8/24/09

Just found out there's a natinoal campaign on September 9th, asking "how much longer" they have some pretty strong literature so far. http://www.national autismassociatio n.org/howmuchlon ger.php Anyway, more details to come once I get them. The one to Obama is paticularly moving in my mind.

Ok, camp is all over :( and I forgot to bring the cd so I can load the pictures. I'll hopefully get to do that tomorrow so you can see what a great time Tyler had. Camp provided all snacks, drinks, etc. And one of the snacks lat week was pineapple which Tyler loves. He ate all his pineapple, grabbed the aids hand, and went over to the pictures of the snacks and pointed to the pineapple and signed more. Poor guy doesn't know the sign for pineapple so he figured a way to get his point across, in fact, note to self, look up sign for pineapple.

Also, at daycare last week, I was picking up the boys and Tyler was trying to tell me something. he signed the color 'red" and then was gesturing to the door. So I went to the door which opens into the breezeway and said Tyler, what do you want that is red? He went out the open door and grabbed the red frisbee. So that night I looked up teh sign for frisbee and told daycare so now he'll know how to ask for a frisbee. See..imagine how frustrating it is to be Tyler and not know how to tell someone what you want. That's where most of Tyler's behavioral issues come from, if anyway. He just gets frustrated when he can't get his point accross. I'd probably have a lot more behavioral issues than he does. So, as I always, i just want to remind everyone, watch Tyler's hands, even if you don't know what he's signing, you can at least tell he's wants something. Also, give him opportuniities to respond. We took the boys to the park yesterdy and Ty was swinging on the tire swing, some other kids wanted on so I added 2 more kids on the tire. I knew that Tyler probably wouldn't want to stay on the swing long but since he's swinging, he can't exactly stop hanging no to sign all done. So whenever we are swinging Tyler, we often stop the swing and ask if he's done. If he still wants to swing, he'll sign swing, if he is all done he'll sign all down or gesture to get down. I was right, he didn't want to stay no teh swing with the other kids very long but he did do it for a short time and wasn't upset about it at all so that's good. You just have to make sure to give him opportunities to communicate and really work with him to figure out what he is trying to communicate.

Which brings me to my next topic..speech :) I have a meeting with the new speech therapist tomorrow, yeah! I've heard so many good things about her and am really looking forward to meeting her and coming up with a plan for Ty. I so badly want Tyler to talk and be able to interact with Ben. Ben lives in fear that Tyler is gonna bite him and as much as we try to support a positive relationship between them, it's very difficult. If Tyler could talk, Ben would be so much mor einterested in him and then Tyler could tell Ben when he's upset rather than using biting as a form of communication. remember.. behavior is a communication tool rather good or bad. I was jsut talkign to Steve this weekend while we were in the kitchen. He had tried to take the boys on a bike ride but Ty wasn't intersted. I said so Ty wasn't interested int he bike, he said no. He goes are you having the same problem? I said, I haven't tried to take them in a while. I asked if he brought a transition item and he had. Then he said, last time i tried to take them, Tyler refused to get on the bike so I just carried him or (i can't remember exactly waht he did).. and then a bell went off in my head. I said so, last time Tyler threw a fit and you didn't make him follow through with what you asked. So this time, tyler through a fit and same result. He's gonna keep throwing a fit if we keep carrying him vs. him having to ride the bike. midn you he likes the bike after we get going, he's just not a big outdoor play kinda kid unless it involves water so he takes some extra effort. So I said, ok we gotta break that cycle. Next time we are all home, we'll all go together so that I can work with Tyler while he takes Ben. Probably not gonna be so pretty (sorry neighbors) but we've reinforced him crying to get out of bike ride so now I gotta get through that and follow through with the bike ride demand. Funny to think of a bike ride as being a demand. Anyway, I'll try a new toy or someting to transition and try going a different way on teh ride and see if we can get him happy about bike ride again. It definetly takes two parents, in fact whenever the boys are out with us in public it still takes at least 2 parents adn then if one of us has to use the bathroom it gets pretty hectic. The grocery store trip (very quick) was rough yesterday. Tyler doesn' twant to sit in a cart anymore. we used to be able to giveh im a few toys and do a quick run through the store with ben helping to push cart, well now Tyler doesn't want to sit and then he gets overstimulated by all the lighting and different colors and Ben is bouncing of the walls. It was definetly a quick trip :)