It hasn't been the greatest day.
Bright Eyes has been very difficult to deal with. Lots of tantrums and inability to cope with change.
Of course, it didn't help that I was recovering from a night in emergency on Sunday (vomiting bug), his sister was home 'sick' from school and my husband is away for two days.
It makes me realise just how well he has been doing, because today it felt like the bad old days again.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Duck duck goose
Bright Eyes just loves to play duck duck goose*.
Today he and his sister and dad were playing a version of the game, but using different words. I think his sister began it by saying 'Muffin, muffin....eat!' and then (ahem) 'toilet, toilet.... flush'.
Bright Eyes got creative and added his own words: 'broom, broom, sweep', 'Veggitales, veggitales.... eat it' and 'Shane, Shane... David**'.
I'm sure that counts for something in RDI-objective-land... I'll just have to find out what.
*That's the game where a child runs around the circle of sitting children, tapping each on the head and saying 'duck' until he chooses one and says 'goose', whereupon the chosen child hops up and races around the circle trying to catch the first one. Geddit?
**Shane and David are the Umbilical Brothers, physical comedy geniuses and the stars of the brilliant new 'Upside Down Show' on ABC Kids TV. Bright Eyes just LOVES it.*
Today he and his sister and dad were playing a version of the game, but using different words. I think his sister began it by saying 'Muffin, muffin....eat!' and then (ahem) 'toilet, toilet.... flush'.
Bright Eyes got creative and added his own words: 'broom, broom, sweep', 'Veggitales, veggitales.... eat it' and 'Shane, Shane... David**'.
I'm sure that counts for something in RDI-objective-land... I'll just have to find out what.
*That's the game where a child runs around the circle of sitting children, tapping each on the head and saying 'duck' until he chooses one and says 'goose', whereupon the chosen child hops up and races around the circle trying to catch the first one. Geddit?
**Shane and David are the Umbilical Brothers, physical comedy geniuses and the stars of the brilliant new 'Upside Down Show' on ABC Kids TV. Bright Eyes just LOVES it.*
Help needed
Can any RDI-ites out there help me work out what to do for this objective that we are supposed to be working on?
Basically, I have to demonstrate that Bright Eyes can recognise that the same things can become more or less important depending on the task you are doing. He should be able to distinguish three different levels of importance (very, a bit, not at all).
I'm guessing that I should set up a few different tasks using the same stuff. I'm thinking painting. We could do a printing task where using the print is important but the colour of the paint is not. Then I could change it to only doing red paint - so the blue and yellow are not important. And whether it's done with a brush or a print is less important.
Any other ideas?
Basically, I have to demonstrate that Bright Eyes can recognise that the same things can become more or less important depending on the task you are doing. He should be able to distinguish three different levels of importance (very, a bit, not at all).
I'm guessing that I should set up a few different tasks using the same stuff. I'm thinking painting. We could do a printing task where using the print is important but the colour of the paint is not. Then I could change it to only doing red paint - so the blue and yellow are not important. And whether it's done with a brush or a print is less important.
Any other ideas?
Friday, October 26, 2007
Support groups
I haven't had great success yet with the support groups that I've attended for parents of special needs children.
The first was a playgroup style group with a few paid staff. Most of the parents were shy and not keen to chat, although the staff were helpful. Mind you, I was new to it all, and in a lot of shock, so I'm not sure I would have recognised much support even if it was there.
The second was a group organised by the local early intervention centre. There were three other parents involved, and it was a 'you run yourselves' type affair. Most of the time was spent talking about run of the mill stuff like building new houses, buying new cars and where we all purchased our groceries.
I found the attitude of the parents to their children's special needs was almost nearing denial. "Oh, he's improving heaps. He knows all his colours. Everyone's a bit odd anyway. He'll be fine once he gets to school." They didn't appear to be interested in finding out much about their child's problems, or looking for solutions.
The group I've just joined seemed to be a little more promising. It is run by a woman who is both an early childhood teacher and a trained counsellor. But there is only one other parent, and she really likes to talk. She also has a lot of difficulties just getting her life together.
The first meeting felt like me giving support, but not getting much myself. I want to have a good discussion about accepting your child as they are and what that means, but I don't think that's going to happen for a while.
Thankfully I have support from other people. My regular counsellor is a tremendous help, our family give us time and love on the phone plus babysitting, and so many people at our church are truly interested in Bright Eyes and give me time to talk about both the good times and the challenges.
The first was a playgroup style group with a few paid staff. Most of the parents were shy and not keen to chat, although the staff were helpful. Mind you, I was new to it all, and in a lot of shock, so I'm not sure I would have recognised much support even if it was there.
