Posts
I know it's been a long time since I updated, sorry about that.
At our last meeting with school, we talked about some ideas for other people in Tyler's life to work/play with him. Just new ways to interact where Tyler can learn. So we received the cards in the mail and I just wanted to post them here so everone can have an idea of ways to play with Tyler. I know that many people are still hesitant to interact with him cause they may not know how or know how to handle Tyler if he's upset and I also know that many people forgot to talk to Tyler rather than about him. Ben does this often actually, he's always talking about Ty Ty instead of to him. I really like the ideas that school had so here they are:
1) Look through photo album and have him point to people that you name.
2) Put objects from house into a bag and pull out items one at a time and so a funny action with the item and then give to Tyler to imitate.
3) make a tape of animal sound effects and have him sign what animal/sound he hears?
4) play tape/cd of songs and have him do motions to songs.
5) Make a placement for Tyler that shows where the cup, plate, spoon, etc. go and havehim learn to set the table.
6) Put picture cards he likes scattered on the ground face down and let Tyler choose a card, turn it over and name it.
7) (LOVE THIS IDEA) give Tyler a puzzle board and keep the pieces, sit 5 feet apart and put a puzzle piece that he asks for in a truck/vehicle and push it to him. He puts it in the puzzle and pushes the truck back for another puzzle piece.
8) Get out toothbrush, brush, diaper, cup, spoon, etc. and have Tylr use this with a Teddy Bear (this one may be tough for people that do not nkow how to keep him engaged cause they is not the most rewarding/stimulating activites for him.
9) Put doll clothes in a bag and have him indicate (pointing, gesture, etc.) what clothes to put on and dress a teddy bear together.
10) read a book together and have him point to pictures and you name them.
And believe it or not, Tyler starts school again on Monday! How fast the summer is already going. He'll be in school 3 days a week until July 29 and then starts splash camp (5 days week) the following week. Then we'll be back to school in September.
As for Ben, I got to spend a lot of one on one time with ben this weekend and it was great, he and I both really enjoyed it. we are still looking for reasons/ways to get Ben interested in potty training. We've tried all kinds of incentives for when he goes such as candy, stickers, etc. Also used a trip to the zoo, all these things that he supposdely reallylikes and raerly gets to do but he's just not interested. I even boughth im big boy underwear yesterday that had lightning mcqueen on them and he liked them but had no trouble peeing in them and it didnt' seem to bother him that he did pee in them and they were wet. So I'm just not sure what our next steps are. Maybe a break and then reintroduce it again.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
6/26/09
Please thank your representatives who supported the autism insurance bills.. there is a list of supporters on this website so you can see if yours is on the list.
http://house.michigan.gov/replist.asp?lstcounty=&txtdistrict=&txtzip=&sortby=2
I sent a personalized message to my representative but also wrote a generic one for others to send, if you don't know what to say.. it only takes a minute:
Dear Representative ():
Thank you for supporting the autism insurance bills. As you know autism is a devastating disorder that affects one out of every 94 boys in the US, many of these children cannot even speak. Professionals recommend that children with autism receive intense ABA therapy for up to 40 hours a week and if administered properly, many of these kids can enter grade school, indistinguishable by their peers. At a cost of nearly $70,000 a year, families are often left to make heart-wrenching decisions regarding the care for their child. If left untreated, autism is a vicious disorder that can cause life-long behavior problems. These children are our future, by supporting these bills, you are giving so many children a chance at a life filled with happiness and success. Thank you!!!!
http://house.michigan.gov/replist.asp?lstcounty=&txtdistrict=&txtzip=&sortby=2
I sent a personalized message to my representative but also wrote a generic one for others to send, if you don't know what to say.. it only takes a minute:
Dear Representative ():
Thank you for supporting the autism insurance bills. As you know autism is a devastating disorder that affects one out of every 94 boys in the US, many of these children cannot even speak. Professionals recommend that children with autism receive intense ABA therapy for up to 40 hours a week and if administered properly, many of these kids can enter grade school, indistinguishable by their peers. At a cost of nearly $70,000 a year, families are often left to make heart-wrenching decisions regarding the care for their child. If left untreated, autism is a vicious disorder that can cause life-long behavior problems. These children are our future, by supporting these bills, you are giving so many children a chance at a life filled with happiness and success. Thank you!!!!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
6/25/09
So you may or may not be aware but the autism insurance bills for michigan passed through the house yesterday (great birthday present for me!!). Next it needs to pass through the senate which is going to be harder. They really suggest writing your senator and explaning your personal relationship with autism rather than form letters. So if any/all of you reading this could do that, i'd greatly appreciate it!
