Although there have been a few high points, in some ways this summer has been a bit of a "crash and burn" for our family. Specifically, Michael came up against a couple of situations where he was being stretched farther socially and emotionally than he was ready for, and he rebelled big time! During the school year, Michael had been attending a therapeutic after school program and was thriving there, partly because he had gotten into a good routine and also because he had become the leader within his particular group of kids. He had also been enjoying a weekly playgroup that is run by his psychologist, so we were feeling pretty confident about his progress. First came the crashing... As we moved into the summer, however, he started having trouble with playgroup. The psychologist had begun leaving the ...
Category Archives: Try This Tuesday
Try This Tuesday #55: Working as a Team
I am so proud of myself and my husband today. Often, when Michael has a meltdown or is throwing one behavior after another at us to either get what he wants or avoid something he doesn't, one or both of us lose our cool - either with him or with each other - in the process. But not today. Today we were calm and supportive and truly worked as a team. Here's the short version of the story: Michael did not want to go to playgroup at the psychologist's office this evening. They had two weeks off while the therapist was on vacation, and he claims that I told him he didn't ever have to go back if he didn't want to. (Not true, but I think he really convinced himself it was.) There was also some ...
Try This Tuesday #54: Mikey Likes It!
Nothing earth shattering going on around here except that in that past week, my son has ingested three servings of blueberries. Pretty amazing for a kid that had declared a ban on all fruits and vegetables and would cry at the request to try even a new variety of candy. I have seen a greater willingness to try new foods over the past few months and decided I was going to start pushing fruits again to see what would happen. So I put a few blueberries (seven, to be exact) on his plate with lunch the other day. He was upset at first but then agreed to try one in exchange for one of his favorite candies. He ended up eating all of them in exchange for additional candy. I offered them again at dinner and he ...
Try This Tuesday #53: Looking for Your Advice
Today I am really looking to you for your creative solutions. Things have been very up and down with my son this summer, with one day going beautifully and the next a disaster. Although he is not what I would call a "runner", i.e. a child who escapes at any opportunity without regard to his safety, he does sometimes run away from me when he is angry and could potentially get hurt or lost if he went too far or too fast. This happened one morning last week, and I am sharing an email I wrote to a friend asking for her advice in hopes that some of you will have ideas as well: I'm really having a hard time figuring out whether I should take Michael to our planned outing tonight or not. He ran away from ...
Try This Tuesday #52: VideoPlaylist.org
Today I wanted to share another great online resource that I have heard about recently, called VideoPlaylist.org. Here's the basic concept of the site, as stated by the founder: Does anyone else use YouTube videos with their ASD kids? We use YouTube videos with my son both as reinforcers and as a self-guided leisure activity. The actual YouTube website was too difficult for him to use so I made him a little web page with links to his favorite videos. He watches various short Disney and Dr. Seuss videos, etc. It worked so well that I created a little website where anyone could create their own YouTube playlist. I thought it would be useful for the general SPED community (and for anyone else who wants to make their own video playlist). I checked out the site for myself and found it very easy ...
Try This Tuesday #51: Freecycle
Over this past weekend, my husband and I spent many hours rearranging and decluttering our home. We made some good progress and ended up with a number of items to sell and/or give away. Once we realized that a yard sale was going to be too much work for us, I decided to check out Freecycle for the stuff that was still usable but not really worth selling. It turned out to be a pretty easy process. After locating the correct group for my area and joining, I was able to quickly move out several things, and I have really felt good about passing some items on to people who could use them. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has used stuff to pass on or is looking for something another person might ...
Try This Tuesday #50: OTPlan.com
I recently heard about this cool website called OTPlan (Occupational Therapy Plan) from a member of my local ASA chapter and just had to share it with all of you. What is OTPlan? In their own words, The concept is pretty simple: OTPlan is an activity idea and treatment plan search engine. The site matches the skills you want to work on, with the materials you have, to a detailed treatment activity that will help you strengthen certain skills. Each activity details the purpose, materials needed, process, rating for the activity, and comments by people just like you. When you first go to the site, you have the option to start choose the skill you want to work on, the materials you want to use, or view the entire list of ideas. There is also a search box to go straight ...
Try This Tuesday #49: Every Day Is A Good Day
We can spend so much time thinking about our kids' needs and just getting through all our daily responsibilities that sometimes it can all be a bit overwhelming. So when I recently read this post about how Storm from All Things Cherished keeps herself from being overwhelmed, I immediately knew it fit into the category of "solutions that make life easier." Every Day is a Good Dayby Storm Let me share with you a strategy I use to avoid being flooded with feelings of gloom, depression, and fear. Every day is a good day. But when I'm experiencing a day full of frustrations, I try not to call it a "bad" day, I call it an "interesting" day. This habit keeps me from being overwhelmed with negative emotions. Why does this work? Repetitive thoughts and words create feelings. Those ...
Try This Tuesday #48: 10 Top Tips for Talking to Your ASD Teen About Sex
Welcome to Try This Tuesday! Cale from Spectrum Siblings has been doing a series of posts on the topic of sex education with a teenager on the autism spectrum, and he is sharing his final installment with us here today. I'm curious what other parents of teenagers and young adults on the autism spectrum have handled this topic and what has worked (or not worked) for you. What tips would those dealing with other special needs add to or change from this list? 10 Top Tips for Talking to Your ASD Teen About Sexby Cale 1. Put it into the schedule: If you pull your kid aside during his scheduled computer time, he will spend the entire time thinking about his game, and none of his time listening to you. Try something like: 6-6:20, Mom talks about ...
Try This Tuesday #47: Stage Not Age
Welcome to Try This Tuesday! This week, DS.MAMA from Down Syndrome New Mama is sharing an awesome resource for tracking your baby's milestones. I think it could be useful for other children with developmental delays as well, and there are also other versions of this resource available. Stage Not Ageby DS.MAMA One of the first things to get over when you have a newborn with Down syndrome is looking for milestones based on your baby’s age. We have all heard stories about so-and-so’s baby who held his head up before the placenta was delivered and walked at six months old. Most of us have read some form of a What to Expect book and have a general idea of how old a baby is when certain things happen. Flush that knowledge from your mind and try ...
