I'm not sure I have it in me to get into details right now, but we had Jake's IEP meeting yesterday. It went really well, overall. We discussed the results of the PEP-3 that his special educator did with him, and that was very enlightening. He needs a ton of work on fine motor and gross motor - yet he is the most balanced, coordinated kid you've ever seen if you just watch him move on his own. It's the motor planning part that I think is - well, broken. I do feel that the intensity of his need in this area speaks to possible neurological damage. My own gut feeling is this happened when he was malnourished before his cystic fibrosis diagnosis.
The good news is that he is only mildly affected socially and emotionally. I think that is pretty cool. He is a very social kid, given how significantly his autism affects him. All that DIR and floortime and RDI and having AP parents who are in touch with their emotions and such - well, I'll take credit for it, okay?
But I have to give huge props to the school team. When we reflected yesterday, on where he was a year ago, it's just phenomenal. The difference is night and day. He's doing just amazingly well, and the program is simply awesome. I don't even really have enough superlatives to throw at it. He's in an intensive environment, a well-designed, well-executed one, for 3 solid hours a day, and it's having a huge effect on his progress.
So, we're hitting fine and gross motor goals hard on this IEP. And language. That's my goal, anyway. Yes, we need to continue to move him along socially - absolutely. But I would like to really see emphasis on ameliorating the motor planning issue. I think that motor planning difficulties are part of his language issues as well - and why scripting works well for him.
Another little proud mommy note. He is just such a love, and kids and adults alike are completely head-over-heels for him. He brings joy and smiles to everyone he meets. I just think that's so cool. He's a very special kid.
And on the being a love note, we have a complete goofy love of a labradoodle. He's somehow out of the mouthing phase (I know, I know, he is only five months old) and just settling in as a lazy, labby, snuggling loaf of a pup. We need to exercise him more or something! But he's calmed down so much, and he and Jake have developed a method of playing together that is pretty neat. Jake has figured out how to hold the top of his muzzle so he can't mouth him, and that's opened up a world of play because Jake no longer feels threatened by the possibility of mouthing. Burke sometimes whines and cries about his snout being held, but stays to engage Jake more, so it's all puppy drama. They will wrestle and play on the king-sized bed for many minutes at a time! All I can hear is Jake giggling and laughing...it's great.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
November Nuttiness.
I'm struggling to stay afloat this month. We had the swine flu, mostly recovered, but now have a cold that is hitting us all (except Katie) a good bit harder than usual. Jake had his quarterly cystic fibrosis checkup yesterday, and he did fairly well, but they're concerned about his weight, so we have to feed him up and go back in two months. He was up to 67 pounds when school started, but lost a couple just from not having free range access to food all day long in a more unstructured environment. While he has access to food always at school, he's often so busy that I don't think he eats unless it is at snack or lunch. So he had been down to 65, which they would have been happy with, but the swine flu knocked off a couple more, and he looks thin and they want him fattened up. So, more cases of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to buy, more ice cream, heavy Jersey cream for his oatmeal in the mornings.
Burke is doing amazing, and we tried our first venture into a Staples yesterday with the harness and two leads - one for Jake and one for me. Well, hm. Didn't go so well. Within a few feet, Burke was so excited he was standing on his hind legs! Silly poodlehead. He is such a prancer that way. I got really embarrassed and shuffled him to the car, although the woman at the checkout was very supportive and I think I could definitely have just worked through it with him. I think he was mostly blown away by the hugeness of the space, and overexcited since he had spent the previous several hours in the car waiting for us.
That's been my main obstacle with public access training: he goes with us somewhere, then is hyped up by the long car ride or having to wait while we do something else first. It is also more work than I thought to manage both the dog and Jake, although I got really excited about the prospect of Jake holding Burke's leash while I hold the other one - it felt more "normal" for Jake in a way, than me holding his hand when he's nine years old (and if I don't hold his hand, he runs up and down the aisles). I could see Jake being regulated in a way, by the presence of the dog and holding his leash. So that was pretty cool despite Burke's antics.
It just seems that practicing in public areas is going to take a lot of time and patience. We'll get there. We also need to work more on leash, and I think I said that before. I'm sort of daunted by how much time and energy it all takes. Maybe I've bitten off too much, and need to relegate Burke to companion dog status and consider a trained service dog. I don't know. Right now, today, I'm tired and sick, and it feels like an unachievable goal. Then again, he's a five-month-old puppy.
