after school speech #7

Last Wednesday, SJ had his weekly speech session.  His therapist said he did a nice job during their session.  

First, she reviewed the classifying words that he had done for homework.  He still had trouble with 4 of the 18.  One that he had trouble with was:

Plates and bowls are _________.

He needed to answer with dishes. I reviewed those same sentences and he still couldn't quite get the concept.  We will have to continue practicing that skill.

Next, they worked on a describing activity.  SJ had to circle the word that matched his sentence.  He did very well on this activity.  Here is one of the sentences.

This is something small and soft.

His choices were pillow, marble, marshmallow or rock.  He correctly circled marshmallow.

Then, she had him fill in words for a Mad Lib type activity.  These were his words.

Season-Fall

Equipment-soccer ball

Place-NYC

Place-Empire State Building

Building part-door

Thing you read-book

Thing you write-word

Writing utensil-pencil

Appliance-refrigerator 

Furniture-couch

Place-San Diego

Time word-minute

This is the story with his words in it.  

It was fall break and Jessica couldn't think of anything to do.  She tried calling her friends on the soccer ball, but no one was NYC. Jessica went into her Empire State Building and closed the door.  "Maybe I should clean my NYC," she thought.  "No way!  I'm not that bored," she said to herself.  Next Jessica thought of reading a book, but she had read all the books in her NYC.  "I've got it!  I'll write a word," she decided.  Jessica took out a pad of paper and a pencil.  After she sharpened the pencil in the refrigerator, she sat at her couch.  "Hmmm," she said out loud, "now who should I write to?"  Just then the soccer ball rang.  It was her friend Kim.  Kim wanted Jessica to go to the San Diego with her. Guess the word could wait until minute.

She said he really enjoyed that activity, so she asked me to do it again with different words for homework.  

Finally, she had him do a worksheet were he compared himself to two friends.  Then, he needed to answer questions. These were the questions.

1. Which friend are you most like?  Topher

2.  What is the one way you and your friends are alike?  They both like math.

3.  What is one way you and your friends are different?  They have dogs.

4.  What I one way your friends are alike?  They both like chips for a snack.

5.  What is one way your friends are different? They have different hair color.

This was an interesting little assignment.  It got SJ to talk to his friends and enabled him to learn some important things about them.  

after school tutoring #5

Last Monday, SJ had his after school tutoring with Mrs. Banks.  When she arrived, he went downstairs without a complaint.  (So proud!)  

They continued to read more chapters from The Island: Escape.  They read three chapters and did some comprehension questions.  They only have a few chapters remaining in the book.  

When the session was done, Mrs. Banks told me he worked very hard for her.  She said he didn't check the time once.  (He usually looks at her cell phone several times during their session.)  She said he seemed genuinely surprised when their time was over.  I am so glad that he is enjoying that novel.  It makes tutoring much more tolerable.

bad day in mr. london's class

Two Wednesdays ago (same day as speech), I checked my email around 10:15.  There was an email from Mr. London.  He is not his homeroom teacher, but he does teach him one subject.  

Apparently, he was having the students work on questions before they could start their homework.  SJ answered one question incorrectly and one that he wasn't supposed to do.  

When he asked SJ to redo the question, SJ became angry and attempted to grab the pencil, which he was using to change something on SJ's paper, out of Mr. London's hand.  

He told him he had to let go of the pencil and go to his seat.  When he got to his seat, he told SJ that he had to write me a note telling me what he did in class.  I had to sign it and he had to return it to Mr. London the following day.  

This was all a surprise to me.  SJ hadn't said a word to me about any trouble at school.  He was already asleep, so I checked his binder for the note.

It was in there (at least he partially listened to Mr. London).  I talked to my husband about the incident.

When SJ awoke the next day, I told him about the email.  "Oh, I forgot to tell you Mom," he said.  "Well, you are going to have a consequence," I told him.  I told him that he is never to argue with a teacher and he is especially never allowed to try to take things out of their hands.  

I made him write an apology note to Mr. London.  I also signed the note that was to be returned.  Then, I told SJ his consequence.  It was no electronics for 24 hours.  He was upset, but I reminded him that every action has a reaction.  This is his current currency.  Hopefully, he will learn from this and not do this again.

after school speech #6

First, I want to apologize for being so behind on my updates.  I am trying to catch up today.  Two Wednesdays ago, SJ had his speech therapy session.  

His therapist said he worked very hard for her.  They worked on antonyms.  She showed him a picture and he had to circle the word that was it's antonym. See the following worksheet.

The only word he had trouble with was the picture of the hen pushing a chick in a stroller.  It said make-believe.  SJ had to be prompted to identify real as the antonym.  She asked me to review those words, which I did for homework.  

