Latest Updates

My darling little DS is back and my life feels so much better. He's been home for a couple of weeks now. No matter how hard I tried, I just did not feel good without him here. Sure I had fun, etc... but having him back, I feel twice the person I was before.

DS has started a new medication to help regulate his body and increase his attention. There is a huge difference, which I'm excited, so we are keeping him on it and we are going to increase the dose. The doctor started him on a low dosage but wants to see better focus; I agree.

His language has improved but it still needs more attention. We are rounding a corner with DS and I just really want to focus more on him this fall. For that fact, I will not be taking on any new clients and also winding down my current client.

Here are more updates, since I haven't been around the blogosphere as much as I like.

DS' updates and targets: I feel good about the future of DS. This fall, he is taking speech therapy and he will also do an Integrated Playgroup; which is facilitated play therapy by an expert between him and two typical peers. He is also taking swim lessons and I may enroll him in an art class. Then he has his standing playdate once a week with his non typical friend; so we will be busy! Yikes!

I have some targets for him that I need to work on at home; these include: reading comprehension, language pragmatic skills and social skills.

Relocation (?): My landlord informed me that he is thinking about selling the building; but I found out, the building is actually on the market. So I'm not sure what that will mean with new owners. Of course you think, they may raise the rent or ask you to leave; since my lease is up and I'm on a month to month basis. Not sure, we'll see what the potential new owners want. I want to move anyway. This school district doesn't embrace inclusion like I would like and living in an apartment has been a challenge with my son. We are outdoor people and I would love to have a yard. I just hope we can stay put through the holidays and figure out something after the first of the year.

Career/Education/Money: So as I mentioned, I'm not going to work with kids anymore and take a break. I just need to focus on my son's development and I find, working so much with children on the spectrum and coming home and working with my son just leaves me spent. I am taking a sabbatical for a little while. I love working with children, but I just really want to be there for my son, he needs me big time right now.

I still want a career in Special Needs and because of that, I am looking into PhD programs. I found two that I'm interested in and want to research them both further. I plan to apply next year. In the meantime, I'm studying for the GREs. I'm doing pretty well but I am going to start looking for a study partner. I have some fliers I am going to hang in some local cafes and I also posted a listing on craigslist.

I plan on working part-time as a Research Assistant this year. I need to do this, so that I can get recent research experience and it will look good for my application process. I hope to get paid but if I have to volunteer I will do that as well.

As for money ~ I still have one client and I did look for dd jobs to do over summer and it was tough to find something. I did finally find something and it's part-time and works out great for my schedule, so I'm excited. It's nothing in the Education world, it's more of basic office duties, database management and PowerPoint slides for a training company. I'm happy because of the hours and the nature of the work allow me to focus on my son and my application process for school.

Dating: I tried the online dating and it just does not work for me. I know it works for some people, but I just couldn't take it. Besides that, I seem to be doing better offline. A lot of people approach me and ask me for my number and not sure what it is about this one grocery store, but every time I go in there, I get so much attention from guys shopping. Nothing has panned out yet, but when something serious happens, I will let you know ;)

Oh and I have a small crush on this guy in my neighborhood. I think it's so much fun to have a crush. He rides his bike up and down these hills and I don't know how it rides up these mountains, because this is the Bay Area and this particular area has some tough hills. But he does it. He is CUTE!!!!! And his body is H.O.T. hot!!!! I see him when I'm running/walking the hills, which isn't often. So far all he has done has smiled and said hello. Bicycle man is cute!

Speaking of Fitness: I have achieved my goal and I can run 5K! I haven't done an official race, but I can do it around the tracks near my house; so I am happy! I also have recently cut down my carbs and try and take in 150 carbs per day. Yes, I count carbs; I was telling the cashier about it at the grocery store and the bagger thought we were nuts, but whatever! it works for me. I have a cheat day that I use if and when I feel like it, but I don't go crazy.

I have managed to get running in 2-3x per week and I work on weights 2x per week. So working out 4-5 times has paid off. My body is pretty much where I want it to be; with the exception of losing maybe 2 inches in my waist. But I got a compliment from a lady while I was stretching at the track. She told me my body was amazing and my legs and arms looked great. I was like 'WOW!', thanks. It just made me feel good to have all this hard work pay off.

