Increased Speech, Eye Contact...HBOT???

Hello all,
Just an update on Sam's progress.
We took the HBOT rental back yesterday. Not sure if he realizes what we took back because it was dismantled. He'll surely get the idea when he sees all the space in the basement.
Hubby actually said he was going to miss it. He began to enjoy that time with Sam. I have a solution. I can lock them both in the closet for an hour a day together. Pretty much the same thing, less the oxygen and pressure! :-)
We can't be sure, but we both believe Sam's been giving us better eye contact, he's been friendlier and more outgoing, and his language has grown. He's now, regularly, putting two or more words together spontaneously. Even though we had to return the unit, whatever gains he's made, congnitively, are supposed to stay.
We've also got a good handle on his GI issues. He's now eliminating daily, which is so much better than the once a week. This could be HBOT, too, and if so, might revert. We'll just keep giving him the OxyPowder and Miralax and adjust as needed.
We're starting a new reading program with him called eReadingPro. Basically, a sight word program that uses very large flash cards, but does not demand a response. Just flashing the cards 3 times a day and adding to it. Eventually, he should start recognizing the words in other places and be able to read them. One gift we can build on is his incredible memory. I think this might work.
I spoke at UD on Monday and took Sam with me. I was talking to future HS teachers about autism and the IEP process. They were very receptive. I hope it was helpful to them. One thing I made sure they understood was not to underestimate either the parent or the child. When I played the video of Sam participating in the 3rd grade play, they started laughing when Sam reacted by laughing and blushing. He loves that video. I hope they got something from it.
After the UD event, I took Sam to breakfast at Frisch's. We got the breakfast bar and he was looking so longingly at the muffins that I allowed him to have one. And a pancake. Then we went to speech.
Not knowing he had had a diet infraction, Miss Sandra said he really wasn't himself during speech. He was distracted, not making good eye contact, bossy, and irritable. That tells me that the diet is working. He was pretty rough that afternoon at home, as well. Gluten is not his friend!
We would love to have continued with the HBOT dives, but money is such a factor. It's $2,200 to rent the unit for a month or around $20,000 to purchase our own. Neither is an option right now, especially with X-mas coming. Just knowing it was making small differences for Sam is enough to ask everyone we know to consider making a donation to the Sam fund, in leu of gifts this year. We'll take an improved kid over stuff anyday.
Take care everyone!
Have a great fall.
Nancy