Week 2 review!

Week 2 of intensive DMI therapy went wonderful! I am in awe of how much progress he has made over the last 2 weeks! I am so proud of him for pushing through and giving it his best effort. He truly stuck in there even when it got hard and he has the results to show for that.

Eyla asked us, since he is walking now can we take him to the grocery store to walk around or to the shops downtown? That’s a good question. So, while he can walk, there is so much more to it than that. He has to learn in a very broken-down, step-by-step way. He can walk in a familiar place, on a flat surface with no obstacles or terrain differences. Once you take him to a new surface or environment then he cannot repeat that skill. YET! So now we are working on adjusting the terrain and the environment to recreate the same set up for walking so he can learn to do this skill in a variety of places and spaces. That will come in time. We are 100% heading in that direction though. We were able to get him to walk on the patio turf, and even some on the deck.

In order to keep this progress going, myself and his weekly therapist have all had coaching on what we need to work on in the weeks to come and how to facilitate these exercises to carry this over after the intensive ends. Jonah’s OT and PT came both weeks to observe, ask questions, learn and love on Jonah. This will ultimately benefit Jonah to have everyone working as a team to make sure he continues to see progress and make improvements! 

For us to continue these specific DMI exercises we would need the specific DMI wooden box and board set. They are very specific dimensions and work like a puzzle to connect together and create different set ups. Instead of buying them, Casey has worked all weekend on building a set from scratch so that Jonah has his very own set and has everything he needs to continue these exercises. I’m so thankful for Casey and his devotion to help his family. We both bring our own set of skills to the table when it comes to the kids, and in this case I’m doing the hands on training and he is building the equipment for us! 

We are all very pleased with how Jonah is doing. It was a long 2 weeks and Jonah has spent the weekend resting. He is very much wanting hands off, personal, quite space and I can understand after the 2 weeks he has had. We respect that, and are giving him that time away from us in his room quietly playing without little sister or even me bothering him too much. Even at his age he craves his alone time. That’s common for autistic people and he is no different. His social tank is empty. He is all touched out and needs a break. He is still very happy to be able to walk between me and dad and will make many laps back and forth with a smile as big as his face!

We had a sweet local shirt company, The salty Bulldog Apparel, offer to make some shirts for all his family and friends supporting him and is generously donating ten dollars of every shirt sold, back to his fundraiser. 

We would love for anyone interested to check it out and maybe purchase a shirt or share with anyone who may be interested. But above all we continue to ask for prayers for him. We watched them be answered this week and I know God has more coming down the line. 

We are continuing to fundraise to help with the cost of his next intensive which will be in Iowa with the highly skilled functional neurological development team at Infinity Neuromotor development center. That trip will be at the end of the year and will be much more costly in terms of travel expenses and the therapy itself, but we know it will be worth it! Christmas will look different for our family this year as we will actually be on the road in route to Iowa for this therapy. Casey will remain at home to work while myself, the kids and my Mother in-law AKA Granna will be headed north. We will leave just before Christmas and return about mid January. 

Please be praying now for that trip and the gains we WILL see from it in JESUS NAME!

Thank you again to everyone who is standing in his corner rooting him on! 

We love you all,

-The Mabes