This morning we woke up to this sweet note. Taylor had the idea that she and Makenzie would make us breakfast. They made me a peanut butter and honey toast and prepared Emily a bowl of Raisin Bran cereal. This doesn’t seem like anything significant, but Taylor has never really done anything like this so for us it was pretty huge.

According to Makenzie, this was all Taylor’s idea. This morning Taylor pulled out some little cards she got when we were doing ABA therapy last summer that each have a suggested activity to help her figure out what to do when she feels bored or overwhelmed. So today was the first time she ever used those cards and actually followed through with what the card suggested she do. The card she picked today suggested she do a service for someone. This is the first time Taylor has implemented a skill learned in therapy on her own and without resistance. So awesome to see.

Taylor has now completed 40 sessions of PrTMS and we continue to see some improvements at home and at school. Taylor has had significant behavioral improvements at school since after Christmas break. Here is her weekly chart based on data from her teachers:

Before starting PrTMS, Emily and I would need to physically dress Taylor for school about 3-4 times each week, all while she would scream at us and try to fight us off by kicking and punching us. I would typically have to drag her in to school while she would scream and try to run away.

It’s now rare that we have to physically dress her. Some days are still a challenge to get her into school, but those days are also noticeably more infrequent. And now, once she is at school, as the chart above shows, there are far fewer elopement attempts and suicidal ideation/comments than there were in November/December.

Here is the latest chart for elopements and suicidal ideation at home:

The thing that sticks out most to me in this chart is the decrease in elopements from home. Running away (or attempting to run away) from home used to be a pretty frequent occurrence on most days. The last two weeks there has been only one elopement. Just one. In two weeks.

Taylor still has her challenges at different points during most days, but she is able to recover more quickly than she used to. Her episodes can still be scary for her siblings and for us as her parents, but we are grateful for the progress she has made.

It can be hard for us as parents to remember how far she has come when we are in the middle of an episode trying to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself, but seeing the data and the results of her qEEG brain scans each week are a reminder of her clear progress.