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/ documents/ 2009-2010/ billengrossed/ House/htm/ 2009-HEBH- 4476.htm
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billengrossed/House/htm/2009-HEBH-4183.htm
If you do not know which senator is for your district, here is a link where you can determine. http://senate.michigan.gov/
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/ documents/ 2009-2010/ billengrossed/ House/htm/ 2009-HEBH- 4476.htm
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billengrossed/House/htm/2009-HEBH-4183.htm
If you do not know which senator is for your district, here is a link where you can determine. http://senate.michigan.gov/
Monday, June 22, 2009
6/22/09
Tyler had a very good weekend considering he either has a cold or allergies ar ebothering him. Ben spent the weekend with his grandma and great grand parents so itw as just us and Tyler this weekend. What a difference in makes in the time/quality you can give one child. Anyway, we went to my sisters openhouse and TYler did very well. The amount of people didn't bother him at all, in fact, he did great with everyone. We brough lots for him to do so that he wouldnt' just run in circle and my cousins took him on a few golf cart rides which he loved. I'm very happy with the way things went. I also had an opportunity to ask him to pick up his cup, last time I did that he was beside himself mad at me for asking, this time he just did it and handed it to me without objection. Its one thing to throw down cups at our house,w hich I still don't allow but definetly not respectful to throw them down in someone else's house so I'm trying to teach him to hand it to someone or put it on a table when he's done.
Tyler did something really cool yesterday morning when we were at my aunts. I was sitting on the chair and he walked by me, looked at me and waved hi and just kept walking. That's the first time hes' even chosen to communicate with me for a purely social reason. He didn't want anything from me and I wasn't engaged with him at the time, he just wanted to say hi. HUGE step forward.
He also did really well at the sprinkler pad yesterday. For some reason teh "break" time for teh water is extensive.. i.e. 20 minutes of rest between the 5 minutes the sprinklers work. We weren't sure what the problem was but if this would ahve been last year, Tyler would ave been on the cement trying to bang his head out of frustratino. I couldn't warn him it was shutting off cause I didn't nkwo when it was coming and I had no idea it was gonna take a full 20 mintues to come back on so tht waiting/patience involved was a lot foa typical child let along Tyler who can't understand why I can't fix it. he did fantastic with the long breaks and never once even screeched.
Tyler has begun screaming a bit, in a high pitched sound but is very happy. I'm equating this to a baby who had just really discovered their voice and that they are in charge of how long or short and how high or low each sound is. It may annoy others and I'm sure people look at him thinking ok he's a toddler, not appropriate to be screeching, however I see this as a very very positive sign. Hopefully next will come babblying with many differenc onstants and vowels in the same sequence and then speech. we'll see.. but I don't mind the screaming.
That's about it.. I seem to have caught some sort of bug this weekend so we'll be taking it easy this week and it may take a while to get another update.
Tyler did something really cool yesterday morning when we were at my aunts. I was sitting on the chair and he walked by me, looked at me and waved hi and just kept walking. That's the first time hes' even chosen to communicate with me for a purely social reason. He didn't want anything from me and I wasn't engaged with him at the time, he just wanted to say hi. HUGE step forward.
He also did really well at the sprinkler pad yesterday. For some reason teh "break" time for teh water is extensive.. i.e. 20 minutes of rest between the 5 minutes the sprinklers work. We weren't sure what the problem was but if this would ahve been last year, Tyler would ave been on the cement trying to bang his head out of frustratino. I couldn't warn him it was shutting off cause I didn't nkwo when it was coming and I had no idea it was gonna take a full 20 mintues to come back on so tht waiting/patience involved was a lot foa typical child let along Tyler who can't understand why I can't fix it. he did fantastic with the long breaks and never once even screeched.
Tyler has begun screaming a bit, in a high pitched sound but is very happy. I'm equating this to a baby who had just really discovered their voice and that they are in charge of how long or short and how high or low each sound is. It may annoy others and I'm sure people look at him thinking ok he's a toddler, not appropriate to be screeching, however I see this as a very very positive sign. Hopefully next will come babblying with many differenc onstants and vowels in the same sequence and then speech. we'll see.. but I don't mind the screaming.
