What a mess. The majority of my father's family lives in Southeastern Louisiana where Hurricane Katrina decided to place her wrath. My grandmother and several of dad's siblings are in Houma. They were all ok. Loss of power, shingles and a shed roof were the report from my grandmother, along with a little flooding.
We had a little scare with my Aunt Jan. She lives in New Orleans on the western side of the city. She had evacuated thank goodness, but she had headed back and no one was able to reach her. My grandmother had talked to her and at the time nobody over there had any clue New Orleans is as bad as it is thanks to the lack of power. So, after not being able to reach her for over 24 hours, we were getting a bit worried. She emailed and called mom and told her she went back to Baton Rouge. From what she has heard, her home is ok, but they have no electricity. She will go back once that is restored.
I can not imagine what these poor people there and in Mississippi are going through. One of the girls that posts on the cloth diaper board lives in a town very close to Houma, and she said it is really bad. She had evacuated and on the way home she saw such horrible sights. I can not imagine.
Our hearts and prayers are going out to all who have effects from the storm.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Hooray!
Josh had ST and OT today. Let me state again how much we LOVE our new ST. She is wonderful! The two of us had a nice little chat for the past 10 minutes of his session. I have mentioned numerous times how I felt that his speech eval was far from accurate. Jessica asked me how long ago he had the eval. I told her it has been 2 months at the most and she was shocked! She again said his sentences were fine and when she worked with him today she noted that his knowledge of how objects are used and being able to verbalize it is fine as well. These are both things Roni stated in the eval were huge weaknesses for him and that I argued but was ignored. Jessica told me she had read the chart and eval and when she met Joshua she was extremely surprised because she was really expecting him to be much worse. So, I do know what I'm talking about! Ha!
I asked her if she feels he really is a full year behind as Roni's eval placed him. She said he is behind, but she really doesn't think it is that far. Where he is behind is in the areas we already knew about and what has had me concerned - being able to answer "WH" questions being the biggest. So, she has decided we will work on getting him so he isn't as distracted as he usually is in the ST room, and then she will redo the evaluation to get a more accurate view of where he is and needs help at. I am so happy to hear that we finally have someone who is willing to listen to MY concerns and input and also seems to enjoy working with the kids. Yay for Jessica!!!
After ST we had an hour to waste. I hate when we have an hour in between sessions. It isn't enough time to go and do anything away from the clinic, and yet too much time to sit in the waiting area. So, I decided we would go upstairs one floor and go across the "Kid's Walk". This is a long bridge type hallway that connects the children's hospital and the children's clinic for pedestrians. It has a ship's steering wheel, art work, looking glasses and all sorts of things for the kids to look at as you walk the 1/4 mile hallway. Pretty cool! And Josh also was able to see the hospital's helicoptor go up, which totally made his day. :) We also ran into one of my cousin's (Carrie) MILs, so we chatted for a little bit.
After getting to the hospital we still had way too much time to waste. Luckily, on the bottom floor is an area for the kids to play in. Basically it is 3 huge steps with a column in the center of the room. Inside the column, there are some touchscreen type games. Pretty neat. It was Joshua, me, and another mom with her son. Joshua was in his own world jumping down from the top step, to the next, to the next. climbing and repeating. All of a sudden something caught his eye (I have NO idea what) and he decided to jump off the bottom step into the column. He looked just like one of those cartoon characters that jump and splat into a wall. After hitting the column with his entire body, he fell flat on his tush. After closing my mouth and realizing he was ok, I ran over to be sure he was ok. He looked stunned (I would too). Then he looked at the other mom and teared up a bit. He told her he needed to go home and get a bandaid. We both lost it then and I thought we would never stop laughing. He was absolutely fine....just shocked that however he had planned his leap in his head didn't quite work out that way. LOL He went right back to the steps and walked them from that point on. LOL
Finally it came time to head back to the clinic for OT. We got there and he was worn out. He started crying and said he didn't want to see Ms. Mindy. When she came out he completely burst into tears. She asked if he was tired and he told her yes he wanted a nap. She brought him some water and fruit snacks and he seemed to perk up a bit after that. He did some swinging and then we went over the sensory diet that I have been doing with Josh and she was happy with what I am doing currently.
After the swinging, she had him sit on a ball right in front of a mirror. She then put shaving cream on the mirror and drew shapes in it for him to trace. He was very reluctant to do the activity because of his tactile issues. Even with the towel in one hand ready to wipe his fingers, he still cried during the entire activity because he said it felt yucky. He did the same with the playdough last week at home. She told me to go ahead and push the messy stuff some, but he ust may not be ready for some of it still. She also gave us some theraputty to work with at home.
Oh! And Joshua COMPLETELY dressed himself today. Everything, including socks were put on by HIM. Yay Josh! We still have to remind him to keep watching what he is doing, and it took him half an hour to do it, but HE DID IT all by himself!!
Hooray!!!
I asked her if she feels he really is a full year behind as Roni's eval placed him. She said he is behind, but she really doesn't think it is that far. Where he is behind is in the areas we already knew about and what has had me concerned - being able to answer "WH" questions being the biggest. So, she has decided we will work on getting him so he isn't as distracted as he usually is in the ST room, and then she will redo the evaluation to get a more accurate view of where he is and needs help at. I am so happy to hear that we finally have someone who is willing to listen to MY concerns and input and also seems to enjoy working with the kids. Yay for Jessica!!!
After ST we had an hour to waste. I hate when we have an hour in between sessions. It isn't enough time to go and do anything away from the clinic, and yet too much time to sit in the waiting area. So, I decided we would go upstairs one floor and go across the "Kid's Walk". This is a long bridge type hallway that connects the children's hospital and the children's clinic for pedestrians. It has a ship's steering wheel, art work, looking glasses and all sorts of things for the kids to look at as you walk the 1/4 mile hallway. Pretty cool! And Josh also was able to see the hospital's helicoptor go up, which totally made his day. :) We also ran into one of my cousin's (Carrie) MILs, so we chatted for a little bit.
After getting to the hospital we still had way too much time to waste. Luckily, on the bottom floor is an area for the kids to play in. Basically it is 3 huge steps with a column in the center of the room. Inside the column, there are some touchscreen type games. Pretty neat. It was Joshua, me, and another mom with her son. Joshua was in his own world jumping down from the top step, to the next, to the next. climbing and repeating. All of a sudden something caught his eye (I have NO idea what) and he decided to jump off the bottom step into the column. He looked just like one of those cartoon characters that jump and splat into a wall. After hitting the column with his entire body, he fell flat on his tush. After closing my mouth and realizing he was ok, I ran over to be sure he was ok. He looked stunned (I would too). Then he looked at the other mom and teared up a bit. He told her he needed to go home and get a bandaid. We both lost it then and I thought we would never stop laughing. He was absolutely fine....just shocked that however he had planned his leap in his head didn't quite work out that way. LOL He went right back to the steps and walked them from that point on. LOL
Finally it came time to head back to the clinic for OT. We got there and he was worn out. He started crying and said he didn't want to see Ms. Mindy. When she came out he completely burst into tears. She asked if he was tired and he told her yes he wanted a nap. She brought him some water and fruit snacks and he seemed to perk up a bit after that. He did some swinging and then we went over the sensory diet that I have been doing with Josh and she was happy with what I am doing currently.
After the swinging, she had him sit on a ball right in front of a mirror. She then put shaving cream on the mirror and drew shapes in it for him to trace. He was very reluctant to do the activity because of his tactile issues. Even with the towel in one hand ready to wipe his fingers, he still cried during the entire activity because he said it felt yucky. He did the same with the playdough last week at home. She told me to go ahead and push the messy stuff some, but he ust may not be ready for some of it still. She also gave us some theraputty to work with at home.
Oh! And Joshua COMPLETELY dressed himself today. Everything, including socks were put on by HIM. Yay Josh! We still have to remind him to keep watching what he is doing, and it took him half an hour to do it, but HE DID IT all by himself!!
Hooray!!!
Friday, August 26, 2005
Been a little while
School has been keeping us busy lately, which isn't a bad thing at all. :) As I mentioned, I decided to switch back to doing my own thing and following my gut and knowledge as opposed to the book, and it has made a tremendous difference.
Jacob has been doing well. Today was a little rough. He had a little stubborn streak take over during Math and he didn't bother to read the directions NOR listen as I explained them to him several times. We finally got through it and I gave him a little break before lunch. So we still have a little to do today.
Joshua has been working on the letter O this week. I start the day with Jacob doing his journal entry at the table and then I go in the boys' room and do vestibular and proprioceptive activities with Josh and Cassie. Cassie doesn't have to do this, but they are usually fun things and she wants to be involved too. LOL Occasionally Elena comes in and tries to involve herself - either by laughing, clapping, or climbing on us while we "work".
