6/4/09

Ok, I'll try again for round 2.

Ty did some cool things over the weekend. 1) He asked grandma to change his diaper, not verbally but physically went to the area, and pulled her hand down (does this when he wants you to sit down) and then laid down to have his diaper changed. Ty has a lot of sensory issues and so knowing that he can feel when he goes and that he doesn't like the feeling, well that means that potty training may be around the corner for him. Now if we can just get Ben no board. We were using time on the computer as a reinforce or sometimes daycare would say how happy it would make mommy or daddy and that was enough, now neither of those things are working so we gotta come up with something new. 2) Grandma thought she heard him say grandma and we thought we heard him say 2 other words. one was duck, while he was watching an Einstein moving with a duck on the screen and the other I can't remember but Steve and I both heard it. 3) Tyler is beginning to do repeat a behavior/action for the sole purpose of getting us to laugh. This is huge and one of the many many questions I am asked through numerous questionnaires and personal interviews we've done. He's not intentionally repeating a behavior, i.e. putting out his hand and pulling it away when Ir each for it cause I start laughing. He's done this with a few different actions. Also, on the way to school this morning, I was looking at him in the rear view mirror and I started talking and laughing and he started giggling and we had a real back and forth moment.. our version of a conversation. it was great.

we are considering changing DAN doctors. The boys need a new pediatrician anyway and we found a pediatrician in Ann Arbor that's also a DAN doctor so we are thinking about making the change there. School will be winding down soon and we have a meeting with his teachers next week to discuss his goals, we did get an update on where he stands with items so I will highlight a few of those.

1) Use two hands together to complete tasks (opening containers, etc.) As compared to March progress, he's doing much better, still needs assistance but they began putting fun toys inside a clear backpack so he has to zip and unzip the bag to get them out. Also, we are working on him taking off his shoes himself which is velcro.


2) Tyler will eat 10 bites of lunch independently. THIS IS GOING GREAT! Although he does sometimes still require assistance getting food on fork, he smoetimes can do it on his own. IN fact Steve said the other night he ate all of his chicken nuggets with a fork all on his own. The spoon he can also do on his own but struggles with anything that isn't' thick and stays on the spoon. He also still does get upset if he gets too much food on him or on his skin (sensory issues) but since he never used to even touch his food or utensils.. this is leaps and bounds in the right direction.

3) Tyler will following 10 instructional directions given verbal prompts and pictures. He has mastered 7 so far which include stand up, sit down, come here, give it to me, line up at door, stop, and go. Working on pick it up, throw away and put it in.

4) Tyler will give/touch/point name item out of a field of 4 - 5 pictures or objects. Mastered. Tyler can identify 106+ items.

5) Tyler will learn 20 new signs for desired object. This is in progress, he has and uses a lot of signs or at least tries but unless you know Tyler and what he wants, it's hard to understand all of them because he does them so quickly and tends to scroll (go through many signs) to find the right one. So school (and home) are working to clean up those signs. They are currently working on book cookie swing ball chip horse and cow. They give him multiple opportunities to work on these signs and really master them so we'll also be supporting this at home and helping to shape them into very clear signs. So hopefully that gives you an idea of what he's been doing at school.

As you know we closed out the study 2 weeks ago at U of M (2nd study he's been involved with). we received a call from Susan Risi (she is the one that officially diagnosed Tyler) asking if we'd be interested in having Tyler participate in an ADOS-T training session. Here is a link that kind of describes the ADOS if you are interested.....http://www.child-psych.org/2009/05/diagnosis-autism-toddlers-new-ados.html Anyway, of course we want to do anything we can do to help U of M since they've been so helpful to us. Also, this is our small way of helping so many other families. If you read the article in the link above, you'll see that the ADOS-T allows kids to be diagnosed at a younger age which would promote early intervenion and better outcomes. So yeah, we were definitely interested. But I wanted to talk through the details with her and fully understand the requirements. I know what the ADOS-T entails but with Tyler it's important to know, where it will take place, how many people involved, are they watching and/or interacting, and can I step in and assist when necessary, i.e. if someone is asking him to do something and he does not demonstrate he can do it, but I know he can, can I jump in and assist. Etc. etc. Ok so anyway, Susan and I talked yesterday and it's gonna be held in a large lecture hall with about 70 people watching but she'll be the only one administering the evaluation. She's great, having worked with many kids on the spectrum, she is quite aware of the difficulties this environment poses. So we agreed to strategically position the people watching (she recently did this somewhere in Chicago) and then strategically position me to Tyler as well. We agreed that we would remind people in advance to not clap or cheer or be overly loud at any time but especially if they see Tyler be successful.. clapping overstimulates him. Tyler is used to being evaluated in a clinic which is very very small and only has one or two people in the room. So the lecture hall is not only new but also very open which typically leads to concentration difficulty for Tyler. So we agreed to meet this Saturday (Ben and dad will be at a company picnic) in the lecture hall to start "practicing?" which really is just getting Tyler used to the environment and to understand that demands will be placed on him in that environment and we are gonna be loud and obnoxious and just try to desensitize him just a bit. The purpose of the training is to train people from around the world (literally)on how to administer the ADOS-T so we want to make sure it's as successful as possible, while ensuring Tyler is as comfortable as possible. Now, I'm afraid I'm making it sound like this is a horrible evaluation, it's not at all. They are really good about making everything fun, he'll participate in a mock birthday party and play with balloons, etc. so it's not this awful string of events that he has to go through. The evaluator is really good at getting to know what the kids think are fun too and making sure to keep them engaged and happy :)

OK, I think this is a long enough blog for now... take care