Jack's Fun Run

Tucker Hill Pumpkin Patch with Peyton

Gymboree with Aunt Stacey

Jack reading his Halloween card from Neenah and Papa:

First week of school, Korea & Labor Day

So the title might look like one of those "one of these things is not like the other one" statements, but it's the best description of what's happening in the life of the Griggs Family right now. 

Jack is currently finishing up his first week of kindergarten and over all it has been a really great week. He has been doing really well getting up in the morning & been a willing participant in the getting dressed process, which at the end of last year was starting to become an event I would possibly need to start stretching & warming up for.  He has only had a few minor crying & resistant moments thought out the week. We got a wonderful note on Wednesday that eased my mind that the transition from ppcd to kindergarten is going well.  The true test will be to see how things start going when new demands & skills start to be placed on him.

 

First day of school:

Note from the teacher:

Justin's CT scan last week showed that the majority of his blood clots have been absorbed & that his lungs look good. The clots didn't cause any permanent damage to his lungs and he was given the all clear to start traveling again so he left this morning on a direct flight to Seoul, Korea.  He will be starting his trip there, then he will be going to Tokyo, Japan & then back home to Dallas September 20th. He is excited to be back on the road so he can finish his project. The kids & I will miss him especially Peyton who had become quite the daddy's girl, but I'm sure now with school back in session the time he is away will fly by.

We are looking forward to the arrival of my parents & sister who are coming down to spend Labor Day weekend with us. Jack has off school on Monday so we are looking forward to a few outings over the weekend including the trampoline park Monday morning. 

I hope everyone has a fun & safe Labor Day weekend!

Peyton is still having Gymboree fun while Jack's at school:

Last day of summer vacation

Today is the last day of summer vacation, school starts on Monday, & I can officially say "I made it!" I posted a few times at the beginning of the summer break but have since been a little MIA. 

Justin was traveling for most of the summer for work, while the kids & I tried to keep busy & have fun. Jack had one on one therapy twice a week and also attended a summer social group on Tuesdays & Thursdays that was run by his ABA therapist. We did a Gymboree class on Mondays and had fun at a local trampoline park every Wednesday. We made a few trips to Jack's new school (with his friend who is also entering kindergarten and will be in the same class) so he could have the opportunity to check out his new surrounds & hopefully have a smoother transition into kindergarten. We had a few people come to visit us including my mom, Justin's sister Joyce and her husband Michael & my sister Stacey.

Justin returned from his second trip the beginning of August & was going to be home for a week then head out on his third trip over to Asia, but at the beginning his second trip he started to not feeling very well. He thought he had pulled a muscle in his back while working out, but as time passed he continued to feel worse not better.  He had a very long trip home but made it back on Friday night. The next day he went to the urgent care clinic, but they sent him straight to the emergency room. They ran several different tests & he was finally diagnosed and admitted for multiple blood clots (pulmonary embolisms) in his lungs. Thankfully I have some wonderful friends & a great neighbor who helped me out with the kids until Justin's sister Joyce was able to fly in on Sunday morning. Justin thankfully was only in the hospital for one night and was able to come home to rest & recover. He was able to return to work the following Monday. The doctors can't be sure why the clots developed, it could have been the long plane trips or he could be genetically predisposition to clotting. He will be having more testing done in a couple of months to find some answers to determine his further course of treatment. His body now is continuing to heal. He had another test yesterday to see how that process is going, he will get he official results next week, but the dr said things looked good.  

He was been given the ok to travel again so he will be leaving next Friday for Korea to continue his training project for work.  

This week has been full of last time summer activities, and focusing on back to school. Jack had two opportunities this week to meet his teaches & see his new classroom. The first one was on Monday morning did not go as well as I had hoped. The second one happened yesterday afternoon & to my surprise it went extremely well. He didn't try & "flop"  when we walked into the school, he didn't have a single meltdown, and he seemed completely comfortable in his new classroom.  He has two friends from Lawson also starting K with him, and the teacher:student ratio is the same as it was a Lawson.   There is his new lead teacher Ms. Brandi, two assistants Ms. Jackie & Ms. Maria & a speech therapist who will be in the room occasionally to work with individual students for speech. 

I'm very exited for the new school year & I spent some time this morning getting on email lists, updating his registration forms & filling out paper work to send back the first week of school. 

I want to wish all the kiddo's going back on Monday or who have already started a great year!

I will try & post some of our summer pictures I took very soon & as always ill try and post again soon.

Here a couple to tied you over :)