There’s been a thread of happiness floating through the air around here. Despite times everyday when LuLu exhibits frustration, there are times when she’s just happier, and “brighter”. Three weeks ago we went back into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber on advice of one of her doctors to see if we could get some relief from the GI distress she has been in.

The folks at the hyperbaric center we use are angels. They were able to work us into the schedule immediately, and in such a way to minimize the number of trips (1-hour, one-way) we had to make by scheduling two sessions on the days we were there.

And, her virtual school is portable. So we did the things we could while in the chamber (math, spelling, reading, language arts) and saved the computer-based subjects for when we got home.

Her GI pain hasn’t gone away, although it now seems isolated to just after she eats. But, her unexpected “brightening” could not really have another explanation. For example:

She answered the phone twice this week. LuLu does not ever attempt to answer the phone. In fact, we have practiced her on dialing our cell numbers and 911 in case she were in an emergency. At 11-years-old, when many other children are starting to use the phone for their own socializing, LuLu seems oblivious, or at least anxious about what to do with a ringing phone. But last week, it rang just as I stepped into the shower. I knew that it was likely to be Kay, calling to say she’d arrived at school, since it was early in the morning. So I called out to LuLu to answer it. She did, but couldn’t really remember what her sister had said.

Then, two nights ago, while I was out walking the dog, she answered the phone with a brisk “what do you want?” and talked to Super Dad for a few minutes, telling him about her day. We were both impressed; although I think we’ll need to work on “hello”.

She has used the microwave three times this week. This is another household task that LuLu had never attempted. But for some reason, when I suggested that she could independently make her lunch this week, she didn’t hesitate. And she only had to be shown once how it operated. Every other time I’d attempted to have her do this, she would shrink away.

She is reading silently to herself! This is a biggie. LuLu really dislikes reading. And her fluency and rate are extremely slow. She has always read aloud, gets lost, gets frustrated…and goes down hill.

But lately she’s been reading short passages silently, and is able to answer questions about them, so I know she understands what she reads. I gave her a little “drive-by” praise for this; knowing that too much praise will overwhelm her and cause her opposition to kick in. And silent reading is a skill I definitely want to encourage.

And she read the comics in the paper today…and even got the joke on a couple of them.

All in all, a happy day!

The HBOT May Be Working!

We're Diving In

HBOT Helps with Autism

Photo Credit