New perspectives on leisure

So what do you like to do for fun?  When my kids were younger and I was still trying to "recover" them, what they needed to do for fun was what other typical kids their age would be doing for fun.  After all, if it is typical, then it allows for possible social opportunities.  It also makes them appear more normal, and recovery is close to normal, no?

When I was a kid, I was very much into video games.  Today, you might read that sentence and barely give it notice - what boy isn't into video games?  But this was in the 1980s, and back then, that wasn't so common for boys, and especially not so common for fathers of boys.  My Dad, God bless him, tried really hard to show some interest, but he just wasn't, and it was obvious.  He liked sports and the outdoors - fishing, camping, and the like.  While I enjoyed the outdoors with him as a boy I never developed the skills needed for his more challenging trips as a young man, and while I certainly enjoy watching an odd hockey game, sports buff I ain't - not even close.  He also is a very intelligent man, so to some degree he enjoyed debate and discussion on ideas, and there I could provide some challenge for him.

My point here is that despite my interests not being typical of boys at that time, they were my own interests.  Strange interests tend to result in some social isolation, because let's be honest - especially for men, relationships form around common interests.  The fewer the number of people who share your interests, the smaller the pool of people is with whom you can form friendships.

I wanted my kids to have typical interests so they could have friendships and be more like everyone else.  But as time has passed, I see I am fighting a losing battle (much like my Dad probably did).  What people do for fun has to be intrinsically fun for them.  As parents, we can introduce new activities and possibilities.  Some of those will be shot down (in my case, almost all of them), but it does not mean we should stop trying, nor does it mean we should take it personally when it is shot down.

Case in point:  puzzles.  Both kids have been introduced to puzzles; A had programming around this and T has been shown numerous times.  Both kids don't like puzzles much.  They don't mind the iPad versions, and occasionally I can even get A to sit and do one with me when she wants, but mostly, she doesn't like them.  Here's the rub:  how many adults do puzzles?  Not me, no thanks Jack.  Puzzles are a task to me.  Yet for some people they are quite relaxing.  I think most people do puzzles as children and move on.

I have come to the point of realizing that while I need to constantly introduce and teach leisure skills, I have to stop fighting their natural interests and instead work with them.  Yes, both kids play with some toys appropriately (T more than A), but A also thinks it's super exciting to watch things fall.  New this week:  place broom on deck.  Push broom over, flap at result, and repeat.  The old me would have said, "this is perseveration, let us redirect this activity."  New me says, "Clearly she is enjoying herself, this is pretty funny to watch."  T might arrange his letters a certain way and touch them, or watch a video at various volumes and laugh his head off.  Yes, it's weird, but to him, it's fun.

My rules on leisure activities have drastically changed:

• Activities cannot involve danger or injury to the kids, others, or property.
• Activities cannot become so rigid that they interfere with daily functioning (case in point:  T's letters were banished to his room because he got upset if we stepped on them - they are big foam letters.  Sorry kid.)
• Activities cannot be so solitary that we cannot join in - note this does not mean we always have to, it just means I have to be able to add some social component to it where we do it together.

So yeah - I suppose the Dad conversation is a bit different ... 

Question:  "What'd you do with the kids?" 

Answers:
"A and I had a blast rolling brooms and pots off the deck.  It's hilarious."
"T and I broke our eardrums listening to TuTiTu videos.  It's fun being somewhat deaf.  Only for a bit though."

And yeah, most Dads just look at me because what can you really say to that?  But the ones who know us best just say, "Sounds cool.  Glad you guys had fun."

They did.  They had a blast doing things their own way.  And isn't that what leisure activities are for?  Yeah, I get to suffer through it, but what parent doesn't?  If you want to have a relationship with someone you have to join them in their common interests, and with autism, the reciprocity of interests isn't very high.  So it's more work for us, but in the end, we get better quality relationships.  It's worth it.  Most days.

More Than Talking

As my kids age and their disability becomes more noticeable, I am always interested to see how they are perceived.  One thing I have noticed that other parents notice is that children's developmental levels are often determined by how much they say.  The more sophisticated the language, the more they expect.  The less sophisticated, the less they expect.  And for typically developing children this is not such a bad measure, assuming ability to express one's self is as equally developed as everything else.

But not so for autism.

