Taking the Scenic Route

Just a warning. If you wear these sunglasses by Oakley, I will dislike you. Intensely. If I am in the wrong mood, I might puke on you or “accidentally” break the glasses because they are beyond offensive to me. Ugh. WHY do people think this is a good idea?

Things to buy in bulk:

For both inside and outside doors. Lifesavers.

No matter how much you think you will need, you will always need more. PECs, schedules, sequencing activities, keeping pens attached to where they are needed, and a million other uses.

If you have a sensory seeking kid who chews on everything, just get these in bulk, because they are like socks…they always seem to get sucked into the vortex, and if you have them stashed everywhere, you are more likely to find one when you need it.

We saw a preview for Adam and were determined to find it.  It looked awesome.

Blockbuster listed it, but it was nowhere to be found IRL, and we ended up calling around to different video store to try and find it.  We finally found it at a place called Family Video, so Zach and Zora made a trek there.  I think we found a new video store.  Not only do they have a better selection of movies Zach and I want to see, but the kid’s videos kick Blockbuster’s butt to the curb, plus the prices are SO much better. And, as a result, we get to see the movie tonight. Yay!

I just thought I would share the materials I am creating to help teach the “Why-Because” relationship. They are designed for kids who can read, and you can expand the scope by addressing the vocabulary as it comes up (for instance, I discovered that Zane didn’t know “skyscraper” so we did a quick sidetrack to show him what that meant). When I thought about it, I included words with “L” so that he could get more practice on that sound, since he is struggling to handle that letter.

I made them so that you can print them out, cut out the visual prompt sentence and lay it on the table for reference. In the first few I also cut out all of the words and presented them in word pairs to fill in the blanks. The last one, I just cut out the top part and lay it down and the word pairs are given verbally. I also have the word “WHY” written out to point at as I give the prompt sentence, then point to the word “because” as he reads back the answer sentence to further emphasis the relationship.

The prompt sentence I use is “Why are the words ____ and ____ related?”

I included a picture of the page, followed by a link if you want to save a copy.

why-because-because-a

why-because-rhyme

On this one, they can just respond that they are opposites, or expand the sentence, such as ‘they are opposite speeds”

why-because-opposite

why-because-part-of

why-because-used-to

This one just uses the top section as a visual reference. The other part is for me so I am not fumbling for word pairs to give him.

why-because-both

After this, I have a list of nouns I can reference to help make it easier for me throw some paired words at him. I have the prompt sentences available (along with a peice of paper or chalkboard to write up a quick new one) to help if/when he struggles with retrieval.

The next step is to try and get him to give you the second half of the word pair. Start by saying “What goes with *noun*” (referencing my list if I get stuck for a random word), then letting him supply the other word, then prompt “Why do _____ and ______ go together?” / “Why are ______and_______related?” and let him give an answer, prompting the “because” if I need to. The main problem I ran into the first time I tried this was that every word I gave him, he paired with a word that rhymed, even if it was a nonsense word, just so he didn’t have to work hard to answer the question. I would then supply my own matching pair before giving him another chance to complete a word pair. The next day, I took a few steps back and had some different prompted sentences so that he didn’t just rely on “because they rhyme”. (and if he is still doing the “rhyme” thing when we get back to this point, you will see more drill sheets with different sentences as I try to get him to expand his language)

Eventually, I want to be able to do a word association game, where I supply a word, then he supplies a word, then we go back and review why each pair are related.

There are now reports that John Travolta acknowledged that Jett had autism. It still sort of bothers me that they chose to hide it, but I understand that they would likely have not been given the privacy they needed had they done so while he was alive. I imagine it was far more challenging to both protect him and incredibly isolating to the family when your religion doesn’t acknowledge that autism even exists.

I can’t imagine how this must compound the incredible grief they are going through. My heart goes out to their family.

Well, we found something that seems to be working well for Zane, so we thought we would share it with other parents with Autistic kiddos.

After noticing that he seemed to respond really well to flow chart type rules/consequences (we later learned it is a form of Social Behavior Mapping), we got an old notebook and turned it into a “Rule Book”.  We put all of his little flowcharts in it, short social stories, and other “rules” for him.  It seems to really help him. 

