after school speech part 26

On Thursday, SJ had his normal speech appointment.  On the way there, however, it began to rain.  And by rain, I mean torrentially down pour.  Since it was raining so hard, drivers (including myself) were going WAY below the speed limit.  Of course, I knew this would cause us to be late, but safety is more important than punctuality. 

As I was contemplating our lateness, I had SJ in the back complaining about the rain.  "You've got to be kidding me," he sighed.  "Why is it raining?  I hate the rain," he said.  "It is raining because it is springtime," I told him (although the current temperature makes it feel more like fall).  "I wish it wouldn't rain.  Why do we need rain?" asked SJ.  "Because plants and trees need rain to grow," I explained.  "I didn't bring my raincoat," said SJ.  "Maybe there is an umbrella in the back of the car," I told SJ.  He unbuckled his seatbelt to look, but there was not an umbrella to be found.  "You've got to be kidding me, Mom.  There isn't an umbrella in here," said SJ.  "You'll be fine. I park right in front," I assured him.  "But my clothes will get wet," he whined.  "So, you'll get wet.  You are not made of sugar and you won't melt.  The rain is just water and you will dry," I told him. 

Fortunately, the rain had stopped about a minute before we pull into the lot.  Crisis averted!  Unfortunately, we were 10 minutes late.  Darn rain making me late!  SJ's therapist explained that she had an appointment right after him, so his session would only be 20 minutes.  I said okay and told her I desperately had to run to the store.  My refrigerator had a malfunction through the night and we pretty much lost our entire dairy, meats, mayonnaises and dressings.  She said SJ could just wait in the lobby until I got back.  I said that sounded great.

When I returned 3 minutes after his appointment was to be over (I can be fast in the store when I need to be), she handed me his folder with his work.  She couldn't recap the session due to her next appointment.  It appears that they worked on Identifying Problems and Solutions.  She read him a situation and he had to propose a solution.  She used a visual chart to help him identify the problems.  For example:  You have a broken leg and your school has steps.  What is the problem?  He was to answer that he couldn't climb steps.  What is the solution?  He was to answer to use crutches, use the school ramp or have an adult carry him. 

He had some trouble with this exercise, so we will complete the remainder of situations as homework.  She also worked on Inferences.  He did okay with this exercise, but he had some difficulty with some of the situations.  For example:  Teresa has been practicing the piano a lot.  Her playing has really improved.  What does improved mean?  He was to answer "gotten better".  This is one of the scenarios that he missed.  We will finish the remainder of these situations for homework as well. 

We have a lot of homework this week, but I know these are two areas where SJ struggles.  Hopefully this time next year, this will be a distant memory.  Until then, practice, practice, practice!

i hate girls!!!

On Monday, SJ's aide informed me of some very unacceptable behavior that SJ had early in the school day.  Apparently, Maria (a girl in his class) made the most horrible mistake of inviting him to her party.  (Obviously, I am being sarcastic.  I think it is wonderful any time he is invited to a classmate's birthday party.)  When Maria gave him the invitation, he shouted at her that he didn't want to go to a girl's party.  "Girls are stupid and I don't like girls," continued SJ. 

Thankfully, SJ's teacher and aide told him there would be a consequence.  He was to lose his recess.  His aide wasn't sure if the punishment was enforced, so I decided to punish him at home.  He lost electronics and I made him write Maria an apology.

He was sobbing and crying the whole time.  I explained to him that his behavior was unacceptable.  I asked him, "How would you feel if one of the boys acted like that when you invited them to your party?"  I added, "Would you think he was being a nice person?"  SJ cried and said that he wouldn't like that.  "Then, don't act that way to someone else," I told him.  I told him he simply needs to say thank you and bring the invitation home.  If he doesn't want to go, we will just call to say he can't make it.

I asked him to go get a piece of paper to write the apology note.  He stomped into the library and then returned to the kitchen.  "I don't know what to say," he whined.  "You need to apologize for being unjustly angry and for hurting her feelings," I told him.  I helped him write the letter and told him that he needed to give it to her in the morning.