That's about it.. I seem to have caught some sort of bug this weekend so we'll be taking it easy this week and it may take a while to get another update.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I often think about things that i want to put in the blog but by the time I actually am writing, I forget half of them and then when I remember what they were, I can't remember if I just thouht about writing them or I actually put them in the blog. So I'm sorry if this is a repeat story.
Steve's mom told me about a little girl who sings the national anthem at various sporting events. I also caught a glimpse of her on a talk show where they were mentioning how the Orlando Magic had never lost when she sang before the game. The key is that she has autism, specifically PDD-NOS. She has an incredibly amazing voice at 7 years old but at 3 years old she could not talk. Although Tyler's diagnosis is more severe than hers, it still gives you hope. She's came so far. Here are some links where you can read about her story and see clips of her singing. http://www.ginachildperformer.com/id1.html or http://www.youtube.com/user/ProdigyGina
So put yourself in Tyler's shoes, he understand what you say to him for the most part but knows that he cannot talk to you. So when he wants to make a point or is frustrated about something, etc. and can't actually speak it or doesn't know all the signs he needs to make it happen, imagine how frustrating that is for him. So I make it a point, to make sure that he knows I understand him and if for some reason I don't understand why he's saying, I really really try to get to the bottom of it. So at the lecture hal the other day, he was making obvious gestures that he was ready to get out of the chair and looking to me to help and to fix it and rescue him. I gave him lots of squeezes and said I know, I undertand, we are almost done, you are doing great..just a few more minutes. I think him just knowing that I understand what he wants, etc. makes those moments that arent' so comfortable for him, more bearable. I mean isn't that what we all want, jsut for someoen to understand when something makes us mad, even if we can't fix it for them. So the other day, Tyler wanted me to go upstairs with him, for one reason or another i couldn't, but grandma was happy to go upstairs and read with him (which is what he wanted, he has a lot mor ebooks upstairs than downstairs). He was getting frustrated that I was not walking up the stairs with him. Grandma was great and wa trying to walk up with himbut he was getting more frustrated. I asked that she not grab his hand or he grab hers. Tyler kinda does what he's supposed to do so if someone grabsh is hand to lead him somewehre, he'll take it, even if he doesn't want to cause that's what you aer supposed to do when someone grabs your hand. So I asked that they stop holding hands and I looked at Tyler and said I knwo you want mommy to go upstairs, but I cannot go right now. You have a choice, you can go upstairs and read books with grandma or you can stay downstairs where mommy is and read books with granma. Mommmy cannot go upstairs with you right now. Even though he wasn't 100% happy with this explanation, he understood he had a choice and he made it. He chose to stay downstairs and read books with grandma so he could be by me too. It's really important for me to know that he understands that I understand what he wants if that makes sense. I think that's why many kids have such behavior issues, especially whent hey can't talk becuase people just pick them up or physically move them or lead them somewhere possibly undesireable when that child wasn't able to fully get their point accross sot hey melt down becuase they didn't get what they wanted and they weren't given an opportunity to communicate what they wanted, even if they can't get what they want, I think it helps to show that you at least understand it and then offer an alerternative. I wish I could explain this better and hopefully it makes sense. I just always want Tyler to know that I understand his feelings since it's so hard for him to express them.
Ben was super cute with Tyler last night. Ben was playing dinosaur games on the computer and there are a couple that Tyler likes to watch too but many times Ben gets annoye dwith Tyler cause he likes to get so close to the screen. Steve said that yesterday, Ben actualyl turned the computer screen so Tyler could watch too. I really think he's starting to come around like everyone said he would. Once he's old enough to understand it all. At the park the other day he was talkign to me about Ty Ty. He often talks to me intead of Tyler when he wants Tyler to do something. The funny thing is, many people do this. They think since Tyler can't talk that he can't understand or hear what you are saying, not true. So it old Ben that he can talk to Tyler as often as he'd like because Tyler can hear him adn loves to hear his voice and even though he doesn't show that he's listening, he can defetinly hear him and one day hopefuly Tyler will be able to talk back to him. I really hope they can have a good relationship one day, it will be so good for both of them.
