Autism Stuff :P
This probably won't interest anyone else, but I'm spending the weekend at an autism conference and I just need to get this stuff out of my head....
So.. today I went to the Back to School Autism Conference held in Pasadena. God my brain is fried. First off, this year I got the Regional Center to pay for both me and the hubby to attend this year! Wohhoo! That was nice since I normally end up having to go to these things myself and I really feel like my husband could benefit from what some of these people are saying (god knows he doesn't listen to me. He's screwed when I finally get my degree though because then when he says he wants an informed opinion - which I already am but apparently the degree matters in his head- I'll be able to give it :P) .
The keynote speaker of the day was Temple Grandin and I have to say she was phenominal. It's so motivating to hear her story and what she has to give to the autism community. I can't tell you what all was said, there was just too much, but she really preached knowing your kids strengths and using them, in understanding their weaknesses and helping to work through/around them, and getting the kids out in the environments! She had such great ways of putting it though. LIke saying that the autistic brain was like google... the more sites it can access, the better the search results will be. So the more experiences we give our children, the more moments they can access to later use for reference. Makes sense right?? Yeah, but sometimes it bears repeating :P
After that, I went to a breakaway session on Maximizing Your Experiences at Home and in the Community. This could have been run a little better, because they were allowing questions during the talk instead of waiting until the end. I think they could have gotten more indepth, but again.. a lot of good stuff. Things I took out of it... make rules and make sure everyone can follow them. Give our children the ability to suceed in their tasks by giving them the time to do it!!! Don't yell at them to put their shoes on as they're running out the door! Give them the time to accomplish something! Let them have their success (and their self-esteem). Don't forget, if they can't do it, break the task down. Write it out. Putting your shoes on is not a one step process! Write it out for yourself (and them if they need it) When you have expectations for your child... they MUST be realistic and you MUST have the tools in place. Work on positive behavioral support and allow them the small victories. You've heard of willing the battle but losing the war? We're at war. Make sure the battle is one you need to win, otherwise let it rest until it's worth fighting! They recommended the book Parenting w/ Positive Behavioral Support (Hierman?). Also, they recomended Autism on the Sea (www.autismonthesea.com) for cruises with special needs kids (they'd both been on them), and said that it is ILLEGAL for the airlines to deny your child on a flight because of their behavior so long as you reveal your child has a disability. I don't know about anyone else, but that made me breath easier. I've never had trouble flying with my kids, but it's definitely made me nervous. I think the next time I fly, i'll find the regulation and print it out to keep in my carry on. Just in case. :P Kidstube.com - youtube but screened for children!
Lunch break! Thankfully because I was starving so we relaxed a bit and then went back. The next session was a bit of a disappointment. It was about storytelling and the importance of narrative. The presentation she gave was supposed to be a 2 day presentation and she tried to give it in 1.5 hours. Yeah... you can guess how well that turned out. Thankfully i've been pretty immersed in speech therapy with my son so I was able to take some basic things out of it. One being to remember to go to where your child is. Don't expect your 5 year old to respond to things a 5 year old would when they are developmentally 3. Work from where they are, allow them to learn and grow. The other thing I really liked was how she stressed that we infer a lot from our reading. Her example was a basic book. "This cat is hungry. This bird is looking for a bird." What was infered???? That the cat eats birds. It's a leap of logic that children on the sepctrum don't always make. It would read easier (and make sense) to say "This cat is hungry. This cat eats birds. This cat is looking for a bird." She showed a video then of a little boy who was showed a story much like the first and asked to retell it. He couldn't because it didn't make sense to him. When they did a different story with the second style of wording, the child was not only able to retell it, but to add to it himself. IE: The story was 4 pictures... a woman and got by a mud puddle, the dog in the puddle, the dog getting a bath, and the dog all clean. The boy talked about how the god got in the mud but the woman didn't want him dirty (What a GREAT observation for him to make! Theory of mind in practice people!) and then she took him home and cleaned him. It was a great point and a great counter to the rest of her presentation that was far too hurried to really delve into.
After that we walked around a bit and I got a little brain to mush up (one of those stress balls :P 2 actually.. and i'm going to see if they have more tomorrow :P) Lastly.... and one of the best ones i've been to, was from a mother who helped her son make some movies. "Normal People Scare Me" and "The Sandwich Kids" are both things i've heard of before. The first was done by her son who had autism and interviewed other autistic childrem. Sanwich kids is about siblings of children with autism. She showed about 20 minutes of their new film, Arts. Amazing stuff! She talked about using art and drama and film and photography and dance and music with our kids. My hubby is an artist and both my kids love to draw (and do so at an advanced level. My son is 5 but developmentally he's about 3 years old. He draws well above the 5 year level though!). My daughter is a dancer. The self-esteem and acceptance they get from these forms of expression is amazing, and yet we're cutting it out of our schools. It's up to us as parents to remedy that! She mentioned asking her son when he was little what color a happy giraffe was. Happy was orangish-yellow. Mad was red. Silly was pink. She started asking her social skill group kids what colors represented those emotions for them and gave them paint swatches (The kind you get for free at home depot and paint supply stores) to let them tell what colors represent different things. It's hard to say you feel angry, but maybe your child can say, it was a red day. We need to let our kids tell US what colors represent what though. It's in their minds (and hearts) not ours. Let them teach you.