She also worked on classifying.  He had to fill in group names for the sentences.  For example:  A tape measure is a _____.  He needed to answer with tool.  She did 4 with him and assigned the remainder for homework.  When I did the rest with him, he needed prompted on 4 of the 14. 

She said his vocal tone was much more typical when they were making conversation.  I am glad he is improving with that skill too.

oh no, the petechia returns

Two Fridays ago I got a disturbing email from Mrs. Banks.  Apparently his entire grade was in their auditorium when they announced the winners of the Fire Safety posters.  No surprise, but SJ didn't win (art in not his best talent).  

When the names were announced, he moaned and complained for the remaining 30 minutes of the assembly.  They went out to recess.  She said he was squatted down on the ground and began hitting himself with his ball cap.  She tried to explain to him that only 3 students won per grade.  He was among the 78 who didn't win.  

She tried to get him to calm down, but he refused.  She made a deal with him.  He had 30 minutes (the recess period) to settle down.  If he didn't settle down, he would lose 5 behavior points and a note would be sent home.  

She said he did settle down and played for 10 minutes of the recess.  When it was time to line up, he started to get worked up again.  She reminded him that his 30 minutes were up and he would lose the points if this behavior continued inside.  

She said she could hear him stomping his feet coming in, but when he saw her he calmed down.  This is when she noticed his red blotchy skin.  She told his aide to watch his skin.  Shortly after, it was still splotchy while he was with his aide.  

When he got to reading, it was less red but Mrs. Banks could see the broken blood vessels.  She knew from last year that they were petechia.  

She asked him if he tried to choke himself or hold his breath when he was mad.  He denied it, but the skin doesn't lie.

I had a long talk with him that night.  I reminded him how dangerous it is to hold your breath.  The petechia is only a small consequence of holding his breath.  I reminded him to use him calming techniques instead of getting to that point of anger. I also gave him a punishment of no electronics for the weekend.  Hopefully that currency is powerful enough to get him to stop holding his breath.  

after school speech #5

Last Wednesday SJ had his weekly speech therapy session.  His therapist worked on classifying words.  She said he did very well with that.  She completed 10 out of the 20.  She assigned the remaining 10 for homework.  

She also worked on antonyms with him.  He did well, but had trouble identifying "real" as an antonym for "make believe".  She asked me to review that word.  I did and he still had trouble identifying that real was it's antonym.  I don't know why he is having trouble with that word.

She told me she was pleased that he used an appropriate tone when he was working with her.  

She assigned him a worksheet on comparing two words.  He had to say what they had in common and what made them different.  For example:  helicopter-airplane.  He said they both fly, but the helicopter has blades.

She also assigned him a worksheet on antonyms.  He had to complete nursery rhymes with antonyms.  He did very well with this assignment.  

When we completed the homework on classifying, he only had trouble with 2 out of the 10.  He had trouble with this one:  cast/crutches/scenery/props. He had to tell me that crutches didn't belong. He got confused over what "cast" meant.

after school tutoring #4

Last Monday, SJ had his after school tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  He complained before she got to our house, but he went downstairs without an utterance when she arrived.

They continued to read more of The Island: Escape.  She said he willingly read.  He looked at the book, flipped through the pages and said they should read two chapters.  She was pleased with his eagerness to read (so was I), so they read two chapters.  

They did the comprehension questions that were based on those chapters.  That took the whole tutoring session, so they didn't do any glyphs or Mad Libs.

When his session was over, he ran upstairs and said something very funny.  He said, "She's still downstairs."  As if he thinks Mrs. Banks wants to stay at our house.  He is too much.

computer malfunctions

Last Thursday morning I was approached by SJ's computer teacher.  Apparently, SJ had been very difficult for Mr. Rom.  

Mr. Rom told me that SJ had been very grumpy each week.  He had been grumbling out loud and pounding on the keyboard when agitated.  

He told me he placed his seat near his desk, so SJ would have easier access to him when troubled.  He also placed him next to a girl who is normally a quiet, nice girl.

He wanted to know if we were doing anything different at home.  I told him about the gluten free diet, but nothing else.  I did remind him that SJ is sensitive to sounds and sometimes kids on the spectrum hear things typical people don't.  He said there is a definite hum in the room.  If he can hear it, it could be grating to SJ.

I told Mr. Rom that I would talk to him to see if there is a valid reason for his behavior.  I also told him to feel free to remind SJ that bad behavior will be a cause for an at home consequence.

At the end of the day, I asked SJ about the problems in computer class.  He told me he was upset that his seat was so far from the door (he always likes to be first). He also said he didn't like being next to a girl (always a complaint, but oh well).  He additionally said he was having trouble with one of his passwords.  

I reminded him that he doesn't get to pick his seat and if he is not first he won't die.  I told him that Mr. Rom put him near him, so he could help him easier.  I told him that if he was having trouble he still wasn't allowed to growl or hit the keyboard.  