Steve's mom told me about a little girl who sings the national anthem at various sporting events. I also caught a glimpse of her on a talk show where they were mentioning how the Orlando Magic had never lost when she sang before the game. The key is that she has autism, specifically PDD-NOS. She has an incredibly amazing voice at 7 years old but at 3 years old she could not talk. Although Tyler's diagnosis is more severe than hers, it still gives you hope. She's came so far. Here are some links where you can read about her story and see clips of her singing. http://www.ginachildperformer.com/id1.html or http://www.youtube.com/user/ProdigyGina
So put yourself in Tyler's shoes, he understand what you say to him for the most part but knows that he cannot talk to you. So when he wants to make a point or is frustrated about something, etc. and can't actually speak it or doesn't know all the signs he needs to make it happen, imagine how frustrating that is for him. So I make it a point, to make sure that he knows I understand him and if for some reason I don't understand why he's saying, I really really try to get to the bottom of it. So at the lecture hal the other day, he was making obvious gestures that he was ready to get out of the chair and looking to me to help and to fix it and rescue him. I gave him lots of squeezes and said I know, I undertand, we are almost done, you are doing great..just a few more minutes. I think him just knowing that I understand what he wants, etc. makes those moments that arent' so comfortable for him, more bearable. I mean isn't that what we all want, jsut for someoen to understand when something makes us mad, even if we can't fix it for them. So the other day, Tyler wanted me to go upstairs with him, for one reason or another i couldn't, but grandma was happy to go upstairs and read with him (which is what he wanted, he has a lot mor ebooks upstairs than downstairs). He was getting frustrated that I was not walking up the stairs with him. Grandma was great and wa trying to walk up with himbut he was getting more frustrated. I asked that she not grab his hand or he grab hers. Tyler kinda does what he's supposed to do so if someone grabsh is hand to lead him somewehre, he'll take it, even if he doesn't want to cause that's what you aer supposed to do when someone grabs your hand. So I asked that they stop holding hands and I looked at Tyler and said I knwo you want mommy to go upstairs, but I cannot go right now. You have a choice, you can go upstairs and read books with grandma or you can stay downstairs where mommy is and read books with granma. Mommmy cannot go upstairs with you right now. Even though he wasn't 100% happy with this explanation, he understood he had a choice and he made it. He chose to stay downstairs and read books with grandma so he could be by me too. It's really important for me to know that he understands that I understand what he wants if that makes sense. I think that's why many kids have such behavior issues, especially whent hey can't talk becuase people just pick them up or physically move them or lead them somewhere possibly undesireable when that child wasn't able to fully get their point accross sot hey melt down becuase they didn't get what they wanted and they weren't given an opportunity to communicate what they wanted, even if they can't get what they want, I think it helps to show that you at least understand it and then offer an alerternative. I wish I could explain this better and hopefully it makes sense. I just always want Tyler to know that I understand his feelings since it's so hard for him to express them.
Ben was super cute with Tyler last night. Ben was playing dinosaur games on the computer and there are a couple that Tyler likes to watch too but many times Ben gets annoye dwith Tyler cause he likes to get so close to the screen. Steve said that yesterday, Ben actualyl turned the computer screen so Tyler could watch too. I really think he's starting to come around like everyone said he would. Once he's old enough to understand it all. At the park the other day he was talkign to me about Ty Ty. He often talks to me intead of Tyler when he wants Tyler to do something. The funny thing is, many people do this. They think since Tyler can't talk that he can't understand or hear what you are saying, not true. So it old Ben that he can talk to Tyler as often as he'd like because Tyler can hear him adn loves to hear his voice and even though he doesn't show that he's listening, he can defetinly hear him and one day hopefuly Tyler will be able to talk back to him. I really hope they can have a good relationship one day, it will be so good for both of them.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
6/16/09
Tyler did pretty good today. He and I were both a little intimidated by all the people in the room. It's a rather short (depth wise) room with very high stadium seating and we were being videoed and shown on a huge screen in the front of the room just behind us. Anyway, Tyler woke up with a runny nose so he wasn't quite feeling 100% and was a bit more irritable today than normal, so when considering that he did very well. he tolerated the "birthday party" well when he clearly wanted to get down and occasionally gritted his teeth at Susan. He had to sit for the party and play with the GFCF playdoh which was supposed to be the cake. He did participate in the putting the "candles" in though event hough he wasnt' happy about it. I gave him lots of squeezes and let him know it would just be a few more minutes. he also initiated a few signs which was nice. all and all she said that he did better than she had expected (she hadn't' watched his last ADOS but planned to watch the video of it after this session as to not alter her expectations) and as long as people learned from the session than it's a success! He really liked the balloon part and was some what interested in the bubbles. I'm really glad we did our practice session so he was familiar with the room and with her, it made quite a difference adding all those people in the room. Steve and Tyler have a routine where Tyler lays down and signs swing and Steve swings him by his legs in the air and Tyler loves it, he requested that a few times today and I did it a couple of times to help him stay regulated and engaged with the activities. we also played "dog" at one point to get him happy again. Even though he was frustrated today he never got overly upset where he was crying or went to bang his head or anything so again compared to where we used to be (cause he was asked to do some not fun/not interesting things) he's really come a long way.
