Autism and Behavior Management

Asperger's point of view

2009-12-19T15:36:00.001-05:00

I found this on You Tube and had to share.

Talking to children with Autism

2009-12-19T15:01:00.002-05:00

People with autism usually have an auditory processing disorder, in which it takes them a few more extra seconds to understand what was said to them. I observe so many miscommunication occur because that delay is ignored or disregarded. I watch parents give their children, non-stop commands hoping the child will understand what was said by the millionth time? Let me give an example.
Mom wants Johnny to put his plate in the sink. Johnny is sitting at the table watching the light move delicately across the table filtered in through the branches of the swaying trees. Mom impatiently says, "Johnny put your plate in the sink!" Johnny slightly snaps out of his dream but doesn't put his plate in the sink, mom continues, "Johnny, put your plate in the sink, put your plate in the sink, plate in sink, Johnny!, Johnny!" Sister jumps in, "Johnny, put your plate in the sink!" Dad jumps in "Get up and listen to your mother!" Johnny is hearing " JOHNNY! PLATE! MOTHER! HEATER VENT! TRUCK OUTSIDE! SINK! PUT! JOHNNY! and so on" Johnny starts screaming to block out all of this nonsense. After mom giving her directions many times, dad gets up and puts the plate in the sink and says sadly, "this boy doesn't understand a thing". Johnny learns to not pay attention to verbal cues and relies on the fact that eventually you will be quiet and figure it out yourself. A better way to handle communication is to first get Johnny's attention then give your direction Once "Johnny put your plate in the sink" wait. If he doesn't react touch his plate and point to the sink, when he follows your directive praise him for being a good helper or a good listener. Always go to non-verbal prompts after your first verbal directive. You want to teach your child to listen the first time.

Managing screaming and crying

2009-12-12T19:02:00.004-05:00

When your child is screaming and crying, just seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours or years and when it seems like there is no end in sight and you feel like you are going to lose your mind, its time to get control.

One thing that you must remember is when a child (or anyone for that matter) is screaming or yelling or crying, they are out of control. When someone is out of control, they can not communicate effectively so there is no point in trying to have a conversation with them. Let me give you and example. I am currently working with a family who have a son with autism and his screaming and crying is preventing the family from going out in public. We were out in a child friendly restaurant which was filled with fun games, pizza, rides and all that fun stuff, when the child became completely overwhelmed with the sounds of the environment and refused to walk any further with his mom. He laid on the floor screaming and crying, there were stares and concerned looks from strangers, mom became embarrassed and desperate. So she gave him non stop directions to get up and keep moving, that sounded a bit like this: screams and cries from child,"get up" noise of games,"we need to go over" noise "to your brother" of children "do you" playing, "want" background "pizza?" music, "get up" adults "stop" talking,"screaming" chairs "show me" moving "quiet".

There was so much going on in that environment, that it was impossible for this child to process what his mother was asking him. I had to step in and ease the situation. I knew the child just wanted to be out of this overwhelming environment but he first needed to comply with our goal of sitting at the table for pizza. I could asses the situation and see that sitting down for pizza was highly unlikely. So I modified my expectations to sitting down quietly then taking the pizza to go. I had mom go ask for the pizza to be boxed up and I sat down next to the child, who had worked himself up so much that he screams were frantic and his cries were sobs and he was out of breath. I put my hand on his knee and held a finger to my lips indicating quiet. Right now talking to him would just be irrational. I was letting him know that he was being cared for but his actions were not being rewarded. I said "shhhhhh" and gave him a tissue. He began to calm so i gave him some water and let him get his breathing under control. I always listen to the child's breathing to let me know when it is okay to talk to them and if the child is comfortable enough with me I put my hand on their chest to feel how fast their heart is beating for another indicator. When the breathing and heartbeat is slowed and close to normal, it is a sign they are gaining control of their body and emotions and will be more likely to process what you are saying. At this point I gave the simple, gentle,calm, command of "show me a quiet mouth" with a smile on my face.

"Show me a quiet mouth" takes some practice for a some children to learn depending on their capabilities. we practice this at times through out the day when meltdowns are not occurring to prepare for situations like these. It's always good to be prepared.

So once he showed me quiet for a few seconds I then told him that we would sit quietly at the table then leave. This teaches the child that he must listen to the adults that take care of him but that we also care about him and respect his needs. His screaming was not rewarded but it was ended on peaceful terms. we sat quietly at the table, then left with the pizza in the box.

A behavior such as screaming happens for only three reasons: the child wants access to something, the child wants to escape something, or the child is in pain. You can evaluate any situation that arises in these terms to decide how you should react.

Is the child injured? Help calm them and treat the injury.
Is the child trying to gain access to something? think about if you give him that object how you are teaching him that SCREAMING/CRYING=I GET ITEM (so I will keep on doing this, it really works for me) Take control and decide what the child must do in order to earn that item or saying "no" is always an option. After 3 situations of you saying no and meaning it your child WILL understand the correlation.
Is your child trying to avoid something or escape a situation? Decide if your child is in serious danger or believes he is in danger. Calm the child with out talking, in a non rewarding way (if the screaming/crying is a serious behavioral issue you are trying to end). Some parents tend to soothe and hug their child every time he screams and cries even if the screaming/crying is inappropriate. Here you are teaching them that SCREAMING/CRYING=I GET HUGS AND LOVES AND LOTS OF ATTENTION (so I will keep on doing this it really works for me). Take control and decide what the child must do in order to complete the task at hand, this may require shortening the task, like sitting quietly at the table for a minute instead of eating pizza at the table, or cleaning up a few items then being praised and helped with cleaning up. After 3 situations of you taking control and meaning it your child WILL understand the correlation.

I like talking to people with language delays

2009-06-23T19:47:00.002-04:00

I just realized why I like working with kids with autism so much. I personally have trouble communicating. Sometimes I know what I want to say and then say something that I completely didn't mean, as if my mouth was my brains enemy. Sometimes, I don't even know if there are words to describe how I am feeling. I'm a visual person and words don't relate as much to me or from me as images or objects do. i always find myself having more comfortable conversations when I am talking to a person who has as much trouble communicating with me as I do with them. I feel like we are both working, instead of feeling intimidated. I also noticed that I tend to have better more relaxed conversations with people whom English is a second language. I have great patience and an extraordinary ear for accents.

So I love that I can relate to the children that I work with. When they get stuck in a language barrier, I try my best to figure a way to get them over it. In the schools and in the neighborhood, other people always step in and try to talk for the child. This prevents them from ever having to do it themselves. Today, I was helping my client play with his neighbors and I had to raise my voice and sternly tell these kids to let him talk for himself. In every game they would try to lead him around and do everything for him. It's hard to make kids understand that some one with autism knows and understands what is going on, it just takes them longer to express themselves.

