Judah pooped. We are back on track for starting the lab - Dr. Green said that Miralax is fine to take while we prepare & a sample from the diaper is fine as well. So let's start this 8 day wait again! It just means that he is off the nose drops for 8 days - which we had little luck getting done anyway. But we will do them again after the poop lab.
Western sent another candidate! We've been in communication with her today. She sounds very qualified for the job.. and is already doing this type of work for a 4 year old little girl, but only gets 6 hours a week. She can't cover all of the hours we need - I am very curious to find out how much she can cover. Between her & the other student I'm hopeful that we can get a good amount of help! We are interviewing the first student Sunday afternoon.
Judah & Bastian both came home wearing marker today. Sebastian had a line in the middle of his face near one of his eyes. It was strange because Judah had marker in that same area, and the same color as Sebastian. And it's happened before.. I can't remember what it was, but I remember that it was strangely similar. Judah had 2 regular aides there today. There are new kids in his class as of the past couple of weeks too. He did not want me to leave him this morning, he was about 60% clingy, so I stayed for a bit - which gave me time to engage with one of the subs who was working with him & let her know more about him. I don't know what has happened to his regular teacher - I've seen her one time in the past 3 weeks (as she walked out of the classroom minutes before class was to begin). She basically just said "hello" to us & kept going. I've talked to her by phone twice during this period. It's as if she's become a ghost. Even the aides aren't all showing up now?? And the kid population is increasing - when Shelley had told me it was at it's max?? I'm guessing some of this will be explained during his review meeting coming up.
The teacher sub was the same lady who had sent us home last week. She got Judah's epi-pen out of his bag and let me know they had all been trained on using an epi-pen this morning. She opened the box and asked if she should just take one. ?? I told her that they keep the entire box & that it is very possible that 2 pens could be needed for one reaction. The box has 2 epi-pens & a trainer. She seemed very surprised when I told her this.
We ordered a yearbook for Sebastian today - it was also his snack day today. Thanks again Gramma for covering that!! The kids sang a song to him, he passed out the snack & the teacher made everyone sit down & eat!! Woah!!! It was like an actual snack time! I was very happy to hear this.
Judah followed instruction a few times when I asked him to turn out lights, a couple times when I asked him to put pajama shirts away (after I led his hand near the open drawer) and was able to do the "hands down" practice sort of one time. During this practice he says "hands down" back to me (which isn't part of the task but great that he does) and hits one hand on his leg.. not two. Today he did it on the last try (out of 3 tries) because he was really mad that I wouldn't give him his train (the reward). It took a while though. To end on a "positive note" (as we are supposed to do), I played trains with him using his reward train.
Sebastian got to school close to bell time yesterday. When I dropped him off I told him to get going or else the teacher would mark him as tardy. He questioned me for a minute or two about what that meant, which is when I mentioned that it would be on his report card. After school he explains to me that the teacher didn't call him "tardy", she called him Sebastian. And she didn't write tardy on his rewards card (report card). Ha! Rewards card - as if he was going to the grocery store, haha. I made a video of him explaining what "tardy" was.
Judah hardly talked at all during his speech therapy. He did ask for juice though. "Juice please!" - which is what she taught him. Today she tried to get him to turn that into "I want juice" - which is what he says at school quite regularly, easily and repeatedly. He wouldn't do it. It was always, "juice please". I see that as maybe he needs to understand that these phrases can be used in a variety of settings - not just one at school & home and one at speech.
After learning about time-outs during class last night I tried one on Judah when he ran out of the bathroom before putting his diaper on. He did it! I set the timer, he sat on his bare bottom in the chair and watched the timer. I had him do 3 minutes. At the last 5 seconds he took off for the train room. I put him back in the chair to finish. And then... he went right back to the bathroom and complied with no problem. I have him washing his hands after every time he potties now as well. And it's not that hard at all, usually no problem.
Judah was anxious when I put his chicken nuggets in the freezer to cool. I set out the timer & his focus went to that, and he was calm. He got on his tippy-toes, trying to see the timer because it was laying flat on the counter. I pushed it to the edge, he picked it up very carefully, cupping his hands around it so he wouldn't hit a button. Then he sat it back down on the counter & went to watch SpongeBob until his nuggets were ready. Incorporating the timer helps. We need to try social stories using McQueen when the timer doesn't do the entire trick.
Scott tried repeatedly to get Judah to stay in bed. He told him goodnight - left the room - Judah got up - Scott put him back down.. over & over. Scott stood by his door, didn't work. This is what people do with typical children. I'm thinking sand timer that he can watch & know that Daddy comes back in to check on him when the timer is up. Social story of McQueen going to bed could help. And even a reward in the morning - explaining it to him through pictures. I'm crazy motivated to do better after those classes!! The combination of learning style (Saturday class) and the mountain of parenting information from the other class we went to (on a regular basis) has helped me come up with a few ideas & plans. I've written down what we have learned & ideas that we have been given.. many are the same ones, over & over. That has helped them STICK.