An example:  One of the behaviors that was really becoming an issue is his obsession on whether or not Zora was wearing a diaper.  It was getting problematic because he was starting to peek under her dresses and such just to make sure it was there.  It got really worrisome when he started checking to see if Zach and I were wearing underwear.  We made an “underwear rule” that said he had to either ignore it when people weren’t wearing underwear/diapers, to look someplace else, and if it is bothering him, to go to his room or away from the person.    He still gets a little anxious, but after a few reminders, the behavior has stopped.  Because he is controlling his behavior, Zora isn’t purposly goading him any more either.  She will find another button, but this one isn’t as fun any more.

Getting Ready to Leave for the Walk.

We meet up with Carrie & David and their doggie (I can’t remember her name). Carrie was Zane’s first SLP and they had a really special connection. We were also expecting to meet M., the friend that Zane was paired with at WSU, but she was too freaked out by the crowds to want to get out of the car. Her mom walked with us, but her dad took M. back home when she couldn’t calm down.

The crowd begins to gather. I heard there were around 900 walkers.

After Chance talked about autism a bit (he was the older spokeschild), they introduced our family as they prepared for Zane to get the race started. Susan Peters, from the local ABC news station (KAKE), was the Emcee

Zane was excited to do the “Ready, Set, GO!” to start the race.

And, the walk. We ended up having to cut through the back door of Heartspring instead of completing the race because Zach isn’t fully recovered, and the kids were pooping out (I carried Zora for a while, then Carrie gave her a piggyback ride the rest of the way)

The food was good. Old Chicago and Popeyes (and I think somebody else) provided food for the walkers.

It was a lot of fun and, despite the wind, it went a lot better than last year. They had bounce houses and were more spread out so it wasn’t as overwhelming. Zane is also getting better at crowds, so that was a major plus too.

I thought I had avoided being interviewed this year, but KFDI ended up tracking me down to talk for a while. I know I am decent at interviews, but dang I always feel stark cold fear when somebody puts a microphone towards me and I have no idea what they are going to ask me. I think in “essay”, not “sound bites”, and it really forces me to adjust quickly.

No big surprise, but it was interesting. Zane did this a lot, and Zach’s family often commented that Zach did the same thing as a baby/toddler and were delighted to see Zane had the same quirk. It was one of the many things that didn’t seem abnormal because Zach did it too, although if the study is correct, Zane probably did it a lot more, or a lot longer.

Anyway, here is the study: Toddlers’ Focus On Mouths Rather Than On Eyes Is Predictor Of Autism Severity

We were watching “Psych” last night and they mentioned Taye Diggs, which got us talking about the dance performance “Beyond Words” we saw (the dance company, dre.dance, was formed by Taye Diggs and Andrew Palermo) and I was googling them to confirm that I remembered it right. One of the results was a You Tube video with clips of the dance we saw, and I thought I would share because I was really excited to see it.

It isn’t perfect, and there are things I would add to it, especially to protect the rights of autistic adults (like including autistics on the panel suggested in #12), but it is a serious step in the right direction.

As a country we have watched Autism Spectrum Disorders grow in a devastating number. Over the last decade it has spiraled so quickly out of control that:

1.) There must not just be one person but an ENTIRE U.S. OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE for Educating Children with Autism.

2.) The use of Time Out Rooms, Corporal punishments, Restraints, and the high amount of Abuse must be monitored with severe penalties to states and fines or conviction of those that break such a REFORM Law.

3.) School Districts/States must each have an ” Office of Autism Education Compliance or be subject to loss of Federal Funding.

4.) Due Process Hearing Officers must NOT be employees of the state and shall be employed by the Federal Government ONLY.

5.) Insurance companies MUST provide the Early Interventions such as ABA Discreet Trial at no cost to parents.

6.) Protection and Advocacy MUST be funded properly to allow parents that need help get it without any more then a 15 day waiting period.

7.) Grants for research, education, and non profit organizations for those with Autism Spectrum Disorders must be made in the amount of 5 billion dollars.

8.) Relief for parents who have paid out of pocket to educate their children must be made swiftly with 100% reimbursement.

9.) Behavior Intervention Plans must accompany all Individual Education Plans.

10.) Insurance companies must make available all resources for children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders including but not limited to any items deemed necessary by the physician for the treatment of metal toxicities and any other theraputic orders their physician may order.

11.) The Autism Reform Act shall consider all Autism Spectrum Disorders including Aspergers.

12.) This Reform Act must be ‘open’ for additions as needed and create a 12 parent panel to propose such additions.

- Michael Robinson (Founder The Office of Advocacy), Wahiawa, HI