Gift Ideas for Kids on the Spectrum

I am "behind" with Christmas, having been overwhelmed with some very un-Chrimassy things.

However, some good news came through late this week, and one of the wonderful, relieving things is that I can relax a bit and enjoy the holiday season more than I thought I could.

I already have some gifts. I can think about getting a tree, baking cookies, and using the Christmas savings for, well, Christmas. So I sat down with James and Amazon, our online virtual encyclopedia of world shopping, and asked him what he thought would make good Christmas presents. Without further ado, here are his choices:

Pictionary Card Set: 
 - J:  "I have not played it before, but I will like to."
 - Me: "You mean, you like to play with pictures?"
 - J: "Yeah!"

Laser Pegs: Helicopter building Set
 - Me: "What do you like about his?"
 - J: "I turn the helicopter on, and it spins around."
 - Me: "Do you like that it lights up too?"
 - J: "Yes!"

Frisbee Ring Flyers:
 - J: "I like these because you get to throw these to someone."
 - Me: "You mean, play with someone?"
 - J: "Yes, outside, with my friend, Penny."

Boy's Sports Watch:
 - J: "I love the watch so much. I have to run and jog all the time, with my friend, Ms Jackie."
 - Me: "How Does it help?"
 - J: "You can hold it for 5 more seconds."
 - Me: "Would you use it at home?"
 - J: "Yes."
 - Me: "Have you ever worn a watch on your wrist?"
 - J: "Yes, when Ms Penny was teaching me how to jog. That's how she showed me."

VTech Call and Chat Learning Phone:
 - Me: "What do you like about this toy?"
 - J: "I like the microphone. I use it to call my friends (writes names with left finger in the air)"
 - Me: "Can you tell me the names of your friends? I am really bad with reading reading names in the air."
 - J: "Junior and Mark!"
 - Me: "Well, I don't think it's a real phone that you can use to call your friends. You can pretend to call them."
 - J: "What is the microphone for? Can I see it? Can we use it?"
 - Me: "Yes, you can use it to talk to the bird. Would you like to do that?"
 - J: " Yes!"

Summer Stripes

James and I are hanging out at the Town Green while the vacuum cleaner runs at home. He enjoyed an ice cream cone and we are scripting from Basil of Baker Street and the Upside Down Show.

Professor Rattigan is a naughty rat, and fell out of a tree into the water. I am showing James how to pantomime ringing Mrs. Foyle's hand bell.

The afternoon shadows grow look long while we play and laugh.

And now, here come .... Lefty and Knuckles: Action Fingers! Good times!

Playing Around

For someone who does not like the noises of stove fans, hair dryers, or a coffee grinder, he can sure get a lot of inexplicable enjoyment from sonic-ing about!

It's the 11th Doctor's. I love the Captain America t-shirt too.

Thankful Thursday, Special Edition

Thanksgiving post, a little late. Despite not having to host a gathering, still a lot to accomplish. A lot of wishes and pleas this Thanksgiving, mainly for health and fortitude for loved ones, among all the things to be thankful for. Stressful times, they keep on coming. Good things and people keep us going.

Yesterday, while baking side dishes to share at a family gathering, I observed James and his sister at play. I love it when this happens. It was mainly KJS, their version of follow-the-(older sister)-leader.

James did really well with the math questions thrown at him. Zumba time on my old aerobics step was priceless to eavesdrop on. The game was is old Curious George memory game. Story time hit a detour and turned into ....

Adop-a-pet!

James his bedhead ... and Doug

Big Sister and Kitty Boy

Most fun baking ever! Hope everyone enjoyed a good day with family and friends.

Starfall Observed

James has been coming home saying things like "Q and U stick like glue" and "B ... OA ... T. That spells 'boat'," and "T ... tiger ... whatya doing, tiger?" I knew it came from a program at school, but did not think too much of it.

This past weekend, James started asking me to go type a word on my computer. The word was "Starfall." I asked him what it was. "Go to Starfall, Mommy. I want to see Starfall."

This is what I found:

I very fun and well-rounded explorations of letters: the sounds they make, and words that use them. Presented, sounded, used in words, and stories, with a little kinetic action along the way.

James was excited and I let him play with reading online for a while, After I got my computer back, I looked at other sections. This site covers materials from pre-K through second grade reading levels.

James loves plays and puppets; this is awesome.

Very cool and inviting, just like our real library!

They even had a small selection of childrens' audio books, a section on music, and holiday-themed activitied, all tied in with their phonetic system. The organization and dedication involved in all this boggles me. I am not a teacher, but I was struck how well everything was laid out and coordinated. It's an incredibly well thought-out site and program.

There is an app! Actually, there are 2. Of course I downloaded them. He's playing Starfall almost as much as Minion Rush, which amazes and pleases me.

Starfall has apps at both the Apple Store for iPhone and iPad and Google Play for Droid phones.

The Starfall website is completely free!

So, some disclaimers: This is not a solicited or paid post. I forked over $2.99 per app that came from our household account. I am not a professional educator. I am a mom learning to parent an autistic child with developmental delays as best I can.

Reading Along With Max

James has loved the story Where the Wild Things Are for several years. This Halloween season, he seems particularly attached to it. I think he wants to be the boy who says "I'll eat you up!" Preferably at school, but also to those who attempt to get him to do homework (especially writing).