My client has awesome pantomime skills but his verbal skills are very low. I wish people would notice how great of an actor he is instead of focus on his deficit. At times he speaks 5 word sentences with me but it's a struggle to get him to say a word or two to his mother. If only I had skills to explain how I do what I do... I think its a mixture of patience and acceptance. I'm not trying to get him to say what I want him to say, I wait for him to say what he wants to say, or I playfully cause havoc in his life to force him to say what he needs to say.

Violence and Autism

2009-03-27T19:20:00.001-04:00

The monster inside my sonFor years I thought of his autism as beautiful and mysterious. But when he turned unspeakably violent, I had to question everything I knew.By Ann BauerMar. 26, 2009 On Feb. 14 I awaken to this headline: "Professor Beaten to Death by Autistic Son."I scan the story while standing, my coffee forgotten. Trudy Steuernagel, a faculty member in political science at Kent State, has been murdered and her 18-year-old son, Sky, has been arrested and charged with the crime, though he is profoundly disabled and can neither speak nor understand. Sky, who likes cartoons and chicken nuggets, apparently lost control and beat his mother into a coma. He was sitting in jail when she died.This happens to be two days after my older son's 21st birthday, which we marked behind two sets of locked steel doors. I'm exhausted and hopeless and vaguely hung over because Andrew, who has autism, also has evolved from sweet, dreamy boy to something like a golem: bitter, rampaging, full of rage. It happened no matter how fiercely I loved him or how many therapies I employed.Now, reading about this Ohio mother, there is a moment of slithering nausea and panic followed immediately by a sense of guilty relief.I am not alone.

Andrew started life as a mostly typical child. But at 3 and a half he become remote and perseverative, sitting in a corner and staring at his own splayed hand. Eventually he was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, a label that seemed to explain everything from his calendar memory and social isolation to his normal IQ.We got him into a good program and there was a brief, halcyon phase of near normalcy -- a time I long for still so ardently that I feel hungry for it at a cellular level -- from ages 12 to 17. Andrew aced algebra, became fluent in Spanish, played the cello in the school orchestra, and competed on weekends in tournament chess. I occasionally even referred to him as "cured."But in the months before turning 18, Andrew grew depressed and bitter. Huge and hairy -- a young man who grows a beard by twilight -- he suddenly became as withdrawn as he'd been at 4. Many of his old symptoms returned: the rocking and "stimming" (e.g., blinking rapidly at lights), the compulsion to empty bottles of liquid soap. Sometimes he would freeze, like a statue. Classic catatonia, the experts told us. We tried a series of medications, but that only made him worse.Once during this phase, he beat me. A neighbor heard me screaming and called 911. But I blamed this on the drugs. Despite everything, my son had always been gentle and sweet. This was no twisted adolescent squirrel killer who kept a pile of carcasses under his bed.On the day he should have graduated from high school, Andrew was instead being treated in a psychiatric ward at the Mayo Clinic. But he seemed to improve, and we were hopeful. Upon release, he was placed in a series of behavioral health centers and group homes. This is where his real education began.He'd quit progressing in school, but now my son soaked up new information like a toddler learning to talk. Every placement in a succeedingly tougher environment gave him new skills. He shoplifted like a pro, traded his belongings for sexual favors, and dined and dashed so often some local restaurants had his picture posted in their kitchen under the words, "Don't serve this man." I told myself at least he was thinking, making his own bad choices, experiencing adult consequences. A part of me was even proud.But he'd also quit reading, conversing, learning people's names, or keeping track of the day of the week. He ate like some gnashing beast: stuffing food into his mouth until his cheeks bulged and food dribbled out onto his clothes. And after moving to the rural group home selected by a judge because it was miles from restaurants or businesses where he could steal, Andrew morphed again, the warty monster from a Grimm fairy tale, demolishing everything in his path.His destruction was utterly senseless yet brilliantly thorough: He submerged his computer, stereo and iPod in water; threw puzzle pieces and Styrofoam cups into the toilet and flushed them, plugging the pipes literally dozens of times a week; and urinated on every square inch of his room: bed, walls, floor, closet, everything but the ceiling and that only because he had not (yet, I suspect) figured out how.When I asked him why he did these things he would say, eyes narrow like a night creature, "I don't like being caged

Then came Sept. 2, last fall. This was to be Andrew's first day of his final year in public school. He hated school -- a so-called transition program -- because it was demeaning. Lessons about how to cross streets and take buses and punch time clocks. My son had completed pre-calculus; now he was being taught how to make correct change.But there was nowhere else for him. He'd failed to hold the two jobs my husband and I had found for him; the private job coach we hired said Andrew was the most challenging client he'd ever worked with -- right before he quit. We were financially tapped out and the state would not pay for vocational training until Andrew turned 21. Transition school was the only choice.I'd explained all this. But when I showed up at the group home that morning, he was drinking coffee and pacing and still not dressed. I went into his room, took some clothes from the closet, handed them to him. And hinting at what he was about to do only with a small sigh, as if to say, "I've had enough," my son picked me up and threw me across the room.I had three broken ribs and a bit of damage to my liver that made my doctor fret. Still, who among us hasn't wanted to toss our mother across the room when she's nattering on and making cheerful sounds in the morning? I dismissed it as an aberration until a couple weeks later when Andrew decked his elderly tutor, knocking her onto a concrete sidewalk and breaking her hand. He went on to attack several staff members at the group home, grope the mentally handicapped young women who attended his transition program, and finally to accost his 14-year-old sister right in front of my eyes.It was Christmas Day. I watched him enter the room and fix his gaze on my daughter. Then he rushed her, and I screamed. My husband -- two inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter -- somehow intercepted Andrew and knocked him to the ground. After he had been escorted from our family dinner in restraints, we sat at a table heaped with food growing cold, where my elderly parents wept and my daughter shook silently. I comforted them all and after that was done -- the meal reheated and people eating -- I drank every drop of alcohol in sight, even draining the half-full wine glass my mother always left. The next morning, through a headache of steel knives and bad music, I got on the phone.I called the man who was supposed to be my son's psychiatrist to ask for an emergency appointment. Andrew was becoming dangerous, I told the nurse, and he was going to hurt someone. But the doctor was too busy; he was on vacation. There might be an opening in late January. No one else was available, no matter how many numbers I dialed.Secretly, as if committing a sacrilege, I searched online using keywords such as "autism" and "violence" and "murder." What I found was confusing. There were roughly a dozen recent articles about heinous acts committed by people with autism and Asperger's syndrome, but each was followed by editorials and letters written by autism advocates vigorously denying a link. There were a few studies from the '80s and '90s, but the results -- when they showed a higher rate of violent crime among people with autism -- appeared to have been quieted or dismissed.On the other hand there were, literally, thousands of heartwarming stories about autism. A couple of the most widely read were written by me. For years I had been telling my son's story, insisting that autism is beautiful, mysterious, perhaps even evolutionarily necessary. Denying that it can also be a wild, ravaging madness, a disease of the mind and soul. It was my trademark as an essayist, but also my profound belief.Now, despite the constant calling and late-night research, I could not accept what was happening. I could not write about it; I could not speak of it. Not even my closest friends knew what was happening inside my life.

