This IEP Is Beginning to Feel a Lot Like ...

On Friday after school, the Services Coordinator gave to me: a big manilla envelope - 12 pages of a pre-IEP.

                                                      image borrowed from specialneeds.com

On Saturday I opened an envelope addressed to me; it contained results from James' CAPA test (the first to me I believe I have seen).

On Monday, while at work, two phone calls rang through to me:
 - The Behaviourist with clarification questions so she could bring recommendations to the table.
 - James' OT Therapist, full of encouragement for the tasks of which James was able.
    Who also notified me of his notes and the student OT respresentative, who'd take his place at
    the IEP and keep the meeting stable.

At pickup time on Monday, James' aide did share with me: funds were needed for a party; he was short on milk money; and he loved his music class and listened to Vivaldi.

Paperwork, money, presents, stress, get togethers, anticipation, trying to hold on to messages of hope ... this meeting is reminding me a lot of the holidays.

Social Stories, Electronic Style

One of the most helpful tools I've found to help deal with James' anxiety and to prepare him for new things is the use of Social Stories. Sometimes I can get lucky and find them online. Sometimes I have to make up my own.

There are sites like these out there - just search the web!

At first, I thought I'd write them down nicely, find some illustrations, and staple them together in a book, so we could keep using them. Yeah, well, I know. We all learn by doing, right?

Most of the I do with James Social Stories are verbal, with a few visual aides to help anchor the message. Some children's books out there make great Social Stories. Curious George is great for us, because the messages in those stories are great for James, and he loves to memorize them. I am a big fan of such  TV episodes as "Doctor Monkey" (because for a while, James was anxious about going to the doctor's office), and "Curious George On TIme" (which helped us learn about time, paralleling his class work).

I've also found that videos can be a great planning tool and animated Social Story device for James. I was reminded of that this morning, when he wanted to watch Disneyland rides using YouTube. I started using the videos to prep him for going on new rides he might not have wanted to try without first "riding" them in the safety of his own home.

It's not foolproof, but the success rate for James trying a new ride is much higher if he can preview them. I think the best example of that was Radiator Springs Racers. I knew that the fast speed, ups and downs, and lack of control during the ride would be hard for him to deal with. The fact that we were in a car-like vehicle, coupled with his repeated advanced viewing of the ride meant that the new ride quickly became a new favourite ride.

What other kinds of Social Stories have you found to be successful?

SOOC Saturday: I was In the Neighbourhood ...

"I was in the neighborhood. It took me two buses, three cabs and a train to get into the neighborhood, but what the (heck)." Liza as Linda, Arthur. 

One of my favourite movie lines ever (along with "Nice place; I like a living room you can land a plane in," but I digress). And that was before Autism and extreme sensitivities in my small family started making this my life's mantra.


Case in point: A close friend invited us to a party in our old hometown. It took me 1.5 hours to travel 65 miles across 4 counties, across a major bridge, and through a tunnel to get to this party. I had to set up respite care way in advance and plan snacks and dinner for everyone still at home. Bedtime routines were updated and posted. Troops were prepped. I put on actual clothes, rather than just what was clean and handy. Picked up my husband from BART near the end of my drive and we carpooled to the party. Did we have a good time? Heck yeah! But no one got engaged (joke, if you've seen Arthur).


Here's a bit from my trip, SOOC:

Leaving home.

Traveling through the one-time egg capitol of the world, construction zone,
and a rain squall. See the rainbow?

CA cows are happy cows!

San Quentin in the side view mirror.

Bridge -- quick, which one?

One of the most expensive pedestrian/bike bridges ever.

Hate that pesky cyclone fencing. Wave to the Golden Gate!

Cupcakes for a Friday the 13th Party.
Notice the Jason hockey mask ones? Sweet!

I had such a good time, in fact, that I left my camera at the party and the hostess had to mail it back. 


Celebrating Spring with SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog. Come on over to see more or join in!

Gifts on a Spectrum

It's Black Friday, and time to think hard(er) about gifts for the kids. Especially as big sister's birthday comes right before Christmas and James' is shortly after New Year's. Aaaaaand the property taxes are due right before then, so we really need to shop wisely because there's not much moolah to spare.

Add to that the fact that finding presents for James is a challenge. I've seen him rip and eat books, puzzles, and flash cards. He looks politely at cars and trucks, for the most part. If he can push buttons and have things light up and make loud noises, he's all over it for about 5 minutes at a time. Unless it's driving me crazy or waking the family, then make that 15 minutes, minimum.

He loves computers, clocks, and CD players. He also loves to rend them into pieces, if given half the chance. My little boy, the Destructor.

Some of the best toys for him have come from therapy sessions. We've gotten more mileage from an ice cream scooper and tongs with a bowl of cotton balls than the expensive LeapFrog read-along electronic gadget. It took 3 years before he became engaged with the super LeapFrog magnetic fridge Word Builder.  I could go on .... and end up with the sad memory of James' Christmas just before he turned 3, when he looked at the presents, but did not get excited about them, let alone want to open them. I seriously cried that Christmas morning because he'd recently been diagnosed, and this was like a knife in the heart.

But things got better. James became more engaged, and this year he's reading, doing math, and started some imaginary play. I've scaled back my expectations and become more philosophical about what will make this child happy.

I'm still thinking of toys, however!

So I was very happy to see this Special Needs Toy Guide by Emily Vanek, mentioned in Five Minutes for Special Needs.  We've already had good success with a number of items listed in her guide. There were some misses too, but that's because kids are different and special needs means, well, the antithesis of "one size fits all."

Oh yeah - he loved these things for years!

Here's what James has liked: Connect 4 and the piggy bank (although we just used a regular one that we had lying around the house). Sensory balls and ordinary balloons have been huge hits. My husband found one of those Fischer Price play kitchens at the Salvation Army and brought it home for our daughter.; both kids ended up loving it. James also loved the Singing Popup character toys.

He did not care for the large building blocks (or wooden blocks or regular Legos). He likes Play Dough but starts to crumble it all over into tiny bits. It's just not work the clean-up for me.

I think I'll take a more focused look at what James has liked. That will not only help me zero in on what might be good to get him, it could also help others.

What kinds of toys have been great for your special needs kiddos?

Preparing for Halloween

For the first time, both kids are excited about Halloween. James asks every day if we are going Trick-or-Treating tonight. Just this week he's started asking if we can look at decorations. We've gone out to look, but decorations are scarce so far.

I think part of the reason they are so excited this year is because they had fun the last two years around our house, and therefore have good memories to make them anticipate what's to come. Also? Last year we were in SoCal for a few family events this time last year, and I was able to take them to the first ever Mickey's Trick-or-Treat party at Disneyland. Now there's a place that knows how to throw a party!

Funds are short, but I think we can pull together some decorations of our own from things we mostly have around the house / yard. Here's what I am thinking, Kids can help me cut out eyes, faces, and bats from a roll of butcher paper. We can acrylic paint it black and tape it over our big windows for an effect like this:

One of our scarecrows is falling apart. James has been asking about skeletons (they are using x-ray slides, black paper & Q-Tips to make their own at school). Hmmmm, I'll be I can swing something like this:

And finally, we can do something with the think plant pole in the front yard, where a tree (which was so excellent for Halloween and Xmas decor) used to be:

As for costumes, James is currently leaning toward being Willie Wonka (a la Tim Burton & Johnny Depp). His sister wants to be a witch. Kiki, specifically. She is so excited that she dressed up her doll as an Indian Princess:

Loving it!