"Left SC early today to go to clinic. Painful sinus infection and chills--feels like someone punched the right side of my face. At least my craft went over well at SC. Now behind 2 days on blog--sorry, but I gotta rest. :("
[Technically, this blog entry (and Thursday's) is being written on Saturday. Thus the "behind 2 days" mentioned above.]
I went into S..C. today with Ryan because I felt I had to. We've missed so much time over the past two weeks, between his illnesses and mine. Plus, I had signed up for my turn to create a craft activity for the boys today. However, I was so foggy-headed. Thank goodness Papa was there to drive, and also give extra support with Ryan. It seemed like it took me forever to decide what programs to do, set them up, and record data properly. My brain was just not working. I think it was because it was constantly leaking out of my nose! (a sad joke) At one point, when I apologized for my ineptness today, L. said, "You get points for just being here today! You coming in today is good enough, Mom!"
Anyway, when I first got there H. came to talk to me. She said, "Have you signed up for a date to do craft?" I looked at her like she was crazy and said, "I'm doing it today. I picked the date, and you wrote it down during our weekly meeting on Monday. I have my craft stuff here." She said, "Oh, I thought L.A. was doing it today. Have you talked to her?" I said, "No . . ." and H. walked off to go check her notes. I thought I was going to shriek. The main reason I came today was because I promised to be in charge of craft! When L.A. arrived, I heard H. asking her about craft, and thankfully, L.A. was clueless! H. must have written the wrong name in her notes, so yes, we did get to do the activity I had prepared. Whew.
Before the other family arrived, we had been trying something T. mentioned at the home session yesterday. One of the skills on the ABLLS is putting pegs in a peg board. I'd never tried it with Ryan, but she thought he might be able to do it, since he can put shapes in a shape sorter and do simple puzzles (separate pieces, not jigsaw). So, L. (lead therapist today) got out a peg board and we showed Ryan how to do it. The positive thing was that Ryan was very engaged in the activity. He did keep trying to put the pegs in the hole for several minutes, but he didn't have any success doing it independently. For this week, L. lent us a peg board and pegs to work on at home, to see if Ryan can figure it out by the end of the week.
It's been a while since we've worked with L., and she was laughing because Ryan was so laid-back today . . . literally. He was so relaxed, just laying around on Papa, Mommy, the floor, and L. He wasn't overtired; he was simply chillin' today. He was also zoned-out. Besides trying the peg board today, his mind seemed everywhere else but here and now! He wasn't in a bad mood; he was just totally lazy and unresponsive. (Later in the morning, L. would remark, "I'm not sure whether I like Ryan better when he's laid-back or when he's defiant. I almost think it's better when he's defiant. At least he's showing he cares!") L. even got him into her lap and started giving him tickles (she knows all Ryan's best tickle spots!) and he barely reacted! After a few minutes, she finally got some good giggles out of him, and he jumped up and was ready to follow us into the Blue Room.
The first thing we did was my craft for the boys: making and decorating jellyfish!
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| This is the sample I made at home yesterday. Ryan's is still drying at SC. |
L. noticed how much Ryan liked the ribbons, and suggested I throw a couple in his reinforcement basket. What a good idea! She also mentioned that this craft might be a good idea for the STEPS kids. It's funny; I had already decided I was going to offer the rest of the craft materials to SC (When am I ever going to use them? I am NOT a craft person!). So, I asked L. if she'd like to keep the rest of the materials for the SC, and she gladly accepted. I also left my sample jellyfish for them. :)
It took me forever to clean up and get organized after craft (again, I was just feeling so brutal). Thank goodness Papa was there to interact with Ryan. We eventually did some "pat head" and "clapping." As I said before, Ryan's focus was everywhere but here today, so I could barely even get his attention when I was modeling and giving the instructions. Naturally, his responses reflected his lack of attentiveness, and he got 1/5 on "pat head," even with Papa behind, blocking his left arm. On the last trial, Papa also gave him a prompt at the right elbow, and he finally patted his head. For "clapping, " Ryan seemed to come back to us a bit. He got 3/5 trials correct, but all three times, Papa was touching both elbows to encourage him. We'd usually expect him to do it with less prompts, but like I've said, Ryan's focus wasn't with us today.
Next we did the animal puzzle at a wrist prompt level. I did the first trial (3 pieces) with Ryan, and I had Papa do the second trial. Today, Ryan needed reinforcement to take the pieces OUT--something he usually does no problem (I don't even record data for it anymore). Hmm. But then he put the first piece IN independently for me, the second one at a wrist prompt, and the third one was HOH (-). Talk about decreasing engagement in the task! With Papa, Ryan did all pieces OUT independently, and 2 IN at wrist prompt, one HOH (-). Overall, that shows some improvement on his second trial, with Papa. L. was happy to see Papa working well with Ryan (and vice versa!).
The last thing we did was the pop-up toy. I had Papa do this program with Ryan. Ryan was working for his beads (and Papa cuddles) as reinforcement. Pushing them down, Ryan did two at wrist prompt and two independently, which is really good. Popping them back up, he had more of a struggle. He did one at a wrist prompt, and needed HOH for the rest. I had to remind Papa that Ryan gets less/no reinforcement when he needs to be corrected, but plenty of reinforcement when Ryan does it independently or with minimal prompting.
Next it was circle time. Both Ryan and J. seemed to be having a hard time focusing for most of the circle. Then Dr. G. came in to join us, and I think J. was inspired by her presence. I, however, was Ryan's "puppeteer" once again. He was so floppy, and I was HOH'ing all the song actions for him. Again, he wasn't in a bad mood, he was just totally out of it. It was funny and sad at the same time.
I had to laugh because at the end of circle, Dr. G. said, "It's so nice to finally meet your husband!" I said, "Oh, this is my father-in-law!" and L. said, "Yes, this is Papa!" Maybe Dr. G. was just being polite, but he is a young-looking grandpa. :)
Papa helped Ryan through snack while I went to do research. But after research, I went to Dr. G. and explained how poorly I was feeling, and that I couldn't stay for Theory. She was very kind about it, and definitely more concerned about me getting myself better.
So, Papa drove me straight to the clinic, where I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on horse-pill-sized antibiotics, and told to take Tylenol every 4 hours for the pain. Please let me be better by Monday!
Next week is OUR FINAL WEEK OF UNITY. It's unbelievable. It's gone by too quickly. I don't want it to end! I'm so afraid Ryan will lose all he's gained once the intensive daily therapy ends. Yes, I know how to do the programs myself, and they've given me written guidance for future plans, but it's the TIME that scares me. I know when I'm working, I have so little time to do the intensive therapy, and I feel awful about it. However, a hint dropped by a staff member gave me some hope. We were talking about speech sounds again (it wasn't T. this time) and the person said, "When he's here for STEPS, we'll . . . oh, wait . . . well, yeah, I'm sure he'll get in! . . ." Oh, if Ryan gets into STEPS, that would be fantastic. I am definitely not getting my hopes up; besides, now that I've learned more about the STEPS schedule, I'm not even sure we could make it work. But like Unity, it's one of those things that if we get the offer, I'll find a way to MAKE it work. The SC daycare program, which is exclusively for autistic preschoolers, and focuses on ABA? I couldn't ask for better. But again, I will not get my hopes up. There's also a re-assessment for Thames Valley's IBI program coming up next month, which is another potential opportunity for us. [Although I really think STEPS is my preference. ;)]
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