I give a lot of credit for Little Bug's language to ASL. ASL is what we turned to between diagnosis and services- those horribly long months on wait list after wait list. His first language understanding was ASL- that was where the first phrases, questions, and comments came from. ASL is what gave him a voice. When asked what languages he speaks, we always add ASL because he still uses it.
We are now using ASL for letters. This weekend, Little Bug learned the alphabet in ASL. I am amazed at how quickly he picked it up. We went through it twice, and now he is randomly saying letters and signing the correct sign.
In other updates, he knows the days of the week. How and where he learned this is beyond me, but he does know them. He looked at Nick and I on Sunday and said, "Ride school bus morrow- Mondy." He was right.
He is having a hard time with stimming again. He has begun to go to his room and open and close the doors on his dresser and yell "Open and Shut! Open and Shut!" over and over again. If something is red, brown, green, or blue (Thomas people know where I'm going), he has to sing the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song.
Biting and hitting are creeping up in instances. It seems like this is his way of modulating himself as he is doing it whenever he is feeling something extreme. For example, he and I were wrestling and goofing off yesterday. I was tickling him and he was laughing hysterically- those belly laughs that shake his body and make everyone in the room laugh as well. Well, he bit my face. I didn't get mad or loud, I just said OW! He immediately apologized and we went back to playing. He later was biting himself because he was laughing.
I am thankful that we will be starting OT in 17 days.
Showing posts with label OT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OT. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
On the Wait Again
We received contact from a local hospital and their therapy clinic. They are highly focused on OT and more specifically, Sensory Modulation Disorder. This Disorder isn't in the DSM so it is an undiagnosed but suspected disorder.
Unfortunately, this means another wait period of 3 to 6 months. The nice thing about this situation is that we have ample time to create better goals for Little Bug. Our last goals were focused on bathing, dressing, not biting himself or others.
This time, our goals are going to be more focused around the following:
1. Sensing HOT versus COLD.
2. Sensing and identifying pain.
3. Sensing and identifying bodily sensations- hunger, thirst, heat, etc.
You may think these goals seem basic- they are. They are also incredibly difficult for Little Bug. He will touch items that are burning hot and have no reaction. He played in ice on his birthday until his little fingers were bright red and felt frozen to everyone else. Didn't bother him. He can have a fever of 102 and up and yet act no different.
How anyone would go about meeting those goals is beyond me. What I do know is that we need to do it. Our hope is that the more he learns to modulate his system, he will be able to do the things above.
Unfortunately, this means another wait period of 3 to 6 months. The nice thing about this situation is that we have ample time to create better goals for Little Bug. Our last goals were focused on bathing, dressing, not biting himself or others.
This time, our goals are going to be more focused around the following:
1. Sensing HOT versus COLD.
2. Sensing and identifying pain.
3. Sensing and identifying bodily sensations- hunger, thirst, heat, etc.
You may think these goals seem basic- they are. They are also incredibly difficult for Little Bug. He will touch items that are burning hot and have no reaction. He played in ice on his birthday until his little fingers were bright red and felt frozen to everyone else. Didn't bother him. He can have a fever of 102 and up and yet act no different.
How anyone would go about meeting those goals is beyond me. What I do know is that we need to do it. Our hope is that the more he learns to modulate his system, he will be able to do the things above.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Transition Report
As we get ready for Little Bug's IEP evaluation and meeting, we have been getting his reports in order. I wanted to share with you his transition report for his current program.
Attendance history:
Little Bug receives education services from XXXX in the form of 2 60-minute one-on-one sessions (one at home and one at the center) per week and 3 90-minute developmental playgroup sessions per week. Little Bug has excellent attendance and has only missed playgroup and one-on-one education sessions due to illness and doctor’s appointments.
Little Bug also receives 1 60 minute occupational therapy session and one speech therapy session every week. Information regarding occupational and speech therapy services can be found in separate reports.
Student’s interests & strengths:
Little Bug is an extremely bright, endearing little boy who enjoys playgroup and playing with his therapists. Some of his favorite activities include playing with play dough, drawing with markers, stringing beads, completing puzzles, and playing in the sandbox or sensory table. Little Bug loves sea life, particularly sharks, and will happily point out any shark or ocean creature that is visible to him.
