Sickness and appointments - Sept 25th, 2015

This week was way too busy and I am looking forward to things slowing down next week. A few afternoons we were stuck at doctor appointments and Ashley really missed the playroom. She would even request it when we got home or run in there after bath time. I think there are a few more words she said this week but I wasn't able to keep track of it.

We have been doing GFCF diet for a month now and doctor wants us to continue at least 2 more months. We haven't seen any major changes with her sensory issues (head banging, rocking, attention, etc) BUT we do not have to give her Miralax daily anymore for constipation. It is also forcing her to eat new foods and we don't have any junk food around anymore so she is forced to eat healthier. Being GFCF also makes it really hard to eat out so that helps her be healthier too.


Saturday

Today Noah woke with a high fever and severe congestion. I think he has my allergies because this is the 5th sinus infection he has gotten. We took him to the doctor to make sure it was nothing else but had to do antibiotics. He was so weak, no appetite, very fussy, and wanted to be held every second. We had to work a little bit harder today keeping kids separated since Ashley cannot handle Noah crying or being upset. We also didn't get to both do our sessions with Ashley since you can still hear him upstairs but Jeremy had some good interaction with her at the park outings. She did say "more" multiple times asking for more swinging.

At lunch, she said "drink, juice, and iii(for ice)."

In session with me when Noah was napping, she said "burpa (for purple), try, want, I want, ba-per (for cracker), and water." She was really into books today and the colored bears. She has a sensory stretchy lizard so she would get a purple bear and have the lizard hold it with both its hands. It was really cute. Then the lizard wanted to hold toothbrush and she had lizard brush his teeth too! The lizard got to hold several items in session and I love seeing that because it shows her imagination!

When Jeremy and I were in the kitchen after dinner, we heard the bathroom door open. I went to check fast and she was going potty!!!! She did this independently and we did not ask if she needed to go.

Sunday

She said "drink, juice and chips" at lunch today and "dum-dum" at church. She said "muffin" that evening. She also went into potty independently today too!

Monday

She said "I want, water, and muffin". In speech, she said "water bottle". We had a long doctors appointment today so we didn't get to have a session. However, she did say "pop" 2 times during appointment because I commented on her Ring Pop. She also said "no" and "yeah" in response to 2 different questions.

Tuesday

At school, she said "chex" and "water". She had great session with Becky and made lots of eye contact. She said "done" after going potty. Today I heard her say "treat" 6 different times in the afternoon but it wasn't directed at anything. She had a great session with Becky, made lots of eye contact, and lots of interaction with all the activities!

One of Noah and Ashley's favorite activities this week was pushing the 2 green chairs together and relaxing! She thought it was funny that Noah wanted to join her and Noah loves watching her!

Wednesday

She had a great day at school and said "thank you" after Ms. Callie did! She was really focused today and listened well! We had another doctors appointment this afternoon. She did say "yeah" when responding to one of my questions!

Thursday

She had a good day at school and went to the restroom independently TWO times without being asked or apart of her schedule! She also said "swing" and "rock" when they were outdoors!

In session with Tracy, she said "water, red, burple (for purple), Bora (for Dora ball), ball, mmm (eating), marble, boun (for bounce) and no" when she asked if needed go potty!

Friday

Today at school she said "please" twice while signing and "banana". At speech with Brooke, she said "more, mine, ice, watching Veggie Tales, nat (for snack), duck, yeah, eat, drink, ducks off, quack-quack, boff (for off) and no." She had a short session with Grammy and had a lot of fun! At dinner, it was a little rough but we have to keep to our goal of sitting as a family. My mom left with both kids a little upset so I sent her this picture of us having fun time after dinner and waiting for daddy to come home.

School and Patterns - Sept 18th

Saturday

We went as a family to local park and enjoyed the amazing weather outside. We brought balls to play with so Ashley said "ball" about 5 different times while we were there. She also said "no" when I asked if she wanted to climb down the side of playscape and I could help her. Sometimes when she is outside she can get distracted and go into her own world. Today she was more engaged with me than I have seen before at any park. She made great eye contact, initiated peak-a-boo with me twice, listened well, and asked for help on the swings!

In session, we had a good time with playdoh so we did that for a long time! She also kept watching my mouth closely when I sang the Veggie Tales song! She did say "I want", "juice", and "moose" for Minnie Mouse book. I took Ashley to get shoes since her feet have grown again.

Ashley finally lost her 2 front teeth just in time for school pictures this week! It will be interesting to see if her sensory issues decrease this week since I know they were bothering her. She pulled one tooth out in Stride Ride today but I couldn't find it. The other tooth came out as soon as we got home. She still has a beautiful smile!

