Our Journey To Get In To The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Posted on by MICHELLE N

First time William saw a neurologist was 3 years ago.  After that Dr. Huy’s office recommended Center of Autism but the waiting time in average is 6 months; we sent in the application but they never call back.  Then Covid-19 hit.  I called about 3 months ago to follow up, the intake department said they got our application but they needed the latest IEP and tri-annual reports from school in order to transfer to scheduling department.  So I contacted Jefferson school; it was so hard to reach anyone there: I left several messages and no one called back.  One day I could get a hold of some one, she said because William just transferred to this school so they don’t have the reports; they faxed the request to William’s former school which is Lincoln school but they had not gotten any reply yet! So I called Lincoln school, Ms. Karen answered as always;  she said she did not receive any request from Jefferson!  I called Jefferson school again several times to ask if they can fax over the request 1 more time, no one answered!!

Ms. Karen was so nice to talk to Ms. Newman; Ms. Newman contacted me right away, however she said because William is no longer in this school so she cannot access William’s record anymore; but she still has the report ,so she sent to me! I was so happy that finally after 2 weeks of contacting Jefferson school with no hope, Ms. Newman came to rescue.  Finally I had the reports to email it to Center of Autism.

No word from the Intake department, I started to question if I sent to wrong email; so I called again.  The man said he got the report but it missing the evaluation from the school psychologist!  So I emailed Ms. Newman, Ms. Newman contacted Ms. Emily, Lincoln school psychologist; she had a copy of William in her computer so she emailed to me right away.   I can’t say how much I appreciated their time and willingness to help and response promptly.  Happily I email the Intake department the requested report with the hope that now we could make appointment to see a neurologist.  This time the Intake department replied back that they had all the reports they need, they would send our application to the scheduling department.

So I waited; no call from scheduling department; I emailed the Intake department, the man said “I forwarded your email the scheduling dept. they will contact you”.  Few days passed by, still no word from anyone!  So I called the Intake department (that’s the only number that I know), he transferred me to the scheduling department; I finally could make an appointment!

Frustrated? Of course!  I could not believe it’d take so much time and effort to finally get an appointment with a neurologist.  But now that we had one, William deserves to have all the treatments that he needs, that’s all that matters to me.

That would be  a zoom meeting with Elyse R Schoenwald, NP for 1 hour on 3/16/2021.

They told me to go to MyChart from https://my.ucihealth.org website to sign up; they’re using this site to manage all the appointments and reports.  It’s a very nice site.

Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders (www.thecenter4autism.org)

2500 Red Hill Ave, Suite 100, Santa Ana, CA 92705
Phone: 1.949.267.0400
Fax: 1.949.221.0004
thecenter4autism@uci.edu
Intake Department:  Phone: (949)267-0447 Email: VelasCP1@hs.uci.edu Fax: (949)221-0053

 

 

I Did Not Make Coffee For Papa!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

The last few days when William woke up in the morning, he cried and said “I did not make coffee for Papa!”.  That’s because Tim leaves for work early in the morning around 6:00 AM while William is still sleeping.

During the weekends when Tim does not work,  he does not need to wake up that early so when Tim makes coffee, William would stand next to him and make coffee together: Coffee for Tim and hot chocolate for William.  They both sit down at the dining table and enjoy their drinks together.  William is always looking forward to this every morning.  Lately he really loves to do things together with his Dad.  Which is a good thing.

If he wakes up early during the weekday and sees that his dad still home, he’d run off the bed to the kitchen to help make coffee.  Then Tim’d carry him back to bed so that he can go back to sleep.   One day when Tim got out of the bathroom, Tim found his coffee mug on the wooden box near the door, and William was sitting on the bench next to it waiting: William put the coffee mug there ready for Tim to take it to work! What a thoughtful boy!

“I love you!”  I’ve never heard Tim say that phrase so many times and kiss William that much until lately.  These 2 boys are in love :).

7th Annual Check up

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Monday 12/7/2020, appointment @9:30 AM.