For this reason, my son T's ability is usually over-estimated.  People forget he has autism, even though his language is over a year delayed.  He is almost four and still in diapers.  He is very clever at putting together scripts and other things he has heard in context, enough to fool the listener into thinking he is saying very witty things... except of course, since I have heard them all before, I know better.  Now, I am not dissing my son, I love him and he is very bright.  I love how he is coping and love how he uses echolalia so functionally.  But it does fool people into thinking he has fewer challenges then he really does....

And then we have the opposite problem with A.  She can express her wants and needs with speech output, but verbally is very limited.  For this reason, people are unsure or assume she cannot understand much or is quite severely disabled.  Now, I will not pretend she is less disabled than T, because overall she is, but many people try to do things for her she is quite capable of doing herself.  All of her language is very delayed, but she understands most of what is said, can follow two step directions and has some strong daily living skills, relative to others on the spectrum.

So - please, please, please, do not judge based on ability to talk.  Talking is one area of ability, and a child may be perfectly verbal but struggle with self-help skills, emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, or behaviour issues.  Or a child may be completely non-verbal but has age appropriate receptive language and self-help or daily living skills and academics.  You cannot know one way or the other based on talking alone.  My best advice?  Presume competence and back off as needed.

Autism and Marriage

When Alanna was diagnosed with autism we had many people concerned about Alanna, but also many people concerned about us.  I am happy they were, and they have good reason to be concerned.  Divorce in couples with autistic children is higher than the general population.  An interesting finding is that while most couples experience a rapid decrease in risk after their children reach about eight years old, the risk for parents of children with autism does not decline and remains at the same levels as parents with young children.

It is not difficult to see why this is the case.  Autism, by definition, involves serious developmental delays (hence the term "pervasive") across all developmental domains.  At eight years of age, a child with autism may only be functioning at a three year old level or less.  Most parents are freed of the daily grind of caring for a child of eight - most children can cloth and feed themselves, use the toilet, shower and keep themselves basically clean with some reminders.  They will have friends and can entertain themselves for short periods of time.  Cognitively, they are capable of playing games adults find more interesting and can usually enjoy many adult activities, or learn with their parents by taking up a hobby or shared interest in sports.

It is one thing to have to change a child's diaper for 2.5 years.  It is quite another doing it for 21 years, or longer.  Many parents see early childhood as a challenge that will pass, but for some parents, it will not.  It will only end when they can arrange long-term care and not feel guilty doing so.

Or, here is another example with which I am quite familiar.  It is one thing to be up with your newborn for five to six months each night.  It is quite another to be up with your child for five or six years, or longer without the benefit of daytime napping.  If you are a parent, do you recall how irritable you were with your spouse?  Now, try doing that for six years and it is not hard to see why the risk of divorce is higher.

Add to this the social isolation from friends and family and the economic hardship of having someone at home to care for the child (or working extra hours to provide therapies and interventions), and you have a recipe for disaster.

I pray often for my marriage with my own beautiful wife.  I pray God builds it up, strong and able to withstand everything.  I couldn't imagine raising two children myself, let alone with a child who has autism.  More than once, we have rescued each other from completely losing it.

Wondering how to help a couple who has a child with autism, or other disability?  Help them maintain a strong marriage.  They will need your help and they will be grateful for it.

Communication Update

I think if Alanna had the "talk" picture in her communication book she would probably give me these two pictures on a sentence strip.

Alanna has made some good progress these last few months.  She is in regular speech therapy with a talented speech-language pathologist (SLP) and she works directly with Alanna's IBI team to ensure the therapists are incorporating her techniques.  This seems to confirm our previous suspicion of a motor planning disorder (speech apraxia).  She can say roughly ten words, mostly prompted, but sometimes spontaneously.  This in itself is a miracle, since we were at zero words before, and any words is a step in the right direction!  The SLP has said that once she can say 50 words, her learning may accelerate because in typical development this is when children get the base to practice enough sounds to learn new words more easily.

Interestingly, although ABA has proven very effective to teach Alanna most things, it was less effective for vocal imitation.  Many early vocal programs encourage children to echo sounds, and then these sounds are built up to form words.  This has never really worked with Alanna because the sounds (phonemes) were meaningless.  Once she attached the words to meaning, she was much more successful.  However, now that she has words, we can use ABA principles to get her to use them appropriately.  And her PECS language has been taught successfully using ABA principles.

