Broc's Journey: Seattle

Broc and I took a trip to Seattle for his longitudinal study for the SVIP research study. The trip there was great. We cannot say much about the trip back. Our flight was delayed due to the weather ..... so eventually Broc and I and a few strangers took a cab ride home. It is really amazing what a few strangers will do when a problem arises. At the end of the night we were all friends.

It rained everyday that we were there. It was cloudy when we arrived and cloudy when we left.

We went to a restaurant for dinner and we were given cloth napkins. Broc took his and thought it was the table cloth so he says to me "Why is the tablecloth so small?" I felt so bad laughing at him. He was genuinely concerned that they had made the table cloth too small.

Sitting at the hotel waiting for the shuttle.

Sitting at the clinic waiting for our day to start.

It was a great day. Broc was off with a few people playing games and doing a few activities and I only had one session with questions. I had a lot of down time which was really nice. We also me a 16p family with a cute little girl. Her and Broc were instant buddies. I loved talking to her mom. It was so nice to share exp. and stories. It was great to talk to someone who understands exactly what you are saying. It almost like we have a language that no-one else can understand.

Later in the day we had Brocs neuro app too. It was great to have lots of our questions answered and learn a few new things too.
At the end of the day I had the feedback meeting. It was great to learn that everything we are seeing Broc do and say he is actually doing and saying. To everyone who thinks otherwise we have the proof. To all the teachers or nurses or school psychologists who think that Broc does not need the extra help at school he does. For all the times that he lost something or forgot something at school it not his fault. He is not able to remember unless he has constant reminders. We also learned that Broc thinks in pictures and that is how he comprehends things best.

Although he has a great vocabulary and is very good with his expressive language means nothing. A lot of the time he really doesn't understand what he is saying. He knows how to say and where to say but his brain does not understand it.

He needs to have little check lists everywhere even at home to help him remember things. For instance for our bedtime routine we have to make little picture cards in sequence on a key ring. Once he is done with his task he flips the picture to the next task.

Another thing we learned was that when he misbehaves or doesn't do something we asked him before we give him a consequence we have to ask ourselves if he is deliberately doing something or did he just forget to do it.

We also have to use a timer for him to do things so that he can see the time counting down. But we have to be careful with that too as it can cause his anxiety to take over. If he has not completed his task and he can see the time counting down he gets so anxious that he starts to meltdown. So we have to find a balance between the two.

They are going to be sending us a report in 6-8 weeks. Mark and I will be taking the report to school so that they can enforce the new accommodations to help him at school.

After a busy day Broc and I decided to find a restaurant near the water. Our driver recommended a great place to eat right on the water.
Here is the view we had.

Broc was fascinated with the bridge going up and down when the boats passed underneath.

The wonderful restaurant that we ate at.

Broc being silly.

The last day we were there we found a little time for some fun time. I feel that these trips although very helpful and insightful they are also very challenging and many times stressful and boring for the kids so we like to put in a little fun if we have the time to do so.

We choose the closest place to the hotel and a place that the shuttle would take us to.The zoo. We only paid 1/2 price cause we are members of the zoo in South Bend,IN.

What a great time we had,despite the rain. The zoo handed out umbrellas. We ran around as fast we could so that we could see as many animals as we could.