The Monster, like a lot of children with Autism, operates better with a schedule. Continue reading
behavior
Spontaneous
So I missed out a lot this weekend, because of my bonspiel (curling tournament). It’s one of the rare times where I take “me time” in such huge quantities, and wasn’t conducive to my being either on Twitter or here.
But, after the bonspiel was over, I headed back to hook up with the family again and to head out to dinner with my wife and the kids. Continue reading
Meltdown Mayhem
I know that all parents of children with Autism go through this from time to time – knowing that you’re going to be taking your child into a scenario where a meltdown is all but guaranteed. Continue reading
Back to Normal
This morning was the Monster’s first day back at school in almost two weeks.
Over the vacation, we obviously didn’t keep him to his ‘real’ schedule for lack of having any way to do that. As I’ve mentioned, there was a very large issue with behavior, due to the order of his life breaking down with that regard. Continue reading
In The Background
So, against the backdrop of trying to get the Monster toilet trained this week – an activity that, as you’ve all been aware, is going kind of in fits and starts – I’ve been spending a good amount of time with the kids. Continue reading
Disruptions Ahead
I got home last night from my curling to hear that the Monster had decided he didn’t want to go to bed on time.
Now, usually, the Monster’s very good about going to bed – he likes his schedule, and he sticks to it well himself. I realize that all kids have these incidents, but this was a bit closer to a meltdown than the usual I-don’t-want-to-go-to-bed fits. Continue reading
Learning to Say No
So I returned home last night to find the Monster screaming his head off from his bedroom as if he’d fallen and had really hurt himself.
By the time I made it upstairs to find out what was going on, I found my wife barricading the door to keep him in his room for time-out. (We made the dreadful mistake of not putting a baby-gate on the door to his new bedroom, which I rectified within 45 seconds of arriving.) The next thirty minutes were a mess of trying to calm him down and find out what had precipitated a meltdown of epic proportions. Continue reading
G’bye Mommy! G’bye, Abba!
Before the baby was born, we planned on doing a few last renovations to our house to make sure we could use some of the rooms we’d not been using. A secondary goal in this, of course, was to let the wife move her study out of the third bedroom, and down to where my study, so that we could move the Monster into his own room. The goal of this, of course, was to let the baby move into the nursery and out of the master bedroom. Continue reading
Therapy
Today was our first visit to a behavioral psychologist for the Monster.
So far, we’ve been really unable to find an ABA practice that is covered by our insurance (as mentioned previously – ABA is not required to be covered by law here in Maryland), and we’ve been working with Kennedy Krieger for a number of studies and for developmental pediatrician visits. As part of the battery of these services, we finally got the Monster in to see someone on the psychological side of the house to start working on the other issues. Continue reading
Out of Sorts
So I have this wild, wacky feeling that the Monster’s still on the sick-side of things.
Granted, he’s clearly now without a fever and the like, but this was the second morning in a row that he’s been uncooperative and uncommunicative at breakfast time. It goes beyond yesterday’s comment on not understanding what he wants – today was a meltdown that seemingly started from the moment he got out of bed. Continue reading