After he was done with the apology, I told him we were going to practice how to react the next time he gets an invitation from a girl.  (Although, I wouldn't think this would happen any time soon and I wouldn't blame the girls.)  I got down on my knees (to be at a girl's height) and pretended to hand SJ an invitation.  "SJ, would you like to come to my party?" I asked.  He just stared at me.  I prompted him to say thank you and to tell the girl that he would have to check with me.  We practiced this scenario several times. 

Tuesday, SJ was to give the apology to Maria.  I had a feeling he wouldn't.  When I saw Maria in the hall, I asked her if he had given her anything.  "No," she said.  When I saw his aide, I asked her if she saw the note.  She said she hadn't.  I told her he may have thrown it away.  I said I would check his folder to see if it was still there, but I was 90% sure he had thrown it away.  If he did, he would be rewriting the apology. 

Sure enough, that little stinker had thrown it away.  I immediately made him rewrite it and told him he would lose electronics for 2 days if he threw it away again.  Fortunately for SJ, he finally gave her the note Wednesday morning. 

I just don't understand why he reacts like that to girls.  I have a sneaky suspicion that he is starting to develop feelings for girls and doesn't know how to process them.  If any of you have a better understanding to his reaction, your input would be extremely welcome. 

after school speech part 25

On Thursday, SJ has his weekly speech appointment.  We were actually on time.  This was due to the fact that I had called off work that day to attend his IEP meeting.  I didn't feel as rushed as I do when I am coming home from work and trying to get so much done.  Anyway, I was so proud that we finally made it on time.

SJ was impatiently waiting for his therapist to take him back.  She was discussing the previous patient's therapy session with their mom while SJ was sighing ever so loudly.  I told him she would be done shortly and to try to be patient.  Easier said than done.

SJ's therapist mostly worked on Inferences.  She would read him a sentence and he was to picture in his mind what was happening.  Then he needed to answer her question.  For example:  The street is blocked off with police tape.  What might have happened?  He was to answer a crime scene, an accident or road repair.  However, he answered that the streets were closed.  That is against the rules.  (This was obviously one that he got wrong.) He had some trouble with this exercise and only got half of them correct. 

The next exercise involved looking at a picture and making inferences about them.  SJ had a much easier time making the inferences with the visual clues.  He got all of them correct.  She moved on to another verbal exercise that also had a second sheet of pictures associated with it.  She told him about a pair of pictures.  Then, she asked him a question about them. She told him to listen carefully and look at the pictures to help him with his answer.  For example:  She pointed to picture 1.  The girl's shoes are dirty.  She pointed to picture 2.  Now her shoes are clean.  What happened in between?  He was to answer that she cleaned her shoes, got new shoes or changed her shoes.  He answered that she changed her shoes (something he would do!).  He did very well with this exercise and got all of them correct. 

Last, she worked on Main Ideas.  She told him that supporting details tell him more about a main idea and non-supporting details don't relate directly to the main idea.  She read him some sentences and then told him what the main idea was.  She needed him to tell her which sentence in each paragraph does not support the main idea.  For example:  The main idea was learning to ride a bike.  She read these sentences to him.  "I had a difficult time learning to ride a bike.  My bicycle was green with a yellow seat.  My dad spent every Saturday morning teaching me to ride.  I could finally do it after a month."  He needed to tell her that the detail about the color of his bike was not supportive of the main idea.  She said he did okay with this exercise.

She told me that SJ informed her at 5:01 p.m. that his session should be finished.  "Well, we are not quite done yet, SJ," said his therapist.  "Well, I got here at 4:31.  Speech is for 30 minutes, so I should be done at 5:01," insisted SJ.  "We didn't get started right at 4:31," his therapist told him.  "Well, if you wouldn't have been talking so much to that lady, we could have started on time," said SJ.  "Why do moms have to talk so much?” added SJ.  I didn't know if I should laugh or be embarrassed.  She was laughing at it, so I guess I can laugh too.  He is a piece of work!  A funny little piece of work!

sj's IEP meeting

On Thursday, we had SJ's annual IEP meeting.  For those readers who do not have a special needs child, an IEP is an Individualized Education Plan.  It is a legal document that you set up with your child's school that determines what services and accommodations your child will receive.  SJ has a speech based IEP.  Most of his deficits from being on the spectrum are speech related.  He has trouble communicating and trouble with comprehension.  If you have been reading my blog, you already know this. 