My husband and I were on our way to an inauguration party the night Andrew finally came apart.It was January, a week of cold so wicked I was dressed in long underwear and wool sweaters, scarves, a parka, and two sets of gloves. It took me a long time to scramble through all the layers when my cellphone rang. But missing the call was not an option. I'd already had four panicked messages from the group home that day: Andrew's violence was escalating. They were mandated by state law to stay inside because of the weather, and he was going stir crazy, terrorizing the house. No one knew what to do."Yes?" I answered."I'm so sorry," is how the voice on the other end began.It was Andrew's counselor, calling to describe the situation. My son was in an ambulance circling the Twin Cities, sedated and strapped down to a bed. He'd been in there for a couple of hours and the medics just kept driving; they couldn't stop because all the psych wards were full."Yes," I croaked again. Other than this one low word, I'd been struck mute.They'd had no choice but to call the police, the counselor said. After dinner -- which was served in the group home at 5 o'clock, leaving long hours to kill before bed -- Andrew made a pass at a young female staff member. Petite, blond, around his age. The girl rebuffed him, reminding him probably for the 8,000th time that day about the "no touching" rule. And then he went off.My son reportedly leapt on her -- his 260-pound body surprisingly nimble -- one hand around her throat, choking her, and the other in her mouth, pressing down, cutting off her air two different ways. It took four men to pull him off and by this time the girl had passed out."Is she all right?" I asked. And this mattered for so many reasons: There was the basic human one, then the legal, also the fact that my own fate hung on the answer. While lying awake earlier that week, I'd made the decision that if my own child were to kill someone I, too, would have to die."She's bruised," he said, "and scared."That's when I breathed. Nothing irreversibly evil had yet been done.My husband wanted to turn around. But I was afraid that in the quiet of our home I might sit and think about my perfect, rosy-cheeked baby and actually go insane. So instead we went to the party and, as on Christmas, I drank as if it were a task I need to accomplish. Steadily, with steel. While my husband watched over me with his worried face, I hugged people and talked and tried to participate in a game the host had devised: Obama trivia. What movie did he take Michelle to see on their first date? Which brand of computer does he use? How big are his feet?I failed to answer a single question and wondered why everyone around me seemed to know these things. Where had I been? Through my shimmering stupor, I surveyed the crowd of happy, shining faces. People were wearing buttons, T-shirts, even necklaces that spelled out "hope." This struck me as sinister and somewhat rude. Hope was bullshit. Hope was exactly what had been lost.In the car on the way home, I asked my husband if I had fooled everyone at the party. Was I speaking normally? Did I at any point shout or cry or whimper? He assured me I had not. But for the few moments at the end when I'd looked as if I might collapse, I'd been pale but appropriate."I'm sure I'm the only one who knew," he said, shifting so the seat made its cold, leather groan and taking my hand.I thanked him and leaned back, thinking dumbly that, of course, there was one thing he didn't know: I'd been secretly stockpiling the sleeping pills my doctor prescribes like Pez. I had about 80 saved up, which would probably be enough. The ambulance was still out there, driving through the dark night on frosted roads, holding my son inside. For now I could live. But the following morning I recounted my supply, just in case

Back when Andrew was in junior high school, my mother had a friend whose adult son had only recently been diagnosed with autism. He'd been dysfunctional since childhood, failing at school, unable to make a friend or keep a decent job. At 35 he was still living at home, collecting carts at the local grocery store, and taking anticonvulsants (Tegretol was the unofficial treatment of that era for outbursts) to control the violent urges he'd been having for 15 years."You think he's better now," my mother's friend once said as we watched a young, laughing Andrew out the window, playing tag with his brother and sister in my parents' backyard. "But wait 'til he's older. Then you'll understand. "I hated her and was furious that she wished for our downfall -- also that her dumb, psychopathic son had been given the same label as my beloved child. Autism had become oddly fashionable; my mother's friend was wealthy. Clearly she'd gone "diagnosis shopping." My son, I vowed, would be nothing like hers. When Andrew finally landed at the county hospital, after 10 hours in the circling ambulance and another three in the E.R., I was still looking for a different answer. This wasn't autism. Surely he had a brain tumor, a seizure disorder, or a delusional condition such as schizophrenia. Maybe, on one of his crime sprees, he'd gotten ahold of some PCP.But the psychiatrist assigned to my son said no. The MRI was clean; the EEG normal. The doctor's specialty happened to be schizophrenia, and he saw none of the signs. Street drugs would have left Andrew's body by now. This was isolation, frustration, hormonal surges, poor impulse control and hopelessness. It was adult autism, the psychiatrist told me: one awful direction it can take.Monday, I went to see my son. He was in a bare white cell behind a steel door with a window, like Hannibal Lecter. The only thing missing was the mask. Two male nurses and Max, my 18-year-old linebacker son, walked with me into the room. Andrew was beached on a bed, his glasses the only thing on the shelf alongside. I touched his shoulder and woke him, taking his hands after he'd lifted himself to sit. "I'm here, sweetheart," I told him. "I want to help."He looked at me with bug-eyed wonder and squeezed my hands, hard, "I might kill you," he said. That's when Max pushed his way between us and ordered me from the room. Sobbing, he wrestled his brother to the bed and held him there.I spent Tuesday at a friend's house, as planned, in front of the TV, watching the Obamas walk and wave. Once, when someone asked why I was so quiet, I mentioned that one of my children was in the hospital, quite ill. She touched me and said something kind. I knew she was thinking of something like leukemia and I wanted to tell her I would hack off my right arm in return for something as simple as cancer. The flickering beauty of a sad, pure, too-early death sounds lovely. Instead I nodded, silent and dumb. The one thing I held onto, through all of this, was the sudden appearance of this county psychiatrist: a small, bespectacled, Dustin Hoffman-ish fellow who’d spent years on a kibbutz before going to medical school in middle age. I found him magnetic, I trusted him. He became my talisman, my Obama, the only reason to hope. It wasn't that he had any magic solutions -- I've learned by now that no one does -- but he was openly upset, diagnosing Andrew simply as "someone in pain."We sat in the doctor's lounge and he gave me a slice of banana bread to eat while he kneaded his forehead and read his notes. When he asked me what I wanted him to do, I told him: Whatever it takes to make my son stop. The threat of harm to my son's body was superseded by black stains on his soul. The doctor agreed, but he had made a list in ascending order of risk: Ativan, high-dose Prozac, Depakote, electroshock, Clozaril, Riluzole. A drug called Lupron.I reached for my single semester of Latin. "Lupron? You want to take the werewolf out of him?""Exactly," said the Israeli. "But it's our last resort."There were days spent in court, one swimming into the next, like a series of nightmares. Because my son was vulnerable, nothing could be done without a judge's order. Exhausted after this process, my husband and I went to Chicago and spent three days walking in icy sunlight, eating in no-name diners, going to sleep at 9 p.m. By the time we returned, Andrew had been given buckets full of dangerous, doping drugs and two sessions of ECT.When we arrived at the hospital, he shuffled sleepily out of his now-unlocked room. We gave him money to order pizza (it turns out Domino's delivers to the psych ward), a sketchbook and pastels, two books. He could have nothing sharp, no cords. This ruled out a CD player, laptop, or ballpoint pen.I asked tentatively if he remembered what he had done and suddenly he began to cry, tears running down his giant, furry face, jeweling his beard."Beware," he said through ragged breaths. "I'm bad now, I can feel it. I can't help the things I do.

