Wednesday
"Stayed home today. Ryan was up a lot again last night and crying off and on today. I'm not sure what's bothering him, but I know I need a "mental health day." Although, Ryan's not helping much by being cranky and completely uncooperative when I've tried to do our Summit Centre homework this morning. :p"
Thursday
"No Summit Centre again today. :( Took Ryan into the clinic. Trying to put him on Pedialyte and clear fluids for 24 hours (whatever doc--you don't know my child--he threw the Pedialyte across the room), and hoping to collect two "samples" for analysis. At least he seems to be doing a lot better so far today. *shrug* Hopefully we can return to S.C. tomorrow."
Today
"Finally back to Summit Centre today. Of course, the weather had to be horrific--almost got into 2 accidents, one on the way there and one on the way back. Ryan did not want to work, but when he was left to play with the students while I was off doing research and theory, he was completely happy and cooperative with them. Naturally. :P "
The Past 2 Days
On Wednesday night, I went shopping and got Ryan two animal and transportation sound puzzles and a cute ring stacker. I thought the new toys might get him more engaged in our home programming. I believe it worked. He did a much better job with his homework yesterday than he had the previous few days. At least he seemed more interested in using these toys appropriately (although I still had to block him mouthing the puzzle pieces and rings).
I believe a lot of Ryan's troubles the past 2 weeks are digestive-system-related. He was having a loose BM or two each night, and then when we were home on Wednesday, it increased to six episodes. He has been really gassy and having unexpected fits of crying like something's really hurting him. Other times, he's okay. When we went to the clinic yesterday, they said to put him on a clear fluid diet (he refused, so I stuck to his plain oatmeal) and that seemed to help. He didn't have any BMs until just now, and it was so-so. They wanted a stool sample to test, so I just collected that, too. Eww.
Anyway, yesterday/last night Ryan was much better overall, until bath time (7-ish). Usually, he loves his bath. Suddenly, he started screaming and shaking like he was having some kind of night terror in the daytime, and he was inconsolable for about half an hour, no matter what I tried to soothe him. Then, he was fine until about 10 PM, when he had another frantic bout of shrieking and running around mindlessly and sobbing. These are the times when I really wish he could communicate with me more. It was so scary and heart-wrenching to see him fall apart like that, and I felt so helpless. It seems like he's truly terrified and panicking about something. That time, I managed to get him (eventually) to settle with me in the rocking chair.
I still suspect pain in the tummy might be a trigger of these episodes, but we have to figure out what's causing the tummy trouble first. Hopefully, the stool sample analysis will give us an answer. Also, I've been reading that autistic children seem to have a higher incidence of gastrointestinal problems than neurotypical children. I could see that in Ryan; he's had a sensitive gastrointestinal system since he was a newborn.
Today at Summit Centre
The first thing I did after arriving today was head down to H.'s office to ask for advice in dealing with Ryan's homework issues. For example, doing the incidental "go play" at home just isn't working out. It's better suited to a more structured environment, like Summit Centre, where we work through a program, and then he can have a chance to "go play." So, I asked if we could change our incidental goal for home to waving "hello" and "goodbye" to people. We get many opportunities for that during the day, and it's a social skill, too. H. agreed that was a good decision. I also talked about how our shape sorter at home isn't the best toy for close-ended play goals because Ryan pulls the lid off and flings the pieces everywhere. H. offered me the loan of the good, old-fashioned type of shape sorter I remember, where parents have more control of the access to the pieces. We tried it at S.C. before going home today, and it did seem to work a lot better. We've also tried his new sound puzzles for close-ended play at home, and since he's engaged by the sounds, that was fairly successful, too.When we went back to get the day started in the Yellow Room, J. and his mom L.A. (the other Unity family) were there. L.A. put up her hand and asked Ryan for a high five, and he gave her one! That was great generalizing. She asked him for another one ("Again?") and he seemed to make an "Oh" sound, like "No." Then she asked if he was all done giving high fives, and he made a sound like "Yahh." Then he kept trying to get into her face and snuggle with her. LOL (I told you he likes her.)
Work time was a bit more challenging. As soon as D. walked in, Ryan's mood changed. He got fussy and floppy. We did our opening song (lacking enthusiasm on Ryan's part), and then D. took Ryan and I over to the Blue Room to work on some goals.
Today we started with trying to get Ryan in a good mood! As soon as we sat on the rug with the toys we usually work with, he started to cry. D. tried to get out some new toys/reinforcers to cheer Ryan up. We had some success playing roll the ball back and forth just for fun, and he also still loves D.'s tickles and squeezes. We tried to get Ryan to "pat the floor." I got three decent attempts out of him, but then he cried. D. had to remind me to follow through on the instruction on the last trial because I was so distracted by Ryan's crying that I didn't get him to pat the floor after I asked. So, I had to go back and give him a solid HOH to follow through with that final pat on the floor.
We also tried the rings for holding items. Ryan was interested in the rings, and surprisingly, he remembered that they need to go on the stacker. I was simply focused on him practicing holding an object; he took the initiative and tried to put it on the ring stacker! So, we followed his lead and changed it over to his play goal of putting rings on the stacker, instead of the incidental goal of holding an item. That worked well. He completed most of the trials successfully and with minimal whining. He needed a little more HOH prompting than previously with the ring stacker, but at least he was trying to stack them.
I thought Ryan would like to play the Winnie the Pooh piano, as he enjoys that toy, but we only got about 3 good plays out of him. He did tap the piano keys once after I showed him, and then wrist prompted. He did turn the page of the little book after the upturned page caught his attention. And, as usual, he did enjoy the spinning portion of the toy. But after three trials, he didn't want to work on it anymore. More crying!
Then, we went into the Rainbow Room to try doing some "kick the ball." Ryan didn't want to sit in the chair, but he did like the ball. We got three or four good kicks out of him once he was settled. Then, he plunked himself down on the floor and just wanted to play with the ball. Since he was content, we let him play "roll the ball" to D. I also got out the shape sorter H. loaned us, and gave it a try. Ryan wanted to mouth the pieces a bit, but he was very cooperative with HOH prompting to hold the pieces and put them in. We did 5 successful trials, and then let him go back to playing with the ball.
It was research and theory time, so I left Ryan with the students/volunteers. They play with him, and take data, but it's a lot less formal than our programming. I know he enjoyed it today; I could hear him making happy and excited noises when I came out of research and was waiting for theory. When I got back, he was doing excellent playing "roll the ball" back and forth with a volunteer. They also said he did some great manding while I was gone. Before we left, they got him to play with a hula-hoop. It was funny because he caught on that it was supposed to go around him, and he kept trying to pick it up and turn it, but he was sitting down. ;) He didn't want to leave; he kept ignoring me, even when I brought over his coat and said it was time to go! I'm happy that he enjoys his Friday "play-time" with the volunteers and students.
Theory continued to focus on examples of positive reinforcement and how it works. We also chatted a bit about surviving our first month of Unity, and how much we and our children have learned and changed this past month. I can't believe we are already a third of the way through!
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