Little Bug is very social and will initiate play with adults. When he started our program, Little Bug primarily used signs (up to 60 signs were used without prompting) and single words to communicate. Currently, he uses 2-3 word utterances unprompted.
Little Bug also uses a point to request and comment. Lately, he has become extremely proficient at using a point paired with eye contact to comment.
Student’s areas of challenge & helpful instructional strategies:
Little Bug has moments where he is inflexible in his play. For example, wanting his trains to go only a certain direction on the tracks, getting frustrated when a shark is drawn on his paper without a fin or eye, or becoming upset if he gets the wrong color bowl at snack time. Little Bug has been working through these incidents with adult support encouraging him to “be flexible.” Little Bug also may become stuck on a highly preferred activity such as outdoor push cars & lawnmowers, trains, and other toy vehicles. He usually needs adult support to calmly transition to a new activity. Occasionally he needs to go take a break in a “calm down” area when these events happen. Little Bug has begun spontaneously choosing to go over to the “calm area” and look at a book when he becomes upset. He typically calms within a couple of minutes and makes a new activity choice.
Notes on IFSP goals & present levels/progress:
Little Bug will use a variety of two-word combinations to request, comment, and protest. To request, Little Bug will often use the sentence stem “want ____.” Lately, he will often self-correct himself and say, “I want ____ please.” We are now working on expanding Lennon’s expressive language to include more of a variety of commenting stems. For example, “I have ___,” “I see____,” and “It’s a ____.” Progress made.
Little Bug will use at least 5 descriptive (i.e. big, little, pretty, soft, etc.) words when he comments on an object or picture. Little Bug has independently used “big” and “little” when commenting about objects, as well as saying their respective colors if applicable, but has not expanded beyond that. He will imitate an adult who uses “pretty” or “soft.” Progress made.
Little Bug will correctly answer yes/no questions when asked. Little Bug answers “yes” and “no” to both preferred and non-preferred objects as well as answering to the identity of an object (i.e. is this a dog?) the majority of the time. Lately, Little Bug has been repeating the name of the object instead of answering “yes” or “no” to preference questions. Goal almost met!
Little Bug will receptively identify a) shapes b) colors c) actions in pictures d) attributes. Little Bug is able to identify circle, star, square, triangle, and triangle, as well as blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple. Little Bug has identified many actions in pictures including walking, jumping, crying, blowing, sleeping, and eating. For attributes, Little Bug is able to identify big and little independently. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met d) Progress made.
Little Bug will follow two- step directions a) with contextual cues b) without contextual cues. Currently, Little Bug needs contextual cues to successfully complete a two-step direction, although he has followed a few directions independently. Progress made.
Little Bug will interact with peers by a) initiating social interactions with peers in a variety of ways (throws a ball to another child, asks for a turn with a toy) b) maintaining a social interaction (waits for the other child to throw the ball back, waits while the other child takes a turn and then asks for another turn).
Little Bug will give peers a high five or give them an item with a verbal reminder from an adult. Little Bug consistently holds hands with familiar peers with a verbal direction from an adult. He rolls a ball back and forth or plays chase with a peer with adult physical and verbal support. Little Bug independently maintained an interaction of holding hands with one of his peers during a game of “Red Light, Green Light” and is beginning to independently seek out a peer to hold his or her hand during this game. Little Bug also maintained rolling a ball up and down the slide to a peer for multiple turns with minimal adult support. Little Bug has begun identifying familiar peers by their names. Progress made.
Little Bug will remain calm when told that it is time to be all done with a preferred activity and transition to a new activity with a verbal reminder. In one-on-one, Little Bug does a nice job of ending a preferred activity and choosing a new activity when given a warning. Occasionally, Little Bug needs help choosing the next activity and needs an adult to give him a choice, but is mostly independent in this task. In a playgroup setting, he is now doing a nice job of ending play with push toys & ride on toys during outside time, but continues to struggle with ending play with highly preferred toys like trains and vehicles during indoor play. Little Bug is given a warning that an activity will be ending and sometimes a timer is used to make it clear when it is time to be all done. If he becomes upset, he is given a chance to “take a break” or sit in a “calm down” area until he is ready to make a new activity choice. Progress Made.
