Gooli’s February birthday has been a time of reflection for our family since he was diagnosed. This year, in part because it is the first time I’m staying home almost full time, I’ve decided to organize our goals for this year (2021). I plan to report back often on our progress. The Psychologist in me wants to create S.M.A.R.T. goals, but i’ll limit myself to naming some overarching goals and current approaches/strategies here.

1. Diet/Nutrition Goals
   1. Expand diet to include more nutritious options
   2. Learn about supplement/nutrition interventions we haven’t yet tried (and experiment if promising)
2. Academic- Find best possible setting/scenario for academic year Fall 2021
3. Development
   1. Expand on existing language and communication
   2. Increase exposure to the community
   3. Improve regulation, including learning about additional approaches/strategies

Current plan/approach/status

Diet/Nutrition Goals

1. Expand diet to include more nutritious options

Please see the diet section for details on our current status and our experience with GFCFSF. Seeing how Gooli has spontaneously started trying new foods when we cook together, I’ve decided to leverage this as a formal new strategy. I plan to currently inventory all of the foods he presently eats in large amounts and foods he accepts a bite or taste of. I then plan to use some of my behavioral training (yay for being able to apply this here). I will work towards having him accept larger quantities of the foods he accepts a bite/taste of, while simultaneously attempting to introduce new foods he is willing to taste while cooking. repeat, repeat, repeat.

The ultimate plan is to remove some of the not so healthy food Gooli consumes in large amounts right now. Instead of removing them all at once (like we did when we initially tried the GFCFSF diet– which ended terribly), I plan to do what I do with my clients!

I never ever demand a client stop a less healthy behavior/coping mechanism before first building a solid repertoire of healthy behaviors/coping strategies to replace them! Why have I tried to do this with my own baby before? (I came to this realization the other day, and it hit me like a bucket of cold water).

I will work to increase Gooli’s acceptance of more nutritious foods using the strategy I describe above, and once he has a healthy group of accepted options to choose from, I hope to slowly decrease and ultimately remove some of his current staples (like plain rice cakes and classic lays).

For those of who might be into an obnoxious level of detail… I’ll be sure to post details of the progress (current accepted foods, what I’m introducing, what I’m reducing.. etc.)

I’m currently re-reading the book Eating for Autism. I’m mostly looking for recipe and food ideas.

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2. Learn about supplement/nutrition interventions we haven’t yet tried (and experiment if promising)I discuss our current supplements and how we arrived at them on the “Supplements” page. Now that I have some more time, I’d like to dedicate some time to learning more about different supplement/nutrition interventions that we haven’t yet tried. If I land on one that seems promising, I’m committed to experimenting. Our family has tried to give anything that could help Gooli live a happier life, a fair chance.

Currently I’m reading about the Nemechek Protocol (see below) on the recommendation of a fellow Autism family & I’ll post about my thoughts.

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Academic- Find best possible setting/scenario for academic year Fall 2021

Gooli was enrolled in public school special education Pre-K before our cross country move. He absolutely loved it! It warmed my Mama heart to see him happily hop into class with his little backpack on. Then, COVID19 happened. Kids were sent home one Friday in March, and then just never went back! This was a HUGE loss for our family. Our school was not really prepared to have a remote learning option for Gooli’s class. Over this very long summer, we moved across the country. Having had such a positive experience at our previous school, we enrolled Gooli in the local public school and trusted he would once again thrive. We were wrong. He was the only child who opted for in person learning! It turns out, being around other children was an important part of the Pre-K experience. To make things worse, his school intermittently shut down in response to “staffing problems”, broken boilers, power outages, etc. When school was shut down, Gooli was expected to pivot and attend school remotely. The short summary is- it didn’t/doesn’t work for him. He thrives on interaction with other children IN PERSON, and -go figure- really needs structure and predictability (Autism!). We opted for an additional ABA session per day, during which he attends virtual Pre-K. The predictability has helped tremendously, if nothing else.

This leaves us at the goal for the year. Our family needs to find the best setting for Gooli to attend Kindergarten. We are attempting to get his needs met through the public school, we’re also faced with the very real possibility that we may need to look elsewhere. We’re exploring private school options– stay tuned.

Development

1. Expand on existing language and communication

I hope to write at length about Gooli’s language development. A summary would be- at age two he was almost entirely without words. He could identify a handful of colors and images of things, but was not using language to communicate at all (could not use yes vs. no, could not request items he wanted with words). This was by far the most difficult stage! Being unable to communicate his wants and needs, he was having tantrums CONSTANTLY and INTENSELY. … more on the in between to come… Currently, he is communicating with speech. There is no doubt about that. He starts this year with a repertoire of clear and powerful sentences- at times over 7 words long. They sound something like “I want Nana drive Target Pink Gum”, “No thank you, I want more yellow chips, please”. While we are absolutely THRILLED, I’d like to take this year to focus on building on his current communication. I hope to help Gooli communicate more spontaneous sentences and to communicate socially. I’m excited to share our approach and progress here! Currently I’m reading “The Autism Language Launcher: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Your Child Turn Sounds and Words into Simple Conversations”. I’ll report back on my thoughts and on our progress.

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2. Increase exposure to the community

This goal is a little tender for me. It’s more of a goal for Mama than it is a goal for Gooli, if I’m perfectly honest. I’m not proud to admit it, but I’ve limited Gooli’s exposure to the community. It was unintentional, and entirely to make me and others more comfortable, to make things easier, etc. I try to leave him with Nana when I go grocery shopping, we have only trusted friends over to our house and routinely decline invitations from new friends, we spend the majority of our family time in the privacy of our home (vs. amusement parks, museums, etc.). I now realize that this is NOT HELPING Gooli, but rather, is fueled by my being terrrrrribly shy and mortified of attention being placed on me, or heaven forbid our inconveniencing someone.

In one example– Gooli liked trains when he was three. I thought it would be a good idea to take a short train ride to a local park where we had been many times before. Gooli loved it! he loved running up an down the aisle while throwing a little cardboard book into the air- yipeeeeee! I ran up and down behind him, trying to keep him contained, which would of course just upset him. A woman (a face i’ll never forget) looked me in the eye and said “lady. control your kid! He almost hit me in the face with that!”. I was absolutely mortified. Once we made it to our destination, I called Dad to pick us up… I just couldn’t imagine riding the train home. It’s a pattern that developed, unchecked, and a major blind-spot for me.

This year I will work to increase Gooli’s exposure to the community because it is what is best for HIM! I will work hard on “my own stuff” (as we say in the Psychotherapist biz).

3. Improve regulation, including learning about additional approaches/strategies

I am on eager to learn more about co-regulation, joint-attention, and strategies for helping Gooli improve his ability to self-regulate. I’m currently reading “Self-Regulation and Mindfulness: Over 82 Exercises & Worksheets for Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, & Autism Spectrum Disorder”… you know the drill. I’ll report back.

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