Once Josh and Cassie finish the activities, Josh is actually able to concentrate on handwriting. Jacob is usually done with his journal at this point, so he then takes his reading book and heads to my room and shuts the door so he can concentrate on his two chapters. I then focus on Josh and Cassie with their letter of the day assignments.
I decided to start with the letter O because it is the easiest letter in Joshua's name. Keep in mind, at the beginning of the school year he was unable to even coordinate himself enough to actually hold a pencil or other writing tool in his hand. Every day at the end of our handwriting session, I take my hand and help him write out his name. He knows how to spell it verbally now. He still has a LOT of work to be able to spell, but he is now attempting to actually write it out on his own, which is extremely exciting to see. Once I upload the pictures on my camera, I'll post one of his work on the dry erase board this morning. He was so proud of himself, and I am thrilled to see him making so much progress. Is it enough according to the school board and the therapists? I don't know. I know we are working hard and I see a lot of improvement, and for now that will do.
EDITED TO ADD pictures!!!
Here are the pictures of Joshua's work from Friday. I wrote the wrong date. Oops! You can see his practice O's that he did without any help. On the right side going down you can see where he wrote his name by himself, starting with the backwards J. LOL I think he is doing well especially considering prior to August 1st he could not hold a pencil, let alone actually write a letter or his name.
Jacob has been doing well. Today was a little rough. He had a little stubborn streak take over during Math and he didn't bother to read the directions NOR listen as I explained them to him several times. We finally got through it and I gave him a little break before lunch. So we still have a little to do today.
Joshua has been working on the letter O this week. I start the day with Jacob doing his journal entry at the table and then I go in the boys' room and do vestibular and proprioceptive activities with Josh and Cassie. Cassie doesn't have to do this, but they are usually fun things and she wants to be involved too. LOL Occasionally Elena comes in and tries to involve herself - either by laughing, clapping, or climbing on us while we "work".
Once Josh and Cassie finish the activities, Josh is actually able to concentrate on handwriting. Jacob is usually done with his journal at this point, so he then takes his reading book and heads to my room and shuts the door so he can concentrate on his two chapters. I then focus on Josh and Cassie with their letter of the day assignments.
I decided to start with the letter O because it is the easiest letter in Joshua's name. Keep in mind, at the beginning of the school year he was unable to even coordinate himself enough to actually hold a pencil or other writing tool in his hand. Every day at the end of our handwriting session, I take my hand and help him write out his name. He knows how to spell it verbally now. He still has a LOT of work to be able to spell, but he is now attempting to actually write it out on his own, which is extremely exciting to see. Once I upload the pictures on my camera, I'll post one of his work on the dry erase board this morning. He was so proud of himself, and I am thrilled to see him making so much progress. Is it enough according to the school board and the therapists? I don't know. I know we are working hard and I see a lot of improvement, and for now that will do.
EDITED TO ADD pictures!!!
Here are the pictures of Joshua's work from Friday. I wrote the wrong date. Oops! You can see his practice O's that he did without any help. On the right side going down you can see where he wrote his name by himself, starting with the backwards J. LOL I think he is doing well especially considering prior to August 1st he could not hold a pencil, let alone actually write a letter or his name.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Our new plan
Well, I have completely nixed the unit study we were doing. I liked it a lot in the beginning, but the more we got into it, the more unhappy I became with it. So, I am doing like I did last year and doing my own thing. Let me tell you, I should have done this from the start. Things are so much better all the way around. My schedule is a little hectic, but I have had no problems with Joshua doing anything the past few days. Yeah! We were done fairly early today and there wasn't a single issue from any of the kids. We are still studying the planets for science, so Jacob is content with that.
For reading, Jacob has been reading the Junie B. Jones series. He is having a blast reading them. I thought they may be a bit above his level, but I sent him in my room to read 2 chapters today while I worked with Josh and Cassie, and he came running out all excited over something that happened in the book. We are currently reading book 2 in the first series - her kindergarten adventures. I have even gotten a few laughs from them.
So all in all, maybe this is all I needed to do to help Josh. Sounds weird, but maybe there was just too much structure to the day before. {shrug}
For reading, Jacob has been reading the Junie B. Jones series. He is having a blast reading them. I thought they may be a bit above his level, but I sent him in my room to read 2 chapters today while I worked with Josh and Cassie, and he came running out all excited over something that happened in the book. We are currently reading book 2 in the first series - her kindergarten adventures. I have even gotten a few laughs from them.
So all in all, maybe this is all I needed to do to help Josh. Sounds weird, but maybe there was just too much structure to the day before. {shrug}
Friday, August 19, 2005
Well poop!
I mentioned about Silas interviewing for a promotion. It basically was between him and another guy in the office. He called a little bit ago from work to tell me that he didn't get the job. The guy that did get it is very nice, I have met him. However, Silas trained him for the position he is in right now. He is known for calling because he is hesitant about doing things and it is a known fact that he does not have as much experience building wires and such. He also carpools with the boss. To me, that was a huge conflict of interest and given that my understanding is that he and Silas both missed the same questions....well, I will stop there. Silas couldn't go into details about what the supposed reasons were for not getting the promotion, but you could tell he was disappointed. Once he gets home, I am sure that he will let me know what he was told the reasons were. I think he feels a little like me that maybe a little bit of friendship was the final decision maker.
So, back to square one. Hopefully this just means there is something bigger and better waiting for Silas right around the corner.
*UPDATE*
The boss brought both of the guys into the office and said they were extremely close. He decided to go and ask a few of the other employees their opinions, and with the way he worded the question, that is how he decided which applicant he would choose. He knew when he asked the question what the answer would be. The question he asked was which of the two applicants was the most methodical. Silas, knowing more than the other guy, tends to skip some unnecessary steps, so naturally, the three people asked had no choice but to answer that the other guy is. Never mind that he still calls Silas for help and nevermind the fact that Silas was the one that trained him. You would think that some of that would have come into play, but that would have been basing it on a "personal decision".
On the other hand, the boss claims to be trying to get Silas' current job inflated to the same position that Silas just was rejected from. Supposedly the pay would be increased to that amount as well. However, knowing how no business likes to spend more money than they absolutely have to, I doubt it will happen even remotely soon, if ever. We'll just have to hope he pulls through somehow.
So, back to square one. Hopefully this just means there is something bigger and better waiting for Silas right around the corner.
*UPDATE*
The boss brought both of the guys into the office and said they were extremely close. He decided to go and ask a few of the other employees their opinions, and with the way he worded the question, that is how he decided which applicant he would choose. He knew when he asked the question what the answer would be. The question he asked was which of the two applicants was the most methodical. Silas, knowing more than the other guy, tends to skip some unnecessary steps, so naturally, the three people asked had no choice but to answer that the other guy is. Never mind that he still calls Silas for help and nevermind the fact that Silas was the one that trained him. You would think that some of that would have come into play, but that would have been basing it on a "personal decision".
On the other hand, the boss claims to be trying to get Silas' current job inflated to the same position that Silas just was rejected from. Supposedly the pay would be increased to that amount as well. However, knowing how no business likes to spend more money than they absolutely have to, I doubt it will happen even remotely soon, if ever. We'll just have to hope he pulls through somehow.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Help my friend out!
A friend of mine (also named Melissa) would like to attend a concert in Vegas. Tickets are pretty expensive, and they currently have a contest going. All she has to do is be the person with the most clicks on her website. Let's help out Melissa and get her the tickets she's wanting! Just click on the link below:
http://www.bandbuilder.com/vegoose/index.php?ref_code=F66783
Thanks! I know she'll appreciate it. :)
http://www.bandbuilder.com/vegoose/index.php?ref_code=F66783
Thanks! I know she'll appreciate it. :)
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Library Trip
Joshua now has his very own library card. He is so proud! I finally got brave enough to try bringing him to the library. I have mentioned before about his booming voice. His sensory issues cause him not to realize just how loud he speaks most of the time.
I spent the day preparing him for the trip. I explained to him that we have to be quiet when we go into a library and use our library voice, which I demonstrated several times. I then promised him that if he was good and let me get the books I was going after, I would let him pick a book and then get his very own library card, just like Jacob has. His eyes sort of lit up when I told him this, and he said ok.
So, when Silas arrived home, we got ready to leave and piled into the van. Everytime I would turn a corner he would ask, "Is that the Library?" So, when Jacob finally told him "Yes, Josh" he was extremely happy.
Both boys were patient and helped me gather the books I was looking for. Then I let them each pick a book they wanted to read. Jacob chose a book about dinosaurs and Josh found one with a bulldozer on it. We then went through the videos and they each chose one they wanted to see.
We then filled out Joshua's library card application and checked out. When he got the card, he was beaming. He was even excited to put it away in my wallet. LOL The funniest part was when we were leaving. He looked at the woman who had just checked our books out and said "I love you, I lovin' you too, bye!" She simply told him bye. LOL
I spent the day preparing him for the trip. I explained to him that we have to be quiet when we go into a library and use our library voice, which I demonstrated several times. I then promised him that if he was good and let me get the books I was going after, I would let him pick a book and then get his very own library card, just like Jacob has. His eyes sort of lit up when I told him this, and he said ok.