Little Bug will identify objects by a) function (what the object is used for) b) feature (identifiable characteristics) c) class (i.e. animals, food, etc.). Little Bug has identified the following items by function: fork, spoon, bed, book, car, toothbrush, and chair. Feature: wheels, tail, laces, wings, and house. Little Bug has sorted the following items by class: animals, food, vehicles, shapes, colors, and people. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met!
Little Bug will demonstrate a concept of one (i.e. when the teacher holds out a handful of crackers and says “Take one,” Little Bug takes only one cracker). Little Bug does a fantastic job of taking only one item when asked to do so. He has demonstrated this skill with fish crackers, pegs, balls, and markers. He demonstrates this skill in a group setting as well. Goal met!
Little Bug will engage in turn taking exchanges a) first with adults and b) then with peers by requesting a turn, taking his turn, & giving the item back to the other person when they request a turn. a) When taking turns with adults, Little Bug has become better about waiting his turn. He sometimes needs an adult to say, “wait” and help him count (usually to 5) while the adult takes his turn. Little Bug can play a simpler version of Cariboo or Barnyard Bingo with up to 3 adults. b) With most items and simple games like Cariboo or Tic Tac Tony, Little Bug can take short turns with peers with adult support. Adult support may include verbally reminding Little Bug to give the item to his peer, verbally reminding him to “wait”, or helping him count while he waits. Little Bug struggles some with sharing highly preferred items like vehicles or sea life, but has made a lot of progress! For example, Little Bug will calmly play with trains alongside other children that are playing with trains. With an adult near him, he will play with his trains with few to no attempts to grab the trains other children are playing with. Progress made.
Little Bug will independently participate in group activities, such as snack time and circle time, by: a) sitting and attending for 5-10 minutes b)imitating adults actions with & without objects c) following routine directions. a) Little Bug sits and attends to snack times without an adult sitting behind him, but needs verbal reminders to stay seated on average three times during a 10-15 minute snack time. Little Bug and joins and participates in routine group games like parachute time & “Red Light, Green Light”. Little Bug attends to circle time without a parent sitting nearby. He sometimes needs adult support to join the beginning of circle and a teaching assistant sits a few feet away during circle time. Very recently, Little Bug has had difficulty with inflexibility during circle including crying or laying down on the floor when he gets the wrong color of circle prop or when a song is selected that he doesn’t want. If the rest of the group continues with the song, Little Bug is usually able to self calm and participate in circle time. Goal Nearly Met. b) Little Bug imitates a wide variety of routine actions at snack time and actions with and without objects in preferred circle time songs. Goal Met. c) Little Bug follows familiar directions within the context of group routines like snack, circle, and parachute time. Goal Met.
Attendance history:
Little Bug receives education services from XXXX in the form of 2 60-minute one-on-one sessions (one at home and one at the center) per week and 3 90-minute developmental playgroup sessions per week. Little Bug has excellent attendance and has only missed playgroup and one-on-one education sessions due to illness and doctor’s appointments.
Little Bug also receives 1 60 minute occupational therapy session and one speech therapy session every week. Information regarding occupational and speech therapy services can be found in separate reports.
Student’s interests & strengths:
Little Bug is an extremely bright, endearing little boy who enjoys playgroup and playing with his therapists. Some of his favorite activities include playing with play dough, drawing with markers, stringing beads, completing puzzles, and playing in the sandbox or sensory table. Little Bug loves sea life, particularly sharks, and will happily point out any shark or ocean creature that is visible to him.
Little Bug is very social and will initiate play with adults. When he started our program, Little Bug primarily used signs (up to 60 signs were used without prompting) and single words to communicate. Currently, he uses 2-3 word utterances unprompted.
Little Bug also uses a point to request and comment. Lately, he has become extremely proficient at using a point paired with eye contact to comment.
Student’s areas of challenge & helpful instructional strategies:
Little Bug has moments where he is inflexible in his play. For example, wanting his trains to go only a certain direction on the tracks, getting frustrated when a shark is drawn on his paper without a fin or eye, or becoming upset if he gets the wrong color bowl at snack time. Little Bug has been working through these incidents with adult support encouraging him to “be flexible.” Little Bug also may become stuck on a highly preferred activity such as outdoor push cars & lawnmowers, trains, and other toy vehicles. He usually needs adult support to calmly transition to a new activity. Occasionally he needs to go take a break in a “calm down” area when these events happen. Little Bug has begun spontaneously choosing to go over to the “calm area” and look at a book when he becomes upset. He typically calms within a couple of minutes and makes a new activity choice.
