2/8/08 Friday Update

Family Update: Tyler had his weekly meeting at the clinic this morning and did very well. He seems to be almost back to normal now. The therapist reminded me that it's very common to go through ups and downs with children of autism. It's heartbreaking to see the regression after making so much progress but she said usually within a week to two weeks you'll see a sudden resurgance and a gain in progress. We all just have to keep the bigger picture in mind. This week was very tough on Steve and I emotionally. We are happy Tyler is coming around. Tyler continues to say Ma-Ma and vocalized what sounded like ball today when he was reaching for a ball but we can't be sure.

Grandma is coming again this weekend and staying the night so mom and dad can get another date. Have I mentioned how much we love Grandma!

Autism Information: Something for everyone to remember is that a child with autism isn't being stubborn or refusing to speak, they literally can't speak. There are many adults who have a high functioning form of autism who can recall their younger days of not being able to speak and how frustrating it was. They had so much to say and nothing would come out. I think of this often when Ben is asking me for something or wanting something, i.e. he wants his hood off. I thought how frustrating it must be to be Tyler and nto be able to ask for such simple things.

April is Autism Awareness month so you'll all be seeing a lot of media regarding autism soon. Please remember that there is a ton of information as well as different thoughts about causes, treatments, etc. No one child with autism is the same, that is why it's called a spectrum. I am working with the Training Chief and Carrie the interventionist to put together "autism awareness training for first responders" to be taught to our firefighters during the month of April. We are also hoping to put out some community awareness about autism and for peopel who have a family member with autism in their home, how to properly protect that family member and firefighters in the case of emergency.


Also, just a reminder, our main focus right now, is eye contact along with the hand pull. Out of every 3 - 4 hand pulls we need to make sure that Tyler is giving eye contact at least once. We don't wnat to force him to do it each time as they may be overly frustrating for him.

Here are the session notes from Thursday:

Child Aquisition goals (done at least 2 times): Eight Objectives
Child Mastered goals (done at least 3 times): Eight Objectices
Caregiver Aquisition goals: five objectives
Caregiver Mastered goals: Twelve objectices


Song Routine: We practicied ring around the rosie and once again Tyler requested a "down" with a gentle push directed towards the caregiver when she paused at that point in the song. He also demonstrated more consistent eye contact throughout this routine. THe caregiver also did an excelelnt job of holding TYler to one more turn in the routine rather than alowing him to just walk away. The caregiver should continue to implement the strategies listed above withthe intent to generalize these strategies to other song routines such as row your boat, head shoulders, etc.

Snack Routine Feedback: The caregiver did a nice job of providing Tyler with supports to help him maintain regulation (.i.e. vibrating toothbrush) and in addition to offering himn choices and honoring refusals, Tyler was doing a great job during the snack routine. He made very clear choices and was able to maintain a regulated state despite not having a high interest in snack time today.

Scooter Routine Feedback: The wheely bugs were an activity today which is a fairly new routine. Tyler demonstrated numerous requests in addition to pushing and pulling skills. The caregiver did an excellent job of following Tyler's lead and providing directions, i..e "push" and "pull" in context. The caregiver shoudl continue to implement these strategies as listed above with a particular focus on intermittently holding out for eye contact.

Additional parent strategies: Following a "look" prompt with pointing. Once a routine has been established, the caregiver might take onf o the preferred items or toys and place it just out of Tyler's sight. THe caregiver should then wait for Tyler to start to look for the object and then prompt "look" with a point towards the object.

Continue to adjust the difficulty of a task based on Tyler's arousal level. If he is agitated you may decrease the difficulty and if he is really well regularted you may incrase the difficulty.