SJ's speech therapist ran the meeting, which was also attended by the school principal, Mr. Gold, his therapist's supervisor, my husband and I.  She went over the document page by page.  SJ's therapist explained to us that he gets one 30 minute session a week.  She also went over some of the exercises that she utilizes during her sessions.

She gave us a worksheet that SJ fills in with his speech goals.  He wrote that his speech goal was for vocabulary and turn telling and big sentences.  For the question, how is he going to meet this goal, SJ answered that he can work hard in classroom and in the speech room.  He responded to the question of when I want to achieve this goal by saying "in 5th grade".  For his progress report, she has him fill in where he thinks he is.  In October, he wrote that "No, I'm not because I don't like writing.  Writing isn't more fun.  I like games because games are fun.  I dislike writing because writing isn't fun."  In January, he wrote that "Yes, I am because I look at people while I am talking.  I like vocabulary and it is easier to write.  I hate doing work at speech. I like having fun because fun is cool.  I dislike writing sentences because I don't like writing."   

She gave us a copy of a story they read.  By listening to the story, SJ was supposed to pick up on details to answer the included questions.  Depending on how he answered, he had to cut or fold his paper that would eventually be a snow flake.  This is a great activity.  He is not only listening and answering questions, but he gets to do a hand-on activity that is directly dependent on him comprehending the story.  Concrete activities are always more effective for him. 

She told us they had worked on synonyms and antonyms.  She said he is doing very well with them.  She also showed me a worksheet that she had done with him.  It was a small non-fiction paragraph that had 5 sentences.  SJ had to then answer the questions.  She had SJ underline the key points of the paragraph, so that he would be able to answer the questions correctly. 

She also uses visual diagrams to have him write key points.  For example:  She had SJ write "Making an apple pie" in the big circle.  He then had to write a few things that you would need to make an apple pie.  He wrote 1. The boy likes apples.  2. The boy hands an apple to Mom.  3.  You slice an apple and put them in the pie crust.  4.  She put the pie in the oven.  5.   He is eating the pie.  She then had him write the points into a paragraph.  This is what he wrote.  "The boy's picking apples from the tree.  The boy's holding an apple.  His mom is slicing and peeling the apples.  She made squared apples.  She put the pie in the oven.  Finally, he's eating the pie."

She has him describe an item to his partner using categories.  This was his description.  1. It's a think.  2.  It's a tool.  3.  It's gray.  4.  It's metal.  5.  It hits nails.  His partner had to answer that his item was a hammer.  She works on sequencing with him as well.  He does very well with this. 

She also went over his testing results.  He had improved in both the receptive and expressive vocabulary.  She was extremely pleased with these results.  In 2010, he had a raw score of 62, where the standard is 79.  This year, he had a raw score of 94, where the standard score is 94.  That moved him up to where most of his peers are.  (He is still slightly behind.)  He didn't increase as much in expressive, but he did improve there also.  His raw score in 2010 was 73, where the standard score was 91.  Now, his raw score was 90, where the standard score was 95.  I was almost excited about this as his therapist!

When we got into the accommodations section, SJ gets extra time and a scribe when they do the PSSA testing.  He is allowed to go into a quiet room.  His aide is allowed to read for him (for Math) and he is allowed to read aloud to her (for Math and Reading).  She also scribes his answers for his written portion, since writing is very difficult for him.  We also left the behavior reward component in his IEP.  He hasn't had to utilize it this year, but I never know what we are going to see at the beginning of each new year. 

His teacher told us how well SJ is doing.  Besides the occasional grumbling, SJ is very compliant with him.  He said he almost forgets at times that he is on the spectrum.  (Bless him!)  He is doing very little adapting and he is helping SJ develop great homework habits. 

