Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Magic of a Timer

Quick blog.. we got home late.

Class was good tonight. She talked about disability & what to ask for. We have a good case worker- I'm sensing that many of the other students don't. It's another one of those areas that comes with the diagnosis - you never seem to know what help you can get or should be getting. It's hard to find people who can tell you any of this. It's damn near impossible to find people who know a lot about it!  The teacher shared what knowledge she had. That's why we all share information rather freely with one another regarding autism & feel obligated to let others know the information we've got.

Super summer day today - warmest day of 2014 so far according to Dave.  I should have had the kids in shorts, it was hot!

Judah had amazing progress today. He said more "I want" sentences than I have ever heard him say in one day! These sentences ended in a variety of different items that he wanted - and he didn't give up easily if I couldn't understand him. Sometimes he would try again later, and other times he would take my hand and attempt to physically show me or give me clues about what he was saying. He was saying a lot of "g" words today too, practicing his "g" sound!

Our class homework this week is to work on limits. She gave us Play-doh & place mats. Judah's goal is to keep his Play-doh on his place mat - teaching him limits. Scott or myself will have our Play-doh on a separate place mat. After I told her that Judah likes to crash other kids' things (when we were giving examples of limits our kids have trouble with), she suggested that we build our Play-doh into a tower. If he crashes it, game over, Play-doh gets put up & we walk away, talking as little as possible. If he stays on his mat, huge praise!!! I plan on trying this at least a few times this week.

Last week coloring & documenting behavior, triggers, etc. was the homework. Coloring was a disaster, he refused. So we did trains (in place of coloring). He was given 5 minutes to play trains and then he had to transition to something else. His brother & sister instantly joined us playing trains - there was no way he was going to leave at 5 minutes. The buzzer rang, he stood looking at the table for probably a full minute, then he got up & walked away!

Our instructor also gave tips on tattle-tailing - give the tattle tailer a distraction. More ignoring & no attention to the issue at hand. This doesn't fit Judah obviously, but does fit the older brother at times.

We talked more about social stories in class. Scott & I need to look into those. I've been printing up photos of the places we are about to go - so he knows what is going on. But obviously that doesn't make him want to give up what he is doing & go. Apparently social stories give more detail.. and facts, only facts. No telling him he's going to have fun or telling him how things are going to be & how he will feel, etc.

We also need to look at getting a "crash pad" or at least a bean bag for him. He needs something to safely smash into - it feels good to him.

I got a small cage from a friend today - it's my next project. I'm thinking bathroom candle deco. Another dining room chair broke last night. We are down to four.. we have more people than chairs at the table. Sebastian really enjoys sitting on the tall counter chair at the head of the dinner table, but he has to beat Daddy to it first! The microwave is getting worse too, ugg! It's hanging in there, dying a slow & painful (to us) death.

We got the digital timer in the mail. Judah took one look at it and looked away. He knew exactly what it was, and it's working like a charm! It took many tries for me to get him to go to the bathroom today - I kept coming back to him & getting the exact same response from him (ignoring me or saying "no!"). Finally I used the timer & like magic, he headed to the bathroom. Like magic, he gave up my phone. Like magic, he stopped playing trains.

Judah had 1 tablespoon (one dose) of the doctor prescribed L-carnitine. He had 2 doses of Docusate Sodium, 2000 i.u. vitamin d, three tablets 125 mg folinic acid with b-12, fish oil and no probiotic or nose drops (waiting to do lab). He had no Miralax. He had one bowel movement. He took the  sleep supplement - Cortisol Manager, before bed (2 pills tonight, not one). He also took 1/2 a pill of Bethanechol in the morn & I forgot the other 1/2 of the pill in the afternoon. He takes 25 mg total (one pill). We missed the b-12 shot last night & are doing it tonight.

 

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