So, when Silas arrived home, we got ready to leave and piled into the van. Everytime I would turn a corner he would ask, "Is that the Library?" So, when Jacob finally told him "Yes, Josh" he was extremely happy.
Both boys were patient and helped me gather the books I was looking for. Then I let them each pick a book they wanted to read. Jacob chose a book about dinosaurs and Josh found one with a bulldozer on it. We then went through the videos and they each chose one they wanted to see.
We then filled out Joshua's library card application and checked out. When he got the card, he was beaming. He was even excited to put it away in my wallet. LOL The funniest part was when we were leaving. He looked at the woman who had just checked our books out and said "I love you, I lovin' you too, bye!" She simply told him bye. LOL
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Can I talk to your mom?
Ok, I am 29 years old, 30 next month. Is it wrong to be annoyed when the phone rings and I answer only to hear an older gentleman ask if he can speak to my mother? I mean, how hard is it to respond to a "Hello?" with "Hi, May I speak to the woman of the house?" Or how about, "Hi, may I speak to the homeowner?" Nope. Instead we have the conversation go something like this:
Me: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hi, can I talk to your mom?"
Me: "Umm, this is the lady of the house."
Caller: "No way! You sound so young! (insert laughter here)"
This has been going on a LOT the past few years and it is ALWAYS the same two groups that do it - the firefighter's association and the police association. Grr. Do they really think they are going to get my money this way?
It was humoorous the first few times it happened. I laughed right along with them when I'd respond that I am the lady of the house and they would chuckle at how young I sound. Hey, I didn't choose my soprano voice, it was a gift. LOL After several years of this though, I am getting annoyed by it.
I was on complete bedrest during my pregnancy with Jacob (my oldest) and my mother came over to take care of me everyday while my husband went to work. One of the guys called and when I answered he asked to speak to my mother. I had a few too many of those calls in the weeks prior to that, so that time I handed the phone to my mother who politely told the guy that he had just spoken to the lady of the house. I could hear her say "Yes, I'm her mother, but she is on bedrest and I'm here taking care of her". LOL
There have been a couple of others that I have responded to them by saying, "Yes, you can speak to her if you hang up and call HER home instead of mine" or "Well, I'm sorry, but she is in her own home 15 minutes away from mine."
Today was a little different. The firefighter's association was who the call was from. This guy made no assumptions - he simply asked if he could talk to the lady of the house. Finally, someone wanting money with a little common sense! No, this man ruined the successful request by turning around and saying, "Wow! I thought maybe I was talking to one of the teenagers or something because you sound so young!" Oh well, better luck next time, sir. :)
I guess I should be grateful that they are all local. Otherwise I guess I'd get a lot of comments about my supposed accent (which I still don't notice) as well.
Me: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hi, can I talk to your mom?"
Me: "Umm, this is the lady of the house."
Caller: "No way! You sound so young! (insert laughter here)"
This has been going on a LOT the past few years and it is ALWAYS the same two groups that do it - the firefighter's association and the police association. Grr. Do they really think they are going to get my money this way?
It was humoorous the first few times it happened. I laughed right along with them when I'd respond that I am the lady of the house and they would chuckle at how young I sound. Hey, I didn't choose my soprano voice, it was a gift. LOL After several years of this though, I am getting annoyed by it.
I was on complete bedrest during my pregnancy with Jacob (my oldest) and my mother came over to take care of me everyday while my husband went to work. One of the guys called and when I answered he asked to speak to my mother. I had a few too many of those calls in the weeks prior to that, so that time I handed the phone to my mother who politely told the guy that he had just spoken to the lady of the house. I could hear her say "Yes, I'm her mother, but she is on bedrest and I'm here taking care of her". LOL
There have been a couple of others that I have responded to them by saying, "Yes, you can speak to her if you hang up and call HER home instead of mine" or "Well, I'm sorry, but she is in her own home 15 minutes away from mine."
Today was a little different. The firefighter's association was who the call was from. This guy made no assumptions - he simply asked if he could talk to the lady of the house. Finally, someone wanting money with a little common sense! No, this man ruined the successful request by turning around and saying, "Wow! I thought maybe I was talking to one of the teenagers or something because you sound so young!" Oh well, better luck next time, sir. :)
I guess I should be grateful that they are all local. Otherwise I guess I'd get a lot of comments about my supposed accent (which I still don't notice) as well.
Wanna hear a secret or two?
First secret is that Silas has an interview on Thursday. The guy in the position above his left the end of July and they are needing to fill it now. Silas applied. It would mean more money, which would be a tremendous help with all this therapy that Joshua is going through, because frankly, it is going to suck us dry at this rate. I haven't really said anything to anyone other than my parents about the interview for fear of jinxing the whole thing, but now that I can no longer keep my mouth shut, prayers would be greatly appreciated. He has also applied to a local hospital as well, and one of the employees put in a good word for him, so maybe something will come of that if this one doesn't work out.
Second secret is only going to be partially given here. heehee You'll have to wait a while for more info because it is in the planning stages still. I have been racking my brain trying to come up with some way of making a little extra money for us to help go towards the cost of the therapy. So, about a month ago, I had come up with the idea of making toothfairy pillows and tossed the idea to my mother who gave me lots of other cute ideas that I could branch out to. Well, my cousin Lacey (who's blog is linked to the right - McInnish Bend) happened to start a new business soon after that called "Tiny Touches" and is making things along the same lines as what I was planning to do - not the same, but similar enough that I don't want to intrude on her business and ideas. (Sometimes I think our brains are molded together or something because we always seem to come up with the same ideas at the same time, which isn't always a bad thing! LOL)
So, I decided to go ahead and try and find something else that I could do, that no one else has cornered the market on. Each time I would come up with something, the idea was everywhere and there was no way in the world I could compete with the people who have been at this for longer than me and are making much fancier versions of what I would be making. Like the swing dresses - yes, I can make them no problem, but there is another mom on the cloth board who makes them with embroidered pockets as well as the embroidered matching diaper. How the heck could I ever compete with that?!
Fast forward to last night - a product suddenly came to me! I have no idea what triggered it exactly, but my mind started racing with it. It is based on an idea I got from playing with Elena. I went online to see if I could find anything else like it and I couldn't! There were other things that were more advanced in style, but not the same at all! I wish I could explain a little bit better, but it would ruin the surprise. ;) I drew out some designs and then emailed my mother with some descriptions to see what she thought about it. She actually liked it and gave me a few other ideas to go along with it! Now, the trick is going to be actually producing a few of the product and see if it looks anything at all like I am envisioning. That may put all of this on hold if I can't get it to look right, which has happened a few times before (such as with my original idea for Brenna's Christmas gift that I am still hoping to eventually figure out how to make!). :)
When you finally see what I have come up with in my head, you are probably going to wonder what the heck all of the fuss is about. LOL It is a really simple thing, and if it turns out the way I see it in my head, it is really simple looking as well. But to me, for some silly reason, it is exciting!
In addition to my little idea, I have also been thinking of making cards. I used to make Pergamano cards, and my mother thinks I could easily make money that way, but I'm not so sure. I'll have to go purchase some new tinta and see what I can come up with. Who knows, maybe there is hope for me yet. ;)
My final idea was to have a holiday shop. I LOVE the holidays - I always think of family. :) I'm still toying with the idea a bit, and I think I could fit the new product into that type of business easily. I say that, but who knows? I may not even be able to produce the thing! ROFL!!! I made my grandparents a wreath for Christmas last year. They didn't want one, but mom insisted, so we went to some craft stores. She told me she wanted us to make them one, but she had no idea how to do it. I told her I'd be happy to make it, so she bought a bunch of things for me to decorate a plain wreath with. I took it home, played around with it, and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. They loved it and I don't think they even realized I had made it at the time. So, that is where that idea came from.
Where am I going to sell whatever I decide to go with? That I am not sure on either. My cousins are renting booths at flea markets, so that is an option I suppose. There is always the internet. Or maybe even a combination? We'll see. So much planning is needing to be done, that it just may be something that stays in my little head and the drawing board. Who knows? I don't want to jump in feet first without having a plan though!
Enough ramling from me. I have to go and catch up on some school prep for tomorrow. :)
Second secret is only going to be partially given here. heehee You'll have to wait a while for more info because it is in the planning stages still. I have been racking my brain trying to come up with some way of making a little extra money for us to help go towards the cost of the therapy. So, about a month ago, I had come up with the idea of making toothfairy pillows and tossed the idea to my mother who gave me lots of other cute ideas that I could branch out to. Well, my cousin Lacey (who's blog is linked to the right - McInnish Bend) happened to start a new business soon after that called "Tiny Touches" and is making things along the same lines as what I was planning to do - not the same, but similar enough that I don't want to intrude on her business and ideas. (Sometimes I think our brains are molded together or something because we always seem to come up with the same ideas at the same time, which isn't always a bad thing! LOL)
So, I decided to go ahead and try and find something else that I could do, that no one else has cornered the market on. Each time I would come up with something, the idea was everywhere and there was no way in the world I could compete with the people who have been at this for longer than me and are making much fancier versions of what I would be making. Like the swing dresses - yes, I can make them no problem, but there is another mom on the cloth board who makes them with embroidered pockets as well as the embroidered matching diaper. How the heck could I ever compete with that?!