SJ will also get a monthly observation from the occupational therapist.  I asked her to be open to meeting with him again at the beginning of 5th grade.  I am trying to prepare for any difficulty that he may have with the 5th grade transition. 

Overall, it was a great meeting.  My husband and I are very pleased with all that the school district has done for SJ. He has great teachers and therapists.  Hopefully, his luck will continue next year. 

the mysterious case of the orange powder

Yesterday when I returned from Bob's soccer practice, I returned to a puzzling kitchen. My kitchen was a disaster. I wasn't sure who caused the disaster, so I decided to put on my detective cap and follow the clues.

Clue one: There was a bright orange powder on the counter. It could be one of two things. It could be my husband's Metamucil powder (it wouldn't be the first time that he has not cleaned up spilled Metamucil) or it could be Kool-aid (SJ's favorite drink).

Clue two: There were water rings on the counter and smeared orange liquid near the sink. (Again, this could be from the Metamucil or the Kool-aid.)

Clue three: There are two dirty glasses on the counter. They both have a sticky, orange residue in them. With a quick whiff, I know which one was my husband's and which one was SJ's. (Plus, SJ ALWAYS drinks with a straw!)

Clue four: The sugar canister is on the counter. It is open and there is sugar all over the counter and on the floor. (I was pretty sure that I had solved the mystery after this clue. Metamucil doesn't need sugar!)

Clue five: The empty Kool-aid packet was left on the counter I assume to be cleaned up by me. (Apparently, the rest of the mess was left for me to clean up too!)

So, I confronted the suspect. I asked, "SJ, did you make yourself Kool-aid while we were at soccer practice?" SJ replied, "Yeah, Mom." I asked, "How did you get the sugar down?" He replied, "I stood on the counter." Great, I thought.  I questioned, "How much sugar did you use?" He said, "A few scoops." He had used the scoop that is on the side of the sugar canister.

I tasted it and it was very weak. I told him he needs to put in 2/3 cups of sugar. I added the additional sugar and put the canister away. I also reminded him to clean up when he is done. "I don't know how," he whined. "Well, you better learn how or you won't be having any more Kool-aid," I told him.

Now that this mystery is solved, I just need to learn how to solve the mystery of why the boys in this house never feel that they have to clean up their messes. Hopefully, I will solve that mystery some day!

after school speech part 24

On Thursday, SJ had his weekly speech session. His regular therapist was absent, so SJ had a substitute. His therapist must have told him that she wasn't going to be there, so he kept insisting that he didn't have speech. I reassured him that he did. "Didn't you cancel my appointment, Mom?" he asked. "No, I did not," I replied. He was a little whiny about it right before my husband came to get him, but I wasn't budging on this issue. Once he got there, he was fine. He was just trying to get out of going.

His regular therapist didn't get to everything that she had scheduled for last week, so the substitute picked up where she left off. She began the session by working on Inferences. She read SJ some sentences and he was to visual in his mind what was happening. Then, he needed to answer the question that she asked.

For example: Becky is carrying her umbrella when it starts to rain. What will happen next? He was to answer that she will open her umbrella.

He did very well at this activity. My husband said the therapist reported that he got most of the responses correct. She also worked on Main Ideas with him. She read him a small paragraph (about 3-5 sentences) and he had to indicate what the main idea was. She said he did well with this also.

Considering that he was grumblier about going and had a substitute, he did fine this week. If fine is all we get on one of these days that is okay with me.

i just need one more day mom

Yesterday was our first day back to school after our Spring Break.  Both boys were very reluctant to get up at their 7:00 a.m. wake up call.  I had expected this.  They are always difficult to wake up on a Monday, but after any longer break they are ridiculous.

SJ was having nothing to do with getting up.  I think I tried twice and then my husband tried.  Finally, he made his way downstairs at 7:30.  I was so tired myself and I was trying my best to multi-task (making pancakes while I was building two lunches).  SJ was sitting there sobbing.