While we're on the subject of PECS, we are starting to see a spike in some behaviours.  I suspect this is because as she is getting older (she is 3 1/2 now, where does the time go?) she is realizing that not everything she wants to say is in her communication book.  She has, several times, gone to her book and looked at the pictures and then became very frustrated because she could not express want she wanted to say.  Once she started a sentence with "Alanna..." and then couldn't find the words to finish.  We are bringing in more complex requesting programs to try to reduce frustration, but I really think her cognitive ability has exceeded her expressive language so much that this will continue to be a huge issue for her.  Thankfully she has started using the sentence "I want outside" to mean either (1) I want to go outside and play, or (2) I want to leave now.  I am really trying to understand the root of her communication because I think half the time what we think is a "simple" request is simply the best she can do.  For example, "I want blanket" (her comfort object) might be, "I am afraid", but she has no pictures to say that yet.  She feels it, perhaps she can label it given the pictures but you can only teach so much at once!

I believe she is very much aware of her inability to speak and she is very frustrated by this fact.  She tries very, very hard in speech sessions to make words, and even tries to prompt her own mouth to make sounds.  On the one hand, it's a good sign that cognitively she is understanding more of her world.  On the other hand, she is also lacking the ability to express herself, and that is incredibly difficult for her to deal with.

I expect more behaviours as she tries to communicate.  But I don't believe this is "bad" - I think it's evidence of something good.  We just have to try to find ways to help her tell us what she is thinking and feeling.

Reinforcer of the Day

Kids with autism are strange creatures.  Alanna has this new pattern I call "reinforcer of the day".  She picks something odd and carries it around with her, and if you take it away, there will be massive protest.  On the plus side, it can easily be used to reinforce her during behavioural (ABA) therapy.
Here is a list of things that have served as "reinforcers of the day":

• A Backyardigan action figure
• Toothbrushes
• Hairbrushes
• A small washcloth
• The letter "A" written on a piece of paper (I'm not kidding)
• Spoons
• Blankets (she especially enjoys when you fold them up while giving to her)
• Various clothing

What makes it funny is that the item of interest varies so much from day to day. We're almost to the point of making bets on what will qualify the next day.

Anyone else experience this phenomenon?

Sick, sick, sick...

It's been a long two weeks.  Both Mom and Alanna got gastroenteritis, then we've had something like the flu the last week.  Sickness and autism do not mix well.  When my son was sick, he enjoyed cuddles and I felt I could "do" something to help him feel better, even though I really couldn't.  But Alanna, with her limited expressive communication, couldn't express her discomfort in any meaningful way.  We have not taught her to say "I don't feel well" using PECS, sign, or any vocalization yet, so the alternative is the old standby - crying, howling, and being generally miserable.  I tried to comfort her, and although she is generally quite affectionate (a fact for which I am most grateful), she would have none of it while she was sick.  I suppose I cannot fault her much for it seeing as when I was sick I would be happy to just be left alone (that could also be just wanting a break from the kids though too!)

While I am a biomedical skeptic, I can definitely understand the premise that kids with autism who feel physically ill are going to have behaviours and not gain skills to their potential.

Non-Labour Day

There was no labour going on today.  Today, we met Grandma and Grandpa and took the kids to Storybook Gardens, where they were able to see animals and play on equipment, go through a maze and ride the merry-go-round!  Hurray!  Thanks to some good therapy, Alanna is able to enjoy climbing on the equipment and sliding down the slide independently.  It was great to see her enjoying herself, feeling proud of her independence and us knowing she was safe to do it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great morning!  Also, special thanks to Grandpa for the great photos!

Simple Joys and Decisions

Alanna is finishing up some imitation programming in head action imitation and foot/leg imitations.  She'll next move through the typical ABLLS-R sequence, like mouth/tongue imitations, arm/hand imitations and fine motor imitations.


Tyler, now 15 months, is imitating spontaneously.  I don't need a verbal Sd to get his attention, like "hey copy me!"  He makes eye contact with me and just tries to copy me, usually correctly but sometimes in a funny way.  This morning, I pointed to my nose and he pointed to his head like a gun (maybe he knew what he was doing after all!)


When I see this, I can either respond with a "I wish it it were this easy for Alanna but it's not", or I can find joy in this simple moment of being a parent, having fun, and knowing that I am so thankful he does not experience the same difficulties Alanna does in this seemingly easy task.


Today I choose the latter and I laugh at him - we have fun.  This moment never comes for some parents and I am happy it came for me.  Beyond thankful.