Notes on IFSP goals & present levels/progress:
Little Bug will use a variety of two-word combinations to request, comment, and protest. To request, Little Bug will often use the sentence stem “want ____.” Lately, he will often self-correct himself and say, “I want ____ please.” We are now working on expanding Lennon’s expressive language to include more of a variety of commenting stems. For example, “I have ___,” “I see____,” and “It’s a ____.” Progress made.
Little Bug will use at least 5 descriptive (i.e. big, little, pretty, soft, etc.) words when he comments on an object or picture. Little Bug has independently used “big” and “little” when commenting about objects, as well as saying their respective colors if applicable, but has not expanded beyond that. He will imitate an adult who uses “pretty” or “soft.” Progress made.
Little Bug will correctly answer yes/no questions when asked. Little Bug answers “yes” and “no” to both preferred and non-preferred objects as well as answering to the identity of an object (i.e. is this a dog?) the majority of the time. Lately, Little Bug has been repeating the name of the object instead of answering “yes” or “no” to preference questions. Goal almost met!
Little Bug will receptively identify a) shapes b) colors c) actions in pictures d) attributes. Little Bug is able to identify circle, star, square, triangle, and triangle, as well as blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple. Little Bug has identified many actions in pictures including walking, jumping, crying, blowing, sleeping, and eating. For attributes, Little Bug is able to identify big and little independently. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met d) Progress made.
Little Bug will follow two- step directions a) with contextual cues b) without contextual cues. Currently, Little Bug needs contextual cues to successfully complete a two-step direction, although he has followed a few directions independently. Progress made.
Little Bug will interact with peers by a) initiating social interactions with peers in a variety of ways (throws a ball to another child, asks for a turn with a toy) b) maintaining a social interaction (waits for the other child to throw the ball back, waits while the other child takes a turn and then asks for another turn).
Little Bug will give peers a high five or give them an item with a verbal reminder from an adult. Little Bug consistently holds hands with familiar peers with a verbal direction from an adult. He rolls a ball back and forth or plays chase with a peer with adult physical and verbal support. Little Bug independently maintained an interaction of holding hands with one of his peers during a game of “Red Light, Green Light” and is beginning to independently seek out a peer to hold his or her hand during this game. Little Bug also maintained rolling a ball up and down the slide to a peer for multiple turns with minimal adult support. Little Bug has begun identifying familiar peers by their names. Progress made.
Little Bug will remain calm when told that it is time to be all done with a preferred activity and transition to a new activity with a verbal reminder. In one-on-one, Little Bug does a nice job of ending a preferred activity and choosing a new activity when given a warning. Occasionally, Little Bug needs help choosing the next activity and needs an adult to give him a choice, but is mostly independent in this task. In a playgroup setting, he is now doing a nice job of ending play with push toys & ride on toys during outside time, but continues to struggle with ending play with highly preferred toys like trains and vehicles during indoor play. Little Bug is given a warning that an activity will be ending and sometimes a timer is used to make it clear when it is time to be all done. If he becomes upset, he is given a chance to “take a break” or sit in a “calm down” area until he is ready to make a new activity choice. Progress Made.
Little Bug will identify objects by a) function (what the object is used for) b) feature (identifiable characteristics) c) class (i.e. animals, food, etc.). Little Bug has identified the following items by function: fork, spoon, bed, book, car, toothbrush, and chair. Feature: wheels, tail, laces, wings, and house. Little Bug has sorted the following items by class: animals, food, vehicles, shapes, colors, and people. a) Goal met b) Goal met c) Goal met!
Little Bug will demonstrate a concept of one (i.e. when the teacher holds out a handful of crackers and says “Take one,” Little Bug takes only one cracker). Little Bug does a fantastic job of taking only one item when asked to do so. He has demonstrated this skill with fish crackers, pegs, balls, and markers. He demonstrates this skill in a group setting as well. Goal met!
