Give him a break. PLEASE!

And here we go again.  I had a very emotional week this week after all of Connor's therapy sessions.
On Monday, during speech, I was concerned with Connor regressing from some of the sounds he was making.  It is as if they have vanished from his mind.  Turns out Connor may have a very serious speech disorder that would cause him to have difficulty learning to speak for many years.  If he does have Apraxia it would explain a lot and make us feel a lot better for him not learning to speak yet.  Sadly, Connor might be too young still to formally test him for Apraxia so, his therapist is going to do an informal test and see where he might be with out giving him a real diagnosis until he is able to meet the age criteria.
From what I have read, Apraxia is a neurological disorder where the brain is unable to send the message to the mouth.  It all makes sense for Con.  His brain is underdeveloped and his muscles (the tongue as well)  don't work as well as they should.  It is going to be on long, long road for speech.
So that was Mondays therapy.
Then we have Thursday...
Connor has PT/OT Thursdays and is there for quite awhile.  He loves everyone but has his moments like the rest of us.
I sit in the waiting room and wait for his therapist to come and get me after his sessions.  When we spoke on Thursday she mentioned to me that he was hitting quite a bit and pinching other therapists working in the room along with a little boy named Nathan.  When he did not want to play with a toy or finish a task (I believe it was stacking pegs) he began mouthing the pegs and/or toy and biting and hitting himself.  WHAT?  Where is this behavior coming from.
She mentioned to me that he might benefit from behavioral therapy or a behavioral interventionist.  I was appalled.  It made me feel like Eric and I are not doing our job as a parent teaching him right from wrong.  My stomach was in knots as I drove home looking at my sweet boy eating his lunch in the car.
Once home, I put the boy down for a nap and called his regional center coordinator.  She said they offer ABA therapy which is something that almost all parents of autistic children want for their kids.  Connor, although not autistic, might benefit largely from it.  From what she told me, they help with not only behavior issues but also implement all of the things he may be learning in therapy.
After lots of conversations with therapists, my husband, my mom and sister (both in special education), we have come to the conclusion that Connor's behavior is stemmed from his inability to communicate.  Makes so much sense now.
So, my mom is bringing home a special program to make a real communication board for Connor and we are now looking into taking American Sign Language classes for him.  Baby signs just are not cutting it as Connor is almost at age level receptively so he knows he wants to say more than one little sign.
Lets hope it all comes into play soon.
His speech therapist is taking tomorrow off to observed the holiday so we will have to wait until the following week to have a real talk about this.  I really need to get Connor on a program where he works on the same things over and over and not try to do new sounds each week.
ACK, this is a bit overwhelming for me as I sit here and write this.
The beauty of Connor though, he NEVER complains.