We tried the stacking beads again this morning, following the same program as yesterday (having him put the last one on, and then allowing him to pull them off). However, Ryan was in a more frustrated and defiant mood, so we moved his prompt level back to HOH. At that level, he was more cooperative and got 5/5 trials correct. T. also noted that Ryan went two trials without trying to put any of the pieces to his mouth.
He was really engaged in the big bead maze today, so that was his main reinforcement.
Since it's similar in skill to the stacking beads, T. said she wanted to see Ryan try the stacking rings again. We haven't done those in ages! Of course, in his obstinate mood, Ryan was kind of flinging them at first, but with some HOH and wrist prompts, he started putting the rings on the stacker. It helped when Grandma held the base of the stacker, so Ryan couldn't knock it over! Like yesterday, I was once again reminded that it's important to go back and practice old programs to make sure skills are maintained. An interesting thing T. pointed out was that Ryan didn't try to put a single ring in his mouth! When we used to do this activity, we had trouble with him constantly mouthing the rings. It's one of those improvements that I would have taken for granted.
Ryan did better with "clapping" today. He got 5/5 correct with me modeling, and Grandma elbow prompting from behind. However, when we switched to "pat head," Ryan got really frustrated. He only got 2/5 correct, and needed both a block of the left arm and a prompt of the right elbow to do those 2 correctly.
At this point, we noticed that not only was Ryan frustrated, but he was also having some body control trouble. He was getting worked up and flapping his hands a lot, which interferes with any program we try to do. T. came up with an idea. She went to the Snoezelen room and borrowed some lights which she thought might be relaxing for Ryan. The first one she plugged in fascinated him. It was a tall, bubbly tube, with colour-changing lights and bobbing fish. We were amazed at the sudden change in Ryan's demeanor; he stopped moving, leaned back against Grandma, and just zoned out, watching the lamp. T. said jeez, if only we'd known about this 2 months ago!
But it gets better. When we decided it was time to try another activity, I unplugged the lamp. Suddenly, Ryan sat straight up, signed spontaneously for "more," and started babbling animatedly, "Mum, mum, mum, mum, mmmm, mo, mo, mmm!" We were all stunned! Of course, there was huge praise and excitement, and I plugged that lamp right back in for him! We tried it once again (unplugging), and he signed for more again. After letting him enjoy the lamp for a while longer, his attention eventually wandered back to the big bead maze. We tried a few more "pat head"s now that Ryan was more relaxed, and he was more successful. I am SO tempted to run out and buy one of those lamps!
Of course, Ryan was still being a bit "headstrong" and having some body control issues. Grandma tried to do "coins in the piggy bank" with Ryan, but he was fumbling them a lot. He only got 2/7 in at a wrist prompt level. However, T. said it was okay to increase the prompt on a day like this; Grandma could hand him the coin and do it HOH for several trials, and then fade back the prompt later. This did seem to work, as the 2 +'s came within the last 3 trials.
We also tried some more picture matching today, since I had planned on trying it again yesterday. However, I knew that today probably wasn't the best day to make any conclusions about the program, based on Ryan's performance, due to Ryan's moodiness and obstinacy. Not surprisingly, he got 2/5 trials correct, and seemed totally unfocused on the task at hand.
We took a short break, letting Ryan sit back and play with the bead maze, to calm him before circle time. Circle was interesting today because it was just us! J. and his family were away, so we decided to see what Ryan could do on his own. He actually cooperated fairly well. I give him credit for doing all the circle activities by himself, without a peer to share the workload. It was kind of nice because we could move at a slower pace for Ryan, so he had more of a chance to do (prompted) song actions, choice-making, and matching to the book.
Today, Ryan really started testing Grandma at snack time. He kept standing up from his seat and going over to her, trying to get her to pick him up. But Grandma stuck to the program, knowing we want Ryan to sit nicely at the table. She didn't give in. (Bonus points for Grandma!) T. said that if he stands up and tries for cuddles while drinking his bottle, the best thing to do is block him from drinking and give him clear instructions to sit down. When he sits nicely, he gets his bottle back. Ryan stood up and went to Grandma several times, but Grandma kept pulling his bottle away and telling him to sit nicely on his bum (in the chair), and then he could have his milk. It's been a few weeks since I've had trouble keeping him sitting at the table, so I think he was just testing Grandma to see what he could get away with!
After snack, we had another "graduation" craft to do for Unity. Ryan and I went into the main office and we each put a hand print on a little square of fabric together. I have seen some of these in the Meeting Room; they are tied together almost like a quilt, and have the first names of the parent-child team written by the hand prints. When we went into the office, the secretary held out a selection of paint tubes to Ryan for him to pick a colour. He picked red for us. Then, she squirted some paint on a plate, and we took turns smooshing our hands in it, and then on the cloth, to make the hand prints.
After doing our hand prints, we went back to the Rainbow Room. Ryan got on the Thomas ride-on and zipped up and down the long hallway a few times. He was being a bit silly today, though; several times he started to zoom backwards down the hallway! We were laughing, but at the same time, we had to make sure he didn't run anyone over!
When he was finished his ride, we talked about some new things we might try in the Rainbow Room (gross motor skills). T. wanted to see how Ryan was doing with bowling (the program we are doing at home), and see how he reacted to a different type of bowling set. The one they have at SC is the common, light-weight plastic bowling set. We lined up the pins about 2 feet away from Ryan, and he did well at that distance. I think these pins knock over a lot more easily than the ones at home, but he still had to give the ball a good roll to knock them down. This time, he was even knocking down two pins at a time! T. was saying that when he masters it from this distance, we might start moving him from sitting up to a step, a chair, then standing.
We also tried to show him the bean-bag toss for the first time. We started with Ryan sitting on a chair about a foot and a half away from the board: close enough for him to reach it but not knock it down or kick it. Then, we modeled how to throw the bean bag into one of the holes. However, we were definitely not expecting Ryan to get the bean bags in the hole his first time trying this activity! Jeez, sometimes it's hard for us adults to have an accurate throw. No, our focus was on getting Ryan to understand the concept of the game. We were looking for him to hold the bean bag, and then reach toward the board and release it. We were reinforcing any attempt when he reached out and dropped the bean bag against the board. By the end of our trials, he was doing this fairly consistently.
I could sense him getting droopy, so I brought out a ball and just had him roll it back and forth a bit between us. I was trying to stage my rolls so the aim was a little bit off, and he'd have to try and "catch" it. Most times, he did get it, but when I rolled it to his side, he would roll it off in some other direction, and not back to me. Oh, well. I had Grandma HOH the last catch/roll with him, so we could end on a prompt-perfect positive. [Ooh, nice alliteration. My brain is slowly gearing up to English-teacher mode again!]
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| I originally got this shirt for Ryan to wear on World Autism Awareness Day (April 2) in conjunction with the "Light It Up Blue" campaign of Autism Speaks. However, we were home sick that day. :( So, instead, I saved it for our last week of Unity, and he wore it today :) Anyway, my point is, Ryan IS a blessing! Yes, he has autism; yes, he can be mysterious and difficult at times; and YES, he is the sweetest, cuddliest, cutest, most lovable little guy I know. :) |
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