The second was a group organised by the local early intervention centre. There were three other parents involved, and it was a 'you run yourselves' type affair. Most of the time was spent talking about run of the mill stuff like building new houses, buying new cars and where we all purchased our groceries.
I found the attitude of the parents to their children's special needs was almost nearing denial. "Oh, he's improving heaps. He knows all his colours. Everyone's a bit odd anyway. He'll be fine once he gets to school." They didn't appear to be interested in finding out much about their child's problems, or looking for solutions.
The group I've just joined seemed to be a little more promising. It is run by a woman who is both an early childhood teacher and a trained counsellor. But there is only one other parent, and she really likes to talk. She also has a lot of difficulties just getting her life together.
The first meeting felt like me giving support, but not getting much myself. I want to have a good discussion about accepting your child as they are and what that means, but I don't think that's going to happen for a while.
Thankfully I have support from other people. My regular counsellor is a tremendous help, our family give us time and love on the phone plus babysitting, and so many people at our church are truly interested in Bright Eyes and give me time to talk about both the good times and the challenges.
Cute
Bright Eyes had a great day at preschool today. Lauren, a little five year old, who has taken him under her wing turned to him and said, "You're so cute Bright Eyes".
He looked at her and said, "Yes. You're cute too."
He looked at her and said, "Yes. You're cute too."
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
RDI online
Our RDI program is now online. The Connections Centre has gone through a lot of work and expense to get all the RDI objectives together in an online database for us to use. We can upload our video clips and chat to our consultant as well.
So far so good. I find it easier to see where we are at every week and soon there will be a library of other people's video clips giving examples of each objective. So if I'm stuck for ideas I can pinch theirs!
So far so good. I find it easier to see where we are at every week and soon there will be a library of other people's video clips giving examples of each objective. So if I'm stuck for ideas I can pinch theirs!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Our regular prayer points
Thanks for praying for Bright Eyes. It’s been a while between updates and I’m really happy to say that he’s made some good progress in these couple of months.
Food: He’ll eat better quality sausages, corned beef and eggs now! Plus I’m getting vegies into him through juices and surreptitious zucchini bits in his home baked raisin toast.
Toilet: I was going to ask you to pray about this, but didn’t get to it. In the meantime, he has become mostly toilet trained! Hooray! This is a huge step.
Clothes: He has become a weeny bit more flexible and will wear a couple of shirts with designs on them. This from the child who has only worn plain colours for more than a year is fantastic.
Demeanour: A few less tantrums, and we are getting better at dealing with them and not overreacting ourselves. This week we’ve seen him start to say “Good talking Mum” instead of “Stop talking Mum!” which is a nice change.
Friends: He has begun to be slightly more sociable and interested in making friends and playing... not all the time, but enough to make a difference.
God is very good.
Our prayer requests for this month are:
Siblings: He gets on well with his sister, but the baby is another story. The two of them are continually at each other. Bright Eyes has been seen to just reach over and headbutt his brother for absolutely no reason that we can see!
Bowel: This area of his body has a big effect on his brain, and it’s still not healthy. I’m heading to the homeopath again next week to see what we can do about it.
RDI therapy: He needs to be able to coordinate more with us and participate in general activities. And we need to maintain our focus and keep communicating effectively with him.
Thanks everyone. We really appreciate it!
Food: He’ll eat better quality sausages, corned beef and eggs now! Plus I’m getting vegies into him through juices and surreptitious zucchini bits in his home baked raisin toast.
Toilet: I was going to ask you to pray about this, but didn’t get to it. In the meantime, he has become mostly toilet trained! Hooray! This is a huge step.
Clothes: He has become a weeny bit more flexible and will wear a couple of shirts with designs on them. This from the child who has only worn plain colours for more than a year is fantastic.
Demeanour: A few less tantrums, and we are getting better at dealing with them and not overreacting ourselves. This week we’ve seen him start to say “Good talking Mum” instead of “Stop talking Mum!” which is a nice change.
Friends: He has begun to be slightly more sociable and interested in making friends and playing... not all the time, but enough to make a difference.
God is very good.
Our prayer requests for this month are:
Siblings: He gets on well with his sister, but the baby is another story. The two of them are continually at each other. Bright Eyes has been seen to just reach over and headbutt his brother for absolutely no reason that we can see!
Bowel: This area of his body has a big effect on his brain, and it’s still not healthy. I’m heading to the homeopath again next week to see what we can do about it.
RDI therapy: He needs to be able to coordinate more with us and participate in general activities. And we need to maintain our focus and keep communicating effectively with him.
Thanks everyone. We really appreciate it!
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