I also told him that if this happened again he would lose electronics.  No exceptions.  He said he understood.  I hope that he does or it will be bye bye to

Wii, PS3 and You Tube.

after school speech #4

Last Wednesday, SJ had his weekly speech therapy appointment.  He had missed the week before due to a fever.  

She started the session with some work on classifying words.  He had to read a sentence and find the word that doesn't make sense.  For example:  

Baseball is a season we play in the summer.

He had to change season to sport.  She did 5 with him and assigned the remaining sentences for homework.  He did this assignment fairly easily.  

They also worked on matching words to correct definitions.  She also assigned him a sheet of these for homework.  He only had trouble with a few of the words. He had trouble with matching reed to tall grass near a lake with long leaves and quarrel to a disagreement or argument.  

She also assigned him five words that he had to give synonyms and sentences.  He did okay with this assignment.  One of the words was drag.  His synonym for it was move.  His sentence was the following:  I have to drag the anvil.

After speech, we stopped at Target to picked up his Halloween costume.  He selected a TNMT Leonardo costume.  He wanted Donatello, but they only had Leonardo and Michaelangelo.  He tried it on as soon as he got home.  He was in such a great mood.  That is a rarity on speech days.  

after school tutoring #3

After SJ's terrible day on Monday, I was expecting him to be difficult for Mrs. Banks.  After he apologized to her, he worked very nicely.  Thank goodness!

They read a few more chapters of The Island book.  She said he answered the comprehension questions with little complaints.  

She knew he was paying attention, because some of the questions were for later chapters.  She was pleased that he was understanding what he was reading.  

Then, they did an autumn glyph.  SJ had to decide the color of the man's clothing (blue-summer is his favorite season), the color of the boy's shirt (green-when he hears autumn, he thinks of Thanksgiving), the color of the man's hair (black-he had played in leaves before), the color of the rakes (green-he likes Halloween best), the color of the flying leaves (red-he likes Thanksgiving dinner), the color of the raked leaves (red-football is the sport of autumn) and the color of the title (purple-we have been camping in the fall).  See the finished glyph.

monday aftershocks

Monday was another bad day for SJ.  I first learned about this from Mr. Brown.  He told me that SJ had a pretty significant meltdown.  He said it lasted for over 15 minutes.  He also told me SJ's aide had a note for me.  

I am not going to write verbatim what she wrote, but it did give me a good synopsis of the meltdown.  

1. He started to get agitated when Mr. London asked for his signed test. (You need a parent signature on bad tests.) She said he finally settled down after he said I still had the test at home.

2. He was in Mrs. Banks class taking a reading test.  He didn't finish (half the class didn't finish) and started crying.  He didn't want to go to lunch.  (He had a obsession over finishing things.)

3. She told him he had to go to lunch, so he was running up the hall.  When she told him not to run, he started crying again.  

4. After lunch, he was crying when she walked into math class.  He was mad about the change in seating that Mr. London made.  She took him to the hall where he continued to cry for 25 plus minutes.  He was complaining as he was crying.  He muttered that he wanted a seat by the door, a seat where he could see the clock, wished school wasn't so boring, wants to finish reading test now, etc.

5. She finally got him calm enough to return to the classroom, but he continued to mutter to himself.

6. He had another meltdown with Mrs. Banks.  He got angry with her about not finishing the test.  He wanted her to give him clues.  He wanted to use the book.  When she couldn't do those things for him, he ripped his paper out of her hand. She told him that wasn't acceptable.  He continued to cry for a few minutes, but eventually settled down.  

When I heard about all of this, I told him there would be a consequence.  I banned him from electronics for all the minutes he wasted at school.  I also made him apologize to Mrs. Banks.  

I hope this is the worst of the meltdowns.  Otherwise, he is going to get more and more serious consequences. 

family breakfast friday

Friday morning was a special day at SJ's school.  They have a Parent/Grandparent Breakfast for each grade.  Since SJ is in 6th grade, his breakfast was last and fell on last Friday.

I go to this breakfast with him every year. (Bob stopped wanting us to go after 4th grade.) I always enjoy sitting down with the boys and their friends.  

When we arrived at his school, both of us were hungry.  We went through the line and made out selections.  I took scrambled eggs, sausage and hash browns.  SJ took two regular (non-gluten free) donuts.  He was in heaven.

We found a seat at a table with Marshall (a frequent classmate of SJ's).  I chatted with Marshall's mom and SJ busily ate his donuts and drank his orange juice.  Topher's family got there shortly after we sat down.  They joined us at our table.  

After we were done, we were allowed to go to our kid's home room.  Mr. Brown was in there.  SJ showed me the room, his seat and a poem he wrote.  I was quite impressed.  

As I was headed to my job, I got a little sad that this is my last parent breakfast.  Although I was sad, I am overjoyed that we had these moments.