Time for teeth!

Brushing teeth ~ chapter one! 

Imperative language:   I call downstairs, "Nick, come and brush your teeth".

Stop and wait:   Nick responded within 30 seconds.

Decision making:   Nick took out the toothbrush and toothpaste. He took the lid off the paste and proceeded to squeeze the toothpaste onto the brush. He didn't stop squeezing!

Declarative language :   "Oooh, that is so much toothpaste, let's stop, stop, stop".

Decision making:   Nick hands me the toothpaste.

Declarative language:   "Let's start again".

Defining roles:   "Tell you what, you can hold the toothbrush and I will squeeze the toothpaste".

Declarative language:   As I model how to squeeze slowly, I chant the words "slowly, slowly".

I pause:   Nick takes the brush and starts to chew on it. As one does! :)


To be continued...................

Traveling with an autistic teen!

We did it. We did it. We did it!

Our family went away for the weekend. All four of us.

Nick was a superstar. He cruised through the whole airport and plane experience. He didn't utter a murmur over the fact that he had to share a room with his brother AND sleep in a single bed.

We took him here, there and everywhere.

He was flexible, resilient and extremely chilled.

The only time he got a bit antsy was during a long walk, up a steep hill, that involved many steps.... and it started to rain!

This is Nick's, "I have had enough", face!

Our weekend did not revolve around Nick, although we did make a plan to give him supper at our accommodation before heading out to a restaurant. We also ensured that he got some down time.

The joy of being able to have a *regular* family weekend away without any hassles is indescribable.

A huge achievement.

~*~

Rolling with it........

Today was going to be a me and Nick kind of day. The other two members of my family had a school function which involved hitting little balls with very long sticks. Their day actually fitted in quite nicely with this post because for my next RDI planning engagement I had decided to work with little balls and very long sticks, namely, whatever balls the dog hadn't chewed to bits and two brooms. *note to self.... Make sure the dog is not in the same room when we are trying out my crazy plan!

I have been a bit slack with my boy this past week. Life happens, right? Therefore, for the sake of today and to make me feel better about my role as Nick's mum, I was going to make a conscious effort to involve him in whatever I was doing in and around the house.

Okay, the morning went for a bit of a ball (pun intended!). I received a lovely phone call from my Mum in New Zealand. Don't ask me how long she talked for.. but let me tell you that Nick took full advantage of the fact that I was otherwise engaged. On went that computer and out came his books. At one point he collected up all of his books and went to lie on my bed. He had turned the volume up on the computer and was listening to the disc from afar! My Mum did have a bit of a whinge about the weather (it always rains where she lives!). Anyhow, I thought I would be a nice daughter and provide her with a quick pic of our weather. I can't resist winding her up!

Throughout the course of the day we did manage to have a few interactions. It may look like Nick is brushing his teeth but what the photo doesn't show is that we are taking turns. The same goes for stacking the dishwasher, I placed an item and then he placed an item and so on. We used a simultaneous pattern to cut his apple ~ Nick is battling to co-ordinate his actions with my actions so I need to spend some time on this. We also popped to the shop for some bread and milk. Again, we took turns in carrying the items etc. 

I try to be mindful and include Nick in what I am doing. Of course it would be easier to just do my own thing, however, I think that it is important and also a good opportunity to work on and experience engagement with my boy. Unfortunately, Nick was a bit flat today and wasn't really interested or motivated to interact with me. Our chores felt like..... chores! :)

We did have our planned engagement with two brooms and two balls, however, the least said the better on that one. I need to re-think my framework and try again tomorrow!

By 4pm I had cabin fever and was feeling VERY irritated. The best thing to do was load the kid and dog into the car and hit the beach. The dog had a blast, as he is wont to do. It took Nick a good 15 minutes to shake off his sombre mood and thereafter he had a great time. There was one little embarrassing moment.... Nick started to point vigorously at a young woman's chest and I was apologising profusely until I realised that she had a picture of a cat on her t-shirt and Nick was pointing and making the sign for 'cat'.... blush! We had a fantastic walk and stayed out far longer than I had planned. Nick's dinner ended up being later than normal, but so what!

Well, my little... go with the flow, *RDI on the fly* plan didn't go so well today. 

Such is life......

~*~