This weekend, we went to visit DN’s parents. These are stressful trips for me and for Little Bug, but for different reasons. I don’t particularly get along with DN’s step dad. He seems to go out of his way to call me Little Bug’s mom and to basically be rude. Often times, he takes a nap when we are around. Little Bug finds these trips stressful also because of DN’s step dad. He talks in this incredibly high pitch screechy voice and is short in the way he speaks- apparently, the other grand kids like it, but not Little Bug.
I wrote a while back that DN’s parents don’t get ASD and SID. Well, I think they might be coming around. His step dad lost the creepy voice- YAY FOR ALL OUR EARS! His mom made sure to ask about doing things before doing them. Little Bug actually let DN’s step dad hold him- this was the first time this has happened since Little Bug has been mobile. He usually tells him NO and runs.
I was very proud of DN. He knows that I am concerned regarding his parents and how they deal with Little Bug- I will be honest, I do not completely trust them as they have gone out of their way to do whatever it is we don’t want them to do in the past. For example, a week before Little Bug had his surgery for his lymphatic malformation- which involved a face lift procedure- they wanted us to visit them, but the other kids were there and the other kids are always sick. We told them that if they were sick, we weren’t coming. They lied to us- oh no, they’re fine! LIES! They both had colds and diarrhea. I was incredibly angry as it was very close to his surgery that we had been waiting over 8 months for.
Sorry for digressing. Little Bug was playing with DN’s parents while DN and I made dinner for everyone. We start to hear this horrible yelling- NO, NO, NO! DN finally yelled- HE SAID NO- WE CAN HEAR IT. And they stopped doing whatever it was that made Little Bug mad. While I am proud of DN, this cements my concerns with them- they don’t get it. They don’t get that he isn’t being obstinate or a brat- that he can’t do things for reasons we may never know.
Moving on to Little Bug accomplishments- yesterday he had play group and Autism class. He did amazing in both. He sat for circle time by himself on the mat and even did the hand motions for one of the songs. This is HUGE- I never thought he would be able to do this. It reminds me never to underestimate what a group of dedicated people can do for one extremely smart and dedicated little boy.
Autism class went great- he worked hard for most of it. He worked on waiting and taking turns and pointing. Yes, pointing. Little Bug doesn’t point. He vaguely gestures while whining, leaving you to show him any number of things before you get it right. His teacher is working first on pointing and then on pointing and making eye contact. He did a great job and only had one extremely minor melt down.
His picture schedule is finished. I made it myself in order to personalize it. Rather than have generic pictures of cloths and getting dressed etc. I did it specific to him. This will hopefully make transitions- changing from one activity to another- easier. The whole purpose of it is that you show him what is next and then go do it. Afterwards, you have him take the picture and put it in the ALL DONE basket as he says all done. This helps him wrap his mind around the fact that it is time to move on. I am hoping that as he catches on, we can have a FUN basket- pictures of things that he likes to do, but doesn’t always get to do- looking at the fish at Pets Mart, the Zoo, McD’s, the play place, etc. These will be incentives and allow him to get to control his day.
In a totally not ASD related topic, we had to get new tires- to the tune of $200.00. ARGH! It seems like financially, there is always something. A lot of it is ASD related- co payments, therapy tools for home, etc. But a lot of it is just life- random things that happen in clusters.
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