hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

It may seem odd to choose that word to describe this past week, but it has several meanings for me. The fact that I have been piecing together eight of the ten blankets that I am behind in making for new (and some not so new, more like 1 1/2 already) babies is obviously the literal application of the word for this week. But those blankets and the thread that binds them together also hold illustrative value for me this week. The reason I am so far behind in making them is because the tapestry of our life ran into some huge snags and snarls around the time several of these new babies were greeting the world. All my energies, all my attention, all my everything was being poured into surviving the last two plus years. So pulling out the sewing machine was not even on the checklist. Autism has a not-so-funny way of doing that. Of pushing to the fore, even when things are going smoothly. It's like being left-handed, in that one always is. A lefty  can learn to do just about an...

I found these two articles a few months back, and they were really really helpful in validating some of what I already knew about my kiddos, as well as reinforcing the path we were on with them. And they turned some new lights on for me as well. Just like it's important to know our child's best learning style, we should also get to know how they best understand rules. This may seem straightforward, and in many ways it is. Rules are rules right?  But when working (and especially, living) with individuals on the Autism Spectrum, rules and rule following can get a little bit more complicated. For example we have some hard and fast rules in areas where many families probably get by with fairly simple reminders. Such as? Here are a few of areas I never envisioned having to "lay down the law" in: You WILL shower at minimum on Tuesdays and Saturdays, no later than 4:30 pm. (Zak still pushes this rule nearly every week! Just this past Tuesday, he ended up owin...

Well, we are finally done with all the evaluations and paper work getting ready for Kit's transition out of Early Steps and into the services of the school district. She will not be going to school, but when a child turns three, the school district takes over responsibility for further intervention. With a catch, of sorts. Early Intervention's aim is to provide assistance in any area that the child has an assessed need, and in any part of their daily routine from sleeping, to dressing, to bathing, to daycare, to interacting with family members to strangers, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc. in which they have difficulty. Though the amount and intensity differs drastically from child to child. When the school district takes over, their aim is to assist a child to cope in an educational setting . All of their determinations are based on how the child behaves, interacts, and attends to tasks and people in an educational environment. When a child i...

Our school supplies arrived yesterday! That is always one of the best days of the year! We are not talking about four dozen pencils and six boxes of tissue. No, our school supplies are way more exciting! We are talking about full color Graphic Novels about Historic Disasters, chemistry sets, Flubber, puzzles, games, a Laser Maze, and more. And of course workbooks, textbooks, and all the bubble wrap that came with it! And this year holds even more excitement as we officially have a 7th grader, 3rd grader, and Preschooler!! Yup, we are doing an organized schedule with specific activities, even with Kitty Bitty.  Her need for a more regimented schedule has been increasing for a while. And quite frankly I think plain old boredom has been a big contributor to her less pleasant outbursts, biting episodes, and control issues. She is constantly hungry for new academic and cognitive challenges and she has mastered pretty much all the casual learning th...

If you had told me a year ago that our family would attend a three day event, at NRG Stadium in Houston Texas, with just shy of 52,000 people present...I would have laughed, and then hyperventilated, and then sobbed uncontrollably at the prospect. In fact, back in January when it was announced that our assigned Regional Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses was going to be at this venue in July of this year, my heart did sort of stop, and my throat got a lump in it. But I prayed hard for Jehovah to carry my anxiety and support our family's efforts to be there for this wonderful spiritual event.  We have always loved these annual educational programs, though they were usually closer to home, but the last couple years had proven challenging between Kit's and Grandpa's special needs and challenges. And even though I knew how well organized, calm and full of brotherly love this one would also be, the sheer size and number of people seemed overwhelming. Imagining Kit ...