So... seriously, good day but my head is about to explode. They have a lot of vendors there too (though way too many lawyers if you ask me. Feels a bit like ambulance chasing, you know? Hey! Take my number in case your child gets screwed by the system *insert cheesy smile**) We bought a swing last year there and it's awesome. It's pressure mounted to a doorframe and it came with a trapeeze type attachment, a swing, and a hammock-type net. They have a glider type attachment that I want to get really bad! When not in use as a glider on the swing, you can put it on the floor, unlock a part, and it swivles on the floor for more use.
Tomorrow will be another full day. The woman from the third session (the art one) is doing another session on Mapping Transitions to you Child's Future, a guide to mapping out what you want your child's future to be and how to help them get there. Sort of disappointed that it's running at the same time as Power of Play! but considering that's all I hear about in my child development classes, I think I can miss it. Beyond that, Cathy Pratt is the keynote speaker in the morning. I think in the afternoon i'm going to the Teaching Alternative Behavios (more of a teacher's track I think but the only one i'm really interested in at that time) and then either a Social Groups Across Ages and Stages or the Panel of Autism Physicians. I find I get a lot of out the social skill sessions for both my son and my daughter (who is neurotypical). But i've never been to a panel by doctors though so that might be interesting.
Soooo... brain dead. Oh.... maybe a timestamp for my bigbang will come from this. :P I can see Jensen lost at a big conference like this and Jared holding his hand through it all :P Anyway.... going to eat and hope my brain doesn't bleed tonight before I have to get up and do it again in the morning.
Oh.. and in other news... my brother had surgery today on his knee. He tore 3 tendons in his knee. They said he'll never be really physically active again and he'll have to wear a brace even to play with the kids in the yard... but he'll be walking so that's good. A full year for a full recovery. YIKES! Plus a metal pin put in too. Damn. Hate that I wasn't there, but i'd already got the RC to pay for the conference before all this happened. Because yeah.. i'm totally Dean on the protect the little brother bit and it kills me not to be there when he needs me. I am going up to his place in 1.5 weeks to stay with him for a week to help him out though.. so I feel better.
*sighs* Going now. Or going to go write/read/post my porny stories :P
So.. today I went to the Back to School Autism Conference held in Pasadena. God my brain is fried. First off, this year I got the Regional Center to pay for both me and the hubby to attend this year! Wohhoo! That was nice since I normally end up having to go to these things myself and I really feel like my husband could benefit from what some of these people are saying (god knows he doesn't listen to me. He's screwed when I finally get my degree though because then when he says he wants an informed opinion - which I already am but apparently the degree matters in his head- I'll be able to give it :P) .
The keynote speaker of the day was Temple Grandin and I have to say she was phenominal. It's so motivating to hear her story and what she has to give to the autism community. I can't tell you what all was said, there was just too much, but she really preached knowing your kids strengths and using them, in understanding their weaknesses and helping to work through/around them, and getting the kids out in the environments! She had such great ways of putting it though. LIke saying that the autistic brain was like google... the more sites it can access, the better the search results will be. So the more experiences we give our children, the more moments they can access to later use for reference. Makes sense right?? Yeah, but sometimes it bears repeating :P
After that, I went to a breakaway session on Maximizing Your Experiences at Home and in the Community. This could have been run a little better, because they were allowing questions during the talk instead of waiting until the end. I think they could have gotten more indepth, but again.. a lot of good stuff. Things I took out of it... make rules and make sure everyone can follow them. Give our children the ability to suceed in their tasks by giving them the time to do it!!! Don't yell at them to put their shoes on as they're running out the door! Give them the time to accomplish something! Let them have their success (and their self-esteem). Don't forget, if they can't do it, break the task down. Write it out. Putting your shoes on is not a one step process! Write it out for yourself (and them if they need it) When you have expectations for your child... they MUST be realistic and you MUST have the tools in place. Work on positive behavioral support and allow them the small victories. You've heard of willing the battle but losing the war? We're at war. Make sure the battle is one you need to win, otherwise let it rest until it's worth fighting! They recommended the book Parenting w/ Positive Behavioral Support (Hierman?). Also, they recomended Autism on the Sea (www.autismonthesea.com) for cruises with special needs kids (they'd both been on them), and said that it is ILLEGAL for the airlines to deny your child on a flight because of their behavior so long as you reveal your child has a disability. I don't know about anyone else, but that made me breath easier. I've never had trouble flying with my kids, but it's definitely made me nervous. I think the next time I fly, i'll find the regulation and print it out to keep in my carry on. Just in case. :P Kidstube.com - youtube but screened for children!
