bountifulplate

Dominic's teacher (Mr. P) and I have spent this week trying to determine the cause of some of Dominic's recent avoidance behaviors.  I was beginning to feel like Sherlock Holmes trying to solve a big mystery. I was wondering if it had something to do with Ritalin, so I asked Mr. P to track his behavior and see if there was any correlation. There really didn't seem to be. When you have a special needs child, they are constantly a "work in progress."  All children kind of are, aren't they? Do we ever reach a point with our kids when we say, "okay, I'm done!" Not really :) We've certainly had our ups and downs with the potty training, but Dominic seems to be doing awesome in that area recently, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  It's good to push Dominic, but at the same time I was wondering if maybe we were expecting too much from him.  Mr. P and I exchanged e-mails and had some conversations on the phone.  One of my questions was if a...

In the past week, Dominic has woke up at 5:00 a.m. about four times.  He normally wakes up between 7-7:30 a.m. It would be great if he would go back to bed for an hour or two, but instead he goes downstairs to the family room.  He has been going to bed about the same time, so it's a bit of a mystery as to what is going on.  When he has woke up early in the past, it's usually because he is going through a growth spurt.  I'm not 100% sure that is the case now, since he has also been having some behavior issues at school.  A while back, he ran out of the cafeteria during lunch and one of the aides had to chase him down.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but he had a mouthful of food!  His teacher and I have been in close contact to see if there is any kind of pattern, since Dominic has been on the same dosage of Ritalin for a few years.  I sometimes think that his ADHD is the bigger issue than his Autism.  Since he does take medication, we see his ...