Cooper at the Clinic

Last week was our first week at a special diagnostic clinic in Vogtareuth, Germany (close to Rosenheim). This isn't the autism clinic in Munich that Cooper will go to this summer, but another one that is required to obtain admission to an integrative kindergarten for the fall. The overall assessment at this clinic lasts 12 business days. So, we have the rest of this week and half of next week to go.

On our first day we met with a doctor whom Peter and I really liked. She spent over an hour talking to us, asking us questions, and watching Cooper play the whole time while we talked. After seeing Cooper's pediatrician many times, his two regular therapists each week, and a geneticist, it was interesting that this doctor asked us a lot of questions that no one has ever asked before. It just shows us that she is interested in Cooper and is willing to consider every avenue that might lead to some answers. Also on day 1 Cooper underwent an EEG. This is a non-invasive procedure that measures brain activity and is similar to an ECG but instead the electrodes are placed on the head in lots of spots. Cooper had to put on a funny net-like hat and then they attached wires to all of the electrodes. It looked kind of funny and scary at the same time. The plan was that Cooper would spend about 20 minutes awake laying still while they took some awake measurements, and then they would give him a sedative to send him into dreamland and take additional sleeping measurements. However, Cooper had woken up at 5 am that morning and so he fell asleep all on his own within about 5 minutes of laying still. It was actually a blessing that he didn't have to take meds to get to sleep, but we will have to redo the awake portion next week.

Here is a picture of Cooper with his funny "hat" on for the EEG:

Yawning already.

The rest of the days at the clinic have been filled with various therapy appointments. On average he gets about 4 hours of therapy per day ranging from speech, fine motor, gross motor/physical therapy, and observed play. While the therapy sessions are fun for Cooper and much like directed play, they are exhausting for him nonetheless. He is forced to try to focus and concentrate much more than on any typical day and so towards the end of the first week, I could tell it was all getting overwhelming for him. He had lots of crying fits for apparently no reason. He would scream when I could buckle him into his car seat, and this is a kid who is happy to go anywhere and loves riding in the car. He would wail and cry through dinner and at home he would alternate between getting into stuff that he shouldn't (such as the huge bottle of liquid laundry detergent) and just having meltdowns over nothing, and just being overall uncooperative. I guess having to do what other people want him to do all day results in a little boy who just wants to do what he wants at the end of the day. Between the long drives to and from the clinic each day, talking much more German everyday than I am used to, dealing with Cooper's emotional waves, and accommodating an ever growing belly and the weight and jabs and kicks that comes with it, it has been an overwhelming week for me as well.

Please pray for all of us to endure another week and for wisdom for the doctors and therapists working with Cooper. At the end we will have a meeting with the therapists and doctor again to discuss the results and see if they have any new diagnosis or treatment ideas. Ultimately, the goal with this to start with was just to fulfill the requirements for integrative kindergarten and anything more that we get out of it is just a bonus.