Whether there is a definitive link between autism and violence -- between Trudy Steuernagel's situation and mine -- I cannot say.And even if it exists, the cause is not clear. Our adult son's behavior could be the outcome of living daily in a world where everything hurts and nothing makes sense. It could be the result (as some scientists have postulated) of excess testosterone on the autistic brain. It could simply be wild coincidence that I ran across this particular story during a time when I was looking for answers. Any of these is possible. I just don't know.The chairman of Trudy Steuernagel's department rose at her memorial service to proclaim, "Autism doesn't equal violence." And this probably is mathematically correct: Autism does not always equal violence. But I do believe there may be a tragic, blameless relationship. Neither Sky nor Andrew means to be murderous -- of this I am sure -- but their circumstances, neurology, size and age combine to create the perfect storm.It is warmer, finally. Outside my window ice is melting off skeletal trees. I sit in the pale morning light, drinking tepid coffee and reading about this woman whom I suspect I would have liked. A fellow academic and writer, Steuernagel, too, insisted on finding beauty in autism. Her legacy includes an editorial about Sky's loving nature and relevance, how he led her through life along "a trail of sparkles."Mine, I decide, must be in part to break the silence about autism's darker side. We cannot solve this problem by hiding it, the way handicapped children themselves used to be tucked away in cellars. In order to help the young men who endure this rage, someone has to be willing to tell the truth. So here it is.

Behavior Wheels

2008-08-14T20:36:00.002-04:00

I just downloaded a Behavior Wheel to help me in my Autistic Support Classroom. It looks like an excellent visual tool to help with the children's behaviors. I can create a separate wheel for each child that lists their typical misbehaviors, such as: hitting, screaming, throwing things, running away and arguing with the teacher. I can then program different consequences such as write a sorry note, do three nice things, give three compliments... that they can do after their time out (if necessary). It's actually pretty cool the way it works, you click the mouse to spin, lights flash and a sad noise plays, then the consequence comes up. I think the children will accept their consequences more readily from this wheel.
I am also programming it as a reward wheel. I'm putting in good behaviors such as: sharing, cleaning up, listening the first time, great eye-contact, good manners, good working and being a great friend. So when I catch the students doing one of these behaviors, they get rewarded by spinning the wheel. Consequences such as: extra computer time, extra library time, extra recess time and prize box choice, will come up. Hopefully I will be using it more as a reward system to encourage positive behaviors. Here is the link to the behavior wheel http://www.better-behaviour.com/?hop=schwarox.

New Money for ABA in PA

2008-08-11T12:46:00.003-04:00

I live in Pennsylvania and I just read that Governor Ed Rendell signed a new bill into law that gives $36,000 a year for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and other Autism therapies. It requires insurance to cover the treatment for up to 21 years and also requires the state to pick up the bill, if the person doesn't have insurance. There are so many therapies, speech, physical, occupational and behavioral, that a person with autism needs, its about time the government helps out a bit. Autism advocates and Speaker of the PA House, Dennis O'Brien are to thank for getting this bill started, noticed and passed. Not all of the states have autism legislation, you can click on this link to see if your state has any. http://fmatlas.com/view/msgold123/20070527_StatesThatHaveAutismRelatedLawsAndAreConsideringThem
If your state does not, consider writing a letter to your local congressman, everything starts with one person's actions.

Blind with Autism

2008-04-17T13:38:00.002-04:00

I was watching an episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit about Disabilities. It was about how the ADA causes people with disabilities to be more dependent on others than learning to adjust to life better. The one woman disagreeing with Penn and Teller patrolled parking lots to make sure no one parked in handicap parking spaces without the proper tags. She was really passionate about this because her daughter has severe Autism and is also visually impaired. I really wish the show was more about that but they kind of just breezed over that.
I saw the show maybe two nights ago and I still can't stop thinking about this girl. People with Autism tend to have really strong visual needs because they have aditory procesing disorders. I can't imagine how confused this girl must be. I'm confused, with many questions:

Do they make socail stories in Braille?
Is there a textured board or something that she uses for a tactile schedule?
Is there a special school for her?
Does anyone understand how to communicate with her?
Is she completely lost in her world of Autism?
What is her life like?

Going blind has always been my biggest fear. I never even imagined it in conjunction with Autism. My mind is blown.

Casein Free Diets

2007-11-26T19:42:00.000-05:00

Andrew is beginning his Casein free diet and has been taken off of Risperol. What a dramatic change for the worse! He is acting like he did 2 years ago. I had to pull out his kindergarten social stories today. At lunch, he was angry about a number of things including drinking OJ instead of milk. So he poured his juice all over himself and threw his lunch off the table. I watch 3 children at lunch, so it was pretty stressful removing him from the environment so none of the other children got hurt. I was worried that the other 2 were going to wander off. Only the one wandered but she went to the right place. I love independent children :)

Wild Mood Swings

2007-11-08T18:50:00.000-05:00

Things have been very rough with Andrew lately. He has PDD.NOS. He is in second grade but follows a first grade curriculum which is at times too difficult for him. Yesterday, I follwed him through his day, simply observing and not interacting, to collect data on his progress. It averaged out that he spends only about 56% of the day attending to what is happening the rest of the time is spent being emotional, impulsive or lost in his own head. It was strange to sit there with a stop watch timinghow long he could focus on an activity. I was surprised to see how little of his time in school he actually engages in learning or interacting with others.

