Unity Day 25: Typical Monday Blahs

From Facebook:

"We managed to get through all our programs today and stayed till 11:20, our latest yet. Not bad considering Ryan was being temperamental today. :p"

Our day started with a slight change in routine.  Instead of singing "Mr. Sun" for our opening song, we sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  If you remember back to Week 1, Ryan seemed to hate that song, so they removed it from the circle-time line-up. We did it this morning, and he was fine.  So maybe it wasn't the song; maybe it was the time it was presented, or some other variable. Who knows?

Anyway, today we got back on track with one therapist overseeing the two families.  I guess Ryan and I were spoiled last week, having everyone to ourselves. I definitely noticed the difference today. Ryan was being temperamental (crying, whining, being stubborn, laying on the floor, refusing to participate, and occasionally smirking or laughing or being goofy!).  I was trying to deal with his behaviour and running his programs mostly on my own at the same time. Ugh. It was very stressful.

Somehow, though, we managed to have time to complete all his programs at least once, do some incidentals and manding, and even go back and review some old programs.  Just for the heck of it, I'll list Ryan's current programs.

1. Discrete Trial Training: push a train; kick a ball; sit/stand; marks on paper (colouring); clapping; stomp feet; matching
2. Play Goals:  chunky puzzle; shape sorter; coins in piggy bank
3. Incidental Goals: sign for "more"; go play; holding items

Ryan continued to do "push a train" well. It was mostly independent. We will probably add in a short length of track tomorrow.

He also did well with kick the ball.  He did the first bunch sitting and kicked the ball when it was put by his foot and we verbally prompted him.  We tried it standing, just to see, but he was a bit less focused.

Ryan sits when asked, or with gentle pressure at the hips.  "Stand up" continues to be tough. D. thought Ryan was responding much better today, but I didn't see it.  He still needed a lot of prompting, and by circle time, we had to break out the iPad with movies to get him motivated to move.  I'm hoping to switch this to an incidental and homework goal this week. I'll discuss it with H. tomorrow.

For marks on paper, he wanted to hold the Tadoodle markers today, so I put my HOH to give him some more control.  I could feel him initiating some movement of the marker a few times.

For clapping, Ryan was successful today. He clapped when I held his upturned palm, with little to no prompt for the other hand.

"Stomp feet" was so-so.  B. modeled, and I prompted from behind his knee.  We tried to see if he would copy her if she gave the command and modeled before I touched his knee; he wasn't as successful.  I think he's becoming prompt-dependent for that one, and we need to fade it back.  D. says to keep giving Ryan the physical prompt after someone models it and makes the verbal request.

Chunky puzzle, shape sorter, and coins in the piggy bank went well.  The puzzle and the shape sorter are at a wrist prompt level, where I help him guide the piece into place.  The piggy bank was new yesterday, so I'm still doing HOH, but Ryan was trying to put the coins into the bank (showing intention, although he missed without help), so that's a good start.

"Go play" and "holding items" were not working today.  Ryan took "go play" to mean lay down or wander away, and he was too lazy/irritated to hold onto anything unless he wanted to mouth it.

We had better success with "more."  We got lots of "more" in the wagon, by barely touching his elbows when we stopped.  He brought his hands together and did the sign with that gentle reminder.  He also did at least 2 independent "more" signs during our other activities.

Matching was not working so well today.  When we set up as usual on the floor, Ryan kept kicking the bowls away or grabbing  at the items and throwing them.  D. suggested we try it at a table.  Well, then Ryan was throwing stuff off the table, and those bowls clang loudly on the tile floor!  D. then decided that matching should be done at the table, with a 2nd person.  He also suggested a Step 1, Step 2 approach for new matching items.  Again, when Ryan settled down, he put the elephant with the elephant, even with a distractor in the other bowl.  But two new items got him confused.  So, for new items, Step 1 is one of the new items in a bowl, and an empty distractor bowl, and have Ryan match the new item a few times. Then, Step 2 is to put one of the new items in a bowl, and a completely different item in the other bowl, and get him to match. 

Ryan is still making a lot of mistakes on Step 2.  It doesn't help that he is throwing the items at the bowls, and trying to grab/mouth/push away the bowls/items in the bowl. But D. got firm with him. If Ryan messed up the trial, we immediately HOH'ed the correct response, and then made him instantly try again. Of course, when he settled down and got it right, he got huge praise!  The other times, we ignored his behaviour, and just kept the trials going until he got it right.

Circle time was blah. Poor B. was running circle for one of her first times, and neither boy was in prime form during circle. D. had the iPad out with Thomas on for heavier reinforcement, to keep the boys engaged and give them something to work for. 

Ryan's major accomplishment of the day was during snack time: He ate almost a whole cup of yogurt independently! All I was doing was putting the spoon in the cup after each bite. (For some reason, he kept setting it on the table.) He was doing a very good job of spooning it into his mouth, too; there was relatively little mess, compared to previous yogurt sessions.  Sometimes he chewed on the wrong end of the spoon for a few seconds, but then he flipped it.  I think he just wanted to chew on the spoon, and he was doing it on purpose. [On a side note, at home, when I had finished my yogurt, Ryan made off with the silverware spoon and enjoyed chomping on it for about an hour. I may have to add a teaspoon to his reinforcement basket. LOL]  

Miraculously, we made it to 11:20 today: a new record!  Ryan fell asleep in the car about 2 minutes before we got home. I think he was overtired today, but I had thought he got a decent sleep. (?) He did not nap this afternoon; however, he is currently sound asleep in the middle of the living room floor.  Poor little guy (and poor me--now he'll be up all night!).

We have had some homework success over the weekend, that carried over into today.  As I posted on Facebook yesterday:

"Ryan did some cool stuff during homework this morning. He independently put his safari animals in the truck when I told him to [and handed them to him] (put the lion in the truck, put the tiger in the truck, etc.), and when he dropped the giraffe, he independently signed "more" for me to give it to him! :)"

Today, he also independently picked up and pushed a peek-a-boo block into the music and sounds barn, and then pulled it out of the flap at the bottom; I didn't even ask him to do it. The trials were over, and he was just playing!  He also independently signed "more" for shape sorter pieces when we had finished with that toy.  Of course, he wanted "more" so he could chew on them, not place them in the sorter . . . oh, well. I'll take what I can get on a day when we're both feeling blah.