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:)

Hotsy Totsy

We're here and it is HOT HOT HOT outside...hovering around 100 degrees and humid. "Hotsy Totsy" as Lowell now mimics me saying! Lowell loves the pool and sprinkler to keep cool:) He was begging to go out in the backyard and turn on the sprinkler at 6 am on Saturday morning. It was already 80 degrees, so we could have, but I didn't feel like waking up the neighborhood....we waited until 8 am:) He got wet whenver he could this weekend. He took a trip to a nearby pool with daddy and Bobo. Sunday night we went to my parents house and soaked in their big blow up pool. Lowell enjoyed kicking around and sitting down in the pool and having the water up to his chin. He also really enjoyed putting a small ball under water and having it pop up with a big splash. He is really into the song "Slippery Fish" and has these adorable hand motions that he does with the song, even when we sing it without accompanying music. Too cute!

Today Lowell was up bright and early at 4:30 am, went to DTP (Autism Day Treatment Program) and didn't go down to nap until 1:30 pm. I don't know how he does it!!

His report was good:
What I did really well today: sang and participated in music- likes parachute games
What was very fun about today: gym and books
My mood was: silly and funny!

Looks like we're supposed to get some rain tomorrow night and cool down into the 80's! 

Not so bad..

Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just as my ever-optimistic husband predicted, just when we reach the brink, Lowell seems to always pull through with flying colors. I last posted on Monday after a very rough morning. I'm happy to bring you an end of the week update that things have gotten better. Sooooooo much better!

Tuesday morning things were pretty calm around here. Lowell seemed in good spirits when I dropped him off at school. When I went to pick him up, the teachers seemed elated. They said he was so attentive, made great eye contact and really had a fabulous day. Sheila Merzer, the local "autism guru" observed as well, so I was happy to hear he was having a good day. This is what the school report said.

What I did really well today: great at puzzle (Red Rover) game.

What was very fun about today: tried water/sprinkler play, more adventurous with it today.

From Sheila: I was here to observe today. Lowell appears to have adjusted well to the program and routines. He willingly remains engaged with the others. He really a group activity that involved numbers. It was fun to see him!

From Speech: Lowell continues to be more verbal and socially engaged. Nice use of eye contact to initiate activities/joint attention across activities. He loved the obstacle course in which he got to jump on the ball and crawl through the tunnel to put body parts on Potatohead. His independence with the visual schedule continues to increase. His tolerance of our "PECS trainings" is also improving.

Yesterday afternoon Lowell went in our backyard and played in the sprinker. He seemed to really enjoy it. It's getting very hot outside. I think he loves the water to cool off. When he came back inside he started drawing on his Doodle Pro. He drew a round circle, then said "eyes" and drew 2 circles for eyes, said "mouth", "ears" and either "teeth" or "feet" as he was drawing. I was amazed!! I asked today and his OT said she had been drawing faces with him the other day. Cool! Then this morning he had an alphabet book and flipped up each letter and without any prompting said the word for the picture that was underneat. Wowza, we are in brand new territory here. Yippie!!

Here's his school report for Thursday.

What I did really well today: Lowell is increasing the time he spends in music group.

What was very fun about today: tent and flashlight play- allowed lights off for a while to play with flashlight.

From Music Therapist: Lowell gave me a great welcome back after I was out sick last week. He initiated interaction with bright eye contact and siles. He sustained eye contact and played reciprical initiation games with me. During music group he has increased the time he stays in the circle of peers, he returns with increased independence. During a sond on Wednesday, he gave sustained eye contact and participated in activity for entire song!!!

The dark side of Autism

So today was one of those rough days. This morning Lowell was rearing to go to school by 7:15 am and we don't leave until 8 am. He was getting bored. He started to take my hand and lead me around like he wanted something. He would take me to different spots and then was not at all clear about what he wanted, so he would get frustrated that I was not giving him what he *thought* the wanted. This went on and on an the frustration started to grow for both of us. It escalated to the point that I couldn't deal with him not being able to either a.) say b.) point c.) give me some clue (anything) to let me know what he wanted. I snapped and totally lost it. Definitely not one of my prouder moments. I started bawling and had to leave the room.

When we got to school I asked the teachers if there was anything else I could have tried. The speech therapist said it actually is a good sign that he is leading me around and we just need to keep working on the communication. Yea, I know. She also said it was a pretty "typical" developmental phase. I think what frustrates me most is that we haven't gotten past this yet. Before the age of 2 he didn't have any way of showing what he wanted. He didn't point or take my hand or verbalize anything. It was a guessing game what his grunts ment. So when he started taking my hand and actually bringing me to something I was thrilled. However, now that's where we've been for almost a year now. It's really starting to wear my patience. Ugh! I can honestly say I have never, ever wanted anything so bad as for my son to talk. Some days it hits me harder than others.