Sunday

Today she had a good time at church but we were late getting her from class so she was not happy towards end. She had a great time with daddy at Play for All Abilities Park and made really good eye contact! She did say "muh" for more a lot at the park wanting daddy to help her climb. During the day she said "ba-un" for bacon, "bah-nuh" for banana, "I want", "muffin" and "try" two times at dinner when I asked her if she would try the chicken. She did eventually eat 4 pieces of the Thai peanut chicken dish!!!

In session, we used these large colored puzzle mats that Tracy brought over for this week. Ashley liked putting them together and there is a lot we can do with them this week to make games using colors. We put 4 mats together (red, yellow, blue, and green) and I tried to make a game jumping from each one and saying the color. She thought it was funny that I was doing it but she didn't want to play. I think I heard her say "red" 2 times with growling sound when we were cleaning up.

Monday

At school, they reported she made lots of eye contact, had good energy level, and was ready to learn! In speech, she said "off, yeah, what, ba (for bath), Watching beggie, want, no".

In session with me, we were playing with the colored cups and she said "bup" 2 times for cup, "ball" 4 times, and "water". In the evening, she said "muffin" and "eee-some" (for Awesome).

 Before dinner she got really hungry so I asked if she wanted to help me with the strawberries. She watched me pull off stem, wash the strawberry, and then place on paper towel. She then did the next one all by herself with only verbal prompt!!!! She did about 5 of them and then lost interest. So I paused and helped her cut off ends so she could eat them. Every time it seems we can add on more steps and she can follow which is really exciting! She also said "waz" for wash.

 

 

At dinner, she ate 6 pieces of squash for stir-fry and requested more! She event ate a piece of zucchini but she didn't like it. Then she ate 4 pieces of Thai peanut chicken too! Yay!!!

Tuesday

She said "chex" at school for Chex cereal. She is now making ABAB patterns with blocks and needing very little verbal prompting! At home she said "muffin, ba (for bath), and water." She had a good session with Becky too and lots of fun with playdoh and books! At dinner she ate squash again and 4 pieces of left over Thai peanut chicken.

Wednesday

She said "muffin" at breakfast and had good day at school! She does really well listening to instructions at school so it is great to hear that! I had a conference with her 2 teachers and got to hear all about Ashley's day at school. It was so encouraging to hear her progress in just this first month of school! I also liked hearing more about her schedule each day and it sounds like there are plenty of sensory breaks! Her teacher sent me some pictures of her at school which I really appreciate! She now knows how much I love pictures! Ashley is making really good progress already with colors, patterns and matching cubes correctly to numbers. Ms. Myers has numbers 1 -5 written big in different colors with number of dots showing and Ashley matches a corresponding colored cube onto the dot. It also sounds like they have worked out a really great schedule for her with opportunities to go outside or sensory room in between table work. She is also paired with one of her peer friends from pre-k.

In session with Tracy, Ashley said "water, drink, eat, more, my more, burple (for purple), Bora (for Dora) and Bob." In the evening she said "ba" for bath and "ruh" for run. At dinner she ate all 5 pieces of carrots and 5 small pieces of turkey sausage with syrup!

Thursday

Today at school she said "juice" at lunch and "new" when Ms. Callie asked about her new shoes. She did really well make her ABAB patterns today with blocks. They did school pictures today but it didn't go to well so we will do retakes again.... :)

In session with Tracy, she said "eat, more, yummy, ice, water, burpa (for purple), Bora (for Dora) and Bob (for Veggie Tales book)." She enjoyed Tracy singing the Dora theme songs and purple items in session.

Friday

At school they had a Shield Parade outside but Ashley was not into it. She was probably overwhelmed by the number of students and parents outside plus change in schedule. She was not as vocal at school today with approximations and seemed a little tired.  Her speech therapy was canceled so she got to stay for PE which she loved running around with scarves.

In session with me, she said "water, booh (for book) and chi (for chicken nuggets)". Ashley always comes to one of us to initiate running laps/chase. She will come up to us, grab our wrist and try to pull us. We will pause and try to get her use word of run. I couldn't get her to say sound but then I asked "Do you want to run?". Immediately after you ask this, below is what her face shows so I just had to capture that. Wish I could put a cute background behind her and make that her school picture!

COLORS!!!! - Sept 12th, 2015

VICTORIES
-Ashley was able to demonstrate she knows her colors!
-Ashley tried a lot of new foods this week!
-Ashley said new words this week!