Today, he probably spent less than 56% of his time engaged. He stims orally so often that his lips and face around his lips are chapped and bloody. At one point he picked his nose and wiped the boogers on his desk. I made his get up, use a tissue and wash his hands. While he was washing his hands, I used a Clorox towel to wipe his desk clean. In the few seconds it took me to put the towel in the trash, he was back at his seat rubbing the wet desk on his raw mouth! He went to the nurse and she gave him some Vaseline. When I was in charge of Andrew's behavior plan, he had a water bottle to drink from when he needed something to do with his mouth. This year, his teacher decided she wants complete control of him and did away with most of my interventions and replacement behaviors. She believes that just being really strict with him, saying "put your hands down or leave your mouth alone" anytime he touches his mouth, will stop the behavior. She is my supervisor and his Autistic Support teacher so I don't argue. But I am so sad when I see his poor face. I wrote a note home to his parents about my concern for his face, hopefully they agree. The teacher will not be in tomorrow so I think I will bring out te water bottle once again.

Aside from the oral stimming he has been crying and injuring himself for attention. I was afraid he broke his hands today when he slammed both down on the desk. It was such a loud slam and he screamed like crazy after it happened. It is so difficult to ignore attention seeking behaviors like these. After he slammed the desk, he flipped it over and started throwing the contents around the room. I calmly said " throwing tantrums is preschool behavior, second graders clean up their messes, take deep breaths and calm their bodies down, so they can do things with their friends". He used to have tantrums that lasted for hours, but I learned that they can easily be prevented (in his case) by simply saying they cannot happen. He heard me, cleaned up the mess, started to cry, I took some deep breaths, he copied them and calmed himself down. I then smiled at him until he smiled back. This took about 3 or 4 minutes. He gave me angry eyes, I smiled and pointed to my mouth, his teacher smiled and pointed to her mouth. The two of us just kept smiling until he smiled. Then he was able to get up from his desk and join the other children.

Eliminating red and yellow dyes

2007-11-01T18:17:00.000-04:00

Since the red dye #40 and yellow dye #5 have been eliminated from Jane's diet, I have seen very little erratic behavior. Before this diet I would have sheets of ABC charts filled up by the end of the week. Now I have filled up two for the entire month of October! She hasn't screamed nonsense or laid on the floor in a tantrum. It has been a pleasure to be around her. Lately, I have just been prompting her to talk to peers. There is even a girl in her class that came over and put her arm around Jane when the teacher was pairing kids up to let the teacher know to pair them together. I nearly cried. In the past, children would move away from her or tease her. She told me later that that girl is now her best friend and she hopes they can play at each other's houses. Honestly, I never thought she even wanted friends.

Bill Gates has Autism

2007-10-17T19:44:00.001-04:00

Bill Gates has Asperger's, which is a form of Autism. He is one of the most successful people in the United States. I was just watching some videos on Autism and I found this one of Bill gates rocking back and forth in a business meating. Videos of the Miscrosoft moqul, Bill gates, displaying the rocking sterotopy reinforce the idea that self stimmulatory behaviors can exist without impeading a person's success. In school, I see teachers telling kids to put their hands stop or to sit still. Maybe we shouldn't put our focus into trying to make these autistic kids look "normal". You should watch this video, it might give you some new perspective on socially accepted behaviors.

I enjoyed this video of Bill gates because it shows his sense of humor. People tend to think that the autistic have no sense of humor.

Fun with Autism

2007-10-13T14:25:00.000-04:00

Friday was full of excitement. Andrew perseverates on the grills of cars because they look like smiles. He talks to them, yells at them and laughs at them (even if they are not in his sight). I can't imagine having a brain that keeps me stuck on one thing for so long. Its hard for him to learn, do work or talk to friends because he is only thinking about the smiling cars. In the lunchroom, he can see the parking lot filled with happy cars, from his seat so he even had a hard time eating because he was so busy laughing with the cars. After lunch, I took his best friend (does not have autism) and him outside to look at the cars. I asked his best friend to show us the right way to look at cars and to tell us what he was thinking about the cars. Then I asked Andrew if it made sense what his friend was saying, he said yes. For the rest of the afternoon, when he started to get silly about the cars, I would ask him if that was the way his friend would act. That kept him focused for the afternoon. What would you do?

No worksheets

2007-10-10T18:43:00.000-04:00

I have had time to work with Andrew again. He has PDD.NOS which is a confusing form of Autism. His language skills are very low and he gets frustrated very easily because it seems that he understands exactly what you are saying to him but he has no idea how to respond. Math is very difficult for him, he figures out the addition problems on his fingers says the answer than immediately forgets what he says. He usually ends up tearing up his paper and screaming. So we have started writing math facts on Popsicle sticks. He pulls a stick out of the container, reads the problem, solves the answer and doesn't have to write it down. We got through 20 math problems today in about 5 minutes, I remember it used to take over an hour for him to write the answer to just one problem. The best solution for him is no worksheets. We then played number games with a giant number grid and he actually had fun with math instead of throwing a tantrum.

Slow Motion Writting

2007-10-06T18:07:00.000-04:00

Sometimes people with autism think much faster than people without autism. Jane has pretty terrible handwriting, she has a great imagination so its a shame that no one can read what she writes. When she unscrambles words in seconds, I began thinking about how quickly her autistic brain works. I noticed that she is writing way faster than any of the other kids. She gets all of her work done in half the time. So this week I told her to slow her writing down so we can read it. She said "Do you mean write in slow motion?" "Yes!" Now I just remind her to write in slow motion before she starts and her handwriting is beautiful. The occupational therapist was try all sorts of different pencil grips and pencil wrist slings to get her writing under control when all she needed was to write in slow motion.

Child Abuse

2007-10-04T18:38:00.001-04:00

I just learned that Mahesh's behaviors began when his grandmom came from India to live with his family. She took on the role as disciplinarian and started physically disciplining him. Last year his teacher took him to the nurse to document a gash on his face from something she had done to him. I have not seen any physical marks on him yet but as soon as I do, I will take him to the nurse to document it and call child protection services. This will be my second call this school year and it is only October. Sometimes working with children is so sad.

On a happy note, Mahesh has had no severe behavior problems for the past two days. Tuesday as we were walking out to the bus, I noticed he was mesmerized by the safeties. So I told him that the only way to become a safety is by having good behavior and making good choices everyday. On Wednesday, I got a safety belt out of the closet to hang on his chair to remind him of his goal. I also had Andrew in regular ed for almost two hours today, he tried his best, answered some questions and even did partner work with a typical child. i just had to constantly remind him to use his self control. That was fantastic.

Bizarre Impulses

2007-10-01T18:58:00.000-04:00

On Friday, Jane was having a hard time. Her pencil was not sharp enough to write with. When she was given a new sharp pencil, it was somehow too sharp. She screamed AHHHHHHHHHHH ITS TOO SHARP and stabbed her self in the hand with it. Blood was all over her writing assignment. I can't imagine feeling the need to stab your self just because something is sharp. The other children are afraid of her. To be honest, I used to be afraid of her until I started working with her daily. Now I understand that most of her behaviors are a result of her anxiety and I can reassure her that I am here to help her. This reassurance calms her a bit.