Little Bug will engage in turn taking exchanges a) first with adults and b) then with peers by requesting a turn, taking his turn, & giving the item back to the other person when they request a turn. a) When taking turns with adults, Little Bug has become better about waiting his turn. He sometimes needs an adult to say, “wait” and help him count (usually to 5) while the adult takes his turn. Little Bug can play a simpler version of Cariboo or Barnyard Bingo with up to 3 adults. b) With most items and simple games like Cariboo or Tic Tac Tony, Little Bug can take short turns with peers with adult support. Adult support may include verbally reminding Little Bug to give the item to his peer, verbally reminding him to “wait”, or helping him count while he waits. Little Bug struggles some with sharing highly preferred items like vehicles or sea life, but has made a lot of progress! For example, Little Bug will calmly play with trains alongside other children that are playing with trains. With an adult near him, he will play with his trains with few to no attempts to grab the trains other children are playing with. Progress made.
Little Bug will independently participate in group activities, such as snack time and circle time, by: a) sitting and attending for 5-10 minutes b)imitating adults actions with & without objects c) following routine directions. a) Little Bug sits and attends to snack times without an adult sitting behind him, but needs verbal reminders to stay seated on average three times during a 10-15 minute snack time. Little Bug and joins and participates in routine group games like parachute time & “Red Light, Green Light”. Little Bug attends to circle time without a parent sitting nearby. He sometimes needs adult support to join the beginning of circle and a teaching assistant sits a few feet away during circle time. Very recently, Little Bug has had difficulty with inflexibility during circle including crying or laying down on the floor when he gets the wrong color of circle prop or when a song is selected that he doesn’t want. If the rest of the group continues with the song, Little Bug is usually able to self calm and participate in circle time. Goal Nearly Met. b) Little Bug imitates a wide variety of routine actions at snack time and actions with and without objects in preferred circle time songs. Goal Met. c) Little Bug follows familiar directions within the context of group routines like snack, circle, and parachute time. Goal Met.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sensory Intergration
This weekend we attended a Sensory Integration class on both Saturday and Sunday. While it was taught be an extremely educated and passionate OT, unfortunately, we already had the information. We could have taught the class. That said, if you are new to SID or haven't read up much about it, take a class- it is worth it.
Grandma- or Hamma as Little Bug calls her- stayed with Little Bug and they had a great time both days. Apparently, our dog had a harder time with us leaving than Little Bug did.
Unfortunately, Little Bug had a typical day on Monday- self injuring, screaming, hitting and a whole host of sensory issues. Hamma got to go to school with him and see what he works on and the hard work he puts in. She also got to see what a day in the life is like for us.
Its not that it is all bad, just that when it is bad, it is really bad. Little Bug was almost feral Monday night- screaming for hour after hour and attacking his toys and people. We finally just resolved to have him lay down and watch a movie and chill.
His sensory issues with clothing, bathing, and diapering are coming back full force. He now will attack you and scream when it is time to do any of the above. I don't know how to help him at this point. Hopefully, our OT can begin to help us get this wrangled back in.
Grandma- or Hamma as Little Bug calls her- stayed with Little Bug and they had a great time both days. Apparently, our dog had a harder time with us leaving than Little Bug did.
Unfortunately, Little Bug had a typical day on Monday- self injuring, screaming, hitting and a whole host of sensory issues. Hamma got to go to school with him and see what he works on and the hard work he puts in. She also got to see what a day in the life is like for us.
Its not that it is all bad, just that when it is bad, it is really bad. Little Bug was almost feral Monday night- screaming for hour after hour and attacking his toys and people. We finally just resolved to have him lay down and watch a movie and chill.
His sensory issues with clothing, bathing, and diapering are coming back full force. He now will attack you and scream when it is time to do any of the above. I don't know how to help him at this point. Hopefully, our OT can begin to help us get this wrangled back in.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
OT update
We received good news from Little Bug's OT. She feels that because of the home system set up, we should reduce Little Bug's sessions to twice a month for trouble shooting. She said, "You guys are capapble to see the suggestions once and implement them consistently in your home environment."
This was kind of a proud moment in two ways. First, we were excited for Little Bug because she said that he has made some good progress and has consistently been moving towards a more regulated being.
Secondly, is from a personal perspective for me and Nick, it is nice to have a therapist feel that we are competent. I know that sounds silly, but one area that we often struggle with is feeling inadequate. As a parent of any child, there is always times when you feel like we should be doing something better or we should know how to do something.
This was kind of a proud moment in two ways. First, we were excited for Little Bug because she said that he has made some good progress and has consistently been moving towards a more regulated being.
