@sensory therapy

At sensory therapy waiting for boy to be done. He loves coming here!!

I can't wait to see what they work on today.

October 11 - Walk Now For Autism @ The Palace sponsored by Autism Speaks -- checkin 10am
walk starts @ 12

another week, a new beginning

Yesterday was difficult. We had a fabulous day, but boy really had a hard time of it. I cannot quite figure out why. He may have had some milk this weekend, but not enough to cause the issues we saw yesterday....let me explain.

First of all, we had a super busy weekend, which probably did not help matters. It was busy and chaotic and anxiety filled. Friday we had a ton of running around to do and the kids worked on cleaning the basement for a playdate they were having Saturday...overall Friday wasn't too bad, just busy.

Saturday we had ballet, then a bbq at my Grandma's senior center...this induced high anxiety because boy was certain there would be roller coasters. He was worried up until the point where he could actually see there were no roller coasters set up in the parking lot. After that we went home and awaited the arrival of his playdate...somewhat of an anxiety inducing moment as he was worried he would not have enough time to do everything he had planned. The playdate was inside and they were loud and rowdy, which doesn't bother me, but usually puts him in an elevated mood...he becomes overly loud, overly rowdy, overly anxious, overly sensitive, overly unfocused...everything just becomes over the top. It is really hard to bring him back down in this situation.

So Saturday was a late night, perhaps he didn't sleep well...which brings us into Sunday. Sunday we went to Frankenmuth to celebrate FIL birthday. Frankenmuth is boy's most favorite place to go...ever...E V E R! We used to go overnight at least 4 times a year. There is a strict routine to a Frankenmuth visit...very strict routine and it involves spending the night. We haven't gone in quite a while because he became so set on the routine that it really wasn't fun for us anymore because we wanted to veer off of his path and that was absolutely not allowed. So, we planned a day trip to Frankenmuth for dinner and explained ahead of time that we could not possibly stay. He seemed ok with that and didn't even ask to stay while we were there....but he was in an "out of control" state the entire time.

By out of control I mean unfocused, loud, couldn't listen to us, easily frustrated, easily angry...he even had a meltdown at the table and started punching himself in the head. I do not think this was milk related. I think this was strictly "Aspergers" related. I think that he was out of his element because we were in a place where he had a routine, but we weren't able to do that routine because we weren't spending the night. I also think that he was overly excited to go there since it had been so long....overall it was a very hectic day. He couldn't stop saying "pee" and "poop", he couldn't stop himself from squawking, he couldn't stop himself from melting and hitting himself...just overall hectic.

So, where do we go from here? Is there a solution to making this type of situation better? Was there something I could have done to prevent or control? Or, will these things just happen?

What is my goal with anything that we are doing for him? I don't think it is logical to try to "fix" (goes along the same lines of "curing" his Aspergers, which again I hate the term!)....what is it I am trying to do?

...I sat and thought on that question for quite some time...

I believe my goal is to help him learn to deal with it. Teach him how to self regulate himself. I need to keep reminding myself of that..I need to teach him how to self regulate himself. I cannot always modify the family schedule to be less hectic for him (sometimes yes, but it's not feasible always) instead he needs to learn how to cope with changes. He needs to get to a point where he can understand what he is feeling and know to excuse himself to adjust what he is feeling if needed. I will be successful if I can help him with that.

I think the biggest or most difficult thing to deal with with an Aspie kid is the fact that there are so many areas that we need to work on...there's sensory and emotional well being and helping with the lack of friendships and anxiety and handwriting and fixations and unflexibility and noise sensitivity and transition issues and whatever comes up tomorrow ...as a parent it is overwhelming to know what area to start with....I think that is where I am at...I think I am trying to tackle his Aspergers as a whole instead of focusing on one area at a time...not sure what the best approach is though and I doubt anyone really has an answer to that...

special note about casein free diet

Here is a special note of something I discovered about the casein free diet....

Be careful of lunchmeat! I didn't even think to look, but found that there is milk protein in some lunchmeats...who would have thought it!

Also, we bought vegan cheese slices to make grilled cheese sandwiches...boy ate it, but didn't think it was all too great. We also bought soy pudding, which is a huge hit!

today's sensory therapy update

"A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner."~ Anonymous

Today's therapy was really great. Ms. Sue is working with boy on his handwriting, continuing to focus on strengthening his hands.