"Why are you crying?"  I asked him.  "I don't want to go to school today," he whined.  "I know you don't, but you have to," I replied.  "Why?"  he asked as more tears were streaming down his face.  This continued all through his breakfast.  I was hoping he liked the salty taste of his tears, because there may have been more tears on his pancakes than syrup.

At 7:50, I told them to go brush their teeth and get their socks on.  I went upstairs to brush my own teeth and I looked into SJ's room.  He was sitting on his bed attempting to put on his socks.  He was still crying.  He was crying so hard that he was almost coughing.

"Now, that is enough," I told him.  "Stop your crying and go get in the car."  He stomped down the stairs and put his sad little self in my car.  I came downstairs a few minutes later (I am always the last one out.  I have to check for forgotten items and to make sure the lights are off.).  He was still crying as I pulled down the driveway. 

"Why, why do we have to go to school today?" questioned SJ.  "I don't want to go either, SJ.  But we have to," added Bob.  "We are going to school because it is a school day. We had a nice long break, but now it is time to go back," I said.  "I just need one more day, Mom,"  pleaded SJ.  "That would be nice, but we can't have one more day," I told him.  Although I was thinking, I would LOVE to have one more day myself too. 

We pulled into the school's parking lot and I told him to dry up his eyes and go inside.  He did manage to pull himself together.  I was so worried that this was going to throw him off for the rest of the day.  I was feeling extremely empathetic for his poor aide.  I just hoped his sad mood would blow over soon.

When I saw his aide at the end of the day, she told me he was pretty grumpy until about 9:30.  Then she said he seemed fine.  Thank goodness that mood only lasted a few hours. 

Today our morning routine was a lot smoother.  He was still pretty crabby about going to school, but there were no tears.  I was very thankful for that.  I don't know if I could have coped with that again this morning (I was still very exhausted this morning too.). 

I would normally think the crabbiness would be ending after two days, but we have the trifecta tomorrow. Speech in school, Music class and Speech after school.  I am not expecting that he will be very happy tomorrow morning.  Give me strength!

after school speech part 23

Even though we were on Spring Break, SJ still had his weekly after school speech session.  He was very resistant when it came time to go to therapy.  In his mind, we were off school.  No school.  No speech.  But I had other ideas, so we went to the after school speech anyway.

SJ's therapist had intended on working on Main Ideas and Inferences.  She didn't have time to begin the Inferences, but she did a lot of work on Main Ideas.  She began by doing oral exercises with him.  She read several sentences to him with details.  He had to tell her what the main idea was.

For example:  I take off my clothes.  I put on my pajamas.  I brush my teeth.  I say good night.  Then, SJ had to answer that he would be getting ready for bed.  SJ did pretty well with this activity.  There were a few that he didn't quite answer correctly, but his answer was fairly close. 

She did visual exercises too.  SJ had to come up with details as to why his dad is an excellent cook.  He drew pictures of places where he would have learned to cook or things that he cooks well.  He also did a visual graph where he had to draw details to accompany the main idea of "I have fun at the new skate park."  SJ drew a skateboard, a ramp and rails. 

Last, she read him a paragraph.  When she was done, she read two sentences to him.  He had to tell her which one expressed the main idea of the paragraph.

For example:  Our class field trip will be tomorrow.  The bus will leave at exactly 8:30.  You will need to bring a sack lunch.  We plan to get to the zoo by 10:00.  We will stay there until 2:00.  I hope you have a great time.  The two sentences were the following:
                 1.  The class is going on a field trip to the zoo tomorrow. 
                 2.   We will eat our sack lunch at the zoo tomorrow.

She had SJ write down what the details of the paragraph were in a visual format.  He wrote 8:30, drew a sack lunch, drew a zoo sign with 10:00 a.m. above it and then wrote stay 2:00 p.m.  SJ was then able to correctly choose sentence number 1.

He did very well with this activity and was assigned two paragraphs for homework.  SJ's therapist said he was very chatty with her.  He told her how we were off from school and how he got Dry Bones (a Mario plushy) in the mail that day.  Considering he was so difficult leaving the house, he worked very well for her today.

school's out for SPRING BREAK!!!

