Merry Christmas!

Happy Holiday's! Wishing you peace and joy in the New Year:)

Gifts of Hope

Hello! I know, it's been a long time since I've updated. Now the holiday's are upon us and I wanted to share some thoughts. Lowell has continued to make steady progress. Although, in the last few weeks things have regressed a bit as he has had a bad cold. He has become *very* obsessive lately, it seems like as a self-soothing tactic. This has worn on our patience at home, especially as we have all been passing around a cold all month. We are hoping he will enjoy some of his Christmas gifts and play with those toys, rather than obsess on extension cords and karoke machines:)On a positive note, we got the most delightful gifts from Lowell's therapists at St. David's today. The music therapist made a "best of" cd made up of the music she uses while working with the kids, for us to play at home. One of the lead teachers gave us the book, "Changed by a Child" by Barbara Gill. The other lead teacher made an absolutely *wonderful* picture book filled with pictures of Lowell at the Autism Day Treatment program. It brought tears to my eyes as I paged through it, looking at our little guy and all the hard work they are all doing there. What amazing help he is receiving!! The snow ornament Lowell made himself:) The stuffed animal is from a child that receives services at St. David's that wanted to use his Bat Mitzvah money to buy toys for other kids. I was very moved by these gifts and my heart is full of appreciation and joy.
I was also able to spread a little joy myself to my "special mom" friends. It's a group of women that I hang out with that all have little boys the same age on the Autism spectrum. We get together once a month for a mom's night out and offer so much support and hope to one another. I feel so blessed to have them as friends. I made each woman a HOPE sign to hang in their home to remember that we have each other and we have hope. That says it all! Happy Holiday's to you and yours:)

December update

Lots to catch up on with Lowell. He has been making great progress recently in his Autism Day Treatment program at St. David's. He's become much more social and seems to be more in control of his body. We attribute some of this to him (finally) getting into a really good sleep pattern. He's consistently over the last 10 days or so slept until around 6:30 am. Yeeha!!! He has been less irritable and obsessive, probably from being well rested:)

As you can see here, he loves the new door mirror. He likes looking at himself counting on his fingers and he likes to put on his coat, shoes, and hat while looking at himself (above). He really wants to learn how to tie his own shoes. We'll see!

Fabulous update from his music therapist today said:

Lowell really shined with turn taking skills this week. He imitates turn taking language and spontaneously requested turn. He passes instruments to peers with cues and occassionally independently. He is also more interested in watching peers have turns:)

His occupational therapist gave us a list of good gift ideas. For those of you that read this that have Autistic kids, I thought it may be helpful. Anyone else have good gift ideas? I'd love to hear them.

*pillows- the soft, silky pillows that are filled with tiny pellets. They work great for catching and tossing. *bucket or children's basketball hoop *bath toys- squirters, cups for pouring, strainers, etc. (works on hand development and strengthening) *scissors *crayons- better than markers for hand development *whistles, blowers, etc.- good for oral development and calming *squishballs, Kooshballs * bean bags * playdoh, cookie cutters, rolling pin *interlocking, connecting building sets- promote coordination of both hands *Cool Bananas- CD by Genevieve Jereb. Children's songs played slightly slower pace. Can be found at sensoryresources.com *dolls with clothes- work on dressing doll, putting on shoes, feeding, etc. *exercise/therapy ball


Also, the cover of Newsweek magazine, Nov. 27th issue is What happens when they grow up? Click on the underlined words and you'll get the link to the full text article. Pretty interesting stuff!

Here's lookin' at you:)

Lowell was off today, so we hung out at home. The kids were very mellow and played nicely. I found Lowell with his hat on and these wonderful glasses and had to snap a pic. Too funny!

Lowell's been sleeping a bit later (until 5:30 a.m.) and I really think that's helping his energy level at St. David's ADT. I guess the other day during their hello group he became the "featured soloist" as he broke out into song all on his own. I guess he's really coming out of his shell. It's always so bizarre (and frustrating) that he can sing a song all the way through, but has never used words to ask for a glass of juice, or tell us he wants music or video, etc. Go figure!

Catching up...

I know, Halloween came and went, now it's November and almost Thanksgiving (yikes!) and where have I been?!! Let me tell you all about it....

The Halloween party was a lot of fun. Lowell was a bit overwhelmed with so many people coming into our home and lots (and lots) of activity. Luckily the weather was decent and we were able to go outside and play in the yard, which he really enjoyed. We also resorted to showing some Elmo vidoes to keep him soothed. Overall I think people had a really nice time.

The very next weekend, I went to Omaha for an art workshop weekend. See my other blog. I had a *fabulous* time and it sounded like everything went well here. Wewh!

Lowell has been doing really well at his Autism Day Treatment program. They all seem to really be on a roll and he is progressing nicely. I was floored by this note from his music therapist from this week...WOW!!!..