Today (and almost any given day), Andrew was sitting on the floor listening to a story, he turned around quickly to no one and started screaming Patsy Cline's "Crazy" someday he will burst into "Cry Me a Wiver (River)" or "I'm a Joker, I'm a Smoker, I'm a midnight Toker". The children in his class no longer even react when he breaks into song, it is very amazing.

Mahesh has been in isolation for uncontrollable behavior including hiding a pencil in his shorts then stabbing his teacher in the back with it as she walked down the hall. He has not been allowed out for recess because he is endangering other children, so I have been giving him a private boot camp to give him exercise and to let him know that he is not in charge. Today, I was going to have him walk up and down the stairs 20 times but at 19 times he started refusing, so I told him that no was the wrong answer and he had to do 11 more, he said no again which was the wrong answer, so he had to eat lunch in isolation. At the beginning of each step from there on he said" Yes is the right answer I will do it again". This I could not believe after seeing so much Oppositional Defiance from him. He then did 20 wall push ups and marching in place for 2 minutes. When he went into the regular ed room with his special ed teacher closely supervising, he told her that he was going to do the right thing so he can make her happy! Progress was made, hopefully he won't have to work in an isolation box for much longer.

Does hyperlexia influence behaviors? And a story about my day.

2007-09-25T18:10:00.000-04:00

I was walking Andrew to class this morning, he stopped to drink from the fountain but ended up puking in it. We turned around to go to the nurses office. The office was just in sight and he puked all over the lobby floor (and onto my pants). As we walked into the room the nurse was trying to stop a kid from bleeding all over the floor when Andrew projectile vomited in the nurses direction. I sent him to lay down on a cot and he just kept saying "sorry for being throw up". He is such a sweet heart. I sat with him for an hour and a half, convincing him that it is okay to be sick sometimes and that the best thing to do is rest, (he wanted to go learn with his friends) until his dad came to get him. Finally I got into the class room and Jane was crying because she did not understand the directions, I got her straight on the directions (she needs an incredible amount of positive reinforcement to do anything) and it was my lunch break already. During my lunch Mahesh was running around his classroom screaming and arguing with his teacher so he had to be pulled into the special ed room. After my lunch, I went to take Mahesh to lunch. He cannot go alone anymore because he hurts other kids at his table. His teacher told me that he drew all over another kids lunch box. So he lost his privilege of eating with other children. While walking his cupcake feel into his pile of cheese and I explained to him how bad things happen to people who make bad choices. ( I am a true believer in karma, I wish he was). He ate his lunch alone then filled out a behavior sheet and I sent him to class. I then go to Jane's class and learn that she was scribbling and screaming so she was sent back to the special ed room. I went there got her to do her work by making simple demands and ignoring the things she was saying to me like "are you squawky?" We made it back to the classroom in time for a math assessment. She refused to start it, she just started laughing hysterically then yelling some nonsense. I took her into the study area and gave her the assessment privately. She cried and screamed at first, then I just told her "write the number" she wrote the wrong number every time for the first section (she does not understand this particular concept) and got everything else correct. We then talked about how she needs to ask for help when she doesn't understand stuff instead of screaming and crying. With coaching, she decided that she needed to write her teachers sorry notes. Finally we get back into the regular ed room and my supervisor comes to the door and tells me they need my help with Mahesh again. When I get into his room, he is running around the room scribbling on kids papers and laughing. His teacher and the math assistant and running after him telling him no and to stop. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him from the room. We went to the stairwell and he filled out a behavior sheet. When I came to read what he wrote he ran out the exit towards the parking lot. I ran after him and caught him. I held his arm and brought him straight to the principals office (since we had to walk around the entire building because only the main entrance is unlocked during school hours). The principal told him that if he left the school alone, he could get killed by a car in the parking lot or taken by a stranger. Mahesh really didn't care. The principal told him that he would lose recess and told him to make good choices from now on. UGH thanks principal. Since Mahesh was not responding to any punishment, I took him to the counselor's office. She pretty much repeated what the principal said but scheduled an appointment for him tomorrow. I figure there is some emotional drive to these behaviors. We'll see what happens with that. There was about a half hour left of school and Mahesh was still being completely defiant (No I will not make good choices, laughing and refusing to follow demands) he could not go to regular ed and I could not find his special ed teacher. So he had to march in place, after a few minutes he refused to march so I made him do jumping jacks, after a few minutes he refused to do jumping jacks, so I took him to the stairs and made him walk up and down the stairs. He did this about 7 times and he was worn out. Finally he had no energy to be defiant and it was time to send him home. After school, his mother read the note I sent home about his behavior, she called the special ed teacher and told her that all of these behaviors were her fault. The night before, she had read him a story in which the child made everyone of those bad choices that he made today!

Proper Lunch Behavior

2007-09-19T20:22:00.000-04:00

I had to pull Mahesh out of lunch today for pinching the child next to him. He did it only because the lunch lady had to remind another boy of the rules. I took him to the empty stairwell again to fill out his behavior form. I also had him draw a picture of the proper behavior for the lunch table. This is him keeping his hands to himself and letting everyone be happy. Although he again wrote on his behavior form that he broke the rules because he likes to make bad choices, he also wrote that he will make good choices from now on. We'll see.

What do you do when they say "I don't want friends?"

2007-09-17T18:01:00.000-04:00

This afternoon, I got called back to help with Mahesh. He was hitting and punching other kids, running away from his teacher and arguing with her, along with general defiance. She seemed reluctant to admit to defeat but he finally said, please take him away. I took him into an empty stairwell, the only thing there to read is the EXIT sign, we pulled a desk in there, and he filled out a paper that was made up for him. His answers from the first time are in blue. He had to do it again because of the scribbles and non-compliance, his answers the second time are in red. And again, his third answers are in green.
I Broke the rule:
do not punch and listen to the teacher the first time
do not punch and listen to the teacher the first time
do not punch and listen to the teacher the first time

I Broke the rule because:
I like to make bad choices I do not want to follow the rules XXXXXXXXXX(SCRIBBLES)
I like to make bad choices
I like to make bad choices

What should happen because I broke the rule?
XXXXXXXXXXX(SCRIBBLES)
Not allowed in first grade
Put my head down

From now on I will:
Not make good choices
Not make good choices XXXXXXXXXXXXX(SCRIBLES)
Make good choices

Here is my apology :
I am sorry to Andy and Evan
I am sorry to Evan and Colin
I am sorry to Evan and Andy

Signature____Mahesh____
Date___9/17_________ Time_1:00__1:20__1:45____

I had a long talk with him about how you need to make good choices and be a nice person so you can have fun with your friends. He said he doesn't want friends, he just want to make bad choices and not go to first grade, he just wants to go to second grade. I am wondering if first grade is too easy for him? He reading and writing skills are way above the other children's but his math and drawing skills are very low. After the talk, he told his teacher that he is not going to make good choices today, she said that was sad and she was very disappointed in him and he smiled. So I took him back to the empty stairwell and let him do math all by himself for 20 minutes. I talked to him again and he still insisted saying that he was not going to make good choices, so he had to put his head down until school was over. Nothing was solved and I have no real ideas on what to do.