So we said goodbye to the parent support group for the summer, it will start back up in the fall when school starts back up. Tyler goes back to preschool after the 4th of July holiday, although this time it's for 3 days a week instead of 5.
So we said goodbye to the parent support group for the summer, it will start back up in the fall when school starts back up. Tyler goes back to preschool after the 4th of July holiday, although this time it's for 3 days a week instead of 5.
Monday, June 15, 2009
6/15/09
I had wanted to mention this a week ago but am pretty sure I forgot. On the last week of school, Tyler and I had gotten to school a bit early one day and he wanted to ride one of the bikes stored by teh classroom. He got on the bike and headed down the hallway and wanted to turn onto the main hallway. Lots of kids were coming in so I wouldn't let him go that way, I turned him around to go back the way he came. Well that did not go over so well, so we had a stand off there in the middle of the hallway. Have I mentioned yet how much I love that school and all the people, they all know exactly what's going on, they've been there before and they do not judge all. The goal was in some way, i.e. riding or pushing, Tyler needed to put his bike back where it belonged. IN order to do this, he needed to stand up which he was refusing to do and he was sobbing. I attempted to ignore him and walk away (about 7 feet) which caused him to stop crying but not get off his knees, as soon as I said "stand up" he went to bang his head so I ran back over to block him from injuring himself but at that point i knew my strategy of keeping my distance would nto work cause he would injure himself which I can't allow. So anyway, his parapro by now was also there and asked if I wanted her to take over and I said no, I placed the demand for him to stand so it was important to me to have him stand before I left. So when he finally did stand, he got lots of hugs and kisses and praise and then together we pushed the bike back into place and walked with the parapro into class and I kissed him good bye (the teacher had also seen the stand off along withe veryone else so they all knew what was going on). So when I got out in the car, it dawned on me that I was wearing a skirt that day and since I was kind of squatting I may very well have been revealing a little too much to everyone so I sent a quick apology to the teacher of which she got a big laugh. Gotta find humor in life right!
We had another stand off this weekend although this one only lasted a few minutes. The school stand off was at least 10. So Tyler is in a habit of throwing down his sippy cup when he's done drinking, wherever it is that he finishes drinking. So he did that this weekend, through it down in the middle of the living area. So I said, give mommy your cup. He got made and kind of through himself down. he'd try to kind of scooch away from me and I'd sit him back up straight and near the cup and say give mommy the cup. Grandma and Dad both agreed that he knew exactly what I was asking of him and was just being stubborn. So long story short, I can be much more stubborn than eithe rof the boys and eventually Tyler did pick up his cup and hand it to mommy, yeah! baby steps:)
Friday night was just me and the boys and we attempted our first bike ride with just one parent. The boys are gettnig good at peddaling now and I felt pretty confident that Ben would listen to my stop requets if he got to far so we tried it (including Clifford). It went really really well. There were only 2 times it got hectic when Iw as trying to help the boys down a hill and pushing both bikes and Clifford was kind of running between everything, other than that, it was great. In fact, there were times that Ben was intentionally riding behind Tyler to let him go first and if he had to stop he would so that he wouldn't pass Tyler. Very cute.
Saturday we went ot the park with grandma and we ran into a Dad who had brought his twins to the park. I knew the boy looked familiar and then I heard the names and realized they used to go the toddler group with Tyler when Ty went to Lenawee County. it was great to see them and good for Steve's mom to see too. Owen if I remember correctly hadn't actually been diagnosed yet when we met him but was likely going to be classified as having high functinoing autism, Grace was neurotypical. so I had kind of bonded with that mom since we had the unique dynamic of having twins with only one having autism. Anyway, Owen and Ben were playing a lot together and Grandma got to see what a high functioning kid with autism looks like compared to Tyler. There is a drastic difference between them, Grandma said she couldn't even tell that anything was going on with Owen.. And in esssence that si really my hope for Tyler that he grows into a little boy that may still have autism but is able to fully functino in society and may just be a bit quirky.