Fast forward to last night - a product suddenly came to me! I have no idea what triggered it exactly, but my mind started racing with it. It is based on an idea I got from playing with Elena. I went online to see if I could find anything else like it and I couldn't! There were other things that were more advanced in style, but not the same at all! I wish I could explain a little bit better, but it would ruin the surprise. ;) I drew out some designs and then emailed my mother with some descriptions to see what she thought about it. She actually liked it and gave me a few other ideas to go along with it! Now, the trick is going to be actually producing a few of the product and see if it looks anything at all like I am envisioning. That may put all of this on hold if I can't get it to look right, which has happened a few times before (such as with my original idea for Brenna's Christmas gift that I am still hoping to eventually figure out how to make!). :)
When you finally see what I have come up with in my head, you are probably going to wonder what the heck all of the fuss is about. LOL It is a really simple thing, and if it turns out the way I see it in my head, it is really simple looking as well. But to me, for some silly reason, it is exciting!
In addition to my little idea, I have also been thinking of making cards. I used to make Pergamano cards, and my mother thinks I could easily make money that way, but I'm not so sure. I'll have to go purchase some new tinta and see what I can come up with. Who knows, maybe there is hope for me yet. ;)
My final idea was to have a holiday shop. I LOVE the holidays - I always think of family. :) I'm still toying with the idea a bit, and I think I could fit the new product into that type of business easily. I say that, but who knows? I may not even be able to produce the thing! ROFL!!! I made my grandparents a wreath for Christmas last year. They didn't want one, but mom insisted, so we went to some craft stores. She told me she wanted us to make them one, but she had no idea how to do it. I told her I'd be happy to make it, so she bought a bunch of things for me to decorate a plain wreath with. I took it home, played around with it, and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. They loved it and I don't think they even realized I had made it at the time. So, that is where that idea came from.
Where am I going to sell whatever I decide to go with? That I am not sure on either. My cousins are renting booths at flea markets, so that is an option I suppose. There is always the internet. Or maybe even a combination? We'll see. So much planning is needing to be done, that it just may be something that stays in my little head and the drawing board. Who knows? I don't want to jump in feet first without having a plan though!
Enough ramling from me. I have to go and catch up on some school prep for tomorrow. :)
Monday, August 15, 2005
Another day, more therapy
What a day. Once again, one therapy session went well, and the other not so well. To be honest, I was surprised to see the one I expected to be a problem go smoothly.
We started with Speech today and met our brand new ST, Jessica. She is AWESOME! Joshua immediately took to her. When we got into the therapy room, he spotted a new toy - a train. Jessica let him build the tracks the way he wanted and then they played with it for a while. Eventually he grabbed a car and she grabbed a bus and she pretended to get the bus stuck on the track. He told her that the red car would help her bus and then he drove it over and told the bus he'd help. LOL They played like this for about 20 minutes.
During this time, she asked me about how long we had been coming to therapy and what we had been working on. I told her we haven't really worked on much other than offering choices and trying to get him to give us more than a one word answer when doing it. She said she read in the chart about them having worked on the WH questions (who, what, where, when, when, why, how). Here's the funny thing though - they have NEVER worked on this in therapy and I have NEVER been told to work on it at home! I then explained that we were told he needs to do 4-5 word sentences and yet he does 7-8 word sentences at home all of the time. I also told her that during the therapy sessions the past few weeks they had only really been working on 3 word sentences. She looked at me a little funny and changed the subject a bit, so I got the feeling that she thought I was trying to badmouth Roni.
A little later something came up that brought up the fact that I was homeschooling. She did the typical asking of whether or not Josh has any brothers or sisters. When I explained that he has an older brother and two younger sisters, she was fine with it...she said that a lot of times they see kids that are homeschooled and have never been a part of a playgroup or see other kids very often. I explained that we not only have the siblings but we have our first meeting this month with a special needs homeschooling group and we also have him take socialization classes across the hall. So, she was happy to hear this. (Wouldn't you have thought Roni would have put this in the chart?)
At the end of the session, Jessica told me that he is doing great with his sentences. Have I not said all along that he was being taught well below his ability and level? It was good getting the affirmation! I KNEW that I was not imagining any of this. She said again that his sentences were fine, he knows a lot, and you can tell he knows the answers - it is just trying to get him to verbalize it that is the issue - EXACTLY! So, I asked what we should work on this week and she said to work on the WH questions. Yay!!! FINALLY! A real assignment. :)
OT did not go as well today as it has in the past. Joshua gets so excited about going in there that it is hard for him to settle into doing what he needs to do. Today was especially bad.
He took off straight for the steps. Why he loves climbing them, I have no idea. Maybe it is because we only have 1 step to get into our house and so it isn't an everyday thing for him, I don't know. Point being that is ALL he wanted to do today. Mindy had him take off shoes AND socks today. He has trouble getting socks on and off, but he did pay attention to her teaching him today and was successful. Yay! After that, she let him try and get some of the energy out. He climbed into the ball pit on his own for the first time, and once he was done he climbed out on his own - also a first.
This is when things started getting a little crazy. He suddenly had something in his brain snap and he could not stop moving. The more Mindy pleaded with him to come and do the chosen activity, the more he resisted and did his own thing. She asked if we had been introduced to the weighted vest or not and I told her we used it last week and it seemed to help. She never brought it out, but instead brought out a cushion for him to sit on. She also had 4 activities for him. After about 3 minutes of trying to get him to come to her, she finally managed to get him to come. But boy, he did NOT want to do anything she wanted him to do.
We are going to now implement the sensory diet that was mentioned at the first session. I have read "The Out-of-Sync Child" now, so it will help me out a lot I am sure. My assignment this week is to write out a schedule and try to fit in vestibular and proprioceptive activities in particular times of the day. Then if we need to add more we can figure out where to stick them. We have been doing activities each day, just not at the same time every day. Maybe this will be all he needs.
I will say, he was so active today that she mentioned that if doing all of these different types of things do not seem to help, it may very well be asomething chemical going on in his brain and he may need medication. I seriously don't think that is it at all though. We have just started a new schedule two weeks ago and I think that he is having a little trouble adjusting to it for some reason. She said that could very well be all it is. I think once we get into a groove, things will settle down.
So, that's really all the excitement we had today. I sent Jacob's schoolwork over to my mom's for him to do while I was gone. He went to the neighbor's house and helped her pick pears off of her tree and then went back and completed his assignments. He was all too thrilled to find out I left handwriting for him. LOL He did eventually get it done though without too many complaints. :)
We started with Speech today and met our brand new ST, Jessica. She is AWESOME! Joshua immediately took to her. When we got into the therapy room, he spotted a new toy - a train. Jessica let him build the tracks the way he wanted and then they played with it for a while. Eventually he grabbed a car and she grabbed a bus and she pretended to get the bus stuck on the track. He told her that the red car would help her bus and then he drove it over and told the bus he'd help. LOL They played like this for about 20 minutes.
During this time, she asked me about how long we had been coming to therapy and what we had been working on. I told her we haven't really worked on much other than offering choices and trying to get him to give us more than a one word answer when doing it. She said she read in the chart about them having worked on the WH questions (who, what, where, when, when, why, how). Here's the funny thing though - they have NEVER worked on this in therapy and I have NEVER been told to work on it at home! I then explained that we were told he needs to do 4-5 word sentences and yet he does 7-8 word sentences at home all of the time. I also told her that during the therapy sessions the past few weeks they had only really been working on 3 word sentences. She looked at me a little funny and changed the subject a bit, so I got the feeling that she thought I was trying to badmouth Roni.
A little later something came up that brought up the fact that I was homeschooling. She did the typical asking of whether or not Josh has any brothers or sisters. When I explained that he has an older brother and two younger sisters, she was fine with it...she said that a lot of times they see kids that are homeschooled and have never been a part of a playgroup or see other kids very often. I explained that we not only have the siblings but we have our first meeting this month with a special needs homeschooling group and we also have him take socialization classes across the hall. So, she was happy to hear this. (Wouldn't you have thought Roni would have put this in the chart?)
At the end of the session, Jessica told me that he is doing great with his sentences. Have I not said all along that he was being taught well below his ability and level? It was good getting the affirmation! I KNEW that I was not imagining any of this. She said again that his sentences were fine, he knows a lot, and you can tell he knows the answers - it is just trying to get him to verbalize it that is the issue - EXACTLY! So, I asked what we should work on this week and she said to work on the WH questions. Yay!!! FINALLY! A real assignment. :)
OT did not go as well today as it has in the past. Joshua gets so excited about going in there that it is hard for him to settle into doing what he needs to do. Today was especially bad.