More to follow about the red dye #40 and erratic behavior

2007-09-14T18:23:00.000-04:00

Today I have been reassigned. I asked the district for another aide and action has been taken. I am no longer working with Mahesh and his ODD and Hyperlexia. Now I am working with Jane who is supposedly reactive to red dye #40 and I am also working with Andrew (my original 1:1 PDD.NOS assignment). This has made me very happy. Some research was done into the food ingredients and it was found that nothing has contained the Red Dye #40 or any other red dyes, so the dye can not be blamed for Jane's recent erratic behaviors. Her parents are insisting that it is allergy related instead of seizure related (which I suspect) so I think they will be eliminating wheat and dairy from her diet to eliminate that probability. Jane was pretty calm today, she responds so well to written instructions. When she gets off topic or behaves inappropriately, I just write what she should be doing and she does it. The funniest thing was, during math, she started copying her neighbors paper so I moved her to a table by herself and she said "I'm busted!"

I like to make bad choices

2007-09-12T19:04:00.000-04:00

Today was a rough day. Mahesh was constantly defiant. At the lunch table, he was hitting other kids and touching their food. I told him that if he made one more bad choice, he was leaving lunch, he immediatly smiled and touched the kid next to him's food. I threw his lunch away and took him back to the special ed room. I had no idea what to do with him, so I asked the special ed teacher and she said give him his social story book, I said "he knows the right way to act, this book is no good" she said, "just show him the pictures of good choices" So I let him look at the "right way to eat lunch" story. Then I gave him a task to complete. I know that he enjoys writing and reading and strongly dislikes drawing, so his job was to draw the correct lunchroom behavior using no words or numbers. (he likes to lable children in his drawings with their age and bus number). It took him about 45 minutes to comply. Once he made his drawing, I asked him "why do you made bad choices when you know the right thing to do?"
He told me "I like to make bad choices."
Then I said "tell me why you like to make bad choices."
He said "Because I get to read my book"
I said "You are not going to read this book again. I know you like reading and it can be a reward for you. If you are feeling bored in lunch, you can ask me for a reading break. If you are feeling bored or like you need to read, let me know and you can work for a reading break anytime during the day."
By the time we were done this conversation, it was time for me to go to math with different students, so I didn't get a chance to work out the reading breaks with him.
The girl (I will call her Jane) that I help with math, fell asleep during instruction. I took her out into the hall way and made her hold me hands and jump 20 times, I helped her go higher every time. This woke her up. Jane always calls me Mrs. Squawky, I try to be firm and tell her to use my right name, but I am always laughing on the inside.

Oppositional Defiance is getting me down

2007-09-10T18:50:00.000-04:00

Today was very rough. Mahesh was extremly oppositional. His teacher asked them to draw a picture of the "person of the day" for her book. Most of the kids spent about 10 minutes working on this with no arguments. It took Mahesh an hour to complete the drawing with much protest. I had to remove him from the room when all he would do is write words and scribble. now I understand that he has hyperlexia and that words are very interesting to him but he needs to understand that he needs to do what is asked of him. I gave him a new paper and let him try again, he wrote words and scribbled again. I wrote the directions on the white board for him, he read them and said following these rules is not a good choice. I drew a picture of the "person of the day" and described how I was drawing it, he said no. I picked up his hand and drew a picture with him, then told him to draw. He said no. I then ignored him, leaving him with the written instructions, the example and his crayons and paper. He wrote boring boring boring (which is impressive for a first grader, he is so hyperlexic) all over his paper, so I quietly took it away and gave him a new one. He did it again and again. After 45 minutes of this, I went to lunch and left him with his Autistic Support teacher. She sat down on the floor next to him and quietly drew a picture of the "person of the day" and finally he decided to comply. Things like this went on all day but this was the longest incident of defiance. I wonder if there was a better way to handle this?

Red Dye # 40 causes erratic behavior

2007-09-09T20:39:00.000-04:00

I learned that Red Dye #40 in food possibly causes erratic behavior in some people with autism as well as people with typical brains. I was working with a child that I do not usually work with. I came in to help her out with math. She was sitting on her chair hiding her face in her legs, when I wrote to her to sit correctly, she started screaming and crossing her eyes. She then jumped off of her chair and started hoping around the room like a frog. The class was told to come to the floor to listen to the teacher. She went to the floor but started spitting on the ground. I told her this is not acceptable behavior and she said to me laughing "Is it completely terrible?" So I sent her back to her seat. She sat in her seat for a minute then started running around laughing. She would not respond to anything, I or her teacher was saying, so i picked her up and took her to the nurses office. I was fearing that she was having some sort of seizure. She was calm in the office. The nurse took her temperature and it was 100.3 so she laid in the office for the rest of the day, since her mom was too far away to pick her up before the buses arrived. The next day her mom said the behavior was most likely caused by the red dye #40 in the pasta sauce she had that day. Now I am not completely sure that this is the true cause but it is an interesting theory.

ODD Management

2007-09-05T18:21:00.000-04:00

Today the Oppositional Defience Disorder was really put into full effect. Since it is the begining of the school year the classroom teacher has to go over the class rules and the playground rules. Since the boy I work with, (I will call him Mahesh, for story sake) needs to challenge and defy everything, he acted out every bad choice that was presented to the first grade. The teacher said on the playground we keep our hands to ourselves, then gave many examples of the wrong ways to interact. As soon, as her speech was over and the kids were told to line up for the playground, Mahesh went over and pushed another kid. Mahesh is very tiny, maybe 45 pounds? So when he pushed the larger boy, that boy just belted him. I figured that was punishment enough for him, so I acted like I didn't see it. I don't know if that was proper behavior management but no one is giving me much support on how to work with him. Later in the day, the teacher assigned a coloring project, she talked about how people are not green so don't use green to color your skin, use tan, brown or peach. As soon as Mahesh got his paper he began coloring the hair green. I used the advice from the pulling in the reins article, and took the green away and left the rest of the crayons to choose from, he then laughed and chose purple, so I then took away all of his crayons except brown and black. Then he chose black to color his hair. I like giving him options and it does work pretty well to give him very limited undesirable choices. Just when it comes to hitting, there are no choices I can give him; You can hit and get punished or you can not hit and have recess time, he would choose punishment because he enjoys being punished. I guess I need to figure out what he likes about punishment.