Height: 3 Ft 11. Weight: 48.44 lbls

They asked us to call the office when we got the the parking lot, so we did.  They asked a few questions, and we answered No to all of them then they asked us to come up to the office.  We understand it’s Covid-19 pandemic, and the governor has issued the “Stay At Home” order for the next 3 weeks, that they have to be extra careful about whom they’d allow to come in to their office.  Their questions are: Does William has fever? Has be been to the hospital recently? has he been close to people that has Covid-19? etc.   And they reminded us to wear mask.

We went up to the office, there was no one waiting in the waiting room.  They took us to room #3 right away, but we had to wait about 30 minutes for the assistant to take William to weight, measure his height,  take his blood pressure and check his vision.  Then we waited another 15 minutes for the Doctor.

William as usual, would not sit still to wait, he walked around the room, climbed up the chair to look thru the window, tried to move up the window blind, lied on the table, etc.

Dr. Huy listened to his heart, lungs, checked his legs, etc.  Everything is fine, he’s a healthy boy.  Dr. Huy said he needs to drink 2 cups of milk a day.  Lately he drinks only 1 cup and some days he doesn’t.  And lastly the Dr. gave him a Flu shot:  William tried to withdraw his arm but Dr. Huy was so quick, it was done in second, and William did not feel a thing.   That’s why I love to have Dr. Huy gives William shots :).

Thanksgiving 2020

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Thanksgiving this year we had a small gathering due to Covid-19 at William’s grandma house.

We brought Korean beef bbq while grandma cooked Hot Pot.   Aunt Julie made some coconut waffles, William loved it so much that he ate that for dinner.   He helped me set up the table; and pour the Cider into the cups for everyone.  He was trying to be helpful!  Thank you William!

Happy 7th Birthday, Son!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Video – Blow Candles

Video – Open Gifts

This year due to Covid-19 pandemic, as Governor Gavin Newsom ordered to not have a big garthering , we could not throw a birthday party for William.  His birthday felt on Tuesday Nov 24, so after working hour, we took him to 85 degree bakery so that he could choose a cake that he liked.  We also stopped by Pop Eyes to get some chicken for dinner.  When asked “What do you want for your birthday?” – Nothing! He replied. He’s the only kid that I know doesn’t want any toys.  I love him for the fact that he’s a very simple kid.  And I can’t believe that he’s 7 years old now!

After dinner, we took out the cake, light up all the candles that we had.  He really enjoyed watching the lighted candles: he asked to light them up again after blowing them.

He chose a chocolate cake, no surprise there because everyone knows he loves chocolates!

His 6th year marked the start of his great improvements on everything; and this 7th year is a continuing of his improvements.  Everyone is so surprised how much he progressed compared to 2 years ago.  He talks a lot more now; he pays attention to his surrounding as well as what people is talking, even thought it might seem he’s not listening.  He now starts to eat hamburger with meat  (before he’d just have cheese, no meat in burgers) and crispy chicken.   What I really would love is for him to eat veggie; he’s still saying no to any kind of vegetable: he’d spit out if I try to feed him that.

Ms. Gina, his speech therapist from Providence Speech and Hearing center said that his language is so good now; she suggested to discontinue the one-on-one session to start the social group.  But too bad with the pandemic, we’re having the speech sessions at home; we can’t go to the office for social sessions so for now we’ll keep doing one-on-one thru the zoom meeting.

Another thing that we’re really proud of him is that he got transferred to a less severe autism school: Thomas Jefferson elementary school.   Mrs. Heather Newman from Lincoln school said that his level is higher than his classmates.  And the best thing is that he loves the new class with Mr. Castaneda!   His new class starts at 8:30 AM, which gives him some extra time to sleep; but so far when I wake him up around 8:10 AM, he’d just wake up without me dragging him out of bed like before, which proves that he’s really looking forward to his class.  And when in the sessions, he’s only get out of his chair when he wants to get something; some times he leaves the chair to dance with the characters from the videos that Mr. C is showing.   One thing I’d like him to do is to focus more, he still like to have something in his hands and play with that toy and doesn’t look at the monitor much.   So far his reading level is about right with his classmates but the words math is a little bit hard for him.

As for ABA goals, he has to know mom & dad phone numbers, house address and ask for permission when someone is at the door.  He knows our phone and address now; and he’s getting better at asking to open the door when someone rings the bell: before he’d just open it with or without me being there.