Next week she is going to put together Callirobics for boy to try. Basically it is handwriting to classical music. He won't necessarily be forming the letters correctly, but will instead kind of be doodling while listening to the music...trying to pace himself to the sound of the music, which is supposed to slow him down in his writing. It is supposed to teach the hand strokes that make up handwriting to the quiet beat of the music. I think it sounds very exciting!

we survived!

I am very happy to announce that we survived the first week of school!

Boy ate all of his lunch everyday, which may not seem like a huge accomplishment, but trust me it is! Last year the noise in the lunchroom was so overwhelming that he couldn't eat. He lost 3lbs the last two months of school -- this summer it was my goal to plump him up a bit and he gained 6lbs!

I have high hopes that this year will be great! His handwriting is an issue, but I think it has improved somewhat. I brought a handwriting paper of his to sensory therapy yesterday to use as a baseline...can only get better from here!!

Monday, Monday...

So good to me (ba-da ba-da-da-da)
Monday mornin', it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday mornin', Monday mornin' couldn't guarantee (ba-da ba-da-da-da)
~Mamas & The Papas

We survived!!

Yes, I knew we would survive, even if the day had been bleak and horrid we would have survived it, but the day wasn't bleak or horrid or terrible or tear filled or miserable or any of the other things that I nervously waited for...the day was....

"pretty great" according to boy. I was hoping to just get a "good", but instead we got "pretty great", which to me is pretty freaking awesome!

We started the day, "Goodmorning Chart" in hand, with therapeutic listening while he ate breakfast. Usually the therapeutic listening is supposed to go for 30 minutes (I swear I will blog a separate blog about the coolness of this!), but we only got in about 20 minutes, which was perfectly fine with me. He completed his chart and we were off to school.

The office entrance was decorated with balloons, which is apparently exactly what happened last year so the familiarity begin for him. I walked him to his class and he found that the seating chart had him and his cousin together, super bonus! He put away his stuff and got right down to business. I think the fact that yesterday was a 1/2 day was a little awkward to him because after school (and even today) he commented on how tomorrow (Tuesday) they would actually start working.

Last year there were HUGE issues with discipline in the class. Boy is super rule follower guy so I never worried he would get in trouble in class, but he had high anxiety over it. He would obsess over who was getting in trouble and getting their name on the board. The teacher (who I really did like) also did group punishment if one kid misbehaved too much and the anxiety that was created there was unreal. Well the very first thing boy announced to me yesterday upon leaving school was the fact that there is a new procedure when someone gets in trouble. Basically everyone starts with a green card, but as misbehavior happens they flip their cards to various colors indicating varying degrees of "in trouble". Anyone who keeps a green card all week gets put in a drawing for some kind of prize. At the end of each day the kids write their color for the day in their daily folder and the parents are encouraged to check that. It sounds like a very successful process and I think it will really help alleviate his anxiety about getting in trouble.

The teacher also walked the kids around the school and introduced them to the "specials" teachers (art, music, spanish) to help familiarize themselves with those teachers again. I think this will be another huge help to our anxiety issues because last year boy had a lot of stress about transitioning to the various different specials throughout the day/week. Last year the school councelor walked him to each of the specials and introduced him to the teacher (even though he had already been in their classes). It seemed to help and I think that this was also helpful to him in remembering how the routine works.

Kudos to the teacher for having such great ideas for the first day!!

I questioned him about the noise, which was a difficult thing to get past last year, and he stated that it was noisy, but not too bad. That could be because it was just the first day or it could be that the therapeutic listening is helping...we will have to see how that goes throughout the year. He did comment that the other kids must have grown up a lot because they weren't nearly as bad as they were last year...he's such an old soul living in the body if a 7 year old. I love him!

He didn't make any friends or talk to anyone (or so he says), but he did quiz the class to see if anyone remembered how funny he was last year, which no one did so he was determined to come up with some funny jokes to start telling. This morning on the way to school I asked if he had come up with any good jokes to tell today and he said no, but he has some great jokes planned for April Fools day and the last day of school...so I am hoping that doesn't mean he is planning on waiting until April to make some friends! haha.

Overall it was a very great day, he was in high spirits and excited to go back today. Today is the first full day of school, which means he is eating lunch there....hopefully it is just as wonderful a day as yesterday!