Hi all,
For those of you that have children that just started back to school I was wondering if you are having any difficulties this weekend with behavior etc? Everything was fine this morning until Adam realized that he is not going to his pre-school today. I showed him on the calendar. I pointed to saturday and said today no school. Then pointed to sunday and said tomorrow no school. Then i pointed to monday and said This day monday Adam goes back to school. Then i said things like You get a break for 2 days etc. You know switching up the language so that he might grasp some kind of concept that we wouldn't be going to school today. Anyway...since this morning and after breakfast he has been something else..I mean real stinker jeans over here. He has already been in time out for hitting me over anger and frustration 4 times. He hasn't had a typical meltdown yet but I fear one is comming very soon. He has not had to go to time out in weeks you guys!! Also Daddy had last week off and was home and today he had to go back into work so there is a change there too. Yummy for mommy!!! Anyway...just wondering if anyone else is having problems today with their children or if you remember any time that they did when they were in school. Also curious if your children did or did not ever transition well for the weekends once they get used to the schedule since this is adam's first experience with school. Thanks,
Karrie
OMG!! YES!! Katie is in regular kindergarten with 22 kids.. She is having behaviors out the wazoo. She is tantrumming out home. Extrememly frustrated. I finally read the behavior log from school. Apparently she is licking her shoes and feet at school
Maybe try making a calander for Adam with a bus or something he associates with school on his school days and mommy and daddy or home on the weekends... you can then add little drawings for special events like his birthday, a holiday a planned event etc. Make it routine crossing off each day at bedtime so he knows what to expect for the next day... ask in the morning what is today? and do it the same way today is Monday (or whatever day) today is School. Eventually he should pick up pretty easy to check his calander for what is happening that day... Also seemed (at least with Tyler) to avoid anger because it was a calander telling him if he did ir didn't have school instead of mom. (Sorta like using a timer for time out instead of the parent saying "ok you served your time" LOL) Anyway Hopefully it will help especially for the weeks when he has a monday off for a holiday or a friday off for teacher conferences or during holiday breaks. You could even ask him to help you plan what to do each of those break days and mark them on the calander with his favorite activities.... Hope you have good drawing skills! LOL I always tried to draw a picture AND write the word so he sees the two together. .............. BTW I STILL use the calander for transitions and he is almost 10!
I was told to avoid questions that started with a "w", like what, when, and where. Autistic kids have a problem processing questions that start like that. I know Jeffrey's neuro still avoids questions that start like that.
Tammy
Michelle - a picture schedule with words is a great idea - I have to actually make one this weekend to put in my daughter's bathroom so she knows what to do to get ready in the mornings. I won't need to use pictures for her, but I do have to make her a checklist. We have one in the shower too. If we don't, she'll just stand there and empty out all the bottles - it's been a fascination for her since she was able to get any bottle open. For the longest time I just thought she was mighty clean - but none of the soap made it on her - it was just pretty swirls on the bathtub floor and dooooowwwn the drain it went.
The calendar is definitely a good idea and a good one should be in most autistic classrooms too. It should be large and kid friendly. The dry erase ones work well at home because you can actually write, "No School" and write a schedule on it. I know in autistic classrooms they are able to write in the missing days if a number is missing, they can answer questions like, "after monday is ______. A week from now is_________."
I know we're starting to work on "the day before, two weeks from now, last week" - time frames. Jara still says, "not yesterday, not the other yesterday or the other yesterday" and I have to count back the days. :/ So, the earlier you can start on that seems to be best. Most children on the spectrum live in the "here and now" so any time you can incorporate something concrete for them with reference to the future or a schedule is a great idea.
Tammy - it is true that autistic children have a hard time discriminating the wh questions...we had to do endless hours of discrete trials of wh questions with Jara last year and she knows them beautifully now. It may be difficult, but it's possible to teach them. Sometimes it's first just teaching children to read for communication vs. just verbalizing the words. It's a process.
Karrie- School hasnt started here yet not until aug 24th for our daughter! I am trying desperatly to get her back on the schedule! When she went for summer school she had major melt downs once a weekend! She loves riding the bus and seeing her friends and teacher! Her bus driver said if we ever need a break she will take her home with her LOL! I think it has alot to do with change.. School for 5 days then poof your at home no school! Our daughter has a hard time with scheduling changes! I let her up until 10-10:30 everynight for the summer now i am trying to get her in bed by 9:30 and having a struggle! Of course Night sickness strikes me around 9:00 everynight and she has to be in the bathroom patting my back! So it doesnt help! For some reason she will beat the door and scream until i let her in! My DH has even tried to distract her! I am looking foward to school starting for the daily break but i know ill miss her all day! I hope that everything calms down foor you!
Angie