Secondly, is from a personal perspective for me and Nick, it is nice to have a therapist feel that we are competent. I know that sounds silly, but one area that we often struggle with is feeling inadequate. As a parent of any child, there is always times when you feel like we should be doing something better or we should know how to do something.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Occupational Therapy
Little Bug had his first session with his OT L yesterday. She wants to teach us brushing, but did caution that it would be done every hour and a half except when he is sleeping for two weeks. Other than that she didn’t give us too much information. Nick is going to follow up with her in order to get more information before we decide to go ahead with it.
She didn’t have much information about the self injury- she said that until he gets more speech, we won’t know why he is doing it. To me, that is a non answer. Little Bug isn’t in speech therapy and even if he was, it isn’t a miracle! It takes time and work. We are going to have a meeting with his therapist and our FRC as we don’t feel like enough is being done about these behaviors. When it comes to hurting others, the strategy is to prevent it- which means that while the intended victim doesn’t get harmed, someone still does.
Going back to the visit, L plans to have a snack time next time in order to help get Little Bug to try more food. She is also going to do bathing and dressing in future visits.
Right now, Nick and I are frustrated as we watch our sweet boy hurt himself for who knows what reason. Everyone seems to be pinning their hopes on speech. Well, let’s analyze this for a second. Children by the time they are 2.5 should have a vocabulary that is close to if not exceeding 300 words and be able to use two to three word sentences. Little Bug has 53 words, of which only 30 are spontaneous. The rest we prompt him into saying. While I am not saying that he will never reach that summit, I believe that we need an interim solution.
You can always have hope- you *should* always have hope. Hope that there will be change, hope that your child will achieve their fullest potential, hope that you will be able to help them overcome whatever challenges they face in life. But while you are hoping, don’t forget to work and plan and strive. Nothing is achieved without a great amount of work. I am the kind of person that always prepares for the worst. To me, pinning our child’s safety on speech therapy and the hope of speech is not an option. Now, we just have to have a plan.
She didn’t have much information about the self injury- she said that until he gets more speech, we won’t know why he is doing it. To me, that is a non answer. Little Bug isn’t in speech therapy and even if he was, it isn’t a miracle! It takes time and work. We are going to have a meeting with his therapist and our FRC as we don’t feel like enough is being done about these behaviors. When it comes to hurting others, the strategy is to prevent it- which means that while the intended victim doesn’t get harmed, someone still does.
Going back to the visit, L plans to have a snack time next time in order to help get Little Bug to try more food. She is also going to do bathing and dressing in future visits.
Right now, Nick and I are frustrated as we watch our sweet boy hurt himself for who knows what reason. Everyone seems to be pinning their hopes on speech. Well, let’s analyze this for a second. Children by the time they are 2.5 should have a vocabulary that is close to if not exceeding 300 words and be able to use two to three word sentences. Little Bug has 53 words, of which only 30 are spontaneous. The rest we prompt him into saying. While I am not saying that he will never reach that summit, I believe that we need an interim solution.
You can always have hope- you *should* always have hope. Hope that there will be change, hope that your child will achieve their fullest potential, hope that you will be able to help them overcome whatever challenges they face in life. But while you are hoping, don’t forget to work and plan and strive. Nothing is achieved without a great amount of work. I am the kind of person that always prepares for the worst. To me, pinning our child’s safety on speech therapy and the hope of speech is not an option. Now, we just have to have a plan.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Autism- its all around us
Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this post, I wanted to share something I noticed- Autism. It's everywhere. One of my favorite things to watch is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart- I heart some irreverent, politically incorrect humor. I was listening to the show from Tuesday night, when low and behold, Autism came up. More specifically, Dennis Leary was a guest star on the show and was discussing his recent book and the chapter called Autism Schautism which incensed the whole community. He went on to defend himself stating that the paragraph was taken out of context. What he really meant is that there are parents who get their children diagnosed with ASD or ADD or any other number of syndromes so that they can get free help. Right, because that belief is so aptly expressed by calling people with Autism stupid and lazy. The mind reels.
Anyway, lets talk about Little Bug. He had a pretty good night last night. Only 1 meltdown, which is great. He had a school field trip to Odyssey yesterday- think Chuckee Cheese and McDonald's Play Place and bounce houses all rolled into one glorious sensory experience. He had a blast for the most part. He was able to deal for about an hour and half and things slowly went down hill from there. A friend recommended beefing up Little Bug's sensory diet and Nick and I think this is a great way to do it. They have slides that look a lot like the squeeze machine Temple Grandin came up with and another one that has a series of rolling pins. Basically when you slide down, the rolling pins run over your body and apply some good pressure. Little Bug loved these and had the route from the bottom of the slide to these slides mapped in his little brain after one trip.