"I stretched the kids need to watch and attend this week- Lowell did a great job! On Tuesday we did a worksheet activity, listening to recorded animal sounds and indentifying by coloring the correct animal on the worksheet. Lowell attended so well and needed only minimal cues to stay on task to completion. We also listened while I told a story with a picture book. Relaxing music encouraged our bodies to slow down and attend to the story. Again, Lowell was very successful. Today we did a join puzzle activity taking turns putting pieces in puzzle (instrument shapes that played a tune when placed in puzzle). Lowell love the activity and with only minimal cues shared turns with 2 peers in our small group. Lowell continues to verbalize spontaneously, he requests turn, identifies peers having a turn and makes song choices given picture selections. Nice week!"

We had a "parent night" at St. David's last night with a potty training theme. It was helpful and informative. It was also really nice to connect with Lowell's occupational therapist. We asked her about what he is seeing Lowell doing. She is very impressed with showing more joy in new and novel things. She said he is fixating a lot less and really enjoying playing!

I have also tried to organize and change around some of the toys at home. We brought the kiddie pool inside and have it full of balls to roll around in. We also recently bought a trampoline. We now have a play kitchen set up and I've been having so much fun buying fake food and a toaster and other items to play with. My latest purchase is the Doug and Mellissa cutting food. I love how it's wooden food and has velcro in between the pieces for them to practice cutting. They love that!


Finally, Lowell had his "school picture" taken at St. David's. This is before his hair cut, when he still had his shaggy trendy do goin' on. Hehe! Doesn't he look older? We got such a kick out of this picture, we think he looks 3 going on 13! Too cute:)

Getting ready...

As you can see, we're starting to get ready for Halloween here:) Next Saturday is our annual Halloween party. Can't wait!!!

It was a good, pretty even keel week around here. Lowell is getting less frustrated and tries to show us more successfully what he wants. He continues to increase the number of words he says. His latest is taking his clothes off and sitting up on the counter by the sink. He likes to put soap in his hands and then rinse them in the sink. He is mimicking a scene from an Elmo video. He also likes to put his feet in the sink and sometimes a bit of his hair, also from the video. He is recently very into flushing the toilet.

Lowell had a good week at the Autism Day Treatment program. Monday was “picture day”. They said he did pretty well going into a new room and sitting (briefly) and didn’t get upset. Look forward to seeing the pictures!

From music therapist: Apparently, Lowell gets the “sense of humor” award this week! A staff person substituted Lowell’s name as lyrics of a favorite song from music group. Lowell instantly caught the humor and joined in singing and showed appropriate bright and silly affect. What a nice interpersonal connection! Today he made choices given pictures of songs. He labeled his choice independently each opportunity.

From speech therapist: I love how Lowell comes “trottin’” over to my little table and slides into his chair- all ready to get down to business! He has been very cooperative and willing to follow my lead. I am impressed with his verbal choice making. I see much more intent when he says the word- for example; he says the word and immediately reaches for the item, which shows me that he is truly requesting it.

From Occupational Therapist: Lowell had a fun time with me today. He did shaving cream on the easel! It’s nice to see him tolerating a lot more tactile input. He also really enjoyed doing somersaults down a ramp into the ball pit. He came back for more several times.

Right now!!!

TONIGHT on Comedy Central, Jon Stewart is hosting a benefit for Autism Education called

Night of Too Many Stars

Soaking in Fall

What gorgeous fall weather we're having here in Minnesota. I just love this pic of Lowell I took while taking a walk today in Wolsfeld Woods. He's just taking in the scenery:) Lowell had a great week last week and to top it off, Friday night he slept in his big boy bed with NO crib in the room at all for the first time! He did fall asleep on the bed and slept until 6 am. Woohoo!! He watched us take down the crib and we sang the good-bye song from school over and over again as we took the pieces of his crib down to the basement. He seemed to be just fine with it. From the sounds of his feet pitter pattering across the floor, he seems to like having the extra room to "play"!

He had some wonderful reports from his speech therapist and music therapist at the Autism Day Treatment program last week.

From music therapist: Lowell met goal of following directions 50% of opportunities each day this week. He consistently "cleans up" independently, follows song cue "come on over and sit right down" independently or with minimal cues. This week Lowell has been on task nearly 100% of opportunities during joint singing. Several times he sang complete songs with therapist. With prompts, Lowell approaches peer to include him in play (handing peer play object). On task behavior was increased this week. He is beginning to follow a point gesture (physical gesture) consistently.

From speech therapist: Lowell (why is it that I smile every time I write his name:):) He was his usual chatty self today. Lots of labeling and repeating verbal play routines- mostly in context, sometimes not. I'm continuing to work heavily on teaching him to request. I used pictures (PECS modified) at times, but I'm not convinced this is that helpful. He is definitely improving and I will continue to share any helpful hints I may discover as I work with him.

