JB had a major meltdown the other day. We had just pulled into the parking lot at the AWANA church. The wind was howling, the sun was setting and the wind chill felt about zero. We got about 15 feet from the door and he decided he was done walking. He laid down in the middle of the parking lot, screaming and crying. I am standing there freezing, trying to deal with him. I glanced up to see the pastor of the church standing at the door. The pastor is also a part time police officer, so my first thought was he is going to come out and rail me for not getting my child in where it was warm. I still am not sure what got him to come inside, but after about 2 minutes, he gave in. We got just inside the door and he is still screaming. I kneel down and try to settle him down, he wants nothing of it. He is pointing at the car and keeps saying 'dad'. So, I ask him if he wants to call dad on the phone and he nods yes. He stopped crying and grabbed the phone. As soon as he heard JR's voice, all he could do was cry and say 'daddy'. It was funny and sad at the same time. A few more minutes and he totally settled down and we proceeded further inside the church. As we walked inside, the pastor looked at me and made the comment about how we had all been there. Whew.

Today I went to B's school to help out. I had made some fun Christmas cookies earlier in the week and took them along for all the kids. As I was in the hallway taking off my coat, one of the boys in B's class started talking to me. He said how he wished his mom would come into the classroom and help out. I asked if she worked and he started no and started telling me about his home life. My heart broke for this boy that seems to have potential but given his home environment and lack of parental involvement, he faces an uphill battle.

I took JB back to the opthomologist for his second visit. We were there almost 2 hours. She said the health of the eye looks good and from how he cooperated, she does not see any vision issues - still hard to tell at this point though. He was somewhat fidgety, as to be expected but she tried something different. She pulled out some yoke prisms that looked like regular lenses. She held them up to his eyes and he pulled away. She flipped them over and turned them around to another configuration. He pulled away. She changed them again and he instantly got still and relaxed and looked. Obviously something that he saw through those lenses created a positive response. We moved on to something else and then she pulled the prism lenses out again. She did different configurations and again, we got negative responses from all by one combination, which was the same combo used first time for positive response. This was repeated several more times and every time the same thing. He was sitting on my lap and when that certain combo lenses was put in front of his eyes, it was always a positive thing. I keep feel his relax. She thinks he could have some spatial issues. His vision is fine but the way he processes his space is distorted. She told me she had an autistic patient who was very spastic. They tried yoked prism glasses with him. The first day he wore them to school, the staff were trying to figure out what had happened. He was calm and much easier to deal with. It is still somewhat new and some doctors don't use them, but she suggested them for us. She said she has had a few patients that struggled with speech that did better once they saw their world through prisms. I don't understand it and the doctor said she honestly can't fully explain it. She has been to several seminars regarding space and spatial issues. It is very abstract. Since JB can't tell us what he sees through certain prisms, we have no idea what is happening visually with him. Not that the glasses would help him talk but there is a small possibility that this could be the one link that brings it all together for him and gives him the stability to make it happen. They certainly would not hurt him. We have a prescription for them, but I don't want to fill it just yet. Want to read some more stuff online and maybe drop back in the doctor's office to see if we could try different lens combinations again to see if we continue to get a positive response. As I research more online, it is so amazing how God put the body together, especially the eye. You would not think vision would affect other areas of one's body, but it does. One statistic I saw was research estimates that eighty to eighty five percent of our perception, learning, cognition and activities are mediated through vision. Will be interesting to read more and maybe talk to some other professional to see if they have any experience with this and particularly if they have had non-verbal kids that were benefited.
JB also started his third speech therapy a week this week. He did physical therapy and then speech. They both commented on how well he did and the sounds he was making! Yea!!
Off to enjoy a relatively quiet weekend and do some more research.