So over the last three plus months, Kit's relationship with Ivan the Cat has gotten a bit intense!  We have been doing a lot of redirection and splitting the two of them up because of Kit squishing him with her whole body, and biting him. Yes! The toddler is biting the cat! Repeatedly, everyday! It's been a huge problem. Something that Miss V (Kit's OT) and I discuss at every visit. She gauges the kind of week Kit has had in major part by how much Kit has been squishing and biting the cat. This cat is either incredibly loving and patient, or really dull in the head. Or maybe both. Either way, he is amazingly tolerant. Nevertheless, he is still a cat, and does eventually bite her back.  For the safety of the cat and kids, we have spent a great amount of time and energy trying to break this sensory seeking cycle. And one of the things we did a couple of weeks ago was go on a kitty search. Finally, at Toys-R-Us, we found him... Meet Thunder...

We had our transition evaluation with the school system today. Kit's occupational therapy right now is provided through Early Intervention. But the school system takes over when she turns three. So they must evaluate her to know what needs to be in place by then. Today was cognitive and speech evaluations. "She shows no educational signs of autism".  Despite her not speaking, just using signs, until well into the evaluation. She scored so high on the intellectual tests that they believe she is probably gifted. One test they just had to stop because she never hit the six wrong answer ceiling. The material she ended on was well beyond kindergarten level.  All of that makes me happy. Sort of. It  should make me happy. Except it also means that she is not going to qualify for any assistance, which I already knew. Intellect is her specialty. But she still can't make it through the day without major sensory adjustments, huge amounts of planning and redirection, and work...

A year ago I sat in my living room with a team from Early Intervention trying to explain my concerns for my then 18-month old. One of the things I expressed several times was that I was especially concerned about her regular disinterest in play. They seemed to not quite understand what I meant. Especially since she seemed plenty interested, even borderline obsessive about a couple of the toys they had brought to use in their analysis. It was challenging for me to explain. It still is. As an infant, she had intense interest in only about three particular toys, for months. After that, she had no interest in playing with toys at all. The only things she would hold, examine, and of course chew on were not technically toys. They were usually household items, and her favorites were the metal lids from jars (the start of her love for circles?), her baby hair brush, and toilet paper rolls. This is not surprising to me now that I better understand her sensory seeking tendencies. The metal...

Below is a very blurry, very zoomed in picture of my baby. I took it from the door without going in the room. I almost didn't take it at all for fear of waking her just by being there! Today, for the first time ever, on purpose, for me, she fell asleep all by herself for a nap on a day that Daddy is at work. Without nursing. And without me in the room! After lunch and a fresh diaper. I took her to the room. We read If You Give a Pig a Party. Then I asked her if she wanted to read books or lay down and I sing her a song. She wanted to lay down. I gave her the option of putting her blanket on or putting pants on. After several attemps she wouldn't cooperate. So I told her, 'no pants, no song.' She still refused. So I gave her stack of books and told her to stay in her bed, "first, look at books. Then, lay down and rest." When I came to check on her later, much to my astonishment, she was asleep! Totally doing the silent happy dance!!!! She definitely ...

I have many moments when I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. That I am not helping my family to progress or work toward our goals well enough. Like many mom's, I become overwhelmed with guilt and doubt. And all the things I'm doing wrong seem to stare at me and follow me around nagging at me. And after a while you do begin to believe it. Even just a little. And then you question yourself, a lot. But every now and then you also get a glimpse of what you're doing right. You suddenly realize that all the work is beginning to show and that your seedlings are bursting up toward the sun. We like watching plants grow in time lapse because the actual real time practice is arduous, painful and often boring. Sometimes waiting for our work as parents to sprout can be just as little fun. Until...that moment when you see it! That breakthrough, no matter how small! And you almost forget the back ache and mud on your pants, because... Look! It's here! It...

Brain Dominance affects more than handedness. We   tend to think of our dominant side only in terms of right or left handedness. But brain dominance controls a whole lot more than that.  As you probably know, the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. Typically, brain dominance not only determines handedness, but also which foot we lead with, which eye we focus with, and much less well known, which ear we listen better with. Kit is  extremely  right dominant. To the point that I several times looked up information on cerebral palsy, though I have been assured she is fine. It's really a matter of communication in her brain itself. Miss V explained to me recently that the left side of the brain is our logic center. It is very linear and pattern based, thus it is  where we process language and math. Whereas the right hemisphere is our emotion center. This...