As you may know, Jackson is suffering from extremely significant physical and cognitive difficulties.  Over the last three months, we have frequently put updating Jackson's website on the back burner as we have been desperately seeking to identify and implement the most appropriate ways to help him with his rehabilitation and education.  This process has been more time consuming, frustrating and exhausting than we can, or should, express here.  By way of summary, all of Jackson's doctors, and an independent expert, all agree that the best treatment for Jackson's cognitive and educational needs at this point is called "ABA" therapy, short for Applied Behavior Analysis.  The program was designed for children suffering from autism, and has also had successes with children with mental retardation.  The difficult and frustrating part has been getting those obligated to provide the therapy to do so.  We have finally made some progress in that regard, though, and we hope it continues.

For his part, Jackson has been working his thirty-pound butt off.   He now does 20 hours a week of intensive in-home ABA therapy. He does it five mornings and two afternoons per week.  He is working his way up to 25 hours per week.  He has two specially trained tutors assigned to him that alternate days.  The tutors come to the house in the morning, take Jackson upstairs, and get to work for three hours at a time. Jackson loves both of them.  In fact, he used to ignore the doorbell if it rang.  Now, when he hears it, he crawls as fast as he can to the front door to meet them (he's still faster at crawling than walking).   His tutors set goals for him, and they work on them over and over.  The tutors use "motivators" to get him interested in participating in the program.  For him, the motivators are usually fruit, chips, gummy bears, or small Disney toys.  As he masters his goals, they move on to the next one.  Since he is so developmentally delayed right now, his current goals are very basic.  His goals include things like:  making eye contact with his tutor, touching his nose or tummy, and doing puzzles.  This program was designed to build upon each of the necessary skills that children need in order to learn.  There are vast differences between his current program and his prior pre-school.  Jackson used to be in a special education pre-school for physically disabled children.  While there, it appeared that he spent most of his time laying on the floor, spacing out.  Although he was in that class for months, he made absolutely no progress whatsoever, physically or mentally.  With the new program, he is already making gains.  His gains may not seem like much, but to us, they're monumental.  He now does peg puzzles, flips through books, and can stack blocks.  He seems more interested in the world.  He's also working on learning to use forks and spoons, and to drink from a cup without a top.  He still does not speak in sentences, but the number of words he uses is already increasing. 

In addition to his in-home ABA program, he also continues to participate in occupational therapy, physical therapy, adaptive PE, and speech therapy.

For some reason, Jackson's walking, which had been getting better for a little while with his braces, is now getting worse again.  As you may recall, Jackson had "foot drop," a neuropathy caused by one of the chemotherapy drugs.  HIs doctor now thinks that the prolonged foot drop has lead to "contractures" (extreme tightness of his calf muscles) which make it difficult for his feet to bend at the ankle.  Therefore, he will begin 'serial casting' on Tuesday.  Basically, they will stretch each of his feet up a far as they can towards a right angle with his leg, and cast it.  A week later, they'll remove the cast, stretch it a little further, and cast it again for another week.  After four weeks of this, he'll get new leg braces.  We hope it works.

On Saturdays, Jackson does therapeutic horseback riding through Project R.I.D.E. in Elk Grove.  It's a wonderful program and riding the horse is great for his abdominal strength and balance.  He has been assigned the same horse every week.  Everyone knows that there is a special bond between a man and his trusty steed.  George Washington had Nelson.  The Lone Ranger had Silver.  Jackson has ... "Princess."   Princess is an old white horse, but Jackson calls her, "Sammy," the name of his black lab at home.  Perhaps he just hasn't learned to say Princess' name yet, or perhaps he's trying to tell us to get him a cooler horse!

Thank you to Team Jackson for patiently supporting us the past few months.  And on behalf of Jackson and Wyatt, we would like to sincerely thank the Jolly and Contreras families for the wonderful gifts they have given our boys recently.  The Contreras family, who have a unique insight into what kinds of things little boys like, and who never seem to stop giving the boys presents, gave them more Easter presents than they could have ever wished for.  And Hank and Charlie Jolly gave Jackson and Wyatt the coolest hand-me-down clothing I've ever encountered.  Seriously, once we get the picture up, check out the navy blazer that Jackson is wearing in the picture!  He looks just like his great grandfather in it!