RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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A slice of life from yesterday: Sitting at home watching my shirtless boy run past the window in his skipping way, flapping his hands, his face and mouth covered in shaving foam, and saying something like "ning ning ning ning".

Following shortly behind was my daughter pedalling a too-small-for-her trike as fast as she could go, a plastic truck full of teddies and dinosaurs attached with string trailing behind as she shrieked "weeeeeee".

Just made me

Try mashing the veggies and pouring custard and/or yogurt over. It's the only way to get my daughter to eat vegetables.

I wish. He won't eat 'wet' food like custard or yoghurt (although will make an exception for soy sauce covered instant noodles). Nor will he eat anything mashed or mixed up. Even milk on cereal is a no-no (these days he's even gone off eating the cereal dry which is taxing my patience at breakfast).

Nostromo, that is hysterical (as well as a little like a Monty Python sketch!)! Sounds like your kids have a lot of fun.

Right now my nearly four year old is playing hide and seek with my 10 month old. They are both crawling round and round the kitchen bench giggling their heads off.

You know, I myself have a strong aversion to anything milky/creamy/slimy. People always think I am a freak for eating cereal with no milk.

As for my son eating broccoli, we did put a little bit of grated cheese (the kind used on pasta) on it, which he likes. He ate a whole plate (well, just the top "tree" part) of the stuff. This was good because he doesn't usually eat any vegetables at all. Once in a while he will eat fruit.

I was wondering...is this what a "processing disorder" looks like?

Last night, my son was eating Pez. When the dispenser was empty, he said, "Em...(pause of 5 seconds)...Em...(pause of five seconds)...It's empty." as if he could not find the word.

I'm back after being out of town and having computer/Internet access issues.

Regarding life skills, both of my kids have had life skills issues. Visual aids and repetition seem to help a lot with this, though.

In the bathroom, above the sink, we have handwashing directions with pictures that I photocopied from a social stories book. We also have written step-by-step potty directions posted in front of the potty.

I also do a lot of verbal cueing, and the ABA therapist does the same--verbal reminders to wash the hands, put the shoes in the shoe basket, wipe the butt, etc. Repeatedly walking the kids through the processes--step-by-step and giving thumbs up sign or saying "good job" upon completion--seems to help a lot.

A lot of times, I have to say things like "no computer until you pee in the potty" to my younger son or "no going outside" until you clean up this room to both of my kids in order to get them to perform the desired task. (I also have to give them directions on how to clean up the room--"Heath, put the puzzle pieces in this box." "Ben, put the crayons in this basket." etc.)

Welcome back. Unfortunately my son cannot understand instructions like that yet.

My wife did add a couple of your home-made videos to the playlists for our son so if he suddenly starts speaking with a Texas accent we will know why!

Also we finally got our hands on some melatonin. We gave it to him around 7:30 but he did not go to sleep till twelve, then he woke up in the middle of the night and started bouncing off the walls...basically had the opposite affect (or more likely, none.) I think we should give him a bigger dose later in the evening.

I'm glad that he likes the videos! I have ideas for more and better videos but don't have the time right now.

I didn't worry too much about life skills with my older son until his vocabulary was advanced enough to understand basic directions. Therefore, he did a lot of things completely out of order--starting to read before being potty trained, etc. (That goes for my younger son, too, actually).

With both of my kids, visual aids are very helpful. The posted hanwashing directions are numbered and have a drawing beside each step, for instance. Each step is very simply worded--"1. Turn on the water. [picture of water coming out of faucet] 2. Put soap on my hands. [picture of soap in hand] etc."

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2F323D3C48107258

The above playlist is from my free Autistic Kids YouTube Channel and is on hygiene and grooming. Some of the videos might be helpful for your son to watch at some point. Also, there are videos that a person can watch that demonstrate proper handwashing, etc. Or you can use your digital camera to film your wife or your child himself performing the desired life skills activity--video modeling, basically.

Also, difflearn.com sells autism products--flashcards, toys, books, DVDs, etc. They have several life skills items.

There are other life skills resources listed in the "autism links" section of my free website, www.freevideosforautistickids.com.

Good luck!

http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Category. ... oryID=1590

You all can also check out the above website for free life skills, health, and other educational videos and put them in a "favorites" folder on the site. The educational videos on this site are sorted, and you can set an age range to avoid getting a bunch of videos for teens.

Delete.

Last edited by Washi on 08 Dec 2011, 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wonder if in spite of the deadline it remained at the discretion of the organisers?
E.g. there could be extenuating circumstances.

Delete.

Last edited by Washi on 08 Dec 2011, 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My way would be to email them saying the entry appears on face value to have been submitted late and asking if that is indeed the case?
I wouldn't put more at that point, just give them a chance to answer.

Maybe the organizers actually received the entry on time but the entry was submitted from a different time zone? Just a thought.

Delete.

Last edited by Washi on 08 Dec 2011, 6:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.