Stim Time

Stimming, or "self-stimulation", is a term many parents who have children with autism understand.  Children with autism enjoy many activities that seem odd to us and are generally done alone.  Generally I dislike stimming because it's time that could be replaced with more productive activities, but I realize Alanna enjoys it and sometimes she just needs to do it.


Some favourite stims include:

• Bouncing on the couch
• Kicking her feet
• Many different sounds, including a cry sound that is really really irritating
• Throwing things and picking them up, then throwing them again
• Chewing on inedible things (PECS are a favourite)

Usually stimming means:

• I'm bored
• I'm tired
• I really need sensory input (see I'm bored above)

This one is new and admittedly was kind of funny... (don't mind the highly expensive duct-taped couch).

Alanna and Tyler at Play

This is not much of a post, but I wanted to share this video we took at Alanna and Tyler together.  Tyler is being shy, but he fills in the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".  Alanna joins in to help Tyler get ready for the day :)

Alanna has been working on using her utensils.  Here is a recent video of her using a spoon!  We are thrilled!

The Power of Play

We have been spending a lot of time lately in therapy (and trying to reinforce/generalize when we have time with Alanna) developing Alanna's play skills.  Play skills are the basis for many other interventions in autism, including Floortime (especially the PLAY project).  Now that Alanna is starting to gain some play skills, we can use these opportunities to develop social communication, eye contact and joint attention. Alanna can also begin to play independently in a functional/imaginative way.  As she masters playing with different toys, she can then play with them in her playroom downstairs and keep "busy" while we do chores in a way that's functional.  

Alanna can:

• String beads like no-one's business.
• Do a variety of puzzles; as she learns new puzzles she is doing harder ones.
• Make pictures with shapes.
• Build towers with blocks.
• Play with a Mr. Potato Head and put the pieces in random places to make a fun head.
• Complete shape sorters.
• Feed her little baby, wipe her face, give her a soother.
• Cut a piece of pretend birthday cake, put it on a plate, blow out the candles, and decorate it.
• Pour herself some tea, drink the tea, put some bread on a plate, butter it (and she will sometimes say "ahm-nom-nom" when she pretends to eat). 

When Alanna is doing pretend play, she doesn't do it long because she is not able to think of too many novel actions yet.  But she will pretend without any prompts for several actions, and if you were an outsider she would look like a little girl playing with her tea set, for example. 

I have often wondered if teaching pretend play in this way is effective because I wonder if Alanna "gets" what she is doing.  But then I remember that young children engage in pretend play by imitating what their parents do, and that is how Alanna learned too.  Also, I see she generalizes, which tells me she gets it.  For example, she might pretend to eat something else other than bread, so I know she gets that plastic food is something you pretend to eat.  She feeds her baby but also feeds her bear and even her brother!

Play is an important part of intervention and I am glad we have put some focus on it!

Autism Wins

This is how I felt today.  Autism beat me down.

As I posted earlier, Alanna has been having a ton of trouble sleeping.  This is having a big toll on the family in general, but particularly it is impacting her.  She is very "spacey" - it is difficult to get her attention, she is not responding to her name and her behaviours are worse.  I hate when she seems to regress.  I am hoping it's temporary because every step forward is won through her hard work, and going backwards is so very painful.  Lack of sleep is the only thing I can think of - unless the bits of gluten she got are causing the problem.

Today Tyler learned how to drink from a straw.  Spontaneously.  At 13 months. Part of me was proud of him, and part of me wanted to cry.  He took Alanna's straw cup, grabbed it, and drank lots of it as he walked around looking proud of himself.  Teaching Alanna how to do this has taken weeks of effort, and he is now more proficient at it then her in about two seconds.  It just makes my heart ache for her so much when something this simple is so difficult for her and so easy for everyone else.  Meanwhile, on a hot day (low thirties but almost forty with humidex, ugh), she was not drinking much from her straw cup in the hopes her sippy cup would reappear.  Learning is hard and transitioning is hard.  And my son did both so fast.

Moments like this make me feel like a failure as a Dad.  I can't fix it, I can't always make it better, and I try to stay positive and celebrate her successes but sometimes the difficulty is so acute I just lose it.

Autism, you win today.  Alanna, Daddy will try to do better tomorrow.  

No Rest for the Weary

Sleep is remaining elusive for us.  Our supervising psychologist has us writing a sleep log.  We removed Alanna's toddler bed and replaced it with a form mat on the floor.  Last night she was up at 4:30am and did not return to sleep.  The night before, she was up from 2:30am to 5:00am, bouncing and screaming on her bed, and ditto the night before.