We have found that he's terrified - I do mean terrified - of bubbles, and it's rather hysterical. It started when the kids got a couple of little containers of bubbles for Halloween. As soon as Katie blew them, his eyes went wide and he ran upstairs and hid behind Jake's bed. Now all you have to do is say the word "bubbles" and his eyes get all wide and scared. Then we hadn't blown them in a few days, so the word "bubbles" wasn't having much effect. I'd grab the bottle and - yep that did it. Upstairs he goes.
I'm trying not to overuse it or terrify him, but I've tried to desensitize him and that hasn't worked. We had a sudsy sink full of dishes and Katie took some of the suds on her finger and put it near his face - that terrified him too! It's kind of funny to have this seemingly unflappable dog who has this unexplainable fear.
Back to Jake, his newest obsession is numbers. Counting, or just saying "seventeen," which is his favorite (eighteen follows close behind!). I found a talking calculator that I had gotten from Southpaw this summer, and forgotten to give him for his birthday. He loves it! He has been pressing numbers then the "repeat" button which will read them to you as numbers versus digits (so if you punch in 123 it will say "one hundred twenty-three," although you can have it read "one two three" also if you prefer).
He's been doing really well overall, and his relationship with Burke is developing nicely, too. He loves to play with him, and when they were in the car yesterday he was tickling his chin and petting him. I think he likes that in the car, Burke can't get mouthy. I think he will like Burke even more when he no longer mouths at all. Soon. Right?
Burke is doing amazing, and we tried our first venture into a Staples yesterday with the harness and two leads - one for Jake and one for me. Well, hm. Didn't go so well. Within a few feet, Burke was so excited he was standing on his hind legs! Silly poodlehead. He is such a prancer that way. I got really embarrassed and shuffled him to the car, although the woman at the checkout was very supportive and I think I could definitely have just worked through it with him. I think he was mostly blown away by the hugeness of the space, and overexcited since he had spent the previous several hours in the car waiting for us.
That's been my main obstacle with public access training: he goes with us somewhere, then is hyped up by the long car ride or having to wait while we do something else first. It is also more work than I thought to manage both the dog and Jake, although I got really excited about the prospect of Jake holding Burke's leash while I hold the other one - it felt more "normal" for Jake in a way, than me holding his hand when he's nine years old (and if I don't hold his hand, he runs up and down the aisles). I could see Jake being regulated in a way, by the presence of the dog and holding his leash. So that was pretty cool despite Burke's antics.
It just seems that practicing in public areas is going to take a lot of time and patience. We'll get there. We also need to work more on leash, and I think I said that before. I'm sort of daunted by how much time and energy it all takes. Maybe I've bitten off too much, and need to relegate Burke to companion dog status and consider a trained service dog. I don't know. Right now, today, I'm tired and sick, and it feels like an unachievable goal. Then again, he's a five-month-old puppy.
We have found that he's terrified - I do mean terrified - of bubbles, and it's rather hysterical. It started when the kids got a couple of little containers of bubbles for Halloween. As soon as Katie blew them, his eyes went wide and he ran upstairs and hid behind Jake's bed. Now all you have to do is say the word "bubbles" and his eyes get all wide and scared. Then we hadn't blown them in a few days, so the word "bubbles" wasn't having much effect. I'd grab the bottle and - yep that did it. Upstairs he goes.
I'm trying not to overuse it or terrify him, but I've tried to desensitize him and that hasn't worked. We had a sudsy sink full of dishes and Katie took some of the suds on her finger and put it near his face - that terrified him too! It's kind of funny to have this seemingly unflappable dog who has this unexplainable fear.
Back to Jake, his newest obsession is numbers. Counting, or just saying "seventeen," which is his favorite (eighteen follows close behind!). I found a talking calculator that I had gotten from Southpaw this summer, and forgotten to give him for his birthday. He loves it! He has been pressing numbers then the "repeat" button which will read them to you as numbers versus digits (so if you punch in 123 it will say "one hundred twenty-three," although you can have it read "one two three" also if you prefer).