Willow refused to take her new Sophia pajamas off all day long today. I didn't see any harm in this. A summer t-shirt is her only other Sophia attire & I wasn't going to put that on her. It was cold & rainy today!
Judah brought me his Leap Frog & let me know he wanted to do his Cars e-book. "Cars?" I turned it on & he sat beside me at the table, having no problem at all, enjoying his story & pressing buttons on the screen to interact. When the activity was over he handed it back to me & got up. Sebastian sat on the other side of me filling out his Star of the Week paperwork, haha. It's fun though. Tomorrow we will be writing it all in Spanish! He wants to take his huge yellow poster that he made in preschool as his item to show everyone. I proposed that idea & his mind just got stuck on it. That happens often. I need to keep my mouth shut. I asked him repeatedly if there was something else that he really wanted to take - nope, just the poster!
Headache has been drifting in today. Doing good right now.
Judah said "I want cars" a million times in the car today - meaning he wanted to play on my phone. I usually don't let him do this while I'm driving. I told him, "I know you do. We can do that when we get home." and turned away. He knew what that meant. He got angry and hit his head with his hand a couple of times but after that was very calm, just unhappy that he couldn't have the phone. He continued to ask - I did not respond & he did not get upset. Just saying this once seemed to help a lot. I did the same with the other two today - just said it once. This worked pretty miraculously. We tend to over-talk with our kids instead of making it simple & clear. Today I tried extremely hard to set clear boundaries, and not throw in a question & to give a warning of what would happen if they didn't do something. Sebastian had to match socks for half an hour today - because of a behavior this morning & one yesterday. He did not get the usual luxury of having the TV on. Anytime he stopped matching socks & started playing the timer got stopped (timer is very helpful). Suddenly he seemed to understand that this was not fun & he couldn't make it fun. I told him that if he wasn't matching socks then I would not be talking to him (clear warning). And I followed through on all of this. Sister became a distraction, but I could easily move her & fixate her on something else. Judah became a very physical distraction, but luckily not until the very end. I did not congratulate him for doing his task as I usually do (Super Nanny you are wrong!!). That also seemed very effective, and felt like a much more sensible thing to do.
Sebastian's friends came over & asked him to go around the corner to someones house with them. He asked my permission. I was able to stick to our rule - and he did not get upset - he just let his friends know what he could do & was not at all embarrassed about it. He yelled from our house to his friend racing away, "I can't go past the mailbox Cooper! I don't want to be left!" He was still able to play with them. He played for a short while with his friends and then came home and wanted to play in the garage with his siblings. He was never upset. I think we are more nervous about this than he is!! Scott & I talked about this stuff tonight & made clear rules for friend situations that are arising.
This evening Sebastian sat in time-out while everyone got ready for bed. He did very well, reading a magazine. He tried not to talk - that one is really hard for him. I made my presence known but none of us stayed in the living room with him. Also I told him to use his sand timer for brushing his teeth, to close the bathroom door & to come out as soon as he was done. Two seconds after entering the bathroom he came out & requested that I brush his teeth for him. ?? Usually that is something we tell him we are going to do if he doesn't do it himself - and he gets upset! I think he was afraid he wouldn't do this task correctly maybe? I made it clear that I would only help if he allowed me to do it without him playing around. Total success. He wants me to do it tomorrow night too. I agreed to do this for a week. Hopefully after that he will be more confident in doing this by himself. He seems to do well with rules & structure - which is completely normal for kids, we just don't always remember that!! He creates his own if we don't create it - which in this case had turned into him hiding out in the bathroom, swiping his teeth with his toothbrush a couple of times. His toothbrush having basically no toothpaste on it. He refused to do this if someone else was in the bathroom with him. Tonight was a huge turn-around for him.
Sebastian's Star of the Week presentation isn't until Friday but he is doing some every night so that we get it done - and do it in a way that is stress-free & natural. This is also new!
Judah pooped (as mentioned above).
We started the new med, Oxymag 1/2 - 1 tsp 1-2 times a day - we did 1 tsp. Judah had 1 tablespoon (one dose) of his prescribed L-carnitine. He had 2 doses of Docusate Sodium, 2000 i.u. vitamin d, three tablets 125 mg folinic acid with b-12, 1 tsp. fish oil, no probiotic & no nose drops (preparing for lab). He had 1 dose of Miralax. He had one pill of sleep supplement - Magnesium Citramate 135 mg. He had 1/2 Bethanechol 2 times today.
B-12 shot given.
Western sent another candidate! We've been in communication with her today. She sounds very qualified for the job.. and is already doing this type of work for a 4 year old little girl, but only gets 6 hours a week. She can't cover all of the hours we need - I am very curious to find out how much she can cover. Between her & the other student I'm hopeful that we can get a good amount of help! We are interviewing the first student Sunday afternoon.