Tyler's room is beside hers.  I don't know how he sleeps through it.  I do know, however, that everyone, including Alanna, is in a fantastic mood when she sleeps through the night.  Tyler is happier and so are we.  Alanna is taking 9mg of melatonin at night (two doses, one given only if she wakes), plus she is on the swing to put her down at night.  The next most unhappy step will be to visit the doctor and put her on a sedative, but I really, really, really want to avoid that.  The girl is two years old and I don't want to drug her unless we get desperate.

We will be trying to adjust her sleep routine with music and calming lights on her walls; I am hoping this helps.  For those parents with kids with autism or intellectual disability, I know this is a common problem.  I have read countless pleas for help on-line and some kids just do not sleep.  So here's a plea... help.

Cookies and Bed Bouncing

This was the sight I saw when I went to check up on Alanna today.  Ever since she got her new toddler bed, she is obsessed with her room and often goes up there, closes the door, and proceeds to self-stimulate herself into a tizzy (don't get me wrong, she is happy as a clam when she is doing this.)  I let her do this today because hey, after six hours of therapy I figured she deserved a break.  Usually there is much bed bouncing, tossing of books, tossing of small benches, and occasional spinning of her lampshade.  The closing of the door is not optional by the way - she becomes very upset if she cannot close the door.  It is kind of cute but I suppose we should break the obsession.

In any case, Alanna knows cookies when she sees them.  Apparently these were placed a little too low on her shelf after her final ABA therapy session today and she figured she would help herself.  I can't blame the kid.

Transitioning to a bed from a crib has been... interesting.  The first night, she slept well in it and was thrilled to have it - there was absolutely no protest over the change whatsoever (this due to the fact that beds bounce better than cribs and this is her favourite stim.)  The second night she fell out of the bed and woke up quite distraught.  To fix this problem, Becca and I ordered a foam barrier and put a foam mattress next to her bed.

Well, unfortunately for us, Alanna figured out that if she could fall out of her bed, then she could certainly get out on her own (this thought did not occur to her the first night).  So most nights now consist of bed bouncing and screaming until the melatonin kicks in... followed by more bouncing and screaming at 1 or 2am, followed by more melatonin.  We never really know how long she stays up.  It's dark in her room so she must move around a ton to make it fun.  Most of the time we find her curled up on her $15 foam mattress while her $150 bed is used as a trampoline.  I am proud of our investment. 

Most mornings when she is up the night before, she is dead to the world until 9am, but therapy often starts as 8 or 8:30am.  I guess with the summer we should try to bump therapy to the end of the day and let the girl sleep! 

It's Harder to Understand Than Have Pity

I went this morning to our local Early Years Centre, which has a special program called "Dads Can Play Too".  It's a pretty awesome idea - I was impressed to see that even the play group leader is a dude.  I brought both kids; Nana was happy to help watch Tyler while Alanna was running around.  I explained to the lady at the desk that Alanna was special needs (and had autism) right before she took off and ran away (her timing was impeccable).  Alanna was not herself.  She played with almost no toys, had poor eye contact and wandered aimlessly.  She took crayons and threw them.  It was almost as if she'd regressed six months in six minutes.  I don't think I've seen her this "autistic" in a long while.  Many of the dads were staring at her.  When Alanna was younger, many parents often told me they would never know she was autistic unless I told them.  Now that she is almost 2 1/2, this is a much rarer comment.  The typical sign is her lack of speech - many 2 year olds at her age are talking non-stop.  It was obvious something was different just in the way I spoke to her.  As I have been taught, I always use simple speech with Alanna to help her understand what I am saying.  I speak slowly and repeat.  To a dad of a typical kid it would look pretty odd.  Eventually one of the dads I met (his son was playing nearby) asked me, "She doesn't talk much does she?"  I explained, "She has autism."  He nodded, happy with the explanation but I could tell he didn't really know much about autism.  When we were leaving, Alanna had a small meltdown and the women outside watched her with concern, looking at me and her with pity.  Everyone tried to be helpful and I tried to be gracious in accepting it.


When I left in the car, I cried silently as I drove home.  I couldn't help myself, it was too overwhelming.  Seeing Alanna "interact" with a kid her own age was heartbreaking.  Talking to the kid was so easy.  It was natural.  No saying, "good looking", or "nice talking".  Just an easy, back and forth discussion.  She is so behind, I thought to myself.  These things are so hard for Alanna.  I forget how hard it is for her until I see a kid her age and see how easy and normal it is for them.  


