Not complaining.... but very concerned.

First off I apologize to those that read for not posting in the last month. I hope to do better.

Truth is Benji has been having a hard time since winter break started. Schedule changes always affect him and give him more opportunity for having meltdowns. We were actually surprised that for the most part the week leading up to Christmas there was minimal problems. The surprise is mostly because he really hates it when his one sister isn't home. (We are a blended family, and my 2 girls have visitation with their dad)

Christmas day wasn't too bad either, we kept things rather quiet so it went well. The week after Christmas Benji grew about an inch. (I kid you not) We suspect that he was having growing pains because that is when his "stimmy" behavior started up. Don't get me wrong, he has bad days on occasion but this has been on going for a couple weeks now. He was having a bad day maybe once a week, now it has switched.

We have checked his foods, haven't found anything that we are aware he is sensitive to. (He is lactose/casein intolerant, red 40 allergy, no artificial sugars, and we avoid most chemicals - especially azodicarbonamide) He tells us that there is nothing that hurts. No fever. But something is going on.

So what is going on? He is getting more and more particular with what he is doing. If he is playing with the legos and one of his brother moves one he goes into a tantrum. He will flop in a chair, having a hard time staying on task. He can sit up, he just chooses not to. The only thing that he will give his attention to and stay focused in the last week is the playstation. He is going back to grunting and whining for communication. He will talk, but acts like he doesn't want to. The thumb sucking has increased ten fold. He had almost stopped. Even so with all of this going on, I just figured it was schedule change. He had been doing well at school and still maintaining there... until yesterday.

My mommy gut says to take him to the doctor and have him checked out. My rational says it won't help. I have been pointing out the sensory stuff and the borderline autism stuff for 3 years... it wasn't until his checkup last year(March 09) that the pediatrician agreed something was going on. Even so, we were sent to Vanderbilt and they sat there and told me they thought he was probably ADHD combined, but they did nothing. No suggestions on how to help him. At the time he was getting private physical therapy, he met all his goals so we are on break right now. At school he gets PT and Speech, with a little encouraging from OT also. I love his class, the therapist come in to the classroom so even if OT isn't on their IEP if the therapist sees things that need to be addressed they can.

I know there are others that have it worse, I just think that I am concerned because usually after 2 weeks his schedule settles and it hasn't... but, we also haven't had 2 solid weeks. (winter break, back to school, out for the ice/cold, back to school, 3 day weekend now)

All I can do is trust in God and pray.