Fall Fun!

We had a nice weekend here. The weather is picture perfect...literally. It is ideal weather for taking pictures of the gorgeous fall colors:) On Sunday I went with the kids and my parents to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It was a lovely evening for it and we had a lot of fun. Lowell LOVED the water fountains!

New friends

Wow, long time-no post. We've been chugging along here. Lowell finally is on the good side of his cold and seems to be feeling a lot better. He's verbalizing more and more. Last night he turned off all the lights before going up to bath and said "dark" appropriately. Cool! In other news, I went to a workshop on potty training your autistic child. Yikes..sounds like it may take awhile! Lowell also has a new pediatrician that came highly recommended. She seems quite nice and very accomodating. I like that she wants to do some blood work. We've never gone that route and it would put my mind at ease to know that all is "balanced" in his body, as much as it can be!

As you can see in these pictures, Lowell really got into his Baby Einstein puppets tonight. We gave them to him for his birthday. He hadn't shown any interest in them, but tonight went over and put them on his hands. He didn't "talk" to them at all, but was intrigued with them and the fact that they matched the characters in his video. Pretty cool! Last night Lowell was drawing on his Doodle Pro and drew numbers 1-23 all by himself, with no prompting. They even looked like the right numbers:) In school today they said he's now counting up into the 60's. He's been really making some great progress lately.

I did a little project on my other blog about this, but I thought the article written by Temple Grandin would be of interest to you.

Let's go fly a kite!

Last weekend we had the *perfect* kite flying weather. Lowell loved watching us run across the backyard with the kite in the air, so he gave it a try:) Now the weather has turned cool and rainy. Lowell's had a cold this week, so he's been "under the weather" a bit. 

Happy Birthday Lowell~

Lowell turned 3 years old today! He had a nice, mellow day. I brought in GF/CF brownies to his Autism Day Treatment class. He took a huge nap this afternoon and then my parents came over for dinner. He's such a simple kid. He was very content with his new Sesame Street book and his balloon, sitting and reading to his alligator friend. A fine way to spend a birthday!

Karaoke Lowell~

So Joe's dad (Lowell's grandpa) came over yesterday and brought Lowell a early birthday present....a real karaoke machine!!! How fun:) Lowell was, of course, very curious about the words on the screen and the familiar songs. He loved pointing at the words on the screen! He even put the microphone up to his mouth, but has yet to say anything into it. What a great gift! He really seemed to be able to handle not getting overly obsessed on the buttons. He touched them, but then let the songs play, without pressing them just to press. I can't wait until he figures out how fun it is to talk...or sing...into the microphone and can enjoy that too!!Here's another pic from today of Lowell admiring his Think Autism. Think Cure. bracelet. Ok, he doesn't know it says that, but it's sweet nonetheless. Lowell has had a very good week back at his Autism Day Treatment program. The note from today said he did really well in music class and is doing very well with his picture schedule. Yay! We've also noticed at home that we can stop mid-reading or mid-song and he'll fill in the blank. It's become a fun game to play and it really shows us how much his vocabulary has taken off! One more week until Lowell turns 3!!!

It's a wonderful life!

I was told about this story in my comments last post. Amazing! I've loved this artist for years and didn't know she has an Autistic son. So fun when you realize that you have so much in common with someone you admire. Very hopeful story! Give it a read:)

So this is the end of our week off from the Autism Day Treatment program. This week went better than I could have ever imagined. Lowell was very calm much of the time and used his words very well. I can't even count how many new things he's said in the last 10 days!! He's also getting much better about letting us know what he wants. I'm excited for him to start back up with the program after some good quality family time. Now he's rested and ready to learn!

A week off...

Hi~ yes, we're still here. This week we've been off of the Autism Day Treatment program, so things have been busy. It's been a nice treat to have both kids together all day again. This may sound terrible, but I was actually dreading it. The few weeks leading up to it, the kids had been feeding off each other so much with their whining and tantrums. I didn't know if I'd have the patience. They've pleasantly surprised me. They've both been behaving very well and have actually enjoyed each other. They've started chasing each other across the living room, back and forth. It's wonderful to see Lowell looking at Chloe and laughing and smiling with her. Running away, waiting for her to catch up and running again. LOVE the interaction:) The other *huge* thing that has happened lately is Lowell's "functional" language has really taken off. He is usually short phrases, (i.e. nap time, bath time, bed time) appropriately and abides by them. It's wonderful. MUCH less whining, tantrums, frustration. That makes us all happy!!! We've also been really enjoying this late summer Minnesota weather. There is a hint of fall in the air, with a bit cooler, more crisp air. It feels wonderful and makes for great fun at the park. This picture shows what Lowell does when you try to snap a pic of him. He smiles and squints his eyes shut really hard. Nice. Have a great rest of the week and holiday weekend!