As Nick and I journey down this path together, we realize more and more about Little Bug every day. We realize that his limit for commotion or newness is about 2 hours. After that, all bets are off. This is something that we are trying to get Nick's parents to understand, but there has been some resistance. For Thanksgiving, we told them that because there are going to be people there that Little Bug doesn't see often, we will come for three hours and then leave. We also created the boundary that if Little Bug has a meltdown, we would leave as there isn't a safe place for him there and you can't really escape people. So of course, they called and told us that dinner would be at 2:00 PM but to come down in the morning. *exasperated head shake*
Anyway, Little Bug has quite a few new signs-
Rainbow
Carrot
Pear
Grapes
Fruit
Lettuce
White
and five new words-
Ca-cat
No- nose
Juice
Dorie
Daddee
All said, he has 53 spoken words and 101 signs! This is amazing!!!!! Finally, Little Bug will begin OT today and Nick is going to push our OT L about the self injury and routines as we don't believe these have anything to do with speech, but his need for certain kinds of sensory input. More on that later.
Anyway, lets talk about Little Bug. He had a pretty good night last night. Only 1 meltdown, which is great. He had a school field trip to Odyssey yesterday- think Chuckee Cheese and McDonald's Play Place and bounce houses all rolled into one glorious sensory experience. He had a blast for the most part. He was able to deal for about an hour and half and things slowly went down hill from there. A friend recommended beefing up Little Bug's sensory diet and Nick and I think this is a great way to do it. They have slides that look a lot like the squeeze machine Temple Grandin came up with and another one that has a series of rolling pins. Basically when you slide down, the rolling pins run over your body and apply some good pressure. Little Bug loved these and had the route from the bottom of the slide to these slides mapped in his little brain after one trip.
As Nick and I journey down this path together, we realize more and more about Little Bug every day. We realize that his limit for commotion or newness is about 2 hours. After that, all bets are off. This is something that we are trying to get Nick's parents to understand, but there has been some resistance. For Thanksgiving, we told them that because there are going to be people there that Little Bug doesn't see often, we will come for three hours and then leave. We also created the boundary that if Little Bug has a meltdown, we would leave as there isn't a safe place for him there and you can't really escape people. So of course, they called and told us that dinner would be at 2:00 PM but to come down in the morning. *exasperated head shake*
Anyway, Little Bug has quite a few new signs-
Rainbow
Carrot
Pear
Grapes
Fruit
Lettuce
White
and five new words-
Ca-cat
No- nose
Juice
Dorie
Daddee
All said, he has 53 spoken words and 101 signs! This is amazing!!!!! Finally, Little Bug will begin OT today and Nick is going to push our OT L about the self injury and routines as we don't believe these have anything to do with speech, but his need for certain kinds of sensory input. More on that later.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Dinnertime=FRUSTRATION
Little Bug has become more and more restricted in what he will eat. He used to be the kid who you put a plate in front of him and he ate it- without question. His favorites used to be asparagus, artichokes, steak, chili, sharp cheddar cheese, prosciutto, etc. Now, he won't eat them or many of his other favorites- chicken teriyaki, oatmeal, yogurt, carrots, broccoli.
At this point, we are having to make multiple meals to find something he will eat. Last night, DN made Dixie Chili for dinner- one of Little Bug's favorites. He wouldn't eat it. So, I made him a PB&J- nope, not that either. He asked for cereal, but wouldn't eat that. I tried toast- no go. I tried banana- nope.
He ended up eating corn. That's it. That was his dinner. As a parent, I worry for him. We need to take him to the doctor's just to make sure that he doesn't need more vitamins or supplements. While I don't want to force him to eat, I also don't want him to have an iron deficiency or something else.
If anyone has suggests or tips, please let us know. His OT told us that he needs to try a new food at every meal. S***- at this point, I would like to amend it to Little Bug will eat *something* at every meal.
