From Facebook:
"Tired day today. Ryan was almost falling asleep all morning. At least he wasn't crying much. *shrug*"
It seemed like everyone was sleepy today. The kids and I all had a hard time getting up from bed and getting ready to go. At S.C., I was foggy-headed and making silly mistakes in my data recording; B. and L.A. were yawning; even J. was a little quieter and more snuggly with his mom than usual. Then there was Ryan, who was about as limp as a kid can get today. He was constantly leaning against me, yawning, being prompt-dependent, and stretching out on floor to rest. I don't know if it's the time change (spring ahead one hour), the weather (cloudy, dark, and rainy), or the fact that it's Monday. My guess is it was a combination of all three factors.
With Ryan's lack of energy and motivation, we were moving at a pretty slow pace. The goal was to get him to circle time without a major meltdown, and we did accomplish that. As I said in my Facebook snippet, he didn't really cry much. It just felt like we were working in slow motion today.
We went a bit off the usual schedule today and stayed in the Yellow Room for a while at first. Ryan and I worked on "put the coin in the piggy bank." We're still at an HOH level, but despite his lack of energy, he was cooperative. He was also aiming the coins well at the slot and just needed a little help putting them directly in.
One thing I had a hard time with today was his reinforcers. He didn't seem interested in anything! I even dumped out his basket to let him choose, but he didn't seem to care about anything. L. said maybe it's time to let him explore the cupboards in the Blue Room and pick out some new items. We were going to do that after, but I forgot because Ryan got interested in the mini bead maze, so I used that instead. Maybe we'll have to go reinforcer-hunting tomorrow.
Another thing we did in the Yellow Room was "clapping." I explained to L. about how Ryan has been doing the one-handed clap, and she agreed it might be becoming part of a little routine for him (I prompt, he claps one hand; I prompt, he claps both hands). She suggested that I switch which hand I'm prompting the clap with. So, instead of holding his left hand palm-up as the clap prompt, I'm now holding his right hand out palm down to prompt the clap. And you know what? It worked! He brought his left hand over independently to finish the clap. So, thanks to L.'s suggestion, we seemed to have rid ourselves of the one-handed clap. Ryan got all +'s for clapping prompted the new way.
Then we moved over to the Blue Room, and Ryan and I started with the ball ramp toy. I thought it would cheer him up a bit. I started it at a wrist prompt, then Ryan put one ball in independently, one in with an elbow prompt, another one in independently, and one in when I gestured at the hole. Then, I let him play for his own on a while for fun, and he put in several independently. L. said it's probably time to move on to a new play goal! She's debating what might be best though. I have a feeling we are heading towards doing Play Doh, making sure no lids or jars are around for Ryan to chew on. We discussed the possibility of pretend play (like a play kitchen), but it's not clear if Ryan is ready for that level of play yet. We'll see.
Next we went to the table to do "colouring." B. pulled out a picture of an umbrella, which was appropriate for today! I showed everyone the new markers I brought for Ryan, and they were impressed. We used the green marker HOH to colour on his picture. He did some really nice colouring today; I was HOH, but he was moving it around the paper for longer stretches than before, so he coloured more area. I helped him write his name on it, and B. put it up on their special art wall. :)
Then we did the shape sorter. At this point, I pull out the 5 circles, and we use those. Ryan is at a wrist prompt for this, and he did fantastic today. He got all +'s, and he took a circle from me and put it in the hole independently, twice! L. says he's doing so well with the circles that it's time to start incorporating the other shapes: square and triangle.
After that, we moved back to the table to set up the "matching" program.
[I have to note here that Ryan's transitions were a struggle today. He didn't cry, but he would not get up from wherever he was sitting without some serious reinforcement, enticement, waiting him out, and in some cases, just plain picking him up. Several times, he'd look like he was about to stand up, and then he'd suddenly flop down and stretch out on the floor. A few times he rolled over and laid down on his side; one time, he even lay back and put his arms behind his head, like, "Pshh, I'm getting comfortable. I'm not going anywhere!" His facial expressions were too funny. I had to laugh even though I was getting irritated.]
"Matching" started out well today. We had success on the first several level one and two trials, and I thought, "Hey, he's got it back today!" Then, he got tired/lost interest. For the last bunch of Level 2 trials, he wasn't even trying to put the toys (Ronald McDonald Beanie dolls) in a bowl. He was playing with the doll's hair and feet, or trying to give it to B., or just setting it on the table or dropping it on the floor. He wasn't engaged in the trials at all. I had to give him several HOH corrections before he finally matched it properly for one last time, so we could end the program. Tomorrow I'm going to avid those Ronald McDonald Beanies and see if that makes a difference. There's always so many variables that can affect his performance on a given day.
Circle Time had a few highlights today. Ryan was really into the "Panda Bear" book and matching pictures, and needed frequent reminders to wait his turn. A few times, he even grabbed the correct matching item with minimal prompting. My favourite development, though, was that during the song "Open, Shut Them" Ryan did the action of opening and closing his hands with only an elbow prompt. I usually have to HOH that one! He also did some nice work on "Busy Farm." L. tried a new page of the book, and a new tactic of having Ryan match the magnetic animal to the one already on the page. [They have two sets of animals for the one book, for some reason.] He did it twice!
Snack time came next, and Ryan was getting very sleepy. He started to get whiny and restless, and was half standing/half leaning on me as he was drinking his bottle. But he's supposed to be sitting nicely in his own chair, next to me. When I let him lean against me a bit to calm him, he actually started to get droopy-eyed. I was afraid he was going to fall sleep, so I moved him back to his own chair. He also needed more HOH than usual for eating his yogurt because he was tired and getting sloppy. We also suspect he enjoys "colouring" with his yogurt sometimes; he'll take his spoon from the yogurt and wipe it across the table, and then go back and rub his fingers in it a bit. Finger-painting is great, but not sdring snack, so I had to correct him.
After snack, we tried to do one more program with Ryan: the chunky puzzle. This is when he really got unhappy and started to cry. I knew he was really tired, so I reinforced more frequently, giving him the bead maze after each piece he put in, instead of after he'd done all three. L. approved; she said that was a wise course, and the results showed it. He did much better when I started reinforcing his efforts after every piece he put in. Sometimes, you have to go back and ramp up the reinforcement again to keep them focused and successful. You can fade it back again when they don't seem to need it as much.
We were discussing reviewing a "mastered" program to finish the day on a positive, and then an unexpected opportunity arose. One of the STEPS children was playing next to us on the carpet, and his therapist brought out a birthday cake toy with Velcro pieces. You can put it together, decorate it, put on candles, and cut up the pieces. L. suggested that Ryan and I join in on this game, so our STEPS friend could practice sharing, and Ryan could practice his matching (putting cake pieces together) and fine motor (sticking on candles and decorations). So, our STEPS friend would hand Ryan a piece of cake, candles, etc. and Ryan would take his turn putting them together, with me guiding him HOH. When the cake was finished, we sang "Happy Birthday," and our STEPS friend went around offering people pieces of the cake. It was really cute. Ryan seemed to enjoy the activity.
We decided this would be a high point to end on, but then Ryan noticed a Fisher Price castle and was really wanting to check it out. So, we stayed a few extra minutes and explored that toy together. Then, when we went to leave, Ryan spotted the wagon right by our coats, and hopped in. So, I made him a deal: we put on our coats before the wagon ride, and he got one cruise up and down the hallway before we left. We made it to about 11:10.
Overall, it was a decent day, considering Ryan was so sleepy! Amazingly, he did not fall asleep until I started typing up this blog. He got a second wind when we got home, but now he's snoozing in the rocking chair next to me.
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