Another thing that I have to note down that he’s so attached to his dad now.  He especially enjoys watching Tim making coffee in the morning before Tim goes to work; and that’s 5:30 AM in the morning!  His sleeping hours some times is so messed up: since he wakes up so early he’d fall asleep around 4 PM and wake up around midnight! Then he would not go back to sleep.  It seems like he wants to wait till his dad to wake up to make coffee together with dad: Tim has coffee and he has milk, both sitting at the dining table at 5:30 AM!  One day when he woke up late and looked at the security camera monitor and did not see Tim’s car, he begun to cry: I slept too much! – he said.  And at dinner time, he’d wait for Tim to have dinner together: he’d sit next to Tim and want to eat whatever Tim eats.  He basically wants to do whatever his dad does.  “Papa, what are you gonna do next? ” is the question he always ask Tim.  Now they brush teeth together at night and do exercise together too!   He even goes to extreme by posting a sign “Boys Only” on the door while they’re exercising!

I’m happy that the 2 men in my house is getting along well (that gives me some free time to do what I need! :)).

Looking him blowing candles with no friends around singing the birthday song really sadden my heart.    At this age he does not need any friends but as he gets older, what happens if he cannot make any friends at all? His loneliness will eat him alive!  The last thing I want is for him to go thru life with no friends, especially he does not have any siblings.

Well I guess as a Mom I’m worried too much.  It’s William’s birthday today, let’s just enjoy that moment.

I love you to the moon and back, William!  Wish you to become a good and kind man; have lots of good friends and happiness always finds you.

New School – Thomas Jefferson Elementary School – First Grade 2020

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Thursday Oct 29, 2020.

We had the annual IEP meeting few days ago thru the Google Meet with Mrs. Newman Heather, Mrs. Principle, his speech and OT teachers from Abraham Lincoln elementary school, and Mr. Castaneda from Thomas Jefferson school because William would turn 7th year old soon.  At first I did not know why Mr. C was there but soon I found out the reason; and that came to me as a surprise.

I think it was about a month ago when the Mrs. Newman asked if I had any input/suggestions/comments about this whole thing of distance learning because of the Corona virus; I said that William might be bored because the routine is the same every day.   All I was hoping that Mrs. Newman can run the class a bit different each day so that it’s less boring.   Back then when he went to school in person, I have no idea what was going on in the physical classroom.  Now that William is at home learning thru the Google Meet; and I’m there with him every day, I know exactly what’s going on.  He most of the time tried to get off the chair and play with his toy: I always had to re-direct him back to the chair,

“I don’t want to sing!

I don’t want to select a song!

I don’t want to talk about feeling!” – It was almost everyday that William refused to participate.

That’s why I made that comment to his teacher.  Mrs. Newman then said if I was thinking about moving him to a different class.  I felt bad because I thought she took it the wrong way; I did not mean to hurt her feelings at all.

Then after that Mrs. Newman did not mention anything about the new class; and I also forgot about that conversation.

Back to the IEP meeting, just like last year IEP meeting, Mrs. Newman went thru William’s goals and said that he mastered all his goals; and she set the new goals for him.  Then all of sudden she introduced Mr. Castaneda!  Mrs. Newman started with William’s reading level is at the 2nd grade; he can count to 100 with no problem while his classmates can only count up to 30; he can do addition and subtraction math with single digit fine.  And then she recommended to transfer William to a less severe school, Jefferson elementary school.  That was when I realized why Mr. C was invited to the meeting, because he was gonna be William’s new teacher!  Mrs. Newman asked if I agree to transfer William.  I hesitated for a bit because I was worried that William might not like the change, that he would not fit in with the new class; but I also knew that if William stays in this class, he will not learn anything new because his level is higher than his classmates.

Mr. Castaneda started to talk about his class, that this class is for moderate autism; the class size is small also but the difference is that it focuses more on the grade curriculum.  I’ve been always wondering what would they teach in the normal class; and if William can go to the normal class so that he can learn the same thing that the 1st graders are learning so that he will not be behind on his academic level, but at the same time I’m worried that William cannot survive in a 25 or more children classroom: I did not know that there’s class for Autism kids that focus on the curriculum!  Mr. Castaneda’s class is what I’ve been looking for for William all along; so I agreed!

