Update from

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. I'm very pleased to report that my son

is continuing to make good progress at 's. Thank God he is continuing to

gain back some weight and is now up to 116. He still needs to gain another 10-15

lbs., but he's eating really well now and not having to drink Ensure anymore.

We had our first visit with him this past weekend. It was the first time we'd

seen him in 6 weeks, the longest we've ever been away from him. I was really

nervous about how things would go, but it went really well. He did A LOT of

stuff for our first visit. We made our visits in short blocks of time as he

tires easily, so we would go and take him out to lunch or to the mall, then

bring him back and come back a few hours later to do something else.

It was very stressful for him getting in the car and going places and he'd start

out saying " I need to rest, it's too stressful, " but I would tell him let's just

try and if it doesn't work out we'll come back. So each time he would agree to

try and then we'd end up going. While we were out places, he would continually

say how stressful it was and that his tics were giving him trouble, but he

pushed through it nonetheless.

Just this week he finally started attending group therapy and educational

therapy. He's only able to go for a short time, but at least he's trying, which

is great. Now granted, if left to his own devices he'd probably be hanging out

in his room and in the day room and not doing much else, but he's definitely

becoming more engaged with his peers and showing signs of progress.

He's still having some bathroom issues and showers and hygiene is still a

struggle, but his is complying and doing what he's asked to. With a few

exceptions, he was pretty compliant on our visits and some of his old behaviors

like wanting to stay sitting in the car for hours and turning out lights did not

surface.

While I'm of course thrilled with all of his progress, I also realize that he's

at this is WITH a whole treatment team in place, 24/7 supervision, a regimented

schedule and structure. If all of that were taken away I don't think he would be

able to function very well.

One of the biggest accomplishments is that for the first time since his

Tourette's surfaced 2 years ago, he is now able to do his tics in front of

peers. I can not tell you how HUGE that is for him!! Before going to 's, he

was petrified of any peers ever seeing or hearing his tics. His tic now is

pretty loud and very difficult to watch as he strains himself a lot physically,

but he sat right there at the table in the dayroom and did his full blown tics

without reservation. The kids are great, they just keep doing whatever they are

doing and are clearly understanding of his situation.

I'm going back to visit in about 3 weeks so it will be great to see him again

and see how he is progressing. Glad to give some good news for once!!