I will list my workout routine and a few menu ideas in case anyone is interested later in the week :)

Solo Social Life: Is solo social and oxymoron? LOL. I have really started to do things alone. Not because I wanted to, but I noticed as you get older and everyone else does, your schedules rarely, if ever sync up.

Don't get me wrong, my social calendar was hoping for a good part of the summer. I have done a lot of activities with friends and met a lot of new great people and it's been so much fun, but it's not always easy to have the time match.

I have a movie buddy and we get together every few months and catch a flick, but I also go solo and have fun; been doing that for a few years. I plan to see Sarah's Key next.

I also started hanging out at my favorite cafes solo and it's great atmosphere and people watching. I also get a lot of studying done as well.

My next big solo adventure is this place in San Fran. It's a restaurant but at 10pm, they move the tables away and bring in a DJ and they play dancehall Caribbean music and the crowd is just awesome. I have gone with friends several times and I stay on the dance floor all night, but this time I'm just going alone. This DJ is there once a month only, so I have to wait til September :(

I think that is it for now, sorry it's soooo long!

A few methods I use in teaching ASD

As a parent of a child with ASD and a teacher of children on the spectrum, I have a couple of trusty favorites and methods that I use that I wanted to share for anyone who is just starting this journey. I have worked with severe Autism as well as High Functioning Autism.

Jed Baker, has some great ideas in "The Social Skills Picture Book". This is especially helpful for children who are going into social situation and not recognizing cues. I find a lot of children I work with, really respond well to the layout. I use my own camera and create scenarios based on real live social situations we encounter and we go back and discuss.

ABA has always been at the core of our learning and while I have some issues with ABA, I do appreciate how things are broken down and follow a perfect sequence to learning. I've had "Behavioral Intervention for Young Children With Autism" for about 4 years now and we still refer to it at times; it has been a bible for me.

My son is a very visual hands on learner, this is how I taught him math, he responded immediately to cube stacking. We also play, high card/low card with uno cards and he uses this visual to check who wins the hand.

My son learned phonics from Sesame Street and Starfall.com. When starfall came out with books, I had to get them, they are similar to the "Bob books".

I also write a lot of social stories and they are directed from an incident that occurred; for instance when my son tried to take off his seat belt once, we wrote a social story about safety, why it's important and we also went over the outcomes of not being safe.

We are going on a road trip to see his grandparents as I pointed out in a previous post, my parents will take care of DS for a few weeks while I work. I had to write the entire scenario out in a social story. Complete with drawings of California to Nevada and I was very clear on timeframes and what he would be doing and what I would be doing in his story. He totally gets it and is okay with it. He wants to read this story all the time now.

Other great tools that have worked for me:

iPad apps (they have a ton of great apps)

Flashcards (basic but tried and true)

Teach2Talk Videos (it's how my son learned to Share)

Baby Bumble bee series (in the early intervention stage this was great!)

Positive Reinforcement in the form of a token system

One last thing that has helped me out with social situations was constantly being out and gathering real live situations so that we can practice.

With any challenging situation... naturally you would want to avoid it, but I had to face it and face it and face it, until my students (including my son) were comfortable.

For instance, if you like to dine out but your child presents a challenge, then you target this and work on. One of my students had severe behavior problems but she loved to eat. How I helped Julie (not real name) with dining out was to pick a restaurant she liked, and talk to the owner. I explained the situation and asked if he did not mind that we come here during an off time and get her use to it. He was totally happy to help out and said to bring here in. This student was 15 years old, had issues with waiting and 3x my size, so I always needed one other person to go on field trips because her tantrums were violent. Before leaving the house, I showed her pictures of the car, the restaurant and then a picture of home and explained the situation. We would go and yes there were many times where we had to physically restrain her, but with practice she got it and her behavior in the restaurant improved to the point where she had no more aggression. We were able to move to different locations. I just want to add this took a lot of time and dedication, it was not an overnight success and it involved lots of patience and great restaurant owners and understanding patrons. It wasn't easy but we did make progress with this.

I started restaurant training when my son was 2. We started off small, like off times at a fast food restaurant, then we worked our way up. I was sure to give positive support like with Julie. Now DS can sit and behave in a restaurant for the duration of the meal and loves to dine out.

