Oliver's Background

This is going to be a long, somewhat boring post intended to list all of Oliver's abilities prior to coming to this treatment.  A bunch of his caretakers noted which skills he was strong and weak at for the purpose of comparing before and after. 

Eyes- cross somewhat equally - maybe more on the left side - one at a time almost each time it happens- to the inside (nose) - infrequent since valium restarted - had been occurring more after Sept downslide
Hands- uses right a whole lot more - right is open more - sucks on right hand only
Arms- elbows are either straight or bent - there isn't movement from one position to another - doesn't cross midline much at all with either arm/hand or raise them upwards or in an up/down motion except minimally and rarely
Legs- kicks equally, has pretty flat feet, a little curl to toes when walking, scissors regularly when walking since Sept
Trunk- flops forward with neck and back except when excited and whole body stiffens - or angry
Excited- stiffens all muscles - including face, jaw, hands
Grip- very very tight lately when he is gripping something out of excitement especially (hair)
Eating- not at all - wants to but tons of gas caused by the smallest effort, not drinking
Drool- mild to moderate - not soaking shirts or in apparent teething pain
Acid Reflux- quite violent stomach lurching/contracting when stomach is empty, gagging and a little spit up, can keep him awake or wake him up, causes him distress, on pepcid twice a day
Walk- loves to walk, will use walker to move and new therapuetic walker for short periods of time
Sleep- Length- okay to bad 1hr to 5 at a time Falling Asleep-varies by person, day, everything- can take from 30 minutes at a nap for parents to 2 hours - for sitters can take a lot less and include almost no crying for others
Exersaucer- will sit and play with mom right in front for up to 15 minutes - for others- dad, sitters more than 20 minutes
Crawl - doesn't really like to lately
Banging cups- will bang something on surface if prompted and reminded although noise scares him and he flinches each time with eyes closed
Startle- got really bad after sept problems started - will startle upon waking and just walking down hall- stairs of course - valium made it better - startle when falling asleep was awful when not on valium - almost impossible for anyone to put him down - better on valium
Verbal- very talkative - best noises "oh yeah" ooh nah , others singly without purposeful repitition or repeating after someone include da ga ba combinations and variations - cries using noise ma sometimes when not crying
Sense of humor - changed around October- will laugh at shows on TV a lot more - including fights on Jerry springer - (nathan's watching- not me) and will look up and laugh at you for no reason- we've gotten into giggling fits when he should be falling asleep for a nap
Started following commands - will play music on exersaucer when asked "more song" and "get the chicken" (it's a chicken weathervane on top of a barn- you hit it and it plays a song)
Words- understands a lot and responds when desiring something- "hold you" "hungry/eat/milk" "sleep" blue bunny, blankie, where's dad (or anyone else), cat, dog, go get or someone's going to get you, walk, chickens, enjoys hearing songs he knows, song, more,
What soothes him- elmos, visual distractions, walks, food, cousins/people/pets, TV - esp adults (loves Ellen), interested in faces
What aggravates him- when he can't move/get something/communicate - getting changed, bathed, sometimes when being fed
Mood- laughs and smiles a lot - up to 60% of the day with constant interaction- without interaction might fuss for 90% of day - fussy at sleepy times, can't be left alone at all
Sleep - see above - still resists it
Muscle tightness - consistent - worse when excited or upset- worse in arms
Purposefully switched a rattle from left to right hand at carol's before we left
Purposefully switched kicking his right leg to hit rattle in left hand to left leg so it would hit rattle - I know it seems somewhat unlikey that it was on purpose but I really think it was - you could see him go through the process of figuring it out
Doesn't sit, stiffens and falls onto side or back if left alone on couch
Doesn't crawl
Rolls- back to side easily - both sides, maybe to his left better, sometimes will continue on to stomach
Likes to be held and jump
Likes to dance in seated position (kicking legs)
Understands now that a new person might mean that he has to go to them so starts crying after introduction and first smile because he understands he might be given up by mom