Judah & Bastian both came home wearing marker today. Sebastian had a line in the middle of his face near one of his eyes. It was strange because Judah had marker in that same area, and the same color as Sebastian. And it's happened before.. I can't remember what it was, but I remember that it was strangely similar. Judah had 2 regular aides there today. There are new kids in his class as of the past couple of weeks too. He did not want me to leave him this morning, he was about 60% clingy, so I stayed for a bit - which gave me time to engage with one of the subs who was working with him & let her know more about him. I don't know what has happened to his regular teacher - I've seen her one time in the past 3 weeks (as she walked out of the classroom minutes before class was to begin). She basically just said "hello" to us & kept going. I've talked to her by phone twice during this period. It's as if she's become a ghost. Even the aides aren't all showing up now?? And the kid population is increasing - when Shelley had told me it was at it's max?? I'm guessing some of this will be explained during his review meeting coming up.
The teacher sub was the same lady who had sent us home last week. She got Judah's epi-pen out of his bag and let me know they had all been trained on using an epi-pen this morning. She opened the box and asked if she should just take one. ?? I told her that they keep the entire box & that it is very possible that 2 pens could be needed for one reaction. The box has 2 epi-pens & a trainer. She seemed very surprised when I told her this.
We ordered a yearbook for Sebastian today - it was also his snack day today. Thanks again Gramma for covering that!! The kids sang a song to him, he passed out the snack & the teacher made everyone sit down & eat!! Woah!!! It was like an actual snack time! I was very happy to hear this.
Judah followed instruction a few times when I asked him to turn out lights, a couple times when I asked him to put pajama shirts away (after I led his hand near the open drawer) and was able to do the "hands down" practice sort of one time. During this practice he says "hands down" back to me (which isn't part of the task but great that he does) and hits one hand on his leg.. not two. Today he did it on the last try (out of 3 tries) because he was really mad that I wouldn't give him his train (the reward). It took a while though. To end on a "positive note" (as we are supposed to do), I played trains with him using his reward train.
Sebastian got to school close to bell time yesterday. When I dropped him off I told him to get going or else the teacher would mark him as tardy. He questioned me for a minute or two about what that meant, which is when I mentioned that it would be on his report card. After school he explains to me that the teacher didn't call him "tardy", she called him Sebastian. And she didn't write tardy on his rewards card (report card). Ha! Rewards card - as if he was going to the grocery store, haha. I made a video of him explaining what "tardy" was.
Judah hardly talked at all during his speech therapy. He did ask for juice though. "Juice please!" - which is what she taught him. Today she tried to get him to turn that into "I want juice" - which is what he says at school quite regularly, easily and repeatedly. He wouldn't do it. It was always, "juice please". I see that as maybe he needs to understand that these phrases can be used in a variety of settings - not just one at school & home and one at speech.
After learning about time-outs during class last night I tried one on Judah when he ran out of the bathroom before putting his diaper on. He did it! I set the timer, he sat on his bare bottom in the chair and watched the timer. I had him do 3 minutes. At the last 5 seconds he took off for the train room. I put him back in the chair to finish. And then... he went right back to the bathroom and complied with no problem. I have him washing his hands after every time he potties now as well. And it's not that hard at all, usually no problem.
Judah was anxious when I put his chicken nuggets in the freezer to cool. I set out the timer & his focus went to that, and he was calm. He got on his tippy-toes, trying to see the timer because it was laying flat on the counter. I pushed it to the edge, he picked it up very carefully, cupping his hands around it so he wouldn't hit a button. Then he sat it back down on the counter & went to watch SpongeBob until his nuggets were ready. Incorporating the timer helps. We need to try social stories using McQueen when the timer doesn't do the entire trick.
Scott tried repeatedly to get Judah to stay in bed. He told him goodnight - left the room - Judah got up - Scott put him back down.. over & over. Scott stood by his door, didn't work. This is what people do with typical children. I'm thinking sand timer that he can watch & know that Daddy comes back in to check on him when the timer is up. Social story of McQueen going to bed could help. And even a reward in the morning - explaining it to him through pictures. I'm crazy motivated to do better after those classes!! The combination of learning style (Saturday class) and the mountain of parenting information from the other class we went to (on a regular basis) has helped me come up with a few ideas & plans. I've written down what we have learned & ideas that we have been given.. many are the same ones, over & over. That has helped them STICK.
Willow refused to take her new Sophia pajamas off all day long today. I didn't see any harm in this. A summer t-shirt is her only other Sophia attire & I wasn't going to put that on her. It was cold & rainy today!