He took off straight for the steps. Why he loves climbing them, I have no idea. Maybe it is because we only have 1 step to get into our house and so it isn't an everyday thing for him, I don't know. Point being that is ALL he wanted to do today. Mindy had him take off shoes AND socks today. He has trouble getting socks on and off, but he did pay attention to her teaching him today and was successful. Yay! After that, she let him try and get some of the energy out. He climbed into the ball pit on his own for the first time, and once he was done he climbed out on his own - also a first.
This is when things started getting a little crazy. He suddenly had something in his brain snap and he could not stop moving. The more Mindy pleaded with him to come and do the chosen activity, the more he resisted and did his own thing. She asked if we had been introduced to the weighted vest or not and I told her we used it last week and it seemed to help. She never brought it out, but instead brought out a cushion for him to sit on. She also had 4 activities for him. After about 3 minutes of trying to get him to come to her, she finally managed to get him to come. But boy, he did NOT want to do anything she wanted him to do.
We are going to now implement the sensory diet that was mentioned at the first session. I have read "The Out-of-Sync Child" now, so it will help me out a lot I am sure. My assignment this week is to write out a schedule and try to fit in vestibular and proprioceptive activities in particular times of the day. Then if we need to add more we can figure out where to stick them. We have been doing activities each day, just not at the same time every day. Maybe this will be all he needs.
I will say, he was so active today that she mentioned that if doing all of these different types of things do not seem to help, it may very well be asomething chemical going on in his brain and he may need medication. I seriously don't think that is it at all though. We have just started a new schedule two weeks ago and I think that he is having a little trouble adjusting to it for some reason. She said that could very well be all it is. I think once we get into a groove, things will settle down.
So, that's really all the excitement we had today. I sent Jacob's schoolwork over to my mom's for him to do while I was gone. He went to the neighbor's house and helped her pick pears off of her tree and then went back and completed his assignments. He was all too thrilled to find out I left handwriting for him. LOL He did eventually get it done though without too many complaints. :)
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Fun with friends
We went and saw my best friend and her family this weekend. We had to get the girls together for some playtime because it had been a while. All of the kids had a good time. We definitely have to do it again soon. :) Silly me forgot the camera, but luckily April and her husband had theirs out and clicked away. LOL They sent us some of the pics, so of course I had to play with one of them.
Elizabeth is just under 6 weeks younger than Elena, so she was very interested in playing. Elena had just woken up from a nap when we got to the house, so it took her a while to get into a playful mood.
Here are a couple of the pics from our outing:
Elizabeth is just under 6 weeks younger than Elena, so she was very interested in playing. Elena had just woken up from a nap when we got to the house, so it took her a while to get into a playful mood.
Here are a couple of the pics from our outing:
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
The good, the awesome, the bad, and the ugly
THE GOOD: OT went so well. Mindy had an obstacle course set up that Josh just about tripped over as he went into the large OT area. He was a total ball of energy and for 9am on a Monday - whew! Both Mindy and I agreed it would be nice to have that much ourselves. LOL She put him in the b all pit again and after a couple of minutes she threw some colored beanbag animals into the pit for him to try and find. She would name a color, he'd find it, and then he would have to throw it into a barrel that she was holding a little distance away. He has pretty good aim, if I do say so myself. :)
After this, she put him into the barrel and rolled him back and forth a few times, which he LOVED! However, nothing she did seemed to be able to get him to calm down and focus. So, we had our first experience with the weighted vest. After putting it on him (which he did not fight in the least!), she brought him over to the beginning of her obstacle course and gave him the instructions. It was pretty long, and I thought for sure it was going to take several times of him going through before he got it, but he actually surprised me! Here's how it worked:
*Climb up the squishy steps (don't know the technical name, so this will do until I find out! LOL)
*Grab a puzzle piece
*Slide down a slide
*Walk up the next slide
*step down to a bench
*walk across a balance beam
*step onto another bench
*jump down into the alternating feet maze - this was similar to the tires the football players use in practice, but it was flat and further apart
*step up onto a stool
*climb onto a table
*put the puzzle piece into the correct place
*reverse all steps and go back to the beginning
Wow! He had only one problem the first time through, and that was that he did not want to step onto the stool to the table. Mindy simply brought him back to where he left off and told him the crocodiles would get him if he did that, and he stayed on task the rest of the time! She even threw in a few little things like telling him to pick two pieces that were cars for the puzzle, and he did it! I was very proud to see him following the directions like that. I asked her if she thought he would have been able to do that without the vest on, and she said it probably would have been a little harder for him. Very interesting!
Next, she took him to the swing. I was ready for the panic to set in, but he got on it. At first he was a bit nervous, but he settled down extremely quickly. Eventually Mindy let him choose a toy, and surprisingly he took a piano keyboard. He sat on the swing and played it while she continued to swing him and we talked. She asked if we had a keyboard for him, and I laughed. I explained that Silas and I were both music majors, so not only did we have a keyboard, but we also had a full sized piano and kid guitars, etc. She was excited to hear about the music ed and she suggested that when we know he is going to have a meltdown ahead of time (like at a store) we could try bringing a set of headphones for him to wear and have him listen to music. He may get so into the music he is hearing that the things that upset him may not bother him so much...I may try this.
THE AWESOME: After the OT was over, Josh and I had an hour and a half to wait for ST, so we went to the School Board office and I got the homeschooling packet to officially register Jacob. I knew Joshua was stilll a good year away from having to be registered, but I went ahead and asked my questions about registering him next year. He had been talking to the woman behind the desk about his car and asking if she was Ms. Jessica (his soon-to-be new ST - more on that in a minute) and all sorts of misc info he was telling her. LOL So, once he finished, I explained that he is Autistic, is there anything special I will need to do when it comes time to register. She looked at me with a shocked look on her face, looked down at Joshua, and then told me she never would have guessed he was Autistic, and then added a "wow!" to it. I told her good, then it means we are doing something right then! :) That was a wonderful moment! In the end, I think she gave me some wrong info, so I am going to have to check into things a bit more. I have hooked up with a Special Needs Homeschooling group that I was told has a lot of families with Autistic children, so I am sure they will be able to give me more info when the time comes. Our first meeting is this month! Yay!!!
THE BAD: Ok, so back on track. We then went back to the therapy waiting area and signed back in. We were 20 minutes early for our 11am appointment, which is a struggle with Joshua! He wants to run around and be wild since he is so familiar with the floor - remember, it is the same waiting area as the psychology area, so we are there 2 days a week most weeks. Luckily, there was a lot going on out the window yesterday. There were some men taking down 2 tents from something that had gone on during the weekend. Another man had a large lawnmower. On the river was a barge that was carrying some larg equipment and they were trying to maneuver to the correct place under the bridge that is directly next to the children's clinic. So, we were able to pass the time. Next thing I know, Roni comes out and calls for a cute little red-headed boy that came about 5 minutes before 11. I hear her say something to the effect that Joshua isn't here so come on in. I looked directly at her as they were walking in and she saw me and asked if that was Joshua with me. Ummm, yes, he hasn't really changed anything but his clothes since last week! So, her smile somewhat goes away and she looks at the little red-headed boy and tells him he will have to wait until later because it is Joshua's turn. She seemed almost disappointed that she had to work with Josh, and I was a bit disgusted given our experiences with her so far.
So, we go into the speech room and lo and behold, we do the same exact things we have done so far. He has to give his three word reply to make her happy: "I want man." "I want pig". "I want girl". Oh, but we did mix it up a bit this time and added in a "please" every now and then! Woohoo. (note the sarcasm here). So, now our three word sentences are 4 word, incomplete sentences - "I want man, please". "I want pig, please". Oh, but wait, that was coming too easily, so we went back to just the plain, "I want man". grrrr
Hmmm. Still wonder why I am homeschooling? This is exactly what he'd be getting in the public schools.
Later in the session he chose bubbles as his reward toy. She let him blow the bubbles if he answered the question, and on top of the fact that he was yelling, he also was blowing them extremely hard - too hard in fact to get them to work. This is also related to sensory issues. Very interesting (and the ONLY thing I have learned so far from her working with him!)
I must say, I had gotten a copy of our scheduled appointments and saw that starting next week we will be having a new therapist. As I mentioned before, they are getting three new therapists, and Roni was simply filling in the gaps until they start. I truly believe that the reason she has not really worked with him on what HE needs is because she knew he was one that wouldn't remain as her patient, and therefore she could care less - she just filled in the time until they got here! So, I am looking forward to having a younger and hopefully more patient person working with him.