Which also meant that was the end of Mrs. Newman’s classes for William!  Tears came to my eyes!  I said “Thank You” to Mrs. Newman and everyone else, knowing that I would not see them again.   William was expected to be in his new class the next week which meant  he had 1 last day with Mrs. Newman and his classmates on Friday.

Later at night, I told William about his new class, he said “OK”.  He took it so well that I was kinda surprised.  I was not sure if he really understood what it meant.

Friday came, toward the end of the class, Mrs. Newman played a song to say good bye to William. She’s so thoughtful; Ms. Birdie and Ms. Sandy too.   We love them all!  I’m sad to say good bye to them.  They’re very dedicated teachers who are willing to go out of their way for their students; I still can’t thank Ms. Birdie enough to pick up the Chrome book for William at school and dropped it off at our house.

Monday Nov 2, 2020

William was supposed to start the new class today (school still conducts classes via online due to Covid-19 pandemic) but we still had no information about the class.  Mr. Castaneda promised to send us info over the weekend but he did not.  It was 7:00 AM in the morning, I texted Mrs. Newman about my concern. She got back to me right away saying that she’d contact Mr. C for me.

Later Mr. C called me and said that it’s best for William to start on Tuesday because he did not have the class materials yet; and that I we could come to the school to pick up his material around noon.  I said Yes.  So at noon, Tim drove William and me to the Jefferson school; it’s about 15 minutes away from our house.  I met Mr. C in person at the gate, he looks more friendly in person than from the online video meeting :).   He gave me the class materials and an enrollment form to transfer William to this new school.

Tuesday Nov 3, 2020

It was William’s first day with the new class.  Mr. C introduced William with the class, there was only 3 more kids about his age; and I don’t think they really paid much attention about William’s presence.  They all seemed very talkative.  Mr. C has 3 teacher aid but they’re very passive: all the time Mr. C was talking while the teacher aids just sat there and listening, unlike Ms. Birdie and Ms. Sandy.

The class starts at 8:30 AM.  Mr. C played some Good Morning songs from You Tube, then followed with the Social Story which was about using the Polite words. This first session ended at 9:00 AM.  Then at 10:00 AM it was math, and reading and some grammar about Noun; the class ended at 11:30 AM.

William survived the first day of class with no problem.  Now that I know what’s Mr. C is teaching in the class, I’m relieved because I know William can handle it: reading is about his level; he might have a hard time with words math because it’s the first time for him.  But I know William is a very smart boy, with a little bit of help, I’m sure he can understand words math soon.

So that’s how William got transferred to a new school to be at his academic level.

As a Mom, I could not be happier :).

 

 

My Eye Is Hurt!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

While during his morning class,  William kept scratching his right eye, and then when class was over, he sat on the couch and whined, “Mama, take me to bed!”

Why? – I asked while making his pancake for breakfast.

My eye hurts! – He said.  Then he ran to bed because he could not wait for me to finish making the pan cake.  Later I found him lied on bed covered in blanket and his eye was swollen and red.   I gave him some eye drops and put the ice pack over the ice.

I texted the teachers telling them about William’s condition and that he’d miss the next session.

Then I called the doctor office to schedule a Tele-Health with the doctor.  The doctor called 10 minutes later; we used video call so that Dr. Huy could see his eyes.

Does it hurt a lot? is it itchy? Is he still active?  – These are the questions that Dr. Huy asked.  He said to pay attention to see if there’s any marks on the face in the case something bit him but I could not find any marks.  Then he prescribed him some medicine, 1 is for itchy area, 1 is for when his eye get worse.

30 minutes later his eye seemed getting better.

1:30 PM I put him to bed for a nap but he crawled out of bed and played.  It’s great that it stopped itchy; I don’t see him scratch his eyes anymore.

Zion Re-Visit 2020

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Monday Oct 19, 2020

Woke up at 7:30 AM to get ready to buy the shuttle tickets but could not: they sold out too fast!  But that’s ok because we already took the shuttle few months ago; and William did not want to hike anyway.

So the plan was to drive along the hwy 9.  First we stopped by Canyon Junction; it was early so we could get the parking spot on the hwy 9, and walked down to the hiking trails.  William was scared of the cactus along the trails so he wanted to go back to the car; he only calmed down when I told him, “Don’t worry, Dad will carry you!”.  Tim carried him to the main hiking trail where the trail is paved and wider.  When he saw the bridge he got so excited that he ran up and down; and enjoyed listening to the loud noise every time some bikers passing on the metal bridge.

