Phone tag....

I called U.W. yesterday to see if Nick would qualify for their toddler autism study. I got no answer so I left a message. Well, the lady called today while I was at work and Mike took a message. I came home not more than 10 min later and called her back-to no avail. So, I left another message for her to call me at work. I never got a call back, so I am going to have to call them again on Monday. The study that I am trying to get him in is a study of how the autistic brain is different from the normal brain. If we get selected to participate in this, U.W. will send therapists to our house and he will get more hours of therapy. It is called "Early STAART Intervention Study" and it is meant to examine how child neurocognitive factors moderate the effects of early intervention. Knowledge about this will help decide appropriate, individualized intervention methods for children with autism and shed light on questions regarding brain plasticity. Children who are placed in this study will recieve up to 25 hours of weekly intervention! The parents will also attend a 3 week course on autism and will be provided with information and materials on the disorder(as if I dont already have enough--but could always use more). So, you can see WHY I would like to get him in this study!

As for Nicholas, he stacked 4 pegs on his giant peg board today!! That means he is learning to play with toys appropriately, and all the work we have put into him is paying off in small amounts. We spent a good 15 min on the floor right when I got home from work. We were working on getting him to follow directions by having him "give me 5". He gets so excited that he does not know what to do and he makes a fist and his whole body stiffens up. We had to prompt him by taking his fist and slapping my hand. After about 10 times he would do it with little prompting, but not completely onhis own yet. The stacking pegs is a big step b/c he did that by HIMSELF without one of us doing it first.

Michael is over at a friends house right now, so I got a little bit of a break!! Although he is usually pretty sassy when he gets back :( Right now we dont have any real big plans for the weekend. We might head off to a water park so the boys can have a little fun in the sun. Other than that, it is the normal stuff. Laundry, cleaning, and more cleaning! Maybe I can convince Mike to take in a movie.