My current student has a problem initiating play on the park. This started with him just circling the parameter of the park and not going in to play. Then he moved on to just playing by himself on the swing or monkey bars. This is where I was hired. I started off with some "clinical" teaching of initiating play at home. We discussed fears, anxieties, etc... After that we did role playing in the house using family members. Then we took it to the park... we go to playgrounds and I "coach' him on how to play. I don't want him to stick out with the other kids, so I know how to do it. It started off rocky of course, but as the weeks went on and we practiced he started to get the hang of it. Last Saturday, John (not his real name) made 3 friends on the park. He was soo proud of himself, it was GREAT!!!

I really love what I do and seeing the progress and satisfaction on the students face and seeing their own pride is too much to put into words. I'm lucky to do what I love for my occupation. Since I was 5 years old I wanted to be a teacher.

I have a Masters's in Education and I plan on pursuing a PhD in Special Education and I want to focus on social skill building for children, teens and adults.

Positive Reinforcement ~ Treasure chest

I have quite a few targets for DS; by targets I mean, new skills that I'm encouraging him to use, or new or challenging behaviors that I need him to master to be more effective at school or certain social venues.

DS responds more to positive reinforcement. One method that works well for us is a token system. I keep it basic by rewarding positive behaviors with a token. If we are going to be in a store for a while, I give DS the rules before we get into the store and remind him of what's at stake. It typically works.

I tried to get a little creative and added onto this method. DS has been into pirates and treasures lately, so I found a container that can pass for a treasure chest and told DS when he gets 6 tokens, he gets a map to find a hidden treasure chest.

In the chest I have faux diamonds, rubies, sapphires, money, etc... It's still a work in progress, so I'm adding other treasures as I find them. I then add a surprise in the chest (something he normally doesn't get; candy or a special toy). The map is a hand drawn map of our house and I mark an X to where the treasure is hidden. This is great skill building too, because he has to use the map to find the treasure.

It's a hit because the prize is always different and so is the location. Eventually the token system will turn into money when he gets a bit older, but for now it works.

The token chart is hanging on his wall in his room. Tokens are pictures of things he's into, instruments, trains, etc...

Arrghhh... treasure!

Milestone--asking "where" questions

I know some of you parents out there may be like "huh, why is she happy he is asking questions, our kids ask questions non-stop!"

Well, DS has this "language disorder" added to his Autism label, and he has only been talking for about 2 plus years now and he runs his mouth constantly! But questions aren't his strong point. He will ask "What's that?", but no "why" or "where".

Today, I told him, finish your breakfast, we gotta go. And he said...

"Where we going?"

He has never ever asked a "Where" question. I quickly helped model the proper sentence "Where are we going?" And he repeated it perfectly, then I told him, to the courthouse to fill out some forms. He had no idea what the heck that was. Then praised him for asking questions! BTW... they have child care at the courthouse! I didn't know.

Yay! My baby's language is getting better every single day!

My sword hand is never free

Words cannot describe the nonsense that I'm currently going through with DS' IEP team. It's so convoluted that I don't even have the strength to type it all out. Bottom line is, we want our son to be mainstreamed in reading. He can read at a first grade level and he loves to read. He is socially motivated and wants to reach out to his typical peers, so why restrict him? There are also a few over the top issues, we have with the district, but I will spare you, for now.

I fight and will continue to be an advocate for my son's needs but it still blows my mind, how things are handled. I will turn into warrior mom and I will charge on my horse with my samurai sword drawn the entire time. I plan to cut off the heads of district members in the way of my son's education. I will do it gracefully though, they won't even see the blade coming.

I act in the best interest of my child and I want him to live to his potential, whatever that ends up being. I have no idea what is driving/motivating his current IEP team to make the decisions they are making; I can only imagine.

Now we have to create a task team to prove DS can be mainstreamed into the general education reading class... complete with Legal Advocates, Clinical Psychologists, Reading Assessments, etc... And that's fine with me, I have no problem doing it.

Having received my Master's degree in Education back in 1997 and studying about the future of mainstreaming and inclusion being collaborated in general education; I would have never guessed that in 2011 in the state of California, that I would be fighting for a socially driven, highly intelligent happy little boy to be mainstreamed in one class.