Once In Awhile, Our Journey Takes A Little Detour...

July 9, 2007.  That date will forever live in my mind.  That is the day that Levi was diagnosed with autism, his first of many diagnoses.  He was 25 months old.  I was expecting that diagnosis.  Shoot, I was BEGGING for the evaluation because I knew that was at least part of what was going on with him and I wanted to know for sure so we could move on.  During Levi's evaluation, which was approximately an hour long, I was answering questions before the Psychologist could ask them.  It still felt like I had been kicked in the stomach when she told me he was receiving a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder even though I was expecting it.

Fast forward to June 18, 2013.  Another date that will forever live in my mind.  After an 8 HOUR assessment in Indianapolis, a different Psychologist (as well as 7 other professionals) told me the same words.  Only this time, Kasen was the recipient and I had the same kicked in the stomach feeling especially since I wasn't 100% on whether he would meet the criteria or not  .

Kasen swimming

Some may not know this, but Kasen is mildly developmentally delayed and this includes his expressive language.  He is progressing and, so far, has not had any regression as Levi did.  He has surpassed  milestones that Levi still has not met, but as he's getting older, it is more noticeable that Kasen's social skills are lacking. Those who meet him once in awhile would tell you they don't see "it".  For awhile, I was on the fence also.  However, those who are around him a lot started noticing that he was interacting with them from a "script".  Kasen has in his mind the way things should go, he will even "feed" me my lines while playing trains to make sure I follow the script.  A lot of what he says is the same phrase over and over and he says it in almost the exact same tone of voice as he heard it the first time.  Some who see him multiple times a week started noticing that he was doing the same "routine" every time he saw them.  When one of Levi's ABA therapists shows up 2-3x a week, each time, Kasen has to go up to him, check out his watch, push the button, etc.  It is the same result every time, but something Kasen has to do every time the therapist walks in the house.

Kasen pretending to drive Mommy's van

Another thing about Kasen is that he imitates EVERYTHING.  If we are some place and another child makes a noise, Kasen will repeat it obsessively.  This is difficult because he is not doing it to be mean or a brat, but to the other parent, it may look like he is making fun of that child.  We are working on this with him.  It is part of his anxiety and not knowing how to act in certain situations.  Just know if you every hear Kasen imitating your child, that is all it is.  Him imitating.  He does it to Levi all the time so we are use to it, but I'm noticing others may get the wrong idea on what he is doing.

A month or so after we applied for the Service Dog for Levi, I emailed Karen at 4 Paws and started asking about dually training the service dog and whether it would be beneficial for Kasen to be included since he already had a diagnosis of a chromosome microdeletion.  We went ahead and got the paperwork in to include Kasen in the training.  At the time, I was figuring we would be fundraising for 2 or more years and, not knowing where Kasen would be developmentally at that point, I wanted to make sure the option was there.  I figured we would see how Kasen did and play it by ear.  That 2 or more years ended up being about 7 months!!!  Now we are waiting for our training date.  Since we have a limited amount of time to take video of behaviors and routines for whomever the dog will be trained on and get it sent into 4 Paws for Ability, we've decided we are detouring off our original path and onto the path for the service dog to be trained for both boys.

What this means is: It will be trained to tether both boys at the same time with one on each side (allowing us to walk in public places and not worrying about one or the other running off), tracking of both boys' scent, and behavior disruption,  My plan is still for the service dog to be primarily with Levi, however, if Levi is home working with his therapist and Kasen has a Dr appointment or something that I know will cause a lot of anxiety for him, the service dog will be certified to be out in public with Kasen as well as Levi.  Just having those options will be nice instead of finding out after training that we should have had it trained for both boys.   A lot of families have gotten dually trained service dogs and it seems to be working out well.  I think one dog will be able to assist both boys at this time especially since the assistance Kasen will need is minor compared to Levi's needs.  In the meantime, we hope that Kasen continues to progress and will need the assistance of the service dog less and less as he gets older. 

So, in a nutshell, everyone who has helped us and is helping us with fundraising for Levi, will end up helping both boys. 

I just wanted to let our followers know where things stand so that if I start talking about Kasen and the service dog, or if they see the service dog out in public with Kasen next summer, they will know why. 

So, that is our little detour on our journey to the service dog.  We are still moving forward and working on helping both boys to keep progressing and reach their fullest potentials.