More emotions

So here we are, a few weeks into the whole detox (chelation) thing. A fellow mom from school asked me if I had noticed anything different – certainly a fair question. We are turning out to be the test run for a few other families at T's school – everyone is nervous about chelation – so naturally, they really want to know how T is doing. As with so many of these interventions, we have not seen immediate, remarkable results (i.e. "I took gluten out of my kid's diet and he started talking in full sentences the next day!!!") (I just want to smack those parents who have that result. Not very charitable, but honest.) But what we have seen is, for lack of a better way to describe it, that his brain synapses seem to be firing better. More connections, more requests, more intentional eye contact (i.e. "Can I?" expression that he has) and interestingly enough, he seems at times to be more emotional. Today was a great example.

He has overly sensitive ears, so things like disposals in the kitchen sink really hurt his ears and scare him. When I need to use it, I give him fair warning ("Okay T, loud noise") and he'll cover his ears and say "Turn it off!" when I do turn it on. But usually, that's that – it's not any big dramatic thing. Not today. We went through the usual routine, and after I turned it off, he looked at me, the lower lip started going, tears welled up in his eyes, and he started crying. And here's one heartbreaking aspect of T's autism – you can't console him. He doesn't want to be held – it just makes things worse…usually. So, I knelt down in front of him, took him by the hips so as not to overwhelm him, and said "Oh T, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He backed up a bit and hit the top of my head with his hands (it was gentle, but nonetheless a definite "you pissed me off" hit.) Side note: I don't outwardly condone his new little bursts of temper when he hits things in reaction to being angry or thwarted, but inwardly, I'm cheering him on. It's SO neurotypical! You go kid!!!) So I didn't react – a skill I've learned from his Verbal Behavior therapy – and then was completely surprised by his next action: he put his arms around my neck and HUGGED me. I put him on my knee and hugged him right back, and there we stayed for a full two minutes or so – hugging each other. He continued to cry on my shoulder…again…so neurotypical…and I held him and took it all in. His sobs calmed after a bit, but he was still holding on to me so I kept on hugging him, and didn't ever want to let go. My son was consoled by my embrace.

A God Moment.

When he was calm, he pulled away gently and said "Tissue" so he could wipe his nose. He did, and then went on his way.

We may never know if these developments are due to the chelation or just normal human development. What matters is that it's happening. I'll take it either way.