CHALLENGES
-She is still having potty accidents
-If Noah gets upset and screams, it makes Ashley upset where she starts crying and hitting herself.
-Whining more

GOALS (Continuing and new goals)
-Continue create games/activities that encourage interaction, eye contact and/or words
-Potty independence and minimize accidents
-New foods
-Create fun activities using colors and numbers
-Eating at table with family until everyone is done

A new goal we have started is to eat dinner at the table as a family at SAME time, we all eat the SAME thing, and tv is off. Jeremy cannot always be home in time for work but it is still great not having to make 3 different meals every night. We started Sept 1st and it was very rough first 3 evenings. When both kids are whining/screaming and pushing their food away, it is hard not to react or want to give up. After the 4th night, the kids would sit with me and watch ME eat but thankfully they were quiet. :) Another benefit of doing Son-Rise this summer and working on Ashley's social skills/eye contact, is that Ashley is very aware of me now. She watches me eat every bite and has this skeptical look on her face. Since we started this, she now eats her vegetables (carrots or spinach so far) with no resistance and she gobbles down the fruit. She has also at least tried some new things like Thai peanut chicken breast, sausage patty, turkey bacon, tomato, zucchini, roast and peanuts. She loves turkey bacon which is very exciting because she needs more protein since cutting out dairy.


Saturday

Today we went to JumpStreet this morning for Special Needs Hour and Ashley had a great time! Noah loves going too and he made it clear to all in there he was not happy about leaving. She said "ju" for jump once. When I was out on the big trampolines with her she kept moving away from me. I gave her space and jumped at same pace with her 2 rows over getting great eye contact. After about a minute, she came over, took my hand and brought me over to her area to jump! :)

At JumpStreet, we had to work on her waiting in line for one of the activities where you jump onto a large air mattress (no idea what you call this). Waiting is not one of Ashley's strong points but she seemed to get a little better by the 10th time. :) However, it makes it much easier practicing these type of situations when you are surrounded by other special needs families who understand!

Today she kept singing these 4 sounds "what-tree-bobby-bobby". I cannot figure out what song it is but she has same tune every time. She said "juice" at lunch, "muffin", "water" and "done". At the pool with daddy, she was really interactive with daddy and made great eye contact. They also had a good session in playroom while I was in kitchen! I had to spend several hours in the kitchen getting prepared for our next gfcf meals this next week. Making gfcf frozen meals to throw in crockpot is going to help us keep being successful with this diet for Ashley.

Sunday

At church, Haley reported that Ashley said "I want", "water", and "dum-dum". In worship with ALL the 1st grades, the kids were standing up dancing and doing the actions to the song. Ashley was 'dancing' her way of rocking side to side. Her sweet friend Tawni noticed and came over to copy her dancing. Ashley noticed, made eye contact with Tawni and smiled! That is joining!!!! What a sweet gesture by her peer and so thankful they get to see each other at church each week!

In session with me, she said "juice, water, I want, and ba-per (for cracker)." Haley came to take Ashley to local jumping place and Ashley said "dum-dum, jump, water, and no" when asked if she needed to go to bathroom! In the evening, she said "muffin" and "yes" when I asked if she wanted some ice. We call her Princess a lot and today she said "bah-bess" right after. She has said that sound ALL summer but I could not figure out what it meant. I think she might be trying to say "bah-bess" for Princess since she is saying with same tone and inflection.

Since starting the GFCF diet for Ashley, it has forced her to try new foods since all the old foods are gone. At breakfast, she actually chewed up a Chewable Vitamin!!! At lunch, I made turkey bacon and gave Ashley one. She looked at it, gave it a good shake, and put it up to her mouth. Then she took a bite and I just watched out of the corner of my eye. She kept eating it ALL and requested more!!!

Monday

Today was a super busy day but fun seeing lots of family and friends. We did not get to do any sessions today but it was fun seeing Ashley make eye contact with some of her friends!

Tuesday

She had a really good day at school today! At recess, her teacher said grass since Ashley was playing with the grass. Ashley repeated the word "grass"!

So excited!!!!!! Ashley finally showed today that she knows her colors at age 6!!!!!!! It was hard not to cry. It feels silly but I remember being so concerned when she started kindergarten and she didn't know colors, numbers, letters. In Session today, we had all these small colored bears out and 5 corresponding color cups(red, blue, green, purple, yellow). She was in good mood today and i was getting so many green lights. I asked her to put red bears in red cup being really excited about it. She picked them out and did it!!! I did no physical or verbal prompting. Then I asked if she could put blue bears in blue cup and so on! She also said "boo" for blue and "burple" for purple! Later I wanted to verify it again so I put 4 different colored balls in front of her and asked for pink ball. Then I asked for green ball and she did both correctly!