So here's the report from class. I'm happy to see they worked on PECS with him after hearing my story this morning.

What I did really well today: working on PECS

What was fun about today: chase in gym, new bubble machine

My mood was: good

Tomorrow is another day. I just need to remember to celebrate the baby steps, they are leading in the right direction:)

Autism Day Treatment program week 4

Ok, we're finally back on track. We had a rough start to the week with Lowell having a fever on Monday and missing his DTP (day treatment program). I think that he may be getting his 2 year molars and they're bugging him and causing a slight fever. Tuesday he was back in class, but was not yet himself. The teachers said he was much more frustrated and when I went to pick him up he was literally "passed out" in their arms from exhaustion. Of course he perked up in the car and then didn't take a nap all afternoon:( Wednesday we were getting closer to his normal self. His report said:

What I did really well today: Red Rover Game- involves listening, waiting, taking turns, following sequence and matching floor puzzle number. (I'll have to ask his teachers more about this. Joe and I looked at each other and said, "Lowell played Red Rover!?!?!?!?..wow!")
What was very fun about today: Red Rover game, hello group (attended well)

My mood was: much better today! More alert and less frustrated.

Lowell took a great LONG afternoon nap and seemed to be a catching up on his sleep.

Today Lowell was much more perky in the morning. I dropped him off and then attended a support group in the same building for mother's with Autistic children. It felt a bit strange (not quite used to being in this new "club" yet) but provided much needed outlet and support. I hope to attend once a month. When I went in the room to get Lowell at the end of the day, he was looking at a book. He looked up at me, gave me a huge smile and hug and said "all done!". SOOO CUTE!!!! His report today said:

What I did really well today: checking schedule went well today- a few trials.

What was very fun about today: jump and crash- seemed to help him keep more alert.

My mood was: good:)

It's been a difficult week getting back into the routine, but Lowell has really shown some wonderful growth. He has been very verbal and repeating a lot more. We were walking in from the garage from class yesterday. I told him it was nap time when we got inside, he turned off the garage light and said, "good night" and we went straight up to bed without a hitch. Bravo!

Lowell's trip up north

We're back!! If you want the candy coated version of our trip see my other blog:) Here I will get into more detail about what we experienced bringing Lowell to a cabin in northern Minnesota for a week. All-in-all we felt he did pretty well. Joe brought him up a day early while the rest of us were still in Milwaukee at a wedding. That way they were able to settle in a bit and get somewhat acquainted with the surroundings. When we arrived we went out for a walk in the woods. Back at the cabin, Lowell was immediately immersed in plugging and unplugging fans and hanging out at all the outlets obsessing over what he could put in them. We were able to turn the main outlet that he was interested in off so at least there was no electricity running through it. Immediately we knew we were going to have to pick our battles. He wasn't interested in any of the regular "play" items that he has at home. Each morning at 6 am (yikes!) my dad took him out to the lake and around the cabins to walk around for an hour or so. This picture was taken at sunrise. He enjoyed throwing rocks into the water for a bit, but that was pretty short-lived. They found an open cabin and Lowell loved to figure out where all the outlets and light switches were. There also was a main lodge that he always wanted to go into to play with the switch for the ceiling fan. Each time we walked by was a big event (i.e. tantrum!) if we didn't let him in. There were many things like this throughout the week that we all just had to be patient and work with him on. It was very trying, but a good growth experience for him. In the morning sun we went swimming most days and we did have some productive play there. He kicked around, walked starting in fairly deep water all the way to the shore and one day had a wonderful game of throwing a big rock into the water and then finding it and picking it up and throwing again. There was also a big slide that he loved:)The sleeping arrangements worked out pretty well. He took his regular nap and slept through the night until 5 am, just as he does at home. Joe slept in the same room with Lowell and I slept in a different room with Chloe. On the very last day we offered him a juice box. He has never been able to drink through a straw before but he figured it out immediately!! We were all sitting around the table and cheered wildly and he LOVED it:)
Overall we think that he did a pretty good just in such a different environment. We could certainly see his self-soothing obsessions (outlets, Baby Einstein videos and a toy phone) come into play a lot more than at home, but that was to be expected. The happy ending to this vacation is that since we got home yesterday he has been doing fabulous. He was very happy to be home in comfortable surroundings. He read his entire Dinosaur Roar book cover to cover all on his own over and over. We were able to get it all on tape! He has been very verbal. It seems that the week with his cousins was a growth period for him and now we're watching him blossom. Very exciting!!!