My point of saying this was that I wanted to also say that I found it amusing that Joshua was very bored wiht the repeated activities this week. He didn't even attempt to work well with her because he was BORED! So, at one point at the end, he wouldn't give her the answer and after prodding too much IMO, he yelled out the answer to her and then began spinning his arms. I had to work hard to stiffle my laugh, because it was so funny to see him do that. He was irritated with her, and she looked shocked. I'm glad she saw it though! LOL
THE UGLY: So, it is time to leave and he gets his sticker. As we are going to walk out the door, I asked what I needed to work on with him this week (which she never really gives me anything other than "give him choices"), and she said she had made photocopies of the book that she was using with him and she ran to get it for me. When she came back, she told me we needed to work on him learning verbs. He knows verbs...that isn't a problem at all...he could have answered any of the questions she asked him. The book has Ernie pushing a wagon and Bert pulling it. She asks him "What is Ernie doing with the wagon?" He knows the answer, but in typical Autistic form, he repeats what she says : "Ernie is doing it with the wagon". That's what we are trying to fix...she doesn't seem to get that this is the problem. Instead, she thinks he doesn't know what it is. I mentioned that I noticed he did tend to repeat what she said a lot in the session instead of answering the question. You know what her reply was? "That's just his strategy". What?!?!?! So, I ignored it, we left, and as we walked out we hear her greeting the little red-headed boy with a huge smile and welcome.
I'm glad we are getting a new therapist. LOL I plan on setting the record straight from the beginning and I may even decide to request this new girl do a re-evaluation herself. At this point, I'm ticked. What a waste the past month and the almost $200 has been.
Thank goodness OT is going well...otherwise we may have been pulling out of everything except the socialization classes!
After this, she put him into the barrel and rolled him back and forth a few times, which he LOVED! However, nothing she did seemed to be able to get him to calm down and focus. So, we had our first experience with the weighted vest. After putting it on him (which he did not fight in the least!), she brought him over to the beginning of her obstacle course and gave him the instructions. It was pretty long, and I thought for sure it was going to take several times of him going through before he got it, but he actually surprised me! Here's how it worked:
*Climb up the squishy steps (don't know the technical name, so this will do until I find out! LOL)
*Grab a puzzle piece
*Slide down a slide
*Walk up the next slide
*step down to a bench
*walk across a balance beam
*step onto another bench
*jump down into the alternating feet maze - this was similar to the tires the football players use in practice, but it was flat and further apart
*step up onto a stool
*climb onto a table
*put the puzzle piece into the correct place
*reverse all steps and go back to the beginning
Wow! He had only one problem the first time through, and that was that he did not want to step onto the stool to the table. Mindy simply brought him back to where he left off and told him the crocodiles would get him if he did that, and he stayed on task the rest of the time! She even threw in a few little things like telling him to pick two pieces that were cars for the puzzle, and he did it! I was very proud to see him following the directions like that. I asked her if she thought he would have been able to do that without the vest on, and she said it probably would have been a little harder for him. Very interesting!
Next, she took him to the swing. I was ready for the panic to set in, but he got on it. At first he was a bit nervous, but he settled down extremely quickly. Eventually Mindy let him choose a toy, and surprisingly he took a piano keyboard. He sat on the swing and played it while she continued to swing him and we talked. She asked if we had a keyboard for him, and I laughed. I explained that Silas and I were both music majors, so not only did we have a keyboard, but we also had a full sized piano and kid guitars, etc. She was excited to hear about the music ed and she suggested that when we know he is going to have a meltdown ahead of time (like at a store) we could try bringing a set of headphones for him to wear and have him listen to music. He may get so into the music he is hearing that the things that upset him may not bother him so much...I may try this.
THE AWESOME: After the OT was over, Josh and I had an hour and a half to wait for ST, so we went to the School Board office and I got the homeschooling packet to officially register Jacob. I knew Joshua was stilll a good year away from having to be registered, but I went ahead and asked my questions about registering him next year. He had been talking to the woman behind the desk about his car and asking if she was Ms. Jessica (his soon-to-be new ST - more on that in a minute) and all sorts of misc info he was telling her. LOL So, once he finished, I explained that he is Autistic, is there anything special I will need to do when it comes time to register. She looked at me with a shocked look on her face, looked down at Joshua, and then told me she never would have guessed he was Autistic, and then added a "wow!" to it. I told her good, then it means we are doing something right then! :) That was a wonderful moment! In the end, I think she gave me some wrong info, so I am going to have to check into things a bit more. I have hooked up with a Special Needs Homeschooling group that I was told has a lot of families with Autistic children, so I am sure they will be able to give me more info when the time comes. Our first meeting is this month! Yay!!!
THE BAD: Ok, so back on track. We then went back to the therapy waiting area and signed back in. We were 20 minutes early for our 11am appointment, which is a struggle with Joshua! He wants to run around and be wild since he is so familiar with the floor - remember, it is the same waiting area as the psychology area, so we are there 2 days a week most weeks. Luckily, there was a lot going on out the window yesterday. There were some men taking down 2 tents from something that had gone on during the weekend. Another man had a large lawnmower. On the river was a barge that was carrying some larg equipment and they were trying to maneuver to the correct place under the bridge that is directly next to the children's clinic. So, we were able to pass the time. Next thing I know, Roni comes out and calls for a cute little red-headed boy that came about 5 minutes before 11. I hear her say something to the effect that Joshua isn't here so come on in. I looked directly at her as they were walking in and she saw me and asked if that was Joshua with me. Ummm, yes, he hasn't really changed anything but his clothes since last week! So, her smile somewhat goes away and she looks at the little red-headed boy and tells him he will have to wait until later because it is Joshua's turn. She seemed almost disappointed that she had to work with Josh, and I was a bit disgusted given our experiences with her so far.
So, we go into the speech room and lo and behold, we do the same exact things we have done so far. He has to give his three word reply to make her happy: "I want man." "I want pig". "I want girl". Oh, but we did mix it up a bit this time and added in a "please" every now and then! Woohoo. (note the sarcasm here). So, now our three word sentences are 4 word, incomplete sentences - "I want man, please". "I want pig, please". Oh, but wait, that was coming too easily, so we went back to just the plain, "I want man". grrrr
Hmmm. Still wonder why I am homeschooling? This is exactly what he'd be getting in the public schools.
Later in the session he chose bubbles as his reward toy. She let him blow the bubbles if he answered the question, and on top of the fact that he was yelling, he also was blowing them extremely hard - too hard in fact to get them to work. This is also related to sensory issues. Very interesting (and the ONLY thing I have learned so far from her working with him!)
I must say, I had gotten a copy of our scheduled appointments and saw that starting next week we will be having a new therapist. As I mentioned before, they are getting three new therapists, and Roni was simply filling in the gaps until they start. I truly believe that the reason she has not really worked with him on what HE needs is because she knew he was one that wouldn't remain as her patient, and therefore she could care less - she just filled in the time until they got here! So, I am looking forward to having a younger and hopefully more patient person working with him.
My point of saying this was that I wanted to also say that I found it amusing that Joshua was very bored wiht the repeated activities this week. He didn't even attempt to work well with her because he was BORED! So, at one point at the end, he wouldn't give her the answer and after prodding too much IMO, he yelled out the answer to her and then began spinning his arms. I had to work hard to stiffle my laugh, because it was so funny to see him do that. He was irritated with her, and she looked shocked. I'm glad she saw it though! LOL
THE UGLY: So, it is time to leave and he gets his sticker. As we are going to walk out the door, I asked what I needed to work on with him this week (which she never really gives me anything other than "give him choices"), and she said she had made photocopies of the book that she was using with him and she ran to get it for me. When she came back, she told me we needed to work on him learning verbs. He knows verbs...that isn't a problem at all...he could have answered any of the questions she asked him. The book has Ernie pushing a wagon and Bert pulling it. She asks him "What is Ernie doing with the wagon?" He knows the answer, but in typical Autistic form, he repeats what she says : "Ernie is doing it with the wagon". That's what we are trying to fix...she doesn't seem to get that this is the problem. Instead, she thinks he doesn't know what it is. I mentioned that I noticed he did tend to repeat what she said a lot in the session instead of answering the question. You know what her reply was? "That's just his strategy". What?!?!?! So, I ignored it, we left, and as we walked out we hear her greeting the little red-headed boy with a huge smile and welcome.
I'm glad we are getting a new therapist. LOL I plan on setting the record straight from the beginning and I may even decide to request this new girl do a re-evaluation herself. At this point, I'm ticked. What a waste the past month and the almost $200 has been.
Thank goodness OT is going well...otherwise we may have been pulling out of everything except the socialization classes!
Friday, August 05, 2005
Kids say the funniest things
Jacob (playing with a space ship) : "10, 1, blast-off!"
Me: "You do realize that there are some other numbers in between 10 and 1, right?"
Jacob: "I know, but they were so excited about going to space they decided to skip them!"
What a hoot he is!
Me: "You do realize that there are some other numbers in between 10 and 1, right?"