Hyperlexia Management

2007-09-04T22:26:00.001-04:00

I started working with this first grade boy, who is diagnosed with pdd.nos but I am very positive that he has hyperlexia. All day he was obsessed with reading every poster, every paper, every book, anything with words on it. The teacher was reading a story to the children while they sat on the floor, he was busy reading the board. She handed out books for the children to read along, he read his out loud very quickly before everyone even got their books. The other children were amazed that he could even read, since most of them can only read a few words. This sounds very hyperlexic to me. When the teacher was giving instructions about how to hang up their school bags, he was busy reading the numbers off of his number chart that is taped to his desk. He misunderstood almost every oral direction that was given but he remembered everything that was written. From now on I am just going to keep a portable white board with me and write out all oral instructions for him. When he earned a break, his choices were : play with a ball/sensory toy, draw on the board or do stretches. He chose to draw on the board and instead of drawing, he wrote words, numbers and letters. While we were walking through the hall, he read every poster. I asked him who taught him to be such a great reader? He laughed and said NO ONE! I said it must have been your mom, he said NO WAY, then I said it must have been your kindergarten teacher, he laughed and said NO WAY. Then I said who did then? He said NO ONE! While laughing more. I think I believe him. I haven't found many techniques to use through my research on hyperlexia. Maybe the best way to manage hyperlexia is to feed into it with more written words until his reading and listening comprehension grow. There were a few things that made me angry with his teacher, she assigned groups then each child was assigned a color and she deliberately assigned him red because it was the shortest and easiest word to read (she also said red like your shirt), she did not listen to him read off every color listed on the paper before she walked over. Also, while reviewing her behavior system, she focused mainly on the punishments and very little on the rewards. He also has Oppositional Defiance Disorder and for some reason craves punishment, soon after her explanation and examples of incorrect behaviors, he hit me, yelled and became very non compliant. Now that is off my chest maybe I can sleep easy tonight.

Increasing Motivation

2007-09-03T10:14:00.000-04:00

This is from more research that I have done. Tommorow I get to test it out. Wish me luck.

Reversing Demoralization and
Increasing Motivation in Your Child

Many times, in our effort to see children succeed, we will push them or require that they put in “more effort.” We comment on many aspects of their performance-trying to be constructive. Children and adolescents commonly see these comments as micromanaging, criticism, or as evidence that we care more about their grades and performance than we care about them. They frequently end up feeling demoralized and adopt a “what’s the use?” attitude.

We must remember that what we consider helpful comments may be perceived as criticism and negative. Our efforts to help them may result in feelings of hopelessness, a drop in morale, self-esteem, motivation and, ultimately, a strain in our relationship with them.

To reverse this drop in morale and strain in our relationship, we must:

Limit the number of comments

First, remember that it is better to note the positives. If you feel compelled to comment, then limit your “constructive comments” to one per event, whether it be homework, athletics, or friendship skills.
Example: “Keep your eye on the ball, just like you did on the last pitch.”
Instead of: “Keep your eye on the ball, elbow up, choke up on the bat, plant your foot, follow through, etc.”

Notice movement in the right direction

Second, it is most important to note behaviors that show your child that they are moving in the right direction (even though their performance may be far from adequate, much less perfection.) Without some encouragement even small changes will cease to exist. Big changes and substantial improvements only occur from a succession of small changes.
Example: “You’ve gotten both socks on without being reminded!”

Lower the bar and raise it as they progress.

Working with Oppositional Defiance Disorder

2007-08-31T18:56:00.000-04:00

A friend from work just sent me this information about how to work with oppositional defiance disorder. This seems really good for any defiant behavior. I will definitly be using this on Tuesday, I'll let you know how it goes.

PULLING IN THE REINS

Pulling in the reins is a technique to decrease the struggling with your child. By giving him/her choices, and encouraging appropriate actions, your child learns that if he/she does not make a choice, YOU WILL. Pulling in the reins helps the child learn to make decisions and to be responsible for the choices he/she makes.

HERE IS HOW TO PULL IN THE REINS:

When the child’s behavior is creating a problem for you, begin by giving a choice with wide parameters.
“Would you like to write on regular lined paper or special paper?”

If your child argues, continues to complain, and basically does not comply, do NOT repeat your original choice. Give him/her a new choice with narrower parameters, or rather, without the best option.
“You can write on regular small lined paper or regular big lined paper.”

If your child does not comply, take away another choice, again the better of the two options, and provide him/her with a less attractive choice.
“You can write on the front of the small lined paper or the back of the small lined paper.”

If your child is still struggling with you, give them the choice of doing the task voluntarily or involuntarily, but you MUST follow through.
“You can write by yourself, or I will help you write.”

If your child still refuses, physically guide him/her to complete the given task.

Your child will soon learn that if they don’t make a decision, you will make their decisions for the. For a child who often engages in power struggles, he/she will fight to retain their decision-making abilities. Thus, after several times of “Pulling in the Reins”, you will notice your child will act more quickly to make better choices to prevent you from making the choices for him/her.

Hyperlexia, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Disapointment

2007-08-30T17:57:00.000-04:00

I went back to work today for a staff inservice, the children come next Tuesday. My position is a 1:1 aide in an autistic support room. I have been working with one boy for two years as his one to one but when I got in today his teacher (my supervisor) said I would be working with another boy. This was so disapointed because my boy is very important to me, I have developed a great bond with him, and I finally understand him and how to manage his behavior. Now I have to start all over with a new boy, whom I've worked in the same room with for six weeks over the summer but not one to one because it we were told that another aide would be working with him through the school year, so she worked with him over the summer. I wish I would have paid more attention to him. But things will be different anyway, we will be trying to do regular ed as much as possible.
Aside from the disapointment of leaving my old buddy, it will be exciting to work with a new child. He has Hyperlexia and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Both disorders are unfamiliar to me, so I will do research to help me structure his reward systems and behavior plan. I'll post my discoveries here.

Working with Autism

2007-08-29T17:39:00.000-04:00

Over the summer, during my time off, I have been building an Autism website. (www.workingwithautism.info)This is the first one I have made since college, I forgot how tricky publishing can be. It took my a few hours to get everything up and working. Hopefully you find it helpful and informative. My favorite page is the behavior management one. Tomorrow is my first day back to work, so I will be blogging more often.

Things to come

2007-08-27T20:35:00.000-04:00

I go back to work in the Autistic Support Room next Tuesday. I am going to post different behavior management techniques and how or if they were effective. I just had an idea to use a small puzzle as a reward system. Good behaviors would earn a puzzle piece and when the puzzle is completed a preferred activity would be the reward. I'll see if I can put that to use.