cute sensory balloon balls

Samantha came home from school with cute balloon balls filled with flour from her teacher...she decided it would be a great thing for boy to use to help calm himself down...I love how intuitive they are!!

We are going to make some if these...take a balloon, fit it with a funnel, fill it with flour or sugar and tie it.  Experiment with different dry ingredients for different sensory effects.

Voila!

interactive metronome

Today in sensory therapy the therapist tested boy using a metronome based on the "Interactive Metronome" technique. Phew...he scored so low.

Interactive Metronome is a tool used to assess and improve the neurological process of motor planning, sequencing and processing; basically the user has to coordinate a set of hand/foot maneuvers set to a specific beat heard through headphones.

Ms. Sue said it was very difficult for him to listen to the cues through the headphones and apply the correct hand/foot exercises to the beat.

Typically, for his age, he should have scored around an 80---the lower the better. He scored between 300 and 400 for the different exercises, which classifies him between severely and extremely deficient...it's always so upsetting and difficult to hear this. His score was severely deficient even for the 6 year old range.

Ugh.

Of course learning the struggles is the first step to improving the behavior, but I just wish for once something would be easy for him.

So we are starting a new program at therapy to work on the Interactive Metronome, which is said to help improve: (from the website: www.interactivemetronome.com)

• Focus and attend for longer periods of time
• Increase physical endurance and stamina
• Filter out internal and external distractions
• Improve ability to monitor mental and physical actions as they are occurring
• Progressively improve coordinated performance.

It's always something....

...shows how little we know

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42385056/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

Interesting article and alarming! What are the long term affects of using these drugs on children? When will we better understand the complexities of autism?

Happy World Autism Awareness Day

With 1 in 110 children diagnosed somewhere on the spectrum, chances are you know someone with Autism. If you know us then you know boy who has Asperger's...this also means you know what a kind, fun, and amazing boy he is!

Show your support by wearing blue today...do it to support awareness, understanding and kindness, support more research, support legislative changes around Autism...support the children who are uniquely amazing!

gotta love those Aspies!

Here is an amazing story of an amazing 12 year old!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329/ts_yblog_thelookout/for-12-year-old-astrophysics-prodigy-the-skys-the-limit

April - Autism Awareness Month

"A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love." ~ St. Basil

Did you know that April is Autism Awareness month? April 2nd is World Autism Awareness day -- wear blue on this day to help bring awareness! Based on the stats below, I am sure you know someone on the spectrum.


Don't forget....

The most amazing video

One of the most astounding facts from the video...

1980 1 in 5000 children
1990 1 in 1000 children
2000 1 in 500 children
2007 1 in 150 children
2010 1 in 110 children

wow - how inspiring!!

What an inspiring story!!

American Idol finalist battles Aspergers and Tourette Syndrome.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/american-idol-finalist-james-durbin-defies-tourette-syndrome-aspergers

jump shot jubilee...

...hilarious

in 2001 they released for gamecube super smash bros melee.......

"Childhood is a journey, not a race." ~ unknown

Pokemon cards have invaded the house.  Due to the lack of video games right now I can see a shift in obsessions moving towards pokemon...of course it's not a good thing, but honestly we will never completely eliminate his obsessive nature. I would be tickled pink to no longer have to listen to nintendo facts!

The other night at dinner boy was rattling off presidential facts from memory...it was pretty amazing!  I starting googling his answers and he was right...I wasn't really expecting to see wrong answers lol.

I need to tap into this talent more...the amazingly interesting thing is that he can memorize all sorts of seemingly pointless information, but if I tell him more than one task to do he is lost....he's even lost on just the one task! I've tried everything to help him with this, such as having him repeat the tasks back to me...hasn't helped...hmmmm

And just in case you need some pointless info, here is what he's currently rattling off to me...

1) Walugi and Wamario are Mario and luigi imposters
2) January 2011 Mario sports mix came out
3) 1985 nintendo super Mario was released
4) 1986 legend of zelda came out
5) 1991 a new system was released called super nes
6) 1991 super Mario world released
7) 1992 super Mario kart (he glanced at my most and corrected my spelling of cart to kart)
8) 1996 a new system was released ...nintendo 64
9) 1999 they made one of his favorite games...super smash bros
10) 2000 waluigi was introduced in Mario tennis
11) 1986 super Mario lost levels were only released in Japan but then they released it on super Mario all stars on the super nes in 1993 I think

And keeps going...I think I'm going to create his own blog for his ramblings

2001 they created nintendo gamecube only in Japan...in 2002 they released gamecube in America...

sensory jump night

Pump It Up - Shelby Township is hosting another sensory jump night.