At this point, we are having to make multiple meals to find something he will eat. Last night, DN made Dixie Chili for dinner- one of Little Bug's favorites. He wouldn't eat it. So, I made him a PB&J- nope, not that either. He asked for cereal, but wouldn't eat that. I tried toast- no go. I tried banana- nope.
He ended up eating corn. That's it. That was his dinner. As a parent, I worry for him. We need to take him to the doctor's just to make sure that he doesn't need more vitamins or supplements. While I don't want to force him to eat, I also don't want him to have an iron deficiency or something else.
If anyone has suggests or tips, please let us know. His OT told us that he needs to try a new food at every meal. S***- at this point, I would like to amend it to Little Bug will eat *something* at every meal.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Just Sleep
Little Bug's quality of sleep has sucked more so than usual recently. The way I explain it to people is that, as far as sleeping through the night goes, we still have a baby- a very big and mobile baby, but a baby none the less. He wants to be cuddled and soothed and rocked. He wants to be close to you so he can twirl your hair. He wakes up crying. It is exhausting.
I wish there was something we could do. We are trying the weighted blanket, and while it helps him sleep deeper when he uses it, he often takes it off. It seems like he can only tolerate it for a couple hours at a time and then wants it off. He is still sleep talking and crawling. Not quite sure what to do about that- I guess, there really isn't a whole lot we can do.
We heard from his OT yesterday. She had faxed his treatment plan to our pediatrician's office twice, but didn't receive a response. When I called his office, we were told they didn't get anything and that he goes on vacation for two weeks as of Friday. So DN and Little Bug are going to to pick it up and take it to his office.
Hopefully, once we get that rolling, we can address his sleep issues. We are really reluctant to do any medicinal interventions, so we are hoping that we can help him in other ways. Till then, we will continue to be zombies- formerly known as his parents.
I wish there was something we could do. We are trying the weighted blanket, and while it helps him sleep deeper when he uses it, he often takes it off. It seems like he can only tolerate it for a couple hours at a time and then wants it off. He is still sleep talking and crawling. Not quite sure what to do about that- I guess, there really isn't a whole lot we can do.
We heard from his OT yesterday. She had faxed his treatment plan to our pediatrician's office twice, but didn't receive a response. When I called his office, we were told they didn't get anything and that he goes on vacation for two weeks as of Friday. So DN and Little Bug are going to to pick it up and take it to his office.
Hopefully, once we get that rolling, we can address his sleep issues. We are really reluctant to do any medicinal interventions, so we are hoping that we can help him in other ways. Till then, we will continue to be zombies- formerly known as his parents.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
OT
Little Bug's new OT dropped by today to do an assessment. Which of course meant that the things we said he had difficulty with, he didn't and vice versa. Luckily, she doesn't think that we are pathological liars. She told us she sees this all of the time. We talked about the tings he struggles with:
- Getting dressed- It makes those wrestling shows look like child's play
- Safety Issues- he lacks that natural fear that keeps us all safe
- Self Injury- he bites, head bangs, and pinches- why, because to him, its like twirling your hair and is how regulates his system. It doesn't make it any easier to watch as a by stander though.
- Sleep- While going to bed has gotten better since he has given up naps, his quality of sleep sucks. He's very migratory and chatty in sleep and is constantly doing "death rolls"- he grabs you or the blanket, holds on and rolls.
- Clothing issues- besides getting dressed, he has issues with how clothes feel and at times down right refuses to wear them.
- Grocery Stores- too loud, too bright, too many people. This causes him to rock hard in the cart, which in turn leaves bruises on his back
She was incredibly understanding in that she gets that one day what may be an issue is not the next. She was very receptive to our concerns. L is going to come to our house for his visits as most of the things he has difficulty with, you can't do at a therapy center.
He is going to start using a weighted blanket tomorrow night. Hopefully that will increase his quality of sleep and increase his mood and temperament throughout the day. Additionally, he is going to be started on P's and Q's- basically, dog chews for people made from surgical tubing. We had given him a Chewy Grabber, but he destroyed that in less than a month. So we are going to try these. This may sound crazy, but we are not above getting him a safe dog bone to chew on. We just want to keep him from chewing on himself. Finally, she taught us some compressions to get him proprioceptive input that we can use before getting him dressed.
All in all, a pretty good first visit. Little Bug seemed to like her a lot. He loved, loved, loved the compressions. I think that the weighted blanket will certainly help him.
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