Recently I was reading my early blog post and found our goals for our Little Bug. Here they are from September of 2008-
1. Get Little Bug to go to sleep without a fight- whether this means giving up naps, changing work schedules or a weighted blanket, we have yet to discover.
- Beef up his sensory diet with daily activities that help him regulate his sensory system
- Continue down our road of learning sign language with him. A little background on his speech, previously, his max speech capacity was 10 words. Some- like da, ma, away- for airplane, wuwu- for train, were constants. Others, like down, up, couch, sit- they would come and stay a while. Then like nomadic words, pack up their things and leave. Since beginning sign language, he now has 19 words- constant words that stay and build homes- and almost 20 signs- that currently have long term leases and we are hoping that they will buy the property.
- Prevent self-injuring behavior- like biting and head banging.
- Help him realize and reach his full potential through realistic challenges.
I wanted to check in on each one
1. Sleep. Little Bug now goes to sleep by himself. We read him a book, carry him to his bed, tuck him in and give him love. Then off to dreamland- for a little while. He doesn’t sleep through the night always and often wakes and comes to our bed- usually two to three times a week. Little Bug is also not nighttime potty trained and at times has accidents that cause him to wake.
2. Sensory diet. This has been achieved. We have things for all the inputs- from spinning and swinging for vestibular to jumping and blanket for proprioceptive. We have chewies and snacks for oral stimming and have made sure that the clothes and blankets are of the sensory friendly type
3. Sign language. This goal has been blown out of the water. Little Bug not only tackled sign language but now has tackled English. That is to say, he never stops talking. Ever. Even when sleeping- still talking. With speech comes different challenges. He has echolalia. Commercials are a favorite of his. He will grab a tag line and repeat it to the point of craziness. He also gets “stuck” on snippets of songs. For example, he will sing two lines of the Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over and over. He also takes thing incredibly literally. Needless to say, this can make things very challenging
4. Self-injuring. Although this has decreased, it still occurs during stress as well as part of stimming. For example, he will sit on the couch and repeated hit himself in the face with an open hand while he watches TV. He also has begun to bite himself and others again as part of a way to release stress when he is frustrated or angry. He bit me the other day hard enough to break the skin through my jeans
5. Help him realize his full potential- we will never stop challenging him or growing with him.
1. Sleep. Little Bug now goes to sleep by himself. We read him a book, carry him to his bed, tuck him in and give him love. Then off to dreamland- for a little while. He doesn’t sleep through the night always and often wakes and comes to our bed- usually two to three times a week. Little Bug is also not nighttime potty trained and at times has accidents that cause him to wake.
2. Sensory diet. This has been achieved. We have things for all the inputs- from spinning and swinging for vestibular to jumping and blanket for proprioceptive. We have chewies and snacks for oral stimming and have made sure that the clothes and blankets are of the sensory friendly type
3. Sign language. This goal has been blown out of the water. Little Bug not only tackled sign language but now has tackled English. That is to say, he never stops talking. Ever. Even when sleeping- still talking. With speech comes different challenges. He has echolalia. Commercials are a favorite of his. He will grab a tag line and repeat it to the point of craziness. He also gets “stuck” on snippets of songs. For example, he will sing two lines of the Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over and over. He also takes thing incredibly literally. Needless to say, this can make things very challenging
4. Self-injuring. Although this has decreased, it still occurs during stress as well as part of stimming. For example, he will sit on the couch and repeated hit himself in the face with an open hand while he watches TV. He also has begun to bite himself and others again as part of a way to release stress when he is frustrated or angry. He bit me the other day hard enough to break the skin through my jeans
5. Help him realize his full potential- we will never stop challenging him or growing with him.
Now our new goals
1. Quality sleep- sleeping through the night consistently
2. Finding positive outlet for self-injuring stimming behavior.
3. Through play dates, organized activities through our local children’s museum as well as zoo camps, ensure that Little Bug has multiple social skills oriented opportunities outside of school.
4. Helping Little Bug to be more independent. He no longer wants to be watched by people outside the family and clings to Nick and I. We need to challenge him in order to get over this fear and ensure that he can be cared for by someone other than us.
5. Safety awareness. Because of his sensory integration disorder as well as “mind blindness” that is common with people on the spectrum, we need to work with him even harder to get him to understand safety challenges and
6 Help him realize his full potential- we will never stop challenging him or growing with him.
1. Quality sleep- sleeping through the night consistently
2. Finding positive outlet for self-injuring stimming behavior.
3. Through play dates, organized activities through our local children’s museum as well as zoo camps, ensure that Little Bug has multiple social skills oriented opportunities outside of school.
4. Helping Little Bug to be more independent. He no longer wants to be watched by people outside the family and clings to Nick and I. We need to challenge him in order to get over this fear and ensure that he can be cared for by someone other than us.
5. Safety awareness. Because of his sensory integration disorder as well as “mind blindness” that is common with people on the spectrum, we need to work with him even harder to get him to understand safety challenges and
6 Help him realize his full potential- we will never stop challenging him or growing with him.
