....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!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Thursday, September 16, 2010
had a great speech group
Boy had a great speech group, he really enjoyed it! I think this will be great for him!!
speech pep group
Boy started his first speech pep group tonight, which is a group of 5 boys and they teach them social interaction skills. I am really excited for him to be a part of this group!
What they work on:
1) eye contact when speaking to someone else
2) how to introduce yourself to someone
3) how to share a conversation and not just one side chat
4) how to overall interact with other kids
5) how to make friends and keep friendships
5) how to be ok with not playing whatever your obsession is
I can't wait to see how far he comes with this program!!!
What they work on:
1) eye contact when speaking to someone else
2) how to introduce yourself to someone
3) how to share a conversation and not just one side chat
4) how to overall interact with other kids
5) how to make friends and keep friendships
5) how to be ok with not playing whatever your obsession is
I can't wait to see how far he comes with this program!!!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Captain Underpants - sensory delight?
"Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks." ~ Samual Johnson
Everytime that I have seen the Captain Underpants books I have thought, "Who would let their kids read a book about a superhero in underpants with villians named things like Professor PoopyPants?". My boy is now 8 years old and the books totally make sense to me!
What other way to get a kid to crave reading than to give them a book filled with the weird things boys obsess about (or at least my boy!). He cannot put the first book down, which is excellent AND he is comprehending! I pretty much expected these results though...I figured the books would become an obsession due to their content.
However, what I did not expect to find was a cute little sensory "game". Flip-O-Rama -- basically there are instructions you follow (1 sensory point), you hold one page down with the left hand and flip the right page quickly with your thumb and forefinger on your right hand (12 sensory points here!), all the while watching the image on the right pages and focusing your eyes until you see both images become animated (at least another 12 sensory points there!).
When we first tried it, I couldn't get him to close his thumb and forefinger around the page on his own...he was totally confused as to what we were trying to do. Once he figured it out he thought it was so cool and taught his sister how to do it as well.
Super cute, super cute!
Everytime that I have seen the Captain Underpants books I have thought, "Who would let their kids read a book about a superhero in underpants with villians named things like Professor PoopyPants?". My boy is now 8 years old and the books totally make sense to me!
What other way to get a kid to crave reading than to give them a book filled with the weird things boys obsess about (or at least my boy!). He cannot put the first book down, which is excellent AND he is comprehending! I pretty much expected these results though...I figured the books would become an obsession due to their content.
However, what I did not expect to find was a cute little sensory "game". Flip-O-Rama -- basically there are instructions you follow (1 sensory point), you hold one page down with the left hand and flip the right page quickly with your thumb and forefinger on your right hand (12 sensory points here!), all the while watching the image on the right pages and focusing your eyes until you see both images become animated (at least another 12 sensory points there!).
When we first tried it, I couldn't get him to close his thumb and forefinger around the page on his own...he was totally confused as to what we were trying to do. Once he figured it out he thought it was so cool and taught his sister how to do it as well.
Super cute, super cute!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
long time no post....
"Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time." ~ Stephen Wright
I am pretty sure I have used that title before when life has gotten out of control and I've lost contact with my blog! That happens way too much unfortunately!
So, what is new with us? A whole lot of the same unfortunately. Still working through issues with boy, but we are making progress. Maybe we've made a lot of progress, but I keep setting my goals for him higher and higher? Well, I'm not sure how much progress, but we are making progress.
The biggest improvement I see is at sensory therapy. In his session two weeks ago he noticed another boy playing in the sensory play room. His therapist asked him if he would like to go play with him and boy said no; he had it in his head that he wanted to make paper airplanes. Well, at the end of his session he told his therapist that he really *should* have gone and played with the other boy so she took him in there. She said she was utterly amazed because he walked up to the boy, told him his name, age, where he went to school and what he liked to do and then said.....
......wait for it........
...."So, what is your name?" ---- H U G E improvement there! HUGE! I swear her and I both nearly cried as she was telling me this. He interacted with the other boy, asked him his name, his age, and what he liked to play (after somewhat coercing the boy into stating that he liked Super Mario haha). They then decided that they they would play together at the next therapy session which was this past week.