March 20th from 5:30 to 7:30pm
$8 a child/$6 per sibling
Refreshments provided

http://www.pumpitupparty.com/mi/shelby-township/party-packages/sensory-jump-night-valid-10-12-07-12-01-11-p4q82q3909.htm

research

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" ~Albert Einstein

I posted last week a link to the IAN Research group and today I received my first email from the group. Based on responses to a long list of questionnaires I filled out, about boy and the rest of the family, there is a UofM research group suitable for us.

Apparently you go and get a free evaluation that you can keep and give some blood and that's it. Sounds rather interesting to help assist in the research of Autism...perhaps we will do it...plus I would love an up to date evaluation done on boy!

Check out the IAN Research group at www.ianresearch.org

don't sweat the small stuff

"That which is bitter to endure may be sweet to remember." ~ Thomas Fuller

We are on weekend #1 of no video games for boy.  Our usual game playing schedule is that he can play on the weekends only; never during the week.  However, Super Mario has become such an insistent obsession that extreme measures needed to be taken in hopes of helping him become a little less obsessive over it.

So, a plan was formulated last Sunday to eliminate video games for the next 4 weeks....an absolute torturous idea for him.  The plan means there's no playing video games and no watching others playing video games.  He can still play with his Super Mario guys, can still make Mario scenes on paper and legos, but has a limited amount of time he can talk about Mario with us.

You have no idea how hard this is for him and it breaks my heart to see him so sad about it, but I swear the alternative will put us 30 years down the road with him living in our basement hooked on Mario with a Mario'esque mustache....shudder.

He needs to be able to function without being consumed by thoughts of Super Mario, Nintendo, and all of the characters that are included....we shall see what happens. 

interesting find

Today I found this website that others may find interesting...not sure yet exactly how it works, but there are several interactive questionnaires that you can do and view at anytime...

www.ianresearch.org

sensory jump night - Pump It Up

FYI there is a "Sensory Jump Night" scheduled for February 21st at the Pump It Up in Shelby Township, MI.

From their website:
Exclusively for families with special needs children. Special guest(s) will present information on therapy options available. Parents can participate and network with other families. Cost: $8.00/child- $6.00/sibling RSVP requested.

http://www.pumpitupparty.com/mi/shelby-township/calendar-p8q82.htm

all you need is love

"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside you" ~ Deepak Chopra

Keep stillness inside your heart, quiet your mind, breath and it will all be ok. Chant this to yourself over and over again and maybe eventually it will work =]

New updates on Boy - he has started a food program at sensory therapy. I will post the charts later...seems give working so far..he was very eager today to try new things with Ms. Sue, but didn't have the same level of enthusiasm at home....we are working it though....

Just keep on keeping on.

make a profound impact on your children....

....teach them kindness.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" ~ Plato

Boy asked me not long ago if he would "always be weird like this, will my Aspergers always make me weird like this?". Apparently there were some kids questioning his "weirdness" and asking him what was wrong with him. I'm still not entirely sure what the best response is to him, other than reassuring him that he is by no means "weird".

As a parent I am pretty sure there is nothing more heart-breaking to hear from your child than the fact that someone they know is teasing them. Where do children learn this? Am I naive to think that my children are not following the "cult" and picking on or belittling other children? ...because I am pretty confident in my heart of hearts that they are not; they are kind, sweet kids...but I'm pretty sure everyone feels that way about their kids, so the question is....where are children learning this behavior?

I suppose there are many sources that this behavior is coming from, but we must all also look at ourselves and determine if the behaviors we are displaying to our children are "role model" material. Think twice before you speak negatively in front of your kids, use everyday as an opportunity to teach them kindness, to show them the impact a kind gesture/word can have on someone and most importantly, PLEASE teach your children that EVERYONE is different in their own way and that is OK. If we were all the same we would all be boring!