This whole last week, he's asked to have us read him the book, which was a present from his GrandMarie. His Dad brought home a Scholastic DVD of Maurice Sendak stories, which James adores. He's also been curling up with his book while reading along to the story on TV; James actually went through the DVD options to make sure he was watching the version with the captions.

 

I know he likes having Max greet him, as he comes home each day:

"Do You Want to Play?"

When I picked up James today, he was yelling gleefully, bopping a white balloon up in the air and laughing. I asked the counselor how long he'd been doing this. Ten minutes, apparently.

Because Carnival week goes out with a bang, I took a few pictures. While I was doing this, another boy wandered into the main hall where James was. "Hey - do you want to play with me?" he asked.

Another first. I don't think I can remember James spontaneously asking someone else to join him in a game in progress.

The other boy was on his way to eat his lunch, so I wound my photo shoot and we headed for home. So proud of my kiddo.

Monster Play

Feeling better throughout the house this morning, thank goodness.

Instead of moans and sickness, there is rest and recovery. James continues to heal and gain energy. The cat is delighted to have someone else frisking about the place.

So far this morning, James has danced and sang for us. He's walked on the monster feet his O/T brought to the house to encourage movement five years ago. It's taken that long to catch on with him. I think everyone else in the family's had their fun, so it's good to see James confident and playful enough to take his turn on them.

I have a feeling that having seen Monsters University also piqued his interest in the monster feet.

We have Kitty Rodeo on hardwood floors, which is hilarious to watch. The cat loves to chase his toy mice, ribbon, pipe cleaners, and parts of plastic Easter eggs across the room. As he's 9 month old, he's quite the acrobat. I still enjoy watching his front end take off while his back end is still trying to gain traction from the previous maneuver.

On the alert and ready to pounce; there might be dragons!

It's interesting to be an audience for the complex positive/negative magnetic ballet that James and the cat perform. They can't ignore each other, but each freaks the other out. There is a lot of sneaking and run-away break points, with ears flat to the head and loud tattling of things like "Bueller's on the coooooooooouch!"

Then they'l both lie down, curl up, and rest. Before too long they're back up and ready to play, imagination and senses on the alert.

It's good to be inside with the air conditioning. We hit over 100 here today, which is a good 20 above normal. Safer too -- we have monster plum bombs dropping unexpectedly from the tree out back onto the hapless lawn below.

Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Rooting for Our Team

It's May. Time for kids to throw baseballs, swing bats, and run the bases. Thanks to the Wonder League of Healdsburg, our special kids can feel like All Stars.

James tried a few pitches, then stuck with the T-Ball; he's a lefty batter.

Thanks to the Healdsburg HS Girls' Softball Team for being this week's Buddies!

"Great game, everyone!"

For more images from the heart and to share some of yours,
visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.






               and ... Wordless Wednesday

And So It Goes

James and his sister had been playing KJS (Keep James Smart school) so nicely; non-computer play time and math went smoothly. I was beaming with pride.

Then James spotted the "fly" (it was really more like a gnat). Game over. He started crying, insisting we get the fly. Then he started jumping and yelling. After trying in vain to redirect him, I gave him a time out in his room. Then he called his sister a name and talked about punching people, which means no more iPad today.

It's now almost an hour later. James has calmed down and apologised and his sister's enjoyed a bike ride near our house. They are back together and playing a version Follow the Leader that combines Tae-Kwon-Do exercises and my old aerobics step. Now they are practicing writing. I am staying out of it, hoping for no more flies.

Magic Marker Monday: Marble Run!

We saved this beauty for James' 8th birthday last month: a marble run. He loves them in stores and you can continually build/rebuild the runs.

Now, it took me the better part of an afternoon to figure out that the cryptic instuctions were for several different designs and never finished a single one, but about 90 minutes in I was getting the hang of it. James helped hand me parts and was so excited to watch it all come together. He also got to test the runs to make sure they would actually work.

Was all the hassle worth it?

 
Oh yes! He's unplugged and playing with this marble run several times a week.


For more great masterpieces or to share some of your own, visit
5 Minutes for Special Needs for more Magic Marker Monday.

                                 
 

Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Being Happy

Don't worry, be happy now ...

That's the song I hear in my head, looking at these pics. It's good to remember when I start worrying too much.


For more images from the heart and to share some of yours,
visit Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.






               and ... Wordless Wednesday

SOOC Weekend: Ballooning

James and I got up to a glorious summer morning. We decided to go check out the annual hot air balloon festival in our town. I took over 200 photos and here is the best SOOC shot:

Looks like candy floss!

The other are 15 of our SOOC favourites:

View from our house

View from the town's man street, this morning.

Baseball Guy!!

From the playground, watching balloons fill up on the field.

Up, up, and awaaaaay ...

Our favourite Sushi balloon

Pepé LePew!!! Mon Cheri!

Through the trees, from the playground.

Fun to watch the balloons ascend and descend. Perfect weather too.

Meanwhile, James adored being able to play, first thing in the morning.

He gave just about everything here a workout.

"I'm here! Look, Mommy!"

Panda again

The Panda is giving rides!

This gives a pretty good perspective of how huge these things are.

Here's hoping that you're enjoying your summer!

Linking up again with Murrieta 365 for some SOOC show and share. I am bending the rules a bit with my words and multiple images, but otherwise it's all SOOC.