after school speech #13

Two Wednesdays ago, SJ had his speech session.  She told us at the session that this would be our last session with her.  She was due to have her baby in a couple of weeks.  We will have a new therapist when we return to speech after the new year.  I was a little sad to be switching therapists, because she did such a nice job with him.  However, this isn't the first time we have had to switch therapists and all the previous therapists have been terrific too.

Oh well, moving on.  She said he did a very nice job at their session.  They worked on Antonyms.  She assigned him a worksheet on antonyms for homework. The answers were scrambled and he did very well with this assignment.

For example:  start _________ niifhs

He answered finish.

Next, they worked on Classifying items.  She also assigned him a homework sheet on that topic too.  He was given twenty clues and he had to fill in the blank.  He needed prompted on 4 of the 20.  One of the ones he had difficulty with was the following.

A mammal that doesn't live on land

I had to prompt him with "it may live in the ocean".  He initially said fish, but I told him no.  I said "think of a big fish that comes up for air".  He finally said whale. 

Then, they worked on Cause and Effect.  She said he had some trouble with this.  She assigned him a homework sheet on this.  He had trouble with this assignment.  I had to read him a few sentences and then have him answer the questions.  Here is an example of one of the parts.

Chloe was a lonely eight year old girl.  She was lonely because she lived on a farm...millions of miles from her friends in town.

How was Chloe feeling? (lonely)

What do you think the effect of her loneliness was? (sad, unhappy)

SJ could answer the first questions, but had trouble with all of the second answers.  We will have to continue working on this topic.

Last, they reviewed Synonyms.  She assigned him a fun worksheet that was a synonym puzzle.  It was challenging, but SJ liked this assignment.

santa land and after school tutoring #10

Two Mondays ago, I was off work for a doctor's appointment.  When I dropped SJ off at school, he was in a panic.  He just had remembered it was his Santa Land day.

I didn't have any cash on me (nothing new), so I told him that I would drop him off some money later that day.  Fortunately, one of my coworkers spotted me the cash until the next day.

When I picked up SJ at the end of the day, I repaid my coworker.  SJ was in a great mood and was telling me about all the presents he bought (except mine).  

After school, he had his weekly tutoring session.  They continued to read more of The Island: Escape.  Mrs. Banks said he did a very nice job with reading.  

After they finished their chapters, they worked on a stocking glyph.  SJ decided the color of the stocking top (green-his stocking is hung over the fireplace), color of the stocking (red-he stays at home on Christmas), color of patch on toe and heel (orange-Frosty the Snowman is his favorite Christmas song), how many stars are on the stocking (3-Frosty is his favorite character), what color the 5 snowflakes around the stocking are (dark blue-he likes to wrap presents), what color to trace the stocking (blue-he likes snow) and what to draw coming out of the stocking (4 candy canes-he thinks he is on Santa's good list this year).  Here is the completed glyph.

another note = another punishment

Last Thursday there was a note waiting for me in the office at SJ's school.  The receptionist mouthed "sorry" to me, but I half smiled and shrugged.  

SJ started crying on the way to the car, since he knew he did something that would make him lose privileges.  I read the note before I pulled out of the parking lot.  

It basically said that SJ threw a fit during inside recess.  Mr. Brown and Mrs. Banks had told the girls that they could get basketballs first.  Then, they called the boys to get balls.  Not all the boys got one and one of those boys was SJ.

He kicked the crate that holds the basketballs and started yelling about the girls.  Mr. Brown told him to go sit on the bleachers for the remainder of recess.  

I put the note away and told SJ he lost electronics for the evening.  I also told him he was going to have to apologize to Mr. Brown and Mrs. Banks the next day.  He claimed he already apologized to both of them.  I told him I would be verifying that.

I reminded him that his behavior was unacceptable and the punishment will keep getting longer each time this happens.  I asked him if any other 6th grade boys threw a fit and of course he shook his head no.

The next day, I asked Mr. Brown if SJ had apologized.  He said he had apologized to him, but he hadn't to Mrs. Banks.  I thanked him and told SJ he would be writing Mrs. Banks an apology note.  I made him write it and put it in her mailbox.

On Monday, Mrs. Banks came to our house for tutoring.  She told me how he kept raising his hand while he was sitting on the bleachers.  She and Mr. Brown were ignoring him, but different pairs of girls kept going over to talk to him.  They were asking when he could get up.  

Now, how ironic is that.  The same people he was so irritated with were the only ones who were coming to his rescue.  It didn't matter, though.  He was being punished and he couldn't charm his way out of it.

after school speech #12

Last Wednesday SJ had his weekly speech therapy session.  She reviewed some synonyms with SJ.  She asked me to review those words again for homework.  The words were: vacant, revere, inspect, amateur, pupil and omit.  He still had trouble with four of them and the other two he could answer when I put it in a sentence.

She also had him do another worksheet on synonyms.  There were eight sentences with an underlined word.  SJ had to circle the word that was a synonym for the underlined word.  He only needed prompted on 2 of the 8.  An example of one of the sentences that I prompted him on was the following:

I always blush when I'm embarrassed.

His initial answer was angry, but that correct choice was humiliated.

She said they also worked on Cause and Effect.  She gave him a worksheet on that topic for homework.  He had to read the short paragraph and find out what was the cause was.  

Every day after school, Latoya walks to her apartment.  She and her dad live there.  She gets home about 4:00 and her dad is home by 6:00.  Latoya doesn't mind staying alone except when it's raining.

