When the cookies (and Sammy's Therapy Box) were finished, it wasn't easy to get Sammy to cooperate. As Uma left the kitchen, she made sure Sammy was OK, and she needed to know where he was. Thankfully, Sammy was perfectly safe, playing toy trains with Kenji again - in the living room. However, Kenji left to take a shower, making sure the room was safe for Sammy. He let Uma watch over Sammy, at that time.
Sammy acted deaf, avoiding eye contact, acting as if he were alone. He rolled toy train's wheels with his fingertips, watching how wheels spin. He grunted and rocked, back and forth, back and forth.
Uma carefully approached Sammy. She kneeled down, keeping her distance, smiling at the boy. "Little Sammy," Uma said, "Supper time. Cookies! Peanut butter crackers!" She even showed to Sammy - some laminated pictures of chocolate cookies, peanut butter crackers, and snack time.
Sammy couldn't stand making eye contact, let alone, looking at people's faces. He kept playing with his toy trains.
When Uma gently poked Sammy's shoulder, he screamed in anger, slamming his toy trains on the floor. With Sammy being nonverbal, he was unable to express why he got mad.
"Sammy! Calm down!" Uma said, her voice near inaudible by the boy's shrieks. Sammy didn't want a snack yet, he wanted to play with toy trains, in a dim, gently lit playroom. He didn't want to enter the kitchen, especially with weird aromas, foods he couldn't tolerate at all, painfully bright lights, and loud noises (such as dishes, blenders, sizzling, cutlery, people chatting, etc).
Sammy kept screaming, violently flapping his hands towards Uma. As Uma tried to gently pick up Sammy, but when she gently picked him up by the shoulders, Sammy began to kick and wiggle. Suddenly, Sammy bit her on the shoulder. She had to restrain him, by "hugging" his legs and arms, and she put a homemade washcloth cover over Sammy's mouth, so he couldn't bite. He could still breathe through his nose, though.
-
Kenji didn't witness Sammy's meltdown. Kenji was in the family bathroom, giving himself a warm, soapy shower. Kenji recently hit puberty, and he had to take extra special care of his own body. Since Kenji is neurotypical, and he heard what the doctor said about violent, pubertal autistic children, he became worried.
"I'm glad I don't have autism," Kenji spoke to himself. "I've got this huge surge of testosterone in my body, but I mostly feel fine. My private parts feel larger and funny, I'm growing lots of hairs and a small beard, and my muscles feel stronger. I'm becoming a handsome young man, I guess… but, what if I were Sammy?" Kenji asked himself, shampooing and applying gel to his own hair.
In a nutshell, Kenji shuddered at the thought of having autism. Recently, Harold told the family about autism, and Harold said "when autistic children reach puberty, in both sexes, they may become extremely violent and aggressive." Kenji let that sink into his mind, and he cringed in fear, with goosebumps rising on his skin. The shower's water was still warm.
When Kenji was all done, he dressed up in casual daytime clothes, entering the kitchen. There, he saw that Sammy was at the kitchen table, with Uma and Kazuko by his side. They laid out special snacks, therapy toys, laminated bilingual PEC cards (English and Japanese Language), and and the kitchen lights were much dimmer than usual. Nobody could do dishes near Sammy, otherwise he'd cover his ears, hit himself, and scream. Sammy was in a warm, soft, blue dinosaur blanket, covered around his body and head. Despite all the chaos, Sammy felt calmer and happier.
"You're spoiling this kid," Kenji remarked. "No wonder why he's so hypersensitive. And I love my little brother, but he screams, attacks people, and plays by himself a lot. Is he a monster kid I shouldn't love?"
"Sammy is not a monster kid," Kazuko replied, as she gave Sammy a calming sensory toy (a multi textured, squeaky-clean, Lego-shaped red chewy necklace). "He has a serious disability known as autism. Along with it, he has painful sensory issues, and inability to adapt to changes. We created a Therapy Box, and we might make another Therapy Box to benefit Touka. Doctors suspect that Touka has comorbid autism, but they're unsure about her disabilities. She's at the hospital."
"Touka is sick?" Kenji asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Kazuko replied. "Her tonsils became too large, painful, and swollen, so she's resting at the hospital. She also has apnea, so it's hard for her to breathe at night. Tomorrow, surgeons will perform a tonsillectomy on her."
-
"We're phasing out wheat, gluten, dairy, and soy out of Sammy's diet," Uma said, lifting a box of special crackers. "We got special sprouted nut and seed butters, only in recyclable glass jars, no plastics at all. And delicious crackers. These crackers use chickpeas, rice, and sunflower seeds, all sprouted and organic. Want some?"
Kenji's stomach growled. "Alright, I'll have some crackers," he answered, sitting down. He put some pecan butter on a chickpea cracker. As he bit into it, he heard Sammy begin to scream again.
"Ahhhhh!!!" Sammy screamed, squinting his eyes, squirming around in his chair. He farted, and his belly felt weird.
Kenji covered his own ears, looking away. "My little brother is a monster," he whispered to himself.