Oh, Grandma taught Tyler how to spell hsi name. Give him an alphabet and ask him to spell his name and he'll point to all the appropriate letters, grandma is very proud of herself and we are too :)
We took the boy swimming on Sunday and that was fun. steve kind of whished Tyler around in the water (it was very cold) and ben played on the steps with a couple of other kids. both of them had a ball. Dad worked on Tyler getting him to make sounds before steve would whoosh him off the steps into the water. Tyler also seemed to really want to stick around us and nto take off running or wandering so my comfort zone is increasing just a bit on letting him get a bit further from me than normal. Slowly but surely we are getting there. Everyone in parent group says it comes, the 6 and 7 year old are just learning the dangers if the road and not to talk to strangers, etc. Just takes them longer to grasp all those concepts, so bear with us as it may seem we are overprotective when we were out and about with TYler but we are just tryign to keep him safe.
Tomorrow is Tyler and my big day at U of M. Wish us luck in that lecture hall with all those people. Hopefully our preparation in doing a practice run will pay off and Tyler will stay regulated and happy. I really love that we are helping out so many kids that don't even know it yet by participating in this training so hopefully all goes well.
Some not so good news on the autism insurance front. The detroit news printed an inaccrurate article in the paper and there are some other issues coming up in regards to mental health parity, so if you haven't alrady, please email your representatives on the importance of these bills.
We had another stand off this weekend although this one only lasted a few minutes. The school stand off was at least 10. So Tyler is in a habit of throwing down his sippy cup when he's done drinking, wherever it is that he finishes drinking. So he did that this weekend, through it down in the middle of the living area. So I said, give mommy your cup. He got made and kind of through himself down. he'd try to kind of scooch away from me and I'd sit him back up straight and near the cup and say give mommy the cup. Grandma and Dad both agreed that he knew exactly what I was asking of him and was just being stubborn. So long story short, I can be much more stubborn than eithe rof the boys and eventually Tyler did pick up his cup and hand it to mommy, yeah! baby steps:)
Friday night was just me and the boys and we attempted our first bike ride with just one parent. The boys are gettnig good at peddaling now and I felt pretty confident that Ben would listen to my stop requets if he got to far so we tried it (including Clifford). It went really really well. There were only 2 times it got hectic when Iw as trying to help the boys down a hill and pushing both bikes and Clifford was kind of running between everything, other than that, it was great. In fact, there were times that Ben was intentionally riding behind Tyler to let him go first and if he had to stop he would so that he wouldn't pass Tyler. Very cute.
Saturday we went ot the park with grandma and we ran into a Dad who had brought his twins to the park. I knew the boy looked familiar and then I heard the names and realized they used to go the toddler group with Tyler when Ty went to Lenawee County. it was great to see them and good for Steve's mom to see too. Owen if I remember correctly hadn't actually been diagnosed yet when we met him but was likely going to be classified as having high functinoing autism, Grace was neurotypical. so I had kind of bonded with that mom since we had the unique dynamic of having twins with only one having autism. Anyway, Owen and Ben were playing a lot together and Grandma got to see what a high functioning kid with autism looks like compared to Tyler. There is a drastic difference between them, Grandma said she couldn't even tell that anything was going on with Owen.. And in esssence that si really my hope for Tyler that he grows into a little boy that may still have autism but is able to fully functino in society and may just be a bit quirky.
Oh, Grandma taught Tyler how to spell hsi name. Give him an alphabet and ask him to spell his name and he'll point to all the appropriate letters, grandma is very proud of herself and we are too :)
We took the boy swimming on Sunday and that was fun. steve kind of whished Tyler around in the water (it was very cold) and ben played on the steps with a couple of other kids. both of them had a ball. Dad worked on Tyler getting him to make sounds before steve would whoosh him off the steps into the water. Tyler also seemed to really want to stick around us and nto take off running or wandering so my comfort zone is increasing just a bit on letting him get a bit further from me than normal. Slowly but surely we are getting there. Everyone in parent group says it comes, the 6 and 7 year old are just learning the dangers if the road and not to talk to strangers, etc. Just takes them longer to grasp all those concepts, so bear with us as it may seem we are overprotective when we were out and about with TYler but we are just tryign to keep him safe.
Tomorrow is Tyler and my big day at U of M. Wish us luck in that lecture hall with all those people. Hopefully our preparation in doing a practice run will pay off and Tyler will stay regulated and happy. I really love that we are helping out so many kids that don't even know it yet by participating in this training so hopefully all goes well.
Some not so good news on the autism insurance front. The detroit news printed an inaccrurate article in the paper and there are some other issues coming up in regards to mental health parity, so if you haven't alrady, please email your representatives on the importance of these bills.
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