So huge improvement right there, but I am beginning to think that he can interact with other kids like that when someone he feels comfortable with is around (me or therapist for example).
The reason I think this is because this week he is at camp and is having SUCH a hard time making friends. Each day I ask him to come home with just one kids name...finally he had a name yesterday and after I talked to him about it, it ended up that he finally got a name because he was able to read someone's name tag haha.
So, we continue to keep continuing on and as long as you continue to keep continuing on, then you're doing a really excellent job.
And just some random black and white thinking for ya...
His therapist asked him yesterday "Have you tried any new food lately?" (he doesn't like to try new foods) and he responded "Yes, I ate dirt today." and she said "Really? Dirt? You ate dirt?", his response "Yes, that's what they called it, but I'm pretty sure it was crushed oreos."
Love him.
I am pretty sure I have used that title before when life has gotten out of control and I've lost contact with my blog! That happens way too much unfortunately!
So, what is new with us? A whole lot of the same unfortunately. Still working through issues with boy, but we are making progress. Maybe we've made a lot of progress, but I keep setting my goals for him higher and higher? Well, I'm not sure how much progress, but we are making progress.
The biggest improvement I see is at sensory therapy. In his session two weeks ago he noticed another boy playing in the sensory play room. His therapist asked him if he would like to go play with him and boy said no; he had it in his head that he wanted to make paper airplanes. Well, at the end of his session he told his therapist that he really *should* have gone and played with the other boy so she took him in there. She said she was utterly amazed because he walked up to the boy, told him his name, age, where he went to school and what he liked to do and then said.....
......wait for it........
...."So, what is your name?" ---- H U G E improvement there! HUGE! I swear her and I both nearly cried as she was telling me this. He interacted with the other boy, asked him his name, his age, and what he liked to play (after somewhat coercing the boy into stating that he liked Super Mario haha). They then decided that they they would play together at the next therapy session which was this past week.
So huge improvement right there, but I am beginning to think that he can interact with other kids like that when someone he feels comfortable with is around (me or therapist for example).
The reason I think this is because this week he is at camp and is having SUCH a hard time making friends. Each day I ask him to come home with just one kids name...finally he had a name yesterday and after I talked to him about it, it ended up that he finally got a name because he was able to read someone's name tag haha.
So, we continue to keep continuing on and as long as you continue to keep continuing on, then you're doing a really excellent job.
And just some random black and white thinking for ya...
His therapist asked him yesterday "Have you tried any new food lately?" (he doesn't like to try new foods) and he responded "Yes, I ate dirt today." and she said "Really? Dirt? You ate dirt?", his response "Yes, that's what they called it, but I'm pretty sure it was crushed oreos."
Love him.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
oh monkey bread, how you thwart me!
"Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future." ~ J.F.K
Happy Earth day!
Now on to the monkey bread. Last night we made monkey bread, sweet delicious, gooey yumminess that we all enjoyed thoroughly....and seriously within 5 minutes Boy was in his out of focus, can't be reasoned with mood....that quickly I saw the reaction to the milk, totally bizarre. It seems like now that we have been on the diet for a while, the more quickly I will notice a milk attack.
I understand the entire theory behind why this happens to some children and especially children on the spectrum, but seriously? That much of a reaction to just some simple milk? It makes me question the use of milk at all. Why do we as humans ingest the milk of a different species? That's totally weird.
Things that make you go hmmm.....
Happy Earth day!
Now on to the monkey bread. Last night we made monkey bread, sweet delicious, gooey yumminess that we all enjoyed thoroughly....and seriously within 5 minutes Boy was in his out of focus, can't be reasoned with mood....that quickly I saw the reaction to the milk, totally bizarre. It seems like now that we have been on the diet for a while, the more quickly I will notice a milk attack.
I understand the entire theory behind why this happens to some children and especially children on the spectrum, but seriously? That much of a reaction to just some simple milk? It makes me question the use of milk at all. Why do we as humans ingest the milk of a different species? That's totally weird.
Things that make you go hmmm.....
autism awareness - 1 in 110 children
(re-post of one of my old posts that I recently came across...the numbers are amazing)
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
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
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