He had to answer this question.  What causes Latoya to be frightened of staying home alone when it's raining? He answered that she is probably scared of storms and afraid that she would lose the electricity.  He did okay with this activity.

The last thing they worked on was antonyms.  She assigned him a crossword puzzle on antonyms.  He did that completely on his own.  He only questioned what thaw meant.  I explained what it was and he said, "Oh, really."  He is funny sometimes.

thanksgiving 2013

We were hosting this year's Thanksgiving dinner.  That meant I needed both boys to help get the house ready.  My brother in law, Greg, was staying with us for the holiday.  He usually sleeps in the playroom, so it needed freshened up.  

I had SJ help me go through the toy boxes.  We put some of the outgrown treasured toys in the attic, but a lot of them we donated to Goodwill.  

I also had SJ help me vacuum and dust that room.  Then, I had the boys clean their rooms and help with vacuuming the 2nd floor.

On Thanksgiving day, our guests started arriving around 3:00.  My parents, my sisters, my brothers in law, my sister in law, our nephews and niece were our guests for the day.  

The dinner was delicious and the company was lovely.  The boys played very nicely with Gabriel and Cedar.  Laurel did her own thing.  She was busy being the holiday photog.  

Most of the guests were gone by 10.  My nephews stayed the night as well as Uncle Greg.  Gabriel slept in Bob's room and Cedar slept in SJ's room.  

The boys got up around 9:30.  We made streusel, scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast.  After breakfast, the boys played Wii, Xbox and PS3.  They had a great time.

Around 3:00 pm, we took my nephews to my parents' house.  We were eating dinner there.  I brought a lasagna and salad.  My sister was making garlic bread too.  

Dinner was yummy.  We played Scattegories after dinner.  That was a lot of fun.  I always enjoy spending time with my sister's family.  It is too bad they live 4 hours away.  I hope you were lucky enough to enjoy spending the holiday with family too.

the autism monsters comes out of hiding

Last week I received an email from one of SJ's teachers, Mrs. Lewis.  She and Mr. Chip have been his math flex teachers (flex is when another teacher helps groups of students who are at the same math or language arts ability) for the last couple of weeks.  

They take SJ's group to the computer lab and have the kids work on their math skills.  SJ isn't having trouble with the math, but he is getting stressed out over the computer programs they are having them do.  

Back to the email.  Mrs. Lewis said that SJ was so frustrated during Monday's session.  They were working on multiplying and dividing fractions.  With the problems they were doing, he became overly agitated.  He started banging his head into the computer monitor.  

She said he had never done this before.  She said he did it three times before she got him to stop.  She said he was fine (and was the monitor), so she took him in the hall to talk to him.  She talked to him about taking a deep breath, asking for help and not getting upset.  She told me she told Mr. Brown also.

I replied to her and told her that my husband and I would have a talk with him.  I told her to remind him he would be having a cosequence for his behavior.

He was due to have flex with her and Mr. Chip again on Wednesday.  I reminded him that morning that he would lose electronics if he lost his temper during flex.  I also reminded him if he started to feel frustrated to ask for help.  I was hoping he listened.  Fortunately, flex was cancelled, so we'll have to wait and see.

after school speech #11

Two Wednesdays ago, SJ had his weekly speech therapy session.  She said he was acting a little tired and grumbly.  She said his sour mood didn't last the whole session, so I was relieved to hear that.

They worked on classifying words into two categories.  They did 5 together and she assigned the remaining 15 for homework.  Here is an example of the words.

Yogurt     Food and Dairy

He only had difficulty with one of the 15.  He didn't know what sausage was.  Once I explained what it was, he was able to tell me that it is food and meat.

She also reviewed defining by using patterned definitions.  She reviewed four that he had difficulty with.  Those four were:  pliers, highway, rink and runway.  He did better after she reviewed them with him.

She also reviewed some antonyms that SJ was having trouble with.  There were 10 that he couldn't name an antonym for.  Those words were:  gloomy, shy, slim, weep, tug, slender, bashful, timid, glum and arrive.  She asked me to review them again for homework.  

Since I cancelled his next appointment (it was the day before Thanksgiving), she assigned him some extra homework.  

The first homework assignment was a cause and effect paper.  He was given 4 inventions with their descriptions.  He then had to write what the people's reactions would be.  Here is one of those inventions.  

Tennis Ball Bowling-tennis balls are used to knock down 6 inch tall pins made of light plastic.

SJ wrote that some people would find it "weird", but a lot of people would find it "fun".

She also assigned him a main idea worksheet.  He had to read an ad and state the main idea and supporting details.  He did fairly well with this activity.  

Next, she assigned him a worksheet on synonyms and antonyms.  He had to look at a picture and give a synonym and an antonym for each picture.  For example:  There was a picture of a "pretty" girl.  His answers were cute for a synonym and ugly for the antonym.

Last, she assigned him a crossword puzzle that required him to fill in synonyms to complete the puzzle.  He really enjoyed that assignment.  

after school tutoring #9

Two Mondays ago, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session.  He was in a much better mood during this session than the week before.  

They continued to read more of The Island: Escape.  They worked on some comprehension questions.  She said he did a very nice job.  They also played a game of Farkle.  He was laughing and enjoying playing this game with Mrs. Banks.  

She told me that she was very pleased with how well he is doing.  She commended him on his "A" status in her reading class.  

She said they are almost done with this novel.  I asked her if she had decided on the next novel, but she hadn't chosen one as of then.  I hope he likes the next one as much as he has enjoyed this series.