Jacob: "I know, but they were so excited about going to space they decided to skip them!"
What a hoot he is!
"You're the best"
School is going well so far. Today was a bit hectic. No matter what I tried, Joshua would not sit to do his work. No coloring sheets, no listening, no ANYTHING! So, we did some extra activities that the OT gave us. We played "Knock down the wall" and "Wheelbarrow" for a bit. He loves those, so that was a success. I even tried using the weighted blanket I made for him - no go. After that he strictly wanted to look at the pencil lead right next to his eye and follow it, so needless to say, we had to put away the pencils for a while or risk a trip to the ER. So, I made a tent using their comforters and beds, and he played in there for a bit while I worked with Jacob on his work.
I worked with Jacob on his handwriting, day 5 of the Creation, and the then gave him some space themed worksheets to do. We also talked today about the equator, longitude lines and the hemispheres. He understood it pretty well. We had rain this morning, and it just started pouring again, so we have had to postpone today's science experiment. We were going to make our own compass out of wood and some rocks. With the way the experiments have been going so far though, I am perfectly fine with it. I hate science, and this is probably the reason why. LOL None of the experiments so far have worked correctlydespite how accurately I have followed the instructions. How annoying is that? LOL
I had to come on here to share what happened last night. Each night before bed, after the baths and drinks, and before the stories and prayers, the kids clean up the toys that have taken over the living room. Usually we get a bunch of groans from the boys when we announce it is clean-up time. Last night there were no complaints. They quietly did it without a single complaint! And then, to top it all off, Joshua came up to me out of the blue, looked me staright in the eyes and said, "Mommy, you're the best mommy". He had the sweetest look on his face and was smiling. I grabbed him up and gave him the biggest hug and kiss. Not only was it spontaneous conversation, it also was so sweet, and is a moment I will treasure forever. If I say "I love you", he always answers "I lovin you too". But this was so different. :)
So, either tonight or after the girls are in bed for their naps, I will work more with Joshua on his schoolwork...hopefully he'll be ready to work by then.
I worked with Jacob on his handwriting, day 5 of the Creation, and the then gave him some space themed worksheets to do. We also talked today about the equator, longitude lines and the hemispheres. He understood it pretty well. We had rain this morning, and it just started pouring again, so we have had to postpone today's science experiment. We were going to make our own compass out of wood and some rocks. With the way the experiments have been going so far though, I am perfectly fine with it. I hate science, and this is probably the reason why. LOL None of the experiments so far have worked correctlydespite how accurately I have followed the instructions. How annoying is that? LOL
I had to come on here to share what happened last night. Each night before bed, after the baths and drinks, and before the stories and prayers, the kids clean up the toys that have taken over the living room. Usually we get a bunch of groans from the boys when we announce it is clean-up time. Last night there were no complaints. They quietly did it without a single complaint! And then, to top it all off, Joshua came up to me out of the blue, looked me staright in the eyes and said, "Mommy, you're the best mommy". He had the sweetest look on his face and was smiling. I grabbed him up and gave him the biggest hug and kiss. Not only was it spontaneous conversation, it also was so sweet, and is a moment I will treasure forever. If I say "I love you", he always answers "I lovin you too". But this was so different. :)
So, either tonight or after the girls are in bed for their naps, I will work more with Joshua on his schoolwork...hopefully he'll be ready to work by then.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Some pics to share...then an update
Ok, I promised pics of yesterday's lesson, so I am now delivering. :)
Kids hard at work:
Jacob's interpretation of the first day of the Creation: (ok, I have to cut in here and explain some things. LOL Keep in mind this is only his first day of the first grade. ;) He was told to write that God made the Earth and then on the bottom write "And God saw that it was good." His handwriting was way too big and he ran out of room, so he decided rather than re-write anything, he'd just stick the words wherever he could fit them. LOL Can you tell he HATES handwriting? And nevermind the misspelling of the words Earth and Made - he thought my letter a looked like an O. I guess I need to work on my own handwriting. LOL)
Joshua's:
Cassidy's:
Today I let them all do coloring sheets that I found HERE, and Jacob will be drawing a picture of his own this evening. We also briefly discussed comets, asteroids, the Milky Way, stars, and planets. Tonight we will finish with a science experiment that helps show the importance of oxygen. I have to wait until Silas gets home and can keep the baby away from the open flame that we will be using. Scary!
Today also was our evaluation with Ms. G. to find out how Josh did with his second session of socialization classes. They worked this session on greetings while making eye contact and making it a habit each time they see someone for the first time in a day, noticing things about other people (which I have a funny story about in a minute), and being able to discuss the immediate past.
The last one is something Joshua needs a LOT of help with. Like she said, it is not only a socialization matter, but a matter of being a safety issue as well. That is something that has always concerned me a bit. Right now we work on trying to get him to tell us things that happened during the session or an activity right after it happened.
Greetings aren't really too much of an issue lately. He walks up to people on the elevator now and tells them hello. Until the other mom mentioned her son never really having a problem with saying hi to an adult, I was thinking along the same lines...I haven't really given much thought to whether or not he does it with other kids, so I will be paying more attention. Ms. G. said it is not as scary for them to talk to the adults because they aren't as unpredictable with movements and such as compared to a child...makes perfect sense! Anyhow, since we have been doing pretty well with the greetings, she said to start working on ending some playtime activities by saying something to the effect of "It was nice playing with you today". We also can work on getting him to not have a fit if someone says they can't play right now...we should work on getting him to say something to the effect of "That's ok, we'll play again later". It is so hard sometimes to try and remember he isn't going to figure these things out on his own like my other kids.
We then had individual evals given seperately. Ms. G. and Ms. N. both said he does really well with the structured activities. The sessions that he broke down crying usually he got over it really quickly once they began their established routine. We will be adopting the color coding system they used to help keep him organized with school work as well. :) Both of the ladies mentioned that food is a great motivator for Joshua and that when he knew he would get a treat after doing a task, he really tended to focus better. So, we will be having snacktime as well used as our motivation technique. LOL
Our other thing to continue working on is playing with other kids and getting away form the parallel play. He has actually been doing really well with this at home. I'm proud to see the progress in this area. So, hopefully he will keep it up. :)
Ok, now my funny story. Ms. G. had told me early on that one of the things they worked on in class this time was noticing things about people - what they are wearing, how many people were wearing stripes or a certain color, etc. It is apparently working very well with Joshua. LOL About 5 minutes into our talk, he came around and asked her something and she wrinkled her forehead a little bit. All of a sudden he blurted out "You have stripes!". LOL I about died! He pointed at her head and said it again and we realized that he was talking about her wrinkles on her forehead! LOL She was really funny and did it a few more times for him. How embarrasing! LOL
I am glad that he is learning to be more observant now, and I had noticed it a few times lately when he would yell something that he shouldn't. Last week he was playing with a little girl while waiting for therapy. All of a sudden I heard him say something about her bleeding on her face and then I heard her get a bit upset and yell that it was a birthmark. He didn't understand and said it again that she was hurt and she got so upset about it...he didn't know what the problem was and thought she was hurt, and she thought he was making fun of him and got her feelings hurt over it. I felt horrible and tried to explain it to her older sister who had come over to protect her from him. I didn't get into any details, but I did mention to Ms. G. that I had noticed that sometimes he is a little too observant. She said when he does blurt things out like that, just redirect him to talk about something else, like the person's striped shirt. Thank goodness he catches on quickly to things!
Kids hard at work:
Jacob's interpretation of the first day of the Creation: (ok, I have to cut in here and explain some things. LOL Keep in mind this is only his first day of the first grade. ;) He was told to write that God made the Earth and then on the bottom write "And God saw that it was good." His handwriting was way too big and he ran out of room, so he decided rather than re-write anything, he'd just stick the words wherever he could fit them. LOL Can you tell he HATES handwriting? And nevermind the misspelling of the words Earth and Made - he thought my letter a looked like an O. I guess I need to work on my own handwriting. LOL)
Joshua's:
Cassidy's:
Today I let them all do coloring sheets that I found HERE, and Jacob will be drawing a picture of his own this evening. We also briefly discussed comets, asteroids, the Milky Way, stars, and planets. Tonight we will finish with a science experiment that helps show the importance of oxygen. I have to wait until Silas gets home and can keep the baby away from the open flame that we will be using. Scary!
Today also was our evaluation with Ms. G. to find out how Josh did with his second session of socialization classes. They worked this session on greetings while making eye contact and making it a habit each time they see someone for the first time in a day, noticing things about other people (which I have a funny story about in a minute), and being able to discuss the immediate past.
The last one is something Joshua needs a LOT of help with. Like she said, it is not only a socialization matter, but a matter of being a safety issue as well. That is something that has always concerned me a bit. Right now we work on trying to get him to tell us things that happened during the session or an activity right after it happened.
