This post is going on another one of those topical detours. Prior to Tony’s most recent diagnosis and medication, I had anticipated discussing a different topic. However, it is clear to me already after just a few days on his current med that this is going to dramatically change what public therapy outings look like and we have taken a fork in the road. I had a trip through Sprouts this past week where Tony waited patiently for about five minutes while I scanned for lemon balm tea for Andy, and then another few minutes on top of that for an incredibly helpful staff member to go pull some from the back. You may not know this about my son, but that’s not something he’s been able to do at all thus far.

Our trip to Lowe’s shows us both where some of the new strengths and challenges will be also. He is now less likely to elope and run, but more likely to lay down on the floor and not want to get up. He also calmly followed employee K- through this store to look for a latch to secure our kitchen closet. That employee was so kind with Tony, and tried to talk to him, and although Tony just played with his device and ignored engaging with him (being treated for his ADHD certainly doesn’t change that he’s also Autistic), our little man didn’t try to drag me off and that is definitely new as well.

And then there was his dentist’s visit on Monday. I’ve been taking my kiddos to this office since Hannah was a toddler, so they have seen a great deal of Tony’s challenges in medical settings and can definitely tell some very interesting stories. He didn’t once try to elope from their lobby this week, and the only time he got up from sitting during the wait was to use the restroom. He was even sitting so well I was able to walk the medical update form up to the front desk and he didn’t move. Never have I been able to do that with him…never.

So, I decided this week to backtrack a little over the course of the past month and provide an update of where we were at before the new medication, which was still pretty exciting. My focus for many of these trips was to expand tolerance for longer visits, functional behavior within the environment, and patience with waiting. As is often the case recently, the Fabulous Miss Whitney participated and provided support for the therapy outings we will be discussing this week.

Library Outings

This is an area where I have been especially focused on more functional behavior. For these trips, we had begun working on sitting at the toy tables and spending brief periods of time engaged in the activities there. We were are also working on sitting for longer periods of time without playing, waiting, flexibility in changing directions, and walking instead of running.

Retail Settings

For our trips into the stores, we had also been working on extending the amount of time he was willing to tolerate the environment. For these trips, not fleeing and getting up off the floor when directed were bigger challenges. The outings where our little man showed the greatest depth of improvements were for our trips to Ulta and Barnes & Noble.

Ulta is a store Tony historically has a harder time in…there are lots of brightly colored items packed closely together, a noisier salon environment, and a mishmash of smells. For our most recent outing there, he did a great job communicating on his device, and a much better job of walking and waiting appropriately. He did still try to do a little bit of fleeing and laying down and rolling on the floor, but he got up when offered a handful of popcorn. He also was willing to greet the clerk who handled our purchase, who was just a sweetheart with him.

We added an element of stopping for a treat at the cafe in the Barnes & Noble this month. He struggled a little bit with this at first, because the clerk had us wait while she cleaned out a container. I do not joke to say that Tony really has struggled with waiting for more than ten seconds in public environments. So, he tried to sit on the ledge of their refrigerated snack case and do a bit of eloping, but once his smoothie arrived, he was able to stay seated for about ten minutes. We then proceeded to walk the store, where he did a better than usual job of waiting while I picked out some books.

Once the effects of his beverage kicked in (I tasted it, and seriously it was like Strawberry Banana flavored sugar), he started to get pretty loud- in a happy sort of way at least- so I decided it was time to leave. He made it through about 45 minutes in that store, and the clerk we bought our books from did a great job of talking to him, but his attention was just all sugared out. She was  super understanding and patient, plus her hair was pretty cool looking…just saying. I have to add though, this was a great month for awesome customer service and sales clerks treating Tony kindly on his public therapy outings all around.

All of the improvements we saw on these trips were things that floated my heart up into our generally cloudless sky, and they occurred before his most recent diagnosis and without the benefit of medications. The new prescription Tony’s taking for his ADHD will take 4-6 weeks to see maximum benefits for him. Already some of what we are seeing is amazing when it comes to his waiting and ability to focus, but we are also seeing that sometimes he gets more emotional when the medication is causing him to feel tired.  He also is struggling some with the changes to his routine that have come about with the medication, and we’ve lost some large chunks of time this past week helping him work through this. And it is time indeed that will tell how all of these things shape our public therapy outings, but I’m feeling optimistic that this new fork in the road is going to take our family and everyone who works with Tony to awesome places.

So Where’s Hannah?

Well, right now she’s next to me sculpting things in modeling clay as I type 😉 Hannah and I have taken time to go out together for some treats just she and I. Today, we went for Italian Cream Sodas and Vegan Cinnamon Rolls at a local coffee shop. In previous weeks we’ve taken trips for frozen yogurt, frozen custard, bagels…whatever sounds good to her. We’ve been to the zoo just the two of us, and we’re currently reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne Valente (which I am totally loving because it’s the book I imagine would have evolved from The Wizard of Oz and Alice and Wonderland getting married and having a baby). We are also continuing work on our Halloween crafts and watching The Great British Bake Off on some nights. October though is going to be a big month for us, because we are going to see some ballroom dancing and a ballet. I am grateful for both the help and support of both my sweet husband and the Fabulous Miss Whitney, who make these special times with Hannah possible.