Dear Lowell...

I made this layout and posted it on my other blog, but thought it was so appropriate for here that I would share it. I wrote this letter to Lowell about how far he's come this summer. It's been so much fun watching him. I took this picture on the first day of summer and here we are almost to Labor day, only a month away from his 3rd birthday, and he's made some great progress:)

It says...

Dear Bean,
You've had such an amazing summer. You've grown in so many ways. You started the Autism Day Treatment program at St. David's 8 weeks ago. You now walk in each morning and "greet" your teachers with a smile and giggle, while looking at them! Your vocabulary has exploded! You now repeat words after we say them and identify things on your own. Your eye contact and interaction has improved dramatically. You love reading books, esp. ABC books. We are so proud of how far you've come and can't wait to see what you do next!
Love,
Mommy

Autism Day Treatment program week 8

Wow, hard to believe it's been 8 weeks already! This summer is really flying by. This week was a bit more balanced for Lowell. He did have a fever mid-week that we got checked out and ears, eyes and throat look fine. We also had a parent night at St. David's with the other parents of the kids in the Autism Day Treatment program. It was fun to connect and get to know each other a bit. The teachers had the kids show us some of the fun activities that they enjoy doing in class. This week Lowell seemed to get into coloring. He goes in spurts with this. It is quite amazing how much he stays within the lines!

He has had some increased sensory issues. Lots more irritation with noises and some increased light sensitivity. When he got the fever we thought maybe he had an ear infection and that was contributing to the increased sensitivity, however his ears checked out fine. Not sure what's going on with the sensory defensiveness.

One more week of the program before we have a week off. The weather has been absolutely stellar, so we've spent much of the weekend at various parks. I love early fall!!! Have a great week:)

P.S. Here's a scrapbook page I made from some of Lowell's creative pursuits, art and music!

Autism Day Treatment program wk 7

We got out the finger paints today. Fun!


Wow this week went by fast! Lowell's been pretty up and down at home, although he had a pretty good week at ADTP.

Speech:
Lowell had a great day! He was very happy and verbal. Nice transitions with his visual schedule- increased independence. I am also seeing increased initiation of interaction with me as well as increased parallel play with other kids. Eye contact and joint attending continues to increase. He did a great job identifying animal photos in 1:1 work today, as well as imitating their names.

Music:
Lowell continues to make gains! Overall the time he spends engaged and interacting is greater than the time he spends self-directed. Not only does he respond to my interaction attemps but he initiates interaction with eye contact, touch, singing , words. His affect is bright: he seems to enjoy working so hard!

Now that he seems to be getting the hang of the picture schedules at school, we are going to start using them at home. For some reason we have resisted this and now that the groundwork is laid, we realize how much it could help. He will have a picture schedule for his morning routine, after nap, and bedtime.

We also are still really struggling with his sleep routine. We are now pushing his bedtime from 7:30 pm to 8 pm since he seems like he really has a lot of energy left in the evening. He is asleep by 9 pm. However, he continues to wake up at 5 am or before!!! We're in a catch 22, if we have him go back into his bedroom, he pounds on the door (it's locked) and tends to wake up his sister. If he gets up he can be really groggy and crabby, because it's too dang early for anyone to be up!!! Yikes.

Edit: Today (Sunday) Lowell got up at 5:30 am. We're making progress!!! It's so cute, he now comes into our room and comes over to me and grabs my hand. LOVE waking up that way:)

Let's play!

They're starting to play together now. Yay!! Things are mellowing out at home with Lowell. He's sleeping a bit later in the morning. He's more independent using his picture schedule and with the general routine at St. David's. He actually said "want" tonight (when prompted) when he wanted something. Yippie!!!

Turbulence

We sure have had our ups and downs lately. Lowell continues to do very well at the Autism Day Treatment program and also continues to be very difficult at home. When I ask his teachers about the increase in intensity of his tantrums they say that it is part of his development and advances that he's making and is actually a positive thing. Of course we're all hoping that with the increased frustration about not being able to communicate he will eventually use some of his new vocabulary and realize the power of words to get what he wants. We can hope!

The best story of the week is that one day they had some potential donors come and watch his class. I guess Lowell was very social this week. He was paying a lot more attention to the people around him and apparently turned around from the table he was sitting at and gave the donors a huge smile. Everyone loved it:) One of his teachers said, " I think they went up and wrote a check right then and there." Too funny!

So our goal right now are to get through this turbulent time. Try to come up with some sort of morning routine and have a picture schedule to go with it. Also try to ease his waking up. He has been an absolute bear after waking in the morning and especially after naps lately. We have our first conference with his day treatment program teachers tomorrow, so that should be good:)