He's been doing really well overall, and his relationship with Burke is developing nicely, too. He loves to play with him, and when they were in the car yesterday he was tickling his chin and petting him. I think he likes that in the car, Burke can't get mouthy. I think he will like Burke even more when he no longer mouths at all. Soon. Right?
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween antics.
Jake recovered from H1N1 very quickly, and was back on his feet by Thursday last week. Friday and Saturday were exhausting days for him, though, so yesterday we completely laid low.
There were many festivities at school on Friday, then a dance at the elementary school in the evening. Jake tripped out on the lights, wore his costume most of the time, and although he didn't interact with the other kids he was happily in parallel play mode throughout most of the hour and a half we were there.
On Saturday we headed down to Montpelier to our friends' house and went trick-or-treating in the big city. He had a lot of fun, and was very motivated to go up to each house himself and hold out his bag or choose his candy. I don't think he said much, but it didn't matter. The atmosphere was less formal than Hardwick, where it is very much expected that you say "trick or treat" and "thank you" or else you don't get any candy. I mean, most of the folks don't understand why a kid wouldn't say those things, so it gets awkward and we have to go up to each house with him and prompt him through every interaction. This felt nice, just to hang back like a "normal" parent and let him do his thing.
Training Burke has been going exceptionally well now that I've fallen back on a few "old school" methods and actually am not afraid to school him a bit when he gets growly and obnoxious with me. He's learned to respect me in just a couple of days, and now I just have to do my big-dog "posture" and he will turn tail and run away. I have been afraid to make him a scaredy cat, but it isn't going to happen. He has all the hard-headedness of a Lab, and is completely unflappable in any situation. We took him to downtown Montpelier for the trick-or-treat at the stores, and he just chugged right along and was completely unfazed by the costumes and crowds of people and children.
He's had a lot of chances for socialization this past week, as I've been having to work at cafes and coffeeshops because my internet at home was cut down to insanely-slow speeds (and doesn't work at all at night). So he's gotten to go into stores, plus got the whole downtown Halloween experience. He's done really well, and seems to be learning that it's possible that people will pass by you and not meet you, and that's okay.
Overall, he is showing himself to be such a smart, sweet boy. He's leaving the shoes alone, he knows when to settle and can mostly settle down on cue, he's stopped mouthing us so much, and he's so attuned to every one of us - he truly loves all five of us, counting Dana, and has a unique but equally deep relationship with each member of the household. It's pretty cool.
There were many festivities at school on Friday, then a dance at the elementary school in the evening. Jake tripped out on the lights, wore his costume most of the time, and although he didn't interact with the other kids he was happily in parallel play mode throughout most of the hour and a half we were there.
On Saturday we headed down to Montpelier to our friends' house and went trick-or-treating in the big city. He had a lot of fun, and was very motivated to go up to each house himself and hold out his bag or choose his candy. I don't think he said much, but it didn't matter. The atmosphere was less formal than Hardwick, where it is very much expected that you say "trick or treat" and "thank you" or else you don't get any candy. I mean, most of the folks don't understand why a kid wouldn't say those things, so it gets awkward and we have to go up to each house with him and prompt him through every interaction. This felt nice, just to hang back like a "normal" parent and let him do his thing.
Training Burke has been going exceptionally well now that I've fallen back on a few "old school" methods and actually am not afraid to school him a bit when he gets growly and obnoxious with me. He's learned to respect me in just a couple of days, and now I just have to do my big-dog "posture" and he will turn tail and run away. I have been afraid to make him a scaredy cat, but it isn't going to happen. He has all the hard-headedness of a Lab, and is completely unflappable in any situation. We took him to downtown Montpelier for the trick-or-treat at the stores, and he just chugged right along and was completely unfazed by the costumes and crowds of people and children.
He's had a lot of chances for socialization this past week, as I've been having to work at cafes and coffeeshops because my internet at home was cut down to insanely-slow speeds (and doesn't work at all at night). So he's gotten to go into stores, plus got the whole downtown Halloween experience. He's done really well, and seems to be learning that it's possible that people will pass by you and not meet you, and that's okay.
Overall, he is showing himself to be such a smart, sweet boy. He's leaving the shoes alone, he knows when to settle and can mostly settle down on cue, he's stopped mouthing us so much, and he's so attuned to every one of us - he truly loves all five of us, counting Dana, and has a unique but equally deep relationship with each member of the household. It's pretty cool.
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