Last Friday was our last day of school before Spring Break began.  (Our district had built in snow make up days in lieu of the snow we always get, but since global warming is taking away some of our snow we got this very nice long break!)  I had so many plans for this break.  Maybe I would take the boys to the zoo, maybe we would go bowling or maybe we would hit the trail near our house.  I am very ashamed to say we did none of those things. 

We did relax, though.  The boys played together and individually (electronics and/or plushies).  I did lots of crafts (Easter crafts, baking and scrapbooking), so that is why I haven't been posting on here.  Bob still had soccer practice and SJ still had speech (next blog will be about his speech appointment), but I felt the need to have us be unscheduled.  I feel like we are so busy running from school to an activity, back home for homework and baths, bedtime routines and the cycle just keeps repeating.  I wanted to not run all day.  I wanted us to do one activity (such as soccer practice) and then do what we find joy in.  For me, that is crafting.  For the boys, it is playing on the computer (Bob is clicking away on his as I type this) or playing with the plushies.

We did make it outside one day (I believe Friday) to fly kites.  The boys were playing soccer in the back yard and it was such a beautiful day.  A little chilly (about 60 degrees) and very windy.  I took out my kite and began to attempt to fly it.  I had a lot of trouble, but eventually I had it up in the air.  Then, my husband brought out Bob and SJ's kites and we were all flying our kites.  It was such a nice activity to do on a "nothing is planned" day.  We flew those kites for about 30 minutes.  SJ was getting bored and Bob's hands were sore from controlling the kite string. 

On Saturday, we made our way over to my parents' house.  My aunt was in from Virginia with 2 of her three boys.  Her youngest, Scooter, is a year older than Bob.  The boys played wiffle ball in the back yard with Scooter and my other cousin, Hunter.  When they tired of that, they came inside and were having a great time catching up.  My other cousin's kid, Isaac, came over too.  So, the four younger boys were playing nicely until I had to head back home to get ready for Easter Day.

When we returned home, my brother-in-law had come to stay with us.  I always love when he comes.  It is so nice for the boys to spend time with him.  SJ showed him all his plushies and his awards from the Science Fair.  Bob had him playing some PS3 with him.  Later in the evening, our nephew (SJ's godfather) came over to visit also.  SJ was thrilled to have another person to be an audience to his high jinks.  It was a very nice evening. 

On Easter Day, SJ woke up at 6:38 a.m.  No one else was up.  He tried waking up his uncle and Bob.  They weren't budging.  I had him come into bed with me until 7.  He tried again to wake them.  We waited again about 30 minutes and SJ was about to burst from the excitement of finding his basket.  I allowed him to go downstairs at 7:30.  The bunny always hides the baskets (it's a tradition), so SJ was off to look for his.  It took him 2.33 minutes to find it behind our sliding door drapes.  Bob made his way downstairs at 8.  He was much faster at finding his basket.  He only took 1.16 minutes. 

They got tennis rackets, a game, Hex bugs, cap guns, a Lego mini-fig and assorted candy and gum.  SJ doesn't eat chocolate at all, so all his candies were fruity candies.  Bob got some chocolate, but he is very specific at what he likes (Reeses and Hershey mostly).  They headed outside to play with their tennis rackets right away.  They played with them for about an hour.  They moved on to the cap guns and the mini-figs.  Then, they were back outside with the tennis rackets.  This went on all morning. 

Around 3:00, we were expecting about 15 for dinner.  I knew the boys wouldn't want to eat what was on the menu.  (They are so PICKY!!!)  We were having ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, asparagus, cole slaw, sesame salad, sweet potatoes and rolls.  I never worry about them not eating at a party, though.  I know that we will nibble on things here and there and if they don't eat a good meal one night they will survive.  Eventually, SJ asked for pancakes and Bob ate a chicken patty sandwich. 

Sometimes when we have such a large dinner party, SJ gets overwhelmed with all the extra people and noise that they make.  Happily, he is getting over that.  He seemed totally at ease with all of our guests.  When he needs a break, he simply retreats to his room for a break. 

