This week In Autism - Sitting..

Well… it’s been over a month. Whoops.

I got to a point recently where I could genuinely see myself not writing these anymore. But over the past two months, I found myself checking back on earlier posts once or twice—and I was struck by how glad I was that I’d documented them. Reading through them instantly brought me back into those moments, both the good and the hard. I just can’t help but feel that, over the course of a lifetime, this will be incredibly valuable.

And while I journal quite a bit, I don’t actually document Henry’s development in much detail elsewhere. This, on the other hand, creates a structured timeline. So, I have to keep doing it.

The most notable progression lately was when we took Henry to the doctor the other day. In the waiting room, he sat on a chair between his mum and me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. First, I thought he’d cry as soon as we entered the waiting room—just like every other time. Nope. Then I assumed he’d run around and be hard to manage. Again, nope. He just sat between us, calm as ever. I was genuinely shocked.

His autism-specific daycare has been teaching him to sit on chairs more regularly—especially during meals and table activities—so I guess that’s transferring over into other settings now. It was amazing to see. A huge step forward for us.

Unfortunately, things took a turn when we had to weigh him before going in. The process—changing rooms to get weighed, then returning to the waiting room—really threw him off. It’s such a silly setup for autistic kids. In the future, I’ll make a note to weigh and measure him myself beforehand so I can just give them the numbers and avoid that whole disruption.

Once we got into the actual doctor’s room, he was doing great again—just chilling with Mum and Dad. But the moment the doctor put the stethoscope on his back, he lost it. Full meltdown. And even once she stopped, he didn’t recover. I had to take him back to the car—his safe space—where he instantly calmed down, while Sarah stayed to hear everything from the doctor.

He’s had a lingering wet cough that tends to hang around whenever he gets sick. We’re now trying Ventolin in syrup form to see if it helps, because there’s no world where he’ll tolerate a ventilator mask without absolutely hating us for it.

Another new behavior—he’s started holding and playing with his toes at night, especially around bath time. Sometimes it looks like he’s just exploring, but other times it seems like he’s uncomfortable or bothered by them. It’s a reminder that I really need to begin the process of getting his feet assessed and figuring out what kind of intervention is needed. I’m anxious about getting him into a doctor’s office and managing the process with his shoes off, but it has to be done. And I’m also dreading the challenge of actually getting him to wear whatever corrective toe spacers they might recommend—but again, it needs to happen. That’s high on the priority list.

We got the house. 100% confirmed. We move in two weeks. I can’t wait to see Henry—and Franklin!—realize they have their own acre. Their own pool (though it’ll be too cold to swim for a while, haha). It’s been a long time coming, but the timing feels right.

I do worry about the daily 40-minute drive each way to Henry’s special daycare, especially considering the hours are only 9 to 3. But it is what it is. Our NDIS funding runs out in a few months anyway, and unless we go through the draining process of reapplying—only to risk being rejected—we likely won’t be able to afford the autism-specific daycare much longer. The system is really broken.

One final note—Henry has started using my finger to point at things on his ABC board. He’s not pointing to specific letters in response to prompts just yet (like me saying “C” and him pointing to “C”), but the fact that he’s grabbing my finger and guiding it around the board shows he’s starting to understand the concept of pointing. Another win. His daycare is working on this kind of skill with him, and it’s clearly sinking in.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Time is tight, and work is demanding. So that’s it for this week’s entry (okay… this month’s).