. | Autism PDD

As a preschooler, my son preferred to figure things out on his own, and either ignored what we had to say or got frustrated by it (he couldn't divide his attention between concentrating and listening). It seemed like he learned best when I read aloud to him at bedtime -- maybe the combination of engaging visuals and the sensations of being under the blanket, etc.

As a school kid during homework time, he does a lot of fidgeting and complaining. At school he's more cooperative but has had short endurance -- needs short sessions, but that is improving this year.

We use a lot of humor and try to make the task fun whenever possible.

Sharlet dromps to the ground, scream and flap and sometimes thrash and
kick, or often she will go completely passive and look at her feet and refuse
to move a single muscle.Mason's biggest thing is to pick up what he is working on and crumple it up or throw it across the room. Sometimes he would take a crayon or what writing object was closest and just scribble all over the work. We knew this wasn't him just being naughty, it was frustration so in school they would give him some sort of break whether it was just a walk or a trip to the OT room and then bring him back and try to get his attention back on task...but he brought home MANY projects and work that were completed but I could tell at some point he got frustrated because it would be soooo wrinkled, or scribbled all over.

Sarah at the very beginning of therapy:

This was her game plan from day one:)

1. Totally ignored demand (demand stayed!)
2. Start to whine (reminded to do demand)
3. Whine turned to sob (the demand still there!)
4. Sob turn to screaming (demand intact!!)
5. Screaming to total meltdown on the floor! ( demand stayed...)
6. She did demand....DEMAND WINS!!!! YEA!!!
Our game plan was in place before she had a chance:P

Jason will avoid like the plague, and if we persist, he'll start squealing. If we continue to push the issue, he'll start rolling around on the floor, screaming and kicking. This happens even if we switch activities.

He did well with the speech therapist yesterday, but it was difficult at first. He seemed to catch on (after about 5-6 tries) that if he gave her even an instant of eye contact that she would give him the toy, though. She gave him breaks, and could tell when she "pushed it too far" pretty quickly, though, so I am hopeful. He likes her, I think, and that helps. First session, though, and he was having a good day. Before she came for the session, he actually looked me in the eye, smiled, and imitated me saying "Num-num" as I pretended to eat a plastic chicken leg, lol. I was over the moon!

My son had a lot of these behaviors.
He would be very affectionate with the therapist (90% girls) try to sit on their
laps, give them kisses and hugs all the time
He would tune out.
He would repeat, what did you say?
When he was given a non preferred task or a hard task, he would be looking
for anything and anyone else to talk to.
These are some of the many anti-learning behaviors that we had to work
through. kids are very smart, they will come up with novel ways of
avoidance. My son does this less and less now.T jsut plays dumb ... or else tells me I don't want to do that right now ... or else starts a little chat between her fingers!I experience full blown whining that will turn into screaming. Sometimes Nikolas will do it anyway and then start melting down after he's done. THey will also run away, run, not walk. LOL!