Looking back now, Alanna probably did pretty well. Six months ago she would have melted down and lost it... I wouldn't have even been able to go in.  But she went into a completely strange place with strange adults and kids and was able to cope.  She was not herself but I am guessing she was overwhelmed by everything and shut it out to cope.  She was immediately all smiles and more herself when we got home.  So maybe it wasn't a bad outing.  I'm trying to think positively here.  I know that many of Alanna's repetitive behaviours and unusual interests are greatly diminished from six months ago.  


But I learned something today.  I have to admit I'm much more compassionate to people with disabilities now that I have a daughter who has one (go figure).  If you see a child with an obvious disability (or even anyone for that matter), don't pity them.  They are coping and if you feel sorry for them won't make them feel any better.  When someone tells you about a disability, they want your understanding.  It's to inform you so you know what's going on - it's not an invitation for you to say poor parent, you have a child with autism.  I know Alanna has autism.  I'm just telling you so when she runs around flapping her arms and doesn't talk you know why.

Travel Fun

We are blessed to have just returned from not-so-warm-but-fun-anyway Florida.  The residents were complaining, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  We had a few days of 22-25 degree weather and some sun.

Travelling with young children is never an easy thing.  Travelling with a child who has autism can be even harder.  Loud noises, changing environments, weird sensations, changes in pressure, crowds, boredom - all take their toll on children with autism.  Fortunately for us, Alanna did fantastic.  She tolerated the airplane movements, didn't mind the crowded airports (and even tried to play with some of the kids she met) and was a pretty "typical" two-year old during the entire experience (her brother on the other hand decided his parents are useful for practicing his head butt wrestling move and we have bruises to prove it.)

We were also worried that Alanna would hate the sand like she did last year, and not tolerate the water due to the resistance she is giving us with bathing.

Here you can see her very frustrated... uh, well, not really.  She really loved the sand!

She loved the water too and asked to go swimming!  We were so pleased.  Sometimes, despite all the challenges of autism and the special considerations you have to make as a parent, you have moments - not many - but some, where you feel like your child is just a typical kid.

Verbal Explosions

When Alanna was evaluated by a psychologist (twice over), her most delayed area was communication.  On the Vineland II Adaptive Behaviour Scale, Alanna scored in the <1% percentile for communication, which essentially means in a room of 100 random children her age, her communication skills would be the most delayed out of any of the children in the room.  For us, this was quite distressing, since an inability to communicate is a huge impetus towards developing a lot of problem behaviours for children with autism.  Fortunately for us, we were able to introduce the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to Alanna fairly early on.  She can now ask for lots of items, even if she does not see the item, using pictures.  However, what has us really excited is how the mand training we introduced into her therapy has caused a verbal explosion!

Mand training is a verbal behaviour term that refers to teaching a child how to ask for things he or she wants.  The word "mand" is short for "demand".  It's very boring but effective.  Essentially all we do is take a desired item and model the word for Alanna - for example, "muffin".  After several times modelling, we give her a small piece.  When she approximates the word, she gets a bigger piece.  As she is able to say more, we expect more and give her small pieces for responses that used to give big pieces (e.g., "mmm" originally gets a bigger piece but now does not).  She can now say "mufffan" or "muff an", sometimes "muffin". 

This "mand training" combined with her pictures allows her to say or approximate several words.  As she learns more words, other words are sometimes heard spontaneously, such as the "stawberry" I heard yesterday!

Sweet, sweet words.  They are like warm rays of sunshine in the bleak winter.  Keep talking, Alanna!

Bubble Obsessions

Finding a new reinforcer for your child with autism is like finding gold!  Yesterday we discovered bubbles are the bee's knees.  Alanna loves bubbles.  So much so that when she sees the bubbles PEC on her PEC board (a PEC is a picture she can exchange for something she wants) she immediately brings it.  We used this to get her to switch to a verbal request, and all day yesterday we heard "ba ba", "bubbles" and "gubbles".  She will now request without the PEC; she'll even bring you the bubble vial and dip the bubble wand in for you!  She knows she has to bring it to her mouth to blow but isn't quite sure how yet.

I love that she is talking and has converted a PEC into a very close verbal approximation in less than a day.  But now our world is "gubbles, gubbles, gubbles!!"  We have to hide them and distract her.  Good thing children with autism don't have fixations... not.