Lunch break! Thankfully because I was starving so we relaxed a bit and then went back. The next session was a bit of a disappointment. It was about storytelling and the importance of narrative. The presentation she gave was supposed to be a 2 day presentation and she tried to give it in 1.5 hours. Yeah... you can guess how well that turned out. Thankfully i've been pretty immersed in speech therapy with my son so I was able to take some basic things out of it. One being to remember to go to where your child is. Don't expect your 5 year old to respond to things a 5 year old would when they are developmentally 3. Work from where they are, allow them to learn and grow. The other thing I really liked was how she stressed that we infer a lot from our reading. Her example was a basic book. "This cat is hungry. This bird is looking for a bird." What was infered???? That the cat eats birds. It's a leap of logic that children on the sepctrum don't always make. It would read easier (and make sense) to say "This cat is hungry. This cat eats birds. This cat is looking for a bird." She showed a video then of a little boy who was showed a story much like the first and asked to retell it. He couldn't because it didn't make sense to him. When they did a different story with the second style of wording, the child was not only able to retell it, but to add to it himself. IE: The story was 4 pictures... a woman and got by a mud puddle, the dog in the puddle, the dog getting a bath, and the dog all clean. The boy talked about how the god got in the mud but the woman didn't want him dirty (What a GREAT observation for him to make! Theory of mind in practice people!) and then she took him home and cleaned him. It was a great point and a great counter to the rest of her presentation that was far too hurried to really delve into.
After that we walked around a bit and I got a little brain to mush up (one of those stress balls :P 2 actually.. and i'm going to see if they have more tomorrow :P) Lastly.... and one of the best ones i've been to, was from a mother who helped her son make some movies. "Normal People Scare Me" and "The Sandwich Kids" are both things i've heard of before. The first was done by her son who had autism and interviewed other autistic childrem. Sanwich kids is about siblings of children with autism. She showed about 20 minutes of their new film, Arts. Amazing stuff! She talked about using art and drama and film and photography and dance and music with our kids. My hubby is an artist and both my kids love to draw (and do so at an advanced level. My son is 5 but developmentally he's about 3 years old. He draws well above the 5 year level though!). My daughter is a dancer. The self-esteem and acceptance they get from these forms of expression is amazing, and yet we're cutting it out of our schools. It's up to us as parents to remedy that! She mentioned asking her son when he was little what color a happy giraffe was. Happy was orangish-yellow. Mad was red. Silly was pink. She started asking her social skill group kids what colors represented those emotions for them and gave them paint swatches (The kind you get for free at home depot and paint supply stores) to let them tell what colors represent different things. It's hard to say you feel angry, but maybe your child can say, it was a red day. We need to let our kids tell US what colors represent what though. It's in their minds (and hearts) not ours. Let them teach you.
So... seriously, good day but my head is about to explode. They have a lot of vendors there too (though way too many lawyers if you ask me. Feels a bit like ambulance chasing, you know? Hey! Take my number in case your child gets screwed by the system *insert cheesy smile**) We bought a swing last year there and it's awesome. It's pressure mounted to a doorframe and it came with a trapeeze type attachment, a swing, and a hammock-type net. They have a glider type attachment that I want to get really bad! When not in use as a glider on the swing, you can put it on the floor, unlock a part, and it swivles on the floor for more use.
Tomorrow will be another full day. The woman from the third session (the art one) is doing another session on Mapping Transitions to you Child's Future, a guide to mapping out what you want your child's future to be and how to help them get there. Sort of disappointed that it's running at the same time as Power of Play! but considering that's all I hear about in my child development classes, I think I can miss it. Beyond that, Cathy Pratt is the keynote speaker in the morning. I think in the afternoon i'm going to the Teaching Alternative Behavios (more of a teacher's track I think but the only one i'm really interested in at that time) and then either a Social Groups Across Ages and Stages or the Panel of Autism Physicians. I find I get a lot of out the social skill sessions for both my son and my daughter (who is neurotypical). But i've never been to a panel by doctors though so that might be interesting.
Soooo... brain dead. Oh.... maybe a timestamp for my bigbang will come from this. :P I can see Jensen lost at a big conference like this and Jared holding his hand through it all :P Anyway.... going to eat and hope my brain doesn't bleed tonight before I have to get up and do it again in the morning.
Oh.. and in other news... my brother had surgery today on his knee. He tore 3 tendons in his knee. They said he'll never be really physically active again and he'll have to wear a brace even to play with the kids in the yard... but he'll be walking so that's good. A full year for a full recovery. YIKES! Plus a metal pin put in too. Damn. Hate that I wasn't there, but i'd already got the RC to pay for the conference before all this happened. Because yeah.. i'm totally Dean on the protect the little brother bit and it kills me not to be there when he needs me. I am going up to his place in 1.5 weeks to stay with him for a week to help him out though.. so I feel better.
*sighs* Going now. Or going to go write/read/post my porny stories :P