Acorn Balls

Don't ask.  Just know that Ben has overcome his fear of these Sweet Gum Tree seeds as he referred to them as 'acorn balls'.  Systematic desensitization at its finest.

Happy Birthday Thomas

Our little T-Pain is growing up!  It's hard to realize today he turns ONE... poor little Tippy looks and acts more like an 8 month old but is so darn cute.  Thomas crawls, says "Mama" and claps and waves bye-bye.  He weighs 20 lbs (16%) and is 30 inches (60%).  He is still seeing OT and PT and will receive an evaluation for Speech Therapy too.  His favorite things are eating food off the floor and screeching until you pick him up.  He sees a neurologist and orthopedic in the next few weeks to address his hypotonia and poor gait.  There are no shortages of hugs or smiles for this little guy!

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Happy Friday!

Hey, Girl...

Oh really?  Did I just sign up for this?!  In between huffing pizza to cure my hangover I had some time to scour the internet on Autism facts (getting ready for April's Autism Awareness month).  I came across Sunday Stilwell's blog - Adventures In Extreme Parenthood.  She has two autistic sons yet she manages to keep things positive and is so hilarious.  I think I've found a new dose sanity and I'm excited to start following her.

Also, if you haven't checked out her blog you have to read her 'Hey Girl' ads with Ryan Gosling.  If you don't have a special needs child it may not really register with you.  But for me?  I couldn't stop laughing!!!  I'm going to play along this week and participate.  You'll understand soon enough....

http://www.extremeparenthood.com

How many puffs did you earn?

Ben has been attending a weekly social skills group in Sterling the past 8 weeks.  In addition to Ben learning new social and play skills I picked up some beneficial information from the parent portion of the program.  Our house has turned into somewhat of a preschool learning center with postings of our schedules, house rules, and charting incentive programs.   However it has seemed to help. 

The routines have been good to get Ben on track with following instructions and reducing meltdowns during transitions.  We are able to switch out photos based on the activities they have planned for the day.  This way Ben can visually see what he has planned for the day.

 

Charting has also been very helpful.  We were told that the boys should have a small, medium, and large rewards to work towards.  The key is to keep them incentivized.  And every day the boys should earn 3-4 puffs for ONE behavior.  They should be earning a reward every 3-4 days.  I had tried charting on multiple tasks (eating, cleaning, bath time, sharing, etc) but we learned that is too overwhelming.  So we started with our most problematic behavior (getting ready for bed) and now our goal is to work on playing cooperatively (Ben is not amenable when playing with others). 

As part of our charting system the boys earned a trip to the bowling alley.  Ben really enjoyed bowling but was more fascinated with the ball return.  We were happy that it wasn't sensory overload for him.

And even AJ warmed up in the end!!

Happy Friday