After dinner, the boys played either ping-pong, tennis or basketball with their cousins.  Our one nephew gave Bob and SJ his old K'Nex robot.  They put that together and demonstrated it for the adults.  It was such a lovely day. 

Now, we are on our last day of break.  We are again doing nothing planned today.  For doing a lot of nothing, I am surely tired.  Maybe we need a break from our break?

why do I have to wear blue?

Yesterday was World Autism Day. There is a Light It Up Blue campaign for Autism awareness, so I told everyone in our house to wear something blue. When SJ came downstairs (still in his pajamas), I reminded him to put on something blue when he got dressed.

"Why? Why do I HAVE to wear something blue?" whined SJ. "Because it is World Autism Day and people are wearing blue today," I told him. "I don't like being autistic," said SJ. "I know you don't. There are a lot of other kids with Autism who have it much worse than you. We are doing this for them," I told him. He stomped off to his room.

SJ doesn't like to wear blue, green or purple. They are "cool" colors and he prefers "warm" colors (red, yellow and orange). I wasn't going to force him to wear blue, but I just wanted to remind him that we were wearing blue today.

When he came back downstairs 10 minutes later, he was in blue. He had on a blue hat, a blue shirt and blue shorts. He even put on his Sketchers that are trimmed in blue when he went outside to play. I was proud of him for participating in something that he didn't really want to do.

SJ never wants to be referred to as "autistic". He will argue with you and say that he doesn't have it. Bob occasionally will use it as a putdown term when SJ is being particularly difficult. We have had MANY discussions about how it is only a small part of who SJ is and that Bob should not make fun of SJ for having it.

SJ knows he is different from Bob and most of his peers, but he tries so hard to fight it. He just wants to fit in. He does a great job with it most days, but some days the "autism monster" is too much and is projected through SJ.

SJ has many friends at school and everyone always is happy to see him. (It would be nice if he was invited over to his friends’ houses more often, but if that is our only complaint we are doing pretty well.)

So for all the kids out there who have PDD, Aspergers or Autism, we are wearing blue for you. We are hoping that the more the word autism gets out into the community the greater the acceptance of these people will be visible. Happy World Autism Day!

after school speech part 22

On Thursday, SJ had his weekly after school speech session. His therapist told me that SJ was extremely chatty with her. He told her that we were going on Spring Break (we aren't actually going anywhere, but he is off school until April 10th) and that he had only one more day of school. She worked on Problem Solving and Main Ideas.

For the Problem Solving, she showed SJ a picture of some kids at a table with a board game. There was a story that followed to tell us what was going on in the picture. It said that it was a rainy day. The kids decided to play a board game, but there weren't any instructions. None of the kids had played that game before. One of the kids wanted to play something else, but the one boy persisted that they could figure it out.

SJ had to answer questions about the story. She started by having SJ make a visual chart to hit all the key points of the story. She had a Main Idea bubble connecting to SJ's answer that "they tried to play a board game". She had a Problem bubble connecting to SJ's answer "no instructions". She had a Solution bubble connecting to SJ's two thoughts of "I don't know" and "another game".

SJ then moved onto to the actual "test" looking questions. He had to answer three questions about the main idea and details. He answered all of these correctly. He then had to answer five questions on problem solving. He also answered all five correctly.

Next, she had SJ ask her a question about playing a board game. He wrote, "There was a board game that the telephone rings. What do you do?' She finished this activity by having him sequence the story (he did well with this) and list the details (he missed one of the details).

Finally, she worked on Imagining and Role Projection. She gave him six situations. He had to imagine what would happen. For example: Jeremy's bike has a flat tire. Ray asks Jeremy to ride bikes together. What would Jeremy say to Ray? SJ did very well with this activity. She assigned him the remaining situations as homework.

When we spoke at the end of his session, I asked her to also work on getting him to be more positive about girls. He is still agitated at least once a week over something he claims a girl did. I want her to try to help us get him to understand that we need to be kind to all of his classmates. Hopefully, she will have better luck with this than I did. Fingers crossed!