Uma sniffed the air. "Sammy needs a diaper change," she said, helping Kazuko lift up Sammy. Uma showed Sammy a card that said "Diaper Change", "Nursery Room", and "Clean Diaper". As Sammy and squirming and screaming, Kazuko and Uma had to restrain him, all the way to the nursery room. Uma gave Sammy his favorite plush toy - a plush puppy, with multiple sensory seeker features, such as textured, chewable, sky blue ears. Sammy nibbled on the ears, as they satisfied his urge to bite. He hugged and squeezed the soft, velvety toy puppy in his arms.
All that time, the girls were changing Sammy's dirty diaper.
"Ugh," Uma moaned, as they put on fragrant, flower-scented facial masks. "Poop doesn't smell good, but Sammy's poop smells even worse. And it's never solid."
As Kazuko took off Sammy's dirty diaper, Sammy peed directly into her face. She shielded her face with a washcloth, saying "Cut it out, little guy! Pee pee got all over mommy!" Uma gently wiped off Sammy's parts, leaving no trace of excrement behind, and she put a fresh, clean diaper on him. All the diapers, all biodegradable and natural, were the same themes - always race cars or dinosaurs. Sammy rejected other themes - airplanes, bugs, zoo animals, etc - he'd get angry and grunt, and without earmuffs, sunglasses, and various sensory toys, he couldn't tolerate grocery shopping.
-
Where was Harold? Harold was in his bedroom, viewing the family photo album. He viewed photos of Kazuko's pregnancy and labor with Sammy, Sammy's infant years, and when Sammy gradually regressed into severe autism.
"I don't think my son will be okay," Harold spoke to himself. "I worry I might have poisoned him or something… maybe my crappy genetics or all that aluminum from his shots, I couldn't stop reading about it online. It terrifies me. I was a lot like Sammy when I was little, but…"
He viewed another photo. It was Sammy, forgoing cake for his 4th birthday, eating brownies and peanut butter crackers instead. Previously, he used to eat scrambled eggs, yogurt, ice cream, and applesauce, but as Sammy weaned off puréed food, his diet changed for the worst.
Harold viewed another photo. This time, it was Sammy in bed, sick with a stomach virus, with a silver mixing bowl by his side. The bowl wasn't for storing food, but for storing his gargantuan regurgitation. In other words, lots of vomit.
"My little boy is very sick," Harold frowned, tears forming in his eyes. "He might never recover, and if I die when he's grown up, he's gonna get tortured inside a disgusting group home or institution…"
Harold realized he felt lonely, and he wanted to cry. "I'm a grown man, I should be mad at this," he told himself. "I don't know what caused my son's disability. Was it genetic or environmental? Do autistics feel loneliness?"
Harold munched on some sesame seeds and black bean chips, making himself feel better. Whenever he felt sad, he always craved sesame seeds. Harold immediately felt better, but he began to think about where Sammy could be educated. He logged onto his touchscreen phone, searching up alternative educational placements. None of them seemed suitable. The local special schools were all at full capacity, and some special schools had very negative reviews - citing student abuse, room clears, supine restraints, bad food, terrifying seclusion and scream rooms, vomit-covered floors, and poor or fully enlisted therapy services - all at full capacity.
"I used to homeschool Kenji, when he was bullied over literacy difficulties, in the fourth grade," Harold spoke to himself, pondering. "My wife, Kazuko, is a retired occupational therapist. If these crappy, expensive, government provided services have very limited success - for such a serious disorder - I must become my son's own therapist."
Harold began browsing the bookshelf, viewing through books about various childhood therapies - OT, PT, ABA, SLP, etc. He memorized lots of important tips and information, and he took lots of notes. He felt much more hopeful, hoping to improve Sammy's life.
-
When Sammy calmed down, he enjoyed his cookies and nut butter crackers. The soft, warm, chocolatey, chewy cookies reminded him of brownies. Even better, they contained allergy free chocolate chips, vanilla parsnip pea protein powder, and some puréed banana. He loved them, and he dunked each tiny cookie into a glass of almond milk. He cheerfully grunted and cooed, flapping his hands. He devoured 3 little cookies, and was still hungry.
"Good boy," Uma praised, "are you still hungry?"
Nonverbal Sammy replied by rubbing his tummy and nodding.
"Sammy understands some receptive language, but he lacks expressive language," Kazuko said. "Although he can't speak, he understands some things. I think he's still hungry, so let him try some crackers."
Uma spread nut butters on each cracker. She started off, with cashew butter on a rice cracker. As she displayed it to Sammy, she said "Sammy, cracker. Open mouth. Say ahh."
Sammy opened his mouth, and she put the cracker on his tongue.
"Sammy, chew it all up, like a cow," Uma said, displaying a photo of a cow. Sammy chewed up the cracker, and he swallowed it without requiring prompting. Sammy had a cheerful demeanor, and he smiled, flapping his hands, staring at the kitchen floor.
It wasn't easy, but Sammy started to enjoy his new, special foods. Uma and Kazuko began to feel overwhelming joy,. They believed if Sammy could tolerate even more foods, they could introduce him to onigiri (rice ball) creation, using chopsticks, and eating special veggie and meat croquettes.
TBC