In session, we also had fun playing with Mr. Potato Head and singing Veggie Tales theme song! All summer she has done this grunting noise and puts her hands to her ears. Today she kept doing that but looking at Veggie Tales picture. So I started joining her and then did grunting noise and started singing Veggie Tales song. She would look at my mouth and smile really big! Now I understand.......she has been singing Veggie Tales probably 50 times a day in her head. She used to do a different noise for Veggie Tales so I guess that's why I didn't pick up on this. I love how she watches my mouth so intently while I am singing the song. She looks like she desperately wants to sing it too. One day she will!!!! :) In session, she also said "box, in, mow(for mouth of Potato head), down, my beh (for my turn), and I'm wet?". When she kept saying what sounded like I'm wet, I thought it was just a random sound she was repeating but then I noticed she had actually wet herself.



Wednesday

Today she was really fussy at school and she didn't have the best session with Tracy either. Tracy said when she was working in special education it was rare for a child to have 2 amazing days in a row! :) In session with Tracy, she did say "Ma-mou" when asking for Minnie Mouse book. We tried to work on numbers in a fun way today using Cookie printouts with number next to it and chocolate chips. She was more interested in eating the chocolate chips than putting them on cookie printouts!

In the evening, she said "ba" for bath, "water" and "boat".


Thursday

At school, she had a better day and the teachers got to hear her "sing" for the first time. While she was sitting and doing her work she was humming and babbling sounds. They couldn't figure out what song it was but they all enjoyed hearing her pretty voice!

In session with Tracy, she had a great day and said so much! She said "book, my more, want, had, whaaats that, momo (for Minnie Mouse book), read (tossed book to Tracy and said), burpa (for purple), purple (eventually said correctly!!!), bwack (for black bean bag)"! When Ashley said purple, Tracy got up and collected ALL the purple items in the room and put them in front of Ashley. She liked that! :) Great idea! We will do this anytime she says a color to keep reinforcing her saying colors since she is liking colors right now! In the Minnie Mouse book, the picture shows beads spilling out and all the characters have shocked faces with mouths wide open. While Ashley was looking at this page, she said "ahhhh!". Tracy copied the sound and commented "Ahhhh! Oh no, the beads are falling out". Ashley looked at her, smiled, and said "Ahhhh!" again.

Since we learned to avoid edible activities from yesterday, today I printed out her favorite food items off the internet to match to numbers. She was definitely interested in the dum-dum and cookie pictures so we will keep working on this activity.

It sure is nice that I am able to bathe both kids at same time and Ashley can handle Noah being that close! I couldn't help but get a modest picture of both to capture our new fun bath time. This one needs a caption like "caught you" since they look guilty!

At dinner, Ashley ate one piece of squash from the stir fry vegetables!!! She also went today with NO potty accidents!


Friday

She said "buh-na" for banana to Jeremy! At speech therapy with Brooke, she said "no quack, yeah, no, duck off, duck on, Watch Veggie Tales, belp (for help), mukay (for music)." In session with me, she was pretty tired from the week so I didn't get many green lights. She did attend attend to match the dum-dum pictures to the numbers and then the cookie images to the numbers. She even let me do hand over hand counting the number of items in pictures. After about 1 minute though, she said "done".  :)

At dinner, she ate 8 pieces of squash from the vegetable stir fry after watching me eat it!!!! Hurray! She also said "meat" when I asked if she wanted to try meat (used that word instead of roast), "water" and "trash" .

Now that I picked up on her grunting noise as her singing Veggie Tales tuba part, I start singing the Veggie Tales song. EVERY TIME I do this she looks at me in shock but with pleasant face. I actually caught this moment a few times this week and it is a great way to get eye contact right away!

GFCF & Zach's Voice -Sept 4th, 2015

SCHOOL & SON-RISE PROGRAM

Last week was an emotional rollercoaster for me with Ashley starting back to school but we now have worked out a schedule that will work well for her! We are pulling her out early every day from school to continue Son-Rise Program at home each day with Tracy, Becky and me and also private Speech/OT. About 1pm each day last week, Ashley started making it clear that she was done being at school so I am glad we can find a good balance! She seems excited each morning to get her backpack and leave for school so that makes me feel better knowing she enjoys it! Her new teacher is great at communicating with me and I think she is going to be great to work with this year!

