3/6/08

Today both boys stayed home with mom for social group and therapy. They were SOOOOOO good walking into the school holding mom's hand. It's quite a long walk from the car (parking lot) into the school and then to the back where the motor room is which is where social group is held. I was so proud and gave them lots of praises. They both were good at social group too until the very end where Ben didnt' want to participate in the wrap up activities which includes dancing and bubbles. He had a bit of a tantrum. One of the moms at social group again said she can't believe how much better Tyler looks now compared to before we started the diet. He just looks so much healthier. The walk out was just the same as the way in, very good boys. Ben stayed right by mommy when I loaded Tyler into his car seat. This has been a probelm for us before, i.e. Ben screaming becuase I make him stand in the car while I load in Tyler. So today I trusted him to stay in the parking lot right by me and he did, what a big boy!

As for today's session with Carrie, we started with snack time which went very well. Ben was a very good boy and was enjoying the visitors at our house (carrie adn videotaper). Tyler also did well. I was able to engage both boys with songs at snack time. We then moved on to the bath routine which is new (i.e. as a routine for the study, obviously baths aren't new!). Bath time went well. We decided for now to continue to get the water flowing, etc. while the boys are downstairs playing. If Tyler knows you are in the bathroom running water and he's outside the door he becomes hysterical because he wants in the bathroom since he loves water so much. So we decided for now to continue what we've been doing. Once the bath is ready, the door is shut so we can get the boys upstairs and get their clothes off w/o them being able to run into the bathroom. Tyler will jump in w/o hesitation. So we are going to establish the taking clothes of routine in our bedroom and help the boys become independent in this activity. Then we'll move on to bath and we are going to try go limit the toys that Tyler doesn't necessarily need me to help him play with until after we get washing down and through one song and then he can have his preferred toys. Once we wind down bathtub, we start to drain the water and do bubbles as an indicator that bathtime is coming to an end. Again we try to create really clear beginnigns and endings for Tyler as well as trying to ease transitions, i.e. leaving the bathtub is very hard for Tyler so draining the water and having bubbles at the end helps him understand that it's almost over. Then we have a video in the bedroom while they get their clothes on which also helps him since he's leaving a fun activity for another. We'll be adding in other independent items such as the boys bringin their own towels and washclothes into the tub with them. I just got them pails so they could do this, hopefully we'll get to decorate the pails this weekend.

Other activities we tried today as a group was ball rolling (unsucessful at this since Ben isn't very excited about rolling a ball and Tyler gets fixated on the music ball and doesn't want to share). We did do parade which engaged Tyler for short periods of time. Ben can really play the kazoo but for some reason he wasnt interested in playing it today.

We talked a lot about the differences in working with Tyler alone vs. working with Tyler with Ben around and the struggles that we face with both boys being there. She reiterated how well Tyler is doing. I reminded her that even after the study ends, we'll make sure to have one on one time for each boy so that Tyler can get the appropriate therapy he needs and Ben can get the appropriate attention he deserves.


Tuesday's session notes matched my asssessment of tyler and him being overstimulated. She commented at how well the hand washing is going and gave tips of how to fade out my hand over hand prompts into a partial prpmt and then gestures for him to complete next steps on his own.

She gave tips to help Tyler when he's overstimulated such as focusing on calming activities such as books, puzzles, shape sorter, etc. During times he's understimulated we shoudl play things like parade, swing, parachute, wheely bugs, etc.

Keep reinforcing Tyler sounds. When he says a sound, we say a sound, etc.

She also gave us a list of study approved activities that we can do with both boys which will help out dad when he's playing with the boys.