Canyon Junction, the sun was just risen. It was a little cool with light wind. Perfect weather for hiking.

In Search For Yellow Leaves 2020

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Our short trip to Utah in autumn Oct 17,2020 – Oct 20, 2020.

Oct 17: Left house around 8:00 AM, stopped by Las  Vegas for lunch at Phở Số 1 and Bellagio for its beautiful garden: it’s Pumpkin time! Then headed to Comfort Inn in Hurricane Utah around 4:00 PM.  Our dinner for tonight was Canh Bún.

Oct 18: Took the Cedar / Kolob loop to search for yellow leaves, but we were too late.  First stop at Parowan Visitor Center but they closed on Sunday.  Then continue on 143 for Yankee Meadows Reservoir;  Then hwy 148 for Cedar breaks (but we did not go in) then turn to hwy 14 (cedar canyon) -> Left turn on Right Hand Canyon Rd which will become Kolob Rd.  Only the first part of the Kolob Rd. is paved, the rest until it reaches the Kolob Reservoir is unpaved with lots of small gravels and dust! But it’s full of aspens!  Too bad we were too late.  Once we reach the Kolob Reservoir, the road is paved to hwy 9 (30 miles from here to Hurricane town but it’d take about 1 hr because there’s lots of curves and it goes thru the Kolob canyon and Zion canyon.  Our dinner for tonight was Bánh Canh Tôm Cua.

https://goo.gl/maps/qAj7f4R7VXj6NP2g9

Oct 19: Zion Park.  We could not get the shuttle tickets so we took 2 hikes on Canyon Junction and Canyon Overlook (right after the tunnel). Canyon Junction with the view of the Watchman mountain in the background is beautiful; we found a little waterfall after crossing 2 bridges.  The parking lot for the Canyon Overlook is really small (for about 20 cars) but we were lucky to get one after waiting for about 10 minutes.  Otherwise one would have to park along the road and walk back to the trail head which is about 10 minutes walking.  It’s easy trail with some parts have hand rails; and it’s beautiful along the way.  William & I did not hike to the end because it was hot and he was tired; but we enjoyed the hike regardless.

https://goo.gl/maps/1xsJe4XAX1hpyBTSA

It was still early so we decided to go back to Kolob Reservoir because we saw some yellow leaves on the other side of the reservoir yesterday.  To our disappointment, when we got there, we could not go in because it’s “Private property”.

On the way back to the hotel, we got some Domino’s pizza and some wings for dinner.

Oct 20: Checked out the hotel around 8:30 AM. Stopped Palazzo and Venetian and then Phở Số 1 for lunch then headed home.  It was 5:00 PM.

Bridge To No Where

Posted on by MICHELLE N

The road from Azusa town to the Bridge to No Where is nice with the San Gabriel Reservoir on the right offers a few great view point.  William did not care where we were going, as long as we’re out driving on the road he’d be happy.  I caught him smile while looking out the car window.

Nearest town is Azusa where we stopped by McDonald to get food; it was 10:30 AM they don’t have Happy Meal yet so I bought McGriddle and McMuffin combos.  He loves hash brown so he ate 2 hash brown and half of the McGriddle on the way to the bridge trail head.

Driving along the E Fork Rd we saw the San Gabriel river; too bad the gate is closed due to Covid-19; but that does not prevent people from getting down to the river.  I can’t believe it was so crowded.  People brought the floats to play in the water; and they had picnic there.  We tried to get down there; William saw some butterflies and he wanted to go back to the car.   Plus it was so crowded and dirty!  People threw trash all over the place!

We continued our way to the trail head but we could not believe our eyes, cars after cars parking along the road, and of course the little parking lot was already full.  As we were leaving the site, more cars still coming up to the trail head.  I don’t know if because of Covid-19, the place is closed, that’s why no-one is cleaning or it has been that way: trash was every where!

It’s nice to know a new place but I don’t know if I want to take William to go back here; unless they clean up the trash!

San Gabriel Reservoir
William rather stays in the car than goes out in a sunny day.