GFCF DIET

This week we started Ashley on gfcf diet which we will try for at least 2 months to see if there is any difference with digestion or head banging/rocking. This will definitely stretch her to try new foods. We tried this about 2 years ago and it was really rough. Now it seems like there is so much more available in grocery stores, free recipes on websites, and I have support from other local moms to give suggestions of brands. Otherwise this adds up really quickly if you just buy all brands for your child to try. She is much more open to trying new foods now so that is helping compared to 2 years ago.


ZACH'S VOICE

Last year we tried to get the school district to approve Ashley for an Ipad for communication to transition from the PEC book. They didn't think she was ready but we found out about an organization called Zach's Voice. They give donated or refurbished Ipads to kids that have autism and speech delay so that they can have a voice. It is a wonderful organization and we are sooooooo grateful! Ipads plus the Proloquo2go communication app gets very expensive. One of our new speech therapists is on the board for Zach's Voice so she is helping us learn and set up the device for Ashley. Abby Whitworth began this organization after her nonverbal son with autism started talking because of using the Ipad. Since he was using the device all the time and hearing the app say the word consistently each time, he started echoing the words! He is now able to communicate using words and does not need Ipad assistance!

Ashley is doing really well navigating for communication but we are also making sure she gives us eye contact and attempts to say the word. She is saying about 4-10 words a day which is amazing since she was nonverbal before summer started. However, she still needs some assistance to communicate in school and for other items she cannot say yet. Since we started the Son-Rise Program this summer, she is now starting to imitate some words so hearing it even more from Ipad will help too! We are not changing rules in our Playroom though since we want only Son-Rise Techniques used in there.

Here is website if you want to check out this great organization. http://zachsvoice.org/

Sunday

Ashley had to adapt to her new classroom and teachers at church this morning. She did great sitting in new worship area with her class. I think it helped that they do not do puppets in the 1st grade worship! :) Those puppets really freaked her out.

She had a great time at the pool with daddy and said "trash" when she put actual trash into the pool. My parents came to watch our kids that evening so we could go out to dinner with my cousin and his wife. Ashley played with Papa again kicking the ball in 4 exchanges and smiling entire time!

Monday

Today we started GFCF diet for Ashley. This will stretch her to try new foods and we cleared out the pantry. She said "I want" at school, "muffin", and "water" today.

In Session with me, she made lots of sounds and said "up". We had fun playing and I got some great eye contact!

She is still holding on the this same Veggie Tales image for the last 6 weeks. I have printed and laminated so many of these. Papa and Grammy got us tickets to go see Veggie Tales Live in October so I cannot wait to see how she reacts!


Tuesday

Ashley said "I want" and did a great job following directions at school.

The night before I added a Run symbol on her Ipad and showed her one time. In speech today, she found her way to that folder, selected Run, and then ran out of the room fast. :) Oops!

In Session with Becky, she made the best eye contact in session so far with my mom! They had fun with animal masks, stickers, running, jumping, spinners, and flower petals! She even listened to my mom read a book and looked at pages! She was not too vocal this day with sounds or words.

Wednesday
Ashley said "I want" again at school, "ba" for bath , "ruh" for run.

In Session with Tracy, she said "more, ball, want, water, up, boat, eat, wipe, Hay-yey" (after said Haley's name). She was really into playing with her bath toy boat and Jake Pirate boat.


Thursday

Today she was fussy at school and I think the gfcf is starting to effect her. Some of the food is very different tasting so she is having to adjust.

In Session with Tracy, she said "geesa, nummy (for tummy), apple, down, me, my bet, boat, water". Ashley was humming so Tracy joined her. Then when Ashley stopped, she would try humming different pattern and Ashley copied her! She also sat and listened when Tracy was reading a book because she wanted to!

In the evening, she said "muffin, iii (for ice), and really(repeated after I said it)".


Friday

In morning, she said "muffin". At school she was a very happy girl and said "I want" again multiple times. At speech with Brooke, she said 2 words together "more water" ,"up" and also answered 4 questions with "yeah" or "no"!
In session with me, she said "I want, boat, water, Awesome, and weggie (for Veggie Tales)."

After dinner, I was sitting at table and Ashley came up to me with her ice bowl. She looked at me and I just looked back not saying anything. I was waiting for her to say or show me what she needed. She said "I love you. I love you." Wow!!!! It took me a second to figure it out but she said that without repeating back and all on her own!!!! :)

 

In the evening, we did family run time again and I realized I didn't get many pictures from this week so I tried to get a few. Both kids love it so much and Noah gets so upset when we stop! Ashley is still carrying around her Veggie Tales image.