Sarah liked to have total control in therapy which made for some hard days and tough lessons she had to learn..dont relish those memories at all.
I wanted to quit so many times... all the long hours of tantrums and screaming drove me insane and broke my heart but she would suddenly have breakthoughs and learned how to learn..the hard way on most days but in the end she did it willingly and learned to love the verbal praise she got and was motivated to please her therapists & teachers~
Her tantrums are short and sweet now but it didnt happen overnight:) The years between 3-5 were the hardest!
Just like any kid, our kids have good days and bad. Some days J seems
nearly indistingiushable from typical kids. Then I get a bit comfy with
that, and he of course proves me wrong. I was so pleased with his
progress, especially in Yoga class, where he has been enthusiastic and
participating really well. Then, last time we went, he was running circles,
spinning, humming loudly,squinting, interupting constantly, rolling
himself up in his mat like a burrito, yelling at other kids to keep their
hands to themselves. sittng in a corner. ...It's troubling, but makes me
remember he used to be like that all the time, not just on harder days.
Kids progress a little, old behaviors pop up again, they progreess a little
more. It's not a linear path. The fact that your son is doing so well in
familiar enviornments is a good sign.
Today we took Ryan to his new social skills group. This was the first new therapy, setting, etc that we introduced into his repetoire in over 5 months. Until today, I was so encouraged with the progress hes making both verbally and with his therapists but today he acted just like he was before we started any therapy at all- totally nonverbal, and disengaged- the "old Ryan". This is such a roller coaster. Just when I was feeling so good about Ryan and his progress, today reminded me that all of the stars have to be aligned (ie he has to be in a totally familiar, comfortable situation) for Ryan to be his best self. I know its only been 5 months but I just feel like we have such a looooooong way to go.My son at times will set himself out to not have a good day. He is older
and granted He has had some more therapy. There are some days that
things dont click, a lot of things are off and they do not want to try. It
happens very rarely now but it still happens. I will tell you the funniest
one from last year.
In his summer playgroup they had a behavioral meter It went from Blue
(superstar) Green (good job) yellow(warning/reminder) orange(last
warning)
red(a note or call to Mom or Dad) The kids names were on a clothespin
which got moved up or down. mind you the small group rarely got below
green. He walked into the room and moved his clothespin with his name
on it to red and continued to be defiant and or non responsive for the
session.
Some one told me that having a child with autism is like playing wac-0-
mole. You never know what is going to pop up next. How true. Hang in
there.
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