This post is not so much about Son Rise, but Aditya already has his secrets which only he and two of our team members understand. Brenda and Michel and Aditya have been talking and writing Spanish words for a few days now.
Yesterday, Aditya wrote the 12 months in Spanish, with Brenda responding (NOT directing) to his requests for "what's the next month" using Spanish letters and numbers. Really, Spanish... not English e.g. "Esse", and not "S"
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
When in doubt... JOIN!
The team has been doing well after the last meeting. We continue to look for improvement opportunities, but most of us team members are already focusing a lot more on "recognizing" Aditya's isms.
When he ism's we are patiently listening and joining. When in doubt, we are trying to join rather than trying to expand. Perhaps we are being conservative here and not capitalizing on expansion opportunities that come when he does show readiness to move on.
However, we think this is better than trying to challenge him to leave his comfort zone when he is not ready.
By the way, we did 15 Son Rise hours for 2 weeks, and then 19 hours last week.
This week the number of hours will probably be less, as we (Aditya and family) have been having minor "seasonal" health issues.
However, as long as we keep improving the quality of how we interact with Aditya, the number of Son Rise hours is a relatively less important issue.
When he ism's we are patiently listening and joining. When in doubt, we are trying to join rather than trying to expand. Perhaps we are being conservative here and not capitalizing on expansion opportunities that come when he does show readiness to move on.
However, we think this is better than trying to challenge him to leave his comfort zone when he is not ready.
By the way, we did 15 Son Rise hours for 2 weeks, and then 19 hours last week.
This week the number of hours will probably be less, as we (Aditya and family) have been having minor "seasonal" health issues.
However, as long as we keep improving the quality of how we interact with Aditya, the number of Son Rise hours is a relatively less important issue.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Motor skills and social interactions!
This morning, while going to work, I heard the following story on National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120275194&ft=1&f=1001
Here is an excerpt:
The handwriting issue on its own is a major impediment for many children with autism, Bastian says. But it's also indicative of a much larger problem with motor skills, she says. Many have trouble holding a fork, buttoning a shirt, or tying their shoelaces.
And these problems with motor skills may carry over into social interactions, Bastian says.
"These are the kids that are going to get picked last for kickball," she says. "These are the kids who are clumsy, who already have difficulty relating to other kids. And the motor component probably makes things worse."
Bastian says a lack of motor skills can also make it harder to communicate through subtle gestures and facial expressions. And people who can't make these gestures and expressions themselves often have trouble understanding what they mean when other people use them. The inability to read faces and gestures is a hallmark of autism.
____________________
So, researchers think there is this link between motor skills and social skills. That's great news... especially since Aditya has acquired quite a few motor skills during his Son Rise program.
Especially worth mentioning is the day on which, and this was within the first few weeks of his program (much before we launched this blog)... we played with Aditya for about 30 minutes during which he learned to cut!
That's right. 30 minutes is what it took this young man with a diagnosis of autism to cut through the diameter of a paper plate. Actually, 30 minutes is what it took him to pick up the pair of scissors. 2 minutes to cut the plate into two.
How did that happen? What were we doing with that plate?
We were having an animated discussion about one of his all time fascinations- the fan! As he spoke about different kinds of fans and where he has seen them (lots of them in India!) I asked him if he knew about the hand-held fan. This peaked his interest, and in a few minutes we were ready to make a hand-held fan out of a paper plate and a plastic spoon for its handle.
In her CD "Special Children, Special Solutions" Mrs Samharia Kaufman speaks about children who in their Son Rise programs, learned to do things they were never supposed to do... as if they forgot they were not supposed to know these things!
While we never really thought that Aditya would never cut through a plate, we were elated when Aditya forgot the "scientific" fact that he has motor delays and instead chose to ferociously cut through the 6 inch paper plate!
Oh... and by the way, at that time, Aditya was going to school, and in his IEP there was a goal: Aditya would cut a 4 inch line IN ONE YEAR.
Oh... and by the way, now our walls are filled with fans, wheels, cell-phones, cars, boomboxes, and lately, flowers and animals too:-)
Long live the Son Rise program, and long live the Option Institute- a place for miracles!
Here is an excerpt:
The handwriting issue on its own is a major impediment for many children with autism, Bastian says. But it's also indicative of a much larger problem with motor skills, she says. Many have trouble holding a fork, buttoning a shirt, or tying their shoelaces.
And these problems with motor skills may carry over into social interactions, Bastian says.
"These are the kids that are going to get picked last for kickball," she says. "These are the kids who are clumsy, who already have difficulty relating to other kids. And the motor component probably makes things worse."
Bastian says a lack of motor skills can also make it harder to communicate through subtle gestures and facial expressions. And people who can't make these gestures and expressions themselves often have trouble understanding what they mean when other people use them. The inability to read faces and gestures is a hallmark of autism.
____________________
So, researchers think there is this link between motor skills and social skills. That's great news... especially since Aditya has acquired quite a few motor skills during his Son Rise program.
Especially worth mentioning is the day on which, and this was within the first few weeks of his program (much before we launched this blog)... we played with Aditya for about 30 minutes during which he learned to cut!
That's right. 30 minutes is what it took this young man with a diagnosis of autism to cut through the diameter of a paper plate. Actually, 30 minutes is what it took him to pick up the pair of scissors. 2 minutes to cut the plate into two.
How did that happen? What were we doing with that plate?
We were having an animated discussion about one of his all time fascinations- the fan! As he spoke about different kinds of fans and where he has seen them (lots of them in India!) I asked him if he knew about the hand-held fan. This peaked his interest, and in a few minutes we were ready to make a hand-held fan out of a paper plate and a plastic spoon for its handle.