Judah brought me his Leap Frog & let me know he wanted to do his Cars e-book. "Cars?" I turned it on & he sat beside me at the table, having no problem at all, enjoying his story & pressing buttons on the screen to interact. When the activity was over he handed it back to me & got up. Sebastian sat on the other side of me filling out his Star of the Week paperwork, haha. It's fun though. Tomorrow we will be writing it all in Spanish! He wants to take his huge yellow poster that he made in preschool as his item to show everyone. I proposed that idea & his mind just got stuck on it. That happens often. I need to keep my mouth shut. I asked him repeatedly if there was something else that he really wanted to take - nope, just the poster!
Headache has been drifting in today. Doing good right now.
Judah said "I want cars" a million times in the car today - meaning he wanted to play on my phone. I usually don't let him do this while I'm driving. I told him, "I know you do. We can do that when we get home." and turned away. He knew what that meant. He got angry and hit his head with his hand a couple of times but after that was very calm, just unhappy that he couldn't have the phone. He continued to ask - I did not respond & he did not get upset. Just saying this once seemed to help a lot. I did the same with the other two today - just said it once. This worked pretty miraculously. We tend to over-talk with our kids instead of making it simple & clear. Today I tried extremely hard to set clear boundaries, and not throw in a question & to give a warning of what would happen if they didn't do something. Sebastian had to match socks for half an hour today - because of a behavior this morning & one yesterday. He did not get the usual luxury of having the TV on. Anytime he stopped matching socks & started playing the timer got stopped (timer is very helpful). Suddenly he seemed to understand that this was not fun & he couldn't make it fun. I told him that if he wasn't matching socks then I would not be talking to him (clear warning). And I followed through on all of this. Sister became a distraction, but I could easily move her & fixate her on something else. Judah became a very physical distraction, but luckily not until the very end. I did not congratulate him for doing his task as I usually do (Super Nanny you are wrong!!). That also seemed very effective, and felt like a much more sensible thing to do.
Sebastian's friends came over & asked him to go around the corner to someones house with them. He asked my permission. I was able to stick to our rule - and he did not get upset - he just let his friends know what he could do & was not at all embarrassed about it. He yelled from our house to his friend racing away, "I can't go past the mailbox Cooper! I don't want to be left!" He was still able to play with them. He played for a short while with his friends and then came home and wanted to play in the garage with his siblings. He was never upset. I think we are more nervous about this than he is!! Scott & I talked about this stuff tonight & made clear rules for friend situations that are arising.
This evening Sebastian sat in time-out while everyone got ready for bed. He did very well, reading a magazine. He tried not to talk - that one is really hard for him. I made my presence known but none of us stayed in the living room with him. Also I told him to use his sand timer for brushing his teeth, to close the bathroom door & to come out as soon as he was done. Two seconds after entering the bathroom he came out & requested that I brush his teeth for him. ?? Usually that is something we tell him we are going to do if he doesn't do it himself - and he gets upset! I think he was afraid he wouldn't do this task correctly maybe? I made it clear that I would only help if he allowed me to do it without him playing around. Total success. He wants me to do it tomorrow night too. I agreed to do this for a week. Hopefully after that he will be more confident in doing this by himself. He seems to do well with rules & structure - which is completely normal for kids, we just don't always remember that!! He creates his own if we don't create it - which in this case had turned into him hiding out in the bathroom, swiping his teeth with his toothbrush a couple of times. His toothbrush having basically no toothpaste on it. He refused to do this if someone else was in the bathroom with him. Tonight was a huge turn-around for him.
Sebastian's Star of the Week presentation isn't until Friday but he is doing some every night so that we get it done - and do it in a way that is stress-free & natural. This is also new!
Judah pooped (as mentioned above).
We started the new med, Oxymag 1/2 - 1 tsp 1-2 times a day - we did 1 tsp. Judah had 1 tablespoon (one dose) of his prescribed L-carnitine. He had 2 doses of Docusate Sodium, 2000 i.u. vitamin d, three tablets 125 mg folinic acid with b-12, 1 tsp. fish oil, no probiotic & no nose drops (preparing for lab). He had 1 dose of Miralax. He had one pill of sleep supplement - Magnesium Citramate 135 mg. He had 1/2 Bethanechol 2 times today.
B-12 shot given.
Hi Molly,
ReplyDeleteDo you have an iPad? If so, check out the free Social Stories app from Touch Autism. Not all of them would be appropriate for Judah, but you're able to create your own using your own pictures or even include an audio clip. Thought it may be a good one to use for bedtime since you mentioned it's a challenge. love, erin.
You have just written the first comment on my blog!
DeleteI wish we had an iPad. Disability provided a Leap Frog Ultra - which is nice, but obviously incredibly different. Apple has sooo many apps. We need to get on that train! That sounds like an incredible app!!! It would be much more large-scale than what I could do - and would likely save me a lot of time. Please don't hesitate to throw any other ideas you may have our way!!! :)