Greetings aren't really too much of an issue lately. He walks up to people on the elevator now and tells them hello. Until the other mom mentioned her son never really having a problem with saying hi to an adult, I was thinking along the same lines...I haven't really given much thought to whether or not he does it with other kids, so I will be paying more attention. Ms. G. said it is not as scary for them to talk to the adults because they aren't as unpredictable with movements and such as compared to a child...makes perfect sense! Anyhow, since we have been doing pretty well with the greetings, she said to start working on ending some playtime activities by saying something to the effect of "It was nice playing with you today". We also can work on getting him to not have a fit if someone says they can't play right now...we should work on getting him to say something to the effect of "That's ok, we'll play again later". It is so hard sometimes to try and remember he isn't going to figure these things out on his own like my other kids.
We then had individual evals given seperately. Ms. G. and Ms. N. both said he does really well with the structured activities. The sessions that he broke down crying usually he got over it really quickly once they began their established routine. We will be adopting the color coding system they used to help keep him organized with school work as well. :) Both of the ladies mentioned that food is a great motivator for Joshua and that when he knew he would get a treat after doing a task, he really tended to focus better. So, we will be having snacktime as well used as our motivation technique. LOL
Our other thing to continue working on is playing with other kids and getting away form the parallel play. He has actually been doing really well with this at home. I'm proud to see the progress in this area. So, hopefully he will keep it up. :)
Ok, now my funny story. Ms. G. had told me early on that one of the things they worked on in class this time was noticing things about people - what they are wearing, how many people were wearing stripes or a certain color, etc. It is apparently working very well with Joshua. LOL About 5 minutes into our talk, he came around and asked her something and she wrinkled her forehead a little bit. All of a sudden he blurted out "You have stripes!". LOL I about died! He pointed at her head and said it again and we realized that he was talking about her wrinkles on her forehead! LOL She was really funny and did it a few more times for him. How embarrasing! LOL
I am glad that he is learning to be more observant now, and I had noticed it a few times lately when he would yell something that he shouldn't. Last week he was playing with a little girl while waiting for therapy. All of a sudden I heard him say something about her bleeding on her face and then I heard her get a bit upset and yell that it was a birthmark. He didn't understand and said it again that she was hurt and she got so upset about it...he didn't know what the problem was and thought she was hurt, and she thought he was making fun of him and got her feelings hurt over it. I felt horrible and tried to explain it to her older sister who had come over to protect her from him. I didn't get into any details, but I did mention to Ms. G. that I had noticed that sometimes he is a little too observant. She said when he does blurt things out like that, just redirect him to talk about something else, like the person's striped shirt. Thank goodness he catches on quickly to things!
Monday, August 01, 2005
First day of school!
Today was the first day of our 2005-2006 school year. We started the day with Joshua's OT and ST. His OT went wonderfully. He spent the first part playing in a ball pit and then we went into a room where he played in buckets of rice looking for puzzle pieces, putting coins into a bank, stringing beads, and then putting on his shoes using his hands. He knows how to put on his shoes by manuevering his feet into the shoes and fighting with them to do so, but she made him actually watch what he was doing and use his hands. He was quite unhappy about it, but got over it quickly. :) Mindy also gave us a nice packet of vestibular and proprioceptive activities we can do at home. I really like her a lot, and Joshua LOVES her! LOL
ST went ok. I am not sure who we are going to have next week. The therapist we have seen for the eval and the past two sessions, Roni, is not listed on our schedule as who we will be with. Instead, they put in the name of a woman that isn't even there anymore! I asked what was going on, and it turns out they are getting three new therapists and we may be split into one of their groups. We can't get Terri, who was recommended to us, because she is now administrator of the STR dept and she had to give up several of her patients to fulfil her new responsibility. Kind if stinks since Mrs, G said she is really great with Autistic children.
The session itself went ok. We went in and Josh immediately wanted the "magnets". We had no idea whta he was talking about for a good minute and finally he showed us a shape sorted that plays music when you put the shape in the correct hole. At the end of the session, I mentioned to Roni that I noticed that last time, and then occasionally this time, she would leave out the word "the" in sentences like "I want man", and I asked if we were supposed to do that or if it was some type of technique they use. She said she is just used to working with a lot of kids on making 3 word sentences and didn't really realize she was doing it...it isn't necessary. She mentioned several times that he has a lot of good knowledge and skills. They worked on opposites and getting him to answer her questions. He is defintiely smart, I know that! It is simply a matter of not being able to pull the knowledge from him when needed. I guess it is just me, but I feel like we haven't really gotten much so far from the two sessions...maybe it is that she knows she isn't going to have him after today, and she isn't worried...or maybe it really is just me! LOL
After we returned home, we started school. As I mentioned before, we are starting the year with a unit study on Space since the boys are so interested in it. We started the day with them getting their school boxes and misc supplies. They were so excited! Then I showed them where each of them were to keep those supplies when we aren't using them. Our first part of the lesson involved reading Psalm 8 and then discussing how amazing it was that God could make such a marvelous thing as outer space and how it is so big that we can't even see all of it...and yet we can still praise Him for all of it. We then moved to Genesis and read the first chapter and discussed the Creation. Each day this week, they will be drawing a picture coresponding to one of the days. Jacob's picture wasn't exactly correct, but he did say he knew that. I went ahead and made him redo it. He had a picture of the Earth and the Sun and the water and land were seperated. All of that comes later. Once I re-explained that, he understood a little better. I'll have to scan his completed project later and post it here. :)
If you were to look at Joshua's picture (and Cassie's too), you'd think I had told them about the Big Bang theory or something. LOL I think tomorrow I am going to print out some coloring pages to help them out a bit. I mainly hadn't given thought to Joshua doing the coloring since he usually has a major aversion to crayons. Seeing him actually take interest though, I definitely want to be sure to encourage it, and I will make it more interesting and a little easier for him now that I know. Don't get me wrong, he will definitely be getting his fair share of coloring and writing this year, but I wanted to be sure the first day went smoothly. :)
Tonight, we will finish the lesson, provided the skies are clear. We are supposed to go out and look at the sky and they are to draw what they see. So, day 1 went pretty well. Pics to be posted soon!
ST went ok. I am not sure who we are going to have next week. The therapist we have seen for the eval and the past two sessions, Roni, is not listed on our schedule as who we will be with. Instead, they put in the name of a woman that isn't even there anymore! I asked what was going on, and it turns out they are getting three new therapists and we may be split into one of their groups. We can't get Terri, who was recommended to us, because she is now administrator of the STR dept and she had to give up several of her patients to fulfil her new responsibility. Kind if stinks since Mrs, G said she is really great with Autistic children.
The session itself went ok. We went in and Josh immediately wanted the "magnets". We had no idea whta he was talking about for a good minute and finally he showed us a shape sorted that plays music when you put the shape in the correct hole. At the end of the session, I mentioned to Roni that I noticed that last time, and then occasionally this time, she would leave out the word "the" in sentences like "I want man", and I asked if we were supposed to do that or if it was some type of technique they use. She said she is just used to working with a lot of kids on making 3 word sentences and didn't really realize she was doing it...it isn't necessary. She mentioned several times that he has a lot of good knowledge and skills. They worked on opposites and getting him to answer her questions. He is defintiely smart, I know that! It is simply a matter of not being able to pull the knowledge from him when needed. I guess it is just me, but I feel like we haven't really gotten much so far from the two sessions...maybe it is that she knows she isn't going to have him after today, and she isn't worried...or maybe it really is just me! LOL
After we returned home, we started school. As I mentioned before, we are starting the year with a unit study on Space since the boys are so interested in it. We started the day with them getting their school boxes and misc supplies. They were so excited! Then I showed them where each of them were to keep those supplies when we aren't using them. Our first part of the lesson involved reading Psalm 8 and then discussing how amazing it was that God could make such a marvelous thing as outer space and how it is so big that we can't even see all of it...and yet we can still praise Him for all of it. We then moved to Genesis and read the first chapter and discussed the Creation. Each day this week, they will be drawing a picture coresponding to one of the days. Jacob's picture wasn't exactly correct, but he did say he knew that. I went ahead and made him redo it. He had a picture of the Earth and the Sun and the water and land were seperated. All of that comes later. Once I re-explained that, he understood a little better. I'll have to scan his completed project later and post it here. :)
If you were to look at Joshua's picture (and Cassie's too), you'd think I had told them about the Big Bang theory or something. LOL I think tomorrow I am going to print out some coloring pages to help them out a bit. I mainly hadn't given thought to Joshua doing the coloring since he usually has a major aversion to crayons. Seeing him actually take interest though, I definitely want to be sure to encourage it, and I will make it more interesting and a little easier for him now that I know. Don't get me wrong, he will definitely be getting his fair share of coloring and writing this year, but I wanted to be sure the first day went smoothly. :)
Tonight, we will finish the lesson, provided the skies are clear. We are supposed to go out and look at the sky and they are to draw what they see. So, day 1 went pretty well. Pics to be posted soon!
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