In her CD "Special Children, Special Solutions" Mrs Samharia Kaufman speaks about children who in their Son Rise programs, learned to do things they were never supposed to do... as if they forgot they were not supposed to know these things!
While we never really thought that Aditya would never cut through a plate, we were elated when Aditya forgot the "scientific" fact that he has motor delays and instead chose to ferociously cut through the 6 inch paper plate!
Oh... and by the way, at that time, Aditya was going to school, and in his IEP there was a goal: Aditya would cut a 4 inch line IN ONE YEAR.
Oh... and by the way, now our walls are filled with fans, wheels, cell-phones, cars, boomboxes, and lately, flowers and animals too:-)
Long live the Son Rise program, and long live the Option Institute- a place for miracles!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Robin's brother raised his eye-brows!
As we prepared for our team meeting, we also took stock of how Aditya changed in the last 3 weeks.
Two of those changes are especially worth celebrating for us!
1) Aditya has begun spinning tales!
One fine day, he came up with this all by himself... of course... he said it all as part of a Q&A session, which we do several times a day!
I have a brother.
Robin is his name.
He is 34, his wife 35.
They stay in Fremont.
His wife's name- JaBaaJee
He has a son- JabaJa
Has a daughter- JaBeeJa
2) For the first time ever... Aditya raised his eye-brows! Never done it before or after that moment. (Never before... something I realized as soon as he did it! Never after... well who knows:-))
It happened during a bed time story as we looked at and discussed the picture of a boy looking surprised with raised eye brows.
Of course, since that time he has been asking me for raised eye-brows, sometimes requesting that my eye-brows fly in the sky (thanks to another picture of a VERY surprised child in the same book that had his raised eye-brows showing up slightly above his face).
When I say my eye-brows are part of my face and can't leave it, he loves to ask: "are they stuck to your face with glue or tape?"
Two of those changes are especially worth celebrating for us!
1) Aditya has begun spinning tales!
One fine day, he came up with this all by himself... of course... he said it all as part of a Q&A session, which we do several times a day!
I have a brother.
Robin is his name.
He is 34, his wife 35.
They stay in Fremont.
His wife's name- JaBaaJee
He has a son- JabaJa
Has a daughter- JaBeeJa
2) For the first time ever... Aditya raised his eye-brows! Never done it before or after that moment. (Never before... something I realized as soon as he did it! Never after... well who knows:-))
It happened during a bed time story as we looked at and discussed the picture of a boy looking surprised with raised eye brows.
Of course, since that time he has been asking me for raised eye-brows, sometimes requesting that my eye-brows fly in the sky (thanks to another picture of a VERY surprised child in the same book that had his raised eye-brows showing up slightly above his face).
When I say my eye-brows are part of my face and can't leave it, he loves to ask: "are they stuck to your face with glue or tape?"
Monday, November 9, 2009
Goals... for the team!
1) We shall celebrate eye contact on every occasion (not the same as "demanding" eye contact)
2) We will become super-responsive, super-predictable, extra-user-friendly "buttons"
3) We will resist the temptation to play the interrogator (ask too many questions). If we ask questions we will count to 15 before asking another question!
4) We will passionately JOIN when he is ism'ing (even if he repeats 100 times the same activity/ game/ topic/ question)
5) When we lose the green light, we shall JOIN, not EXPAND
Those are the goals for Aditya's Son Rise team, as set at the end of our very first team member meeting on Sunday.
Many thanks to Brenda, Michel, Krishna, Akshay and Gowri for making this meeting so interactive and fun! Mom and dad sure had lots of fun playing Aditya as all of you Son-Rised us one by one as we reviewed the fundamentals!
And oh... a huge WELCOME to Akshay and Gowri, our two new members:-)
2) We will become super-responsive, super-predictable, extra-user-friendly "buttons"
3) We will resist the temptation to play the interrogator (ask too many questions). If we ask questions we will count to 15 before asking another question!
4) We will passionately JOIN when he is ism'ing (even if he repeats 100 times the same activity/ game/ topic/ question)
5) When we lose the green light, we shall JOIN, not EXPAND
Those are the goals for Aditya's Son Rise team, as set at the end of our very first team member meeting on Sunday.
Many thanks to Brenda, Michel, Krishna, Akshay and Gowri for making this meeting so interactive and fun! Mom and dad sure had lots of fun playing Aditya as all of you Son-Rised us one by one as we reviewed the fundamentals!
And oh... a huge WELCOME to Akshay and Gowri, our two new members:-)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ramping up!
When it was just us (Mom & Dad) doing the program, we were doing about 8 hours a week at best.
With 3 trained team members (Krishna, Michel and Brenda) on board, we clocked 15 hours last week for the first time.
Mom & Dad lately spent a lot of time watching the playroom and giving feedback... this week we plan to come back and get active again in the playroom.
The playroom:
1. Ikea shelves came down (fortunately when no one was around). Perhaps we put too much load on them. Need to fix these or buy shelving from a place like OSH or Home Depot.
2. Got a wireless internet camera to watch the program from outside the room.
With 3 trained team members (Krishna, Michel and Brenda) on board, we clocked 15 hours last week for the first time.
Mom & Dad lately spent a lot of time watching the playroom and giving feedback... this week we plan to come back and get active again in the playroom.
The playroom:
1. Ikea shelves came down (fortunately when no one was around). Perhaps we put too much load on them. Need to fix these or buy shelving from a place like OSH or Home Depot.
2. Got a wireless internet camera to watch the program from outside the room.
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