1. On a lazy and rainy weekend morning, I watched as I showed our children some Bollywood song videos. For those of you who have not watched them before, picture young men and women usually singing in scenic locations, usually doing things no real person will do! (Just a reminder to us that not just kids with autism think of seemingly bizarre and abstract things like "rides" ;-)
We watched a handful of those songs, ranging from the beautifully pictured and composed Khuda Jaane, to the tale of three friends driving from Mumbai to Goa in a car (Dil Chahta Hai) and then... the song about a young man and a young woman imagining themselves to be on screen singing and dancing to Bollywood songs that they are watching on screen(Woh Ladki Hai Kahan)!
Then last night, I don't remember what led us to do this, but both the twins and I threw our hands in the air singing "Khuda Jaane", acted like the Aamir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai-- gobbling up a whole fish (and we are vegetarians! talk about flexibility;-), and dancing with bird like steps as in "Woh Ladki Hai Kahan" for over 10 minutes!
(Worth repeating this... Aditya "acted" like the guy in the video, eating the whole fish, then showing the "Exquisite" gesture with his fingers! Priceless!!)
We are planning to repeat the show tonight!
Aditya was doing these kind of silly things with us when he was 3. Then he stopped. Three cheers for him as he has come back in action!
2. Aditya not only plays soccer with me every morning now (2 sessions of 10 minutes with a half time in between) he is getting better at it with every game. Today he scored his first REAL goal, meaning he actually beat me and sent the ball in the goal post in a way I could not stop! Even considering that his dad was never a great soccer player.... this is a huge feat for Aditya! In addition he seems to enjoy and giggle (rather than fret) when I deflect the ball away from his grasp!
3. Aditya is willing and excited to play Soccer (my choice) as the FIRST activity in a session. After we are done with that, he asks for HIS choice... guess what it was today.... that's right.... Monopoly! He is ASKing for an interactive board game like Monopoly... which is huge for us. Of course he loves doing the Math (like paying $200 in order to pay $160 and then asking for $40 back), as well as the predictability of what colors go on which properties. Even then the number of outcomes that there can be (chance, community chest, paying rent, building houses, trading properties/houses, and even bargaining for more money when the other player is in dire need of buying the third property of a given color) makes this a pretty good game for him to play and exercise his flexibility.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Bad Behav-years!
Said Aditya today, all of a sudden:
Bad behaviors are those years in which people behave badly.
Other highlights of the day:
1. Both volunteers out sick
2. Baba played for 2 hours with Aditya. In today's game Aditya was to throw the ball at "feelings" on the wall. When he hit a feeling he got to talk about "I was XXX when...." For example, I was angry when....
Aditya did well to play the game (and only that game, no ism'ing and no building "rides" together) for 1.5 hours. In another variation on the game, there were situations written on paper, stuck to the wall. Aditya was to throw the ball at them, and say how he felt in those siuations.
It is always interesting to hear Aditya say how he "feels" about different situations.
3. Later, Baba played Monopoly with the twins for an hour and a half.
4. On Saturday Baba played Monopoly with the twins for 2.5 hours! This was a record for us, and every moment so spent was worth it! It has taken us 2 years to come here, but... the wait was so worth it!
Bad behaviors are those years in which people behave badly.
Other highlights of the day:
1. Both volunteers out sick
2. Baba played for 2 hours with Aditya. In today's game Aditya was to throw the ball at "feelings" on the wall. When he hit a feeling he got to talk about "I was XXX when...." For example, I was angry when....
Aditya did well to play the game (and only that game, no ism'ing and no building "rides" together) for 1.5 hours. In another variation on the game, there were situations written on paper, stuck to the wall. Aditya was to throw the ball at them, and say how he felt in those siuations.
It is always interesting to hear Aditya say how he "feels" about different situations.
3. Later, Baba played Monopoly with the twins for an hour and a half.
4. On Saturday Baba played Monopoly with the twins for 2.5 hours! This was a record for us, and every moment so spent was worth it! It has taken us 2 years to come here, but... the wait was so worth it!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Don't copy me except in the playroom!
Aditya loves to ask "why".
For example:
A: "What are good bugs?"
I: "We call some bugs good bugs."
A: "WHY?"
I: "Because they chase the bad bugs that might eat our food".
Or...
A: Will you come back from office?
I: Yes Aditya
A: WHY?
I: Because this is my home and my family and I live here!
But this morning, when I was about to have my breakfast...
A arrived in the room.
I: "Would you like breakfast?"
A: "Yes!"
I: WHY?
A: Hey don't ask me why.
I: Why not? I thought you like WHY
A: Don't copy me
I: Okay :-)
A: You can copy me only in the playroom
For example:
A: "What are good bugs?"
I: "We call some bugs good bugs."
A: "WHY?"
I: "Because they chase the bad bugs that might eat our food".
Or...
A: Will you come back from office?
I: Yes Aditya
A: WHY?
I: Because this is my home and my family and I live here!
But this morning, when I was about to have my breakfast...
A arrived in the room.
I: "Would you like breakfast?"
A: "Yes!"
I: WHY?
A: Hey don't ask me why.
I: Why not? I thought you like WHY
A: Don't copy me
I: Okay :-)
A: You can copy me only in the playroom
Monday, March 7, 2011
But I don't want to stop....
Last Sunday, both our volunteers cancelled their sessions. We hate it every time it happens. But this time, we said, what the heck! It's good for us... because it allows us to focus our energies on playing with the hero of the program, instead of giving feedback and orchestrating the whole show of one of them coming before the other goes home, etc.
Baba (which means Dad, but feels more close:-) went in with a game, but Aditya asked to build the RIDE with his blocks first. We did that for about 15 minutes when Baba invited Aditya again to play the new game he had brought. This time, Aditya was game with the idea!
We began by sticking little squares of paper on the wall, numbered 1 to 6. Baba and Aditya would then play "throw and catch" until one of them dropped it. Every catch would add a half point to their score. When one of them dropped it, that would be the score of their team... say they dropped the ball after 4 throws, their score would be 2. If so they would go and take off the square numbered 2, turn it around and provide "expert advice" on the question noted.
(Questions were designed around Aditya's areas of expertise, such as, if his RIDE starts looking old and needs a new paint, what color might he choose to paint it with?)
We are aware that he has been having difficulty catching the ball (although he is really good at throwing the ball now). As is usual in a Son Rise program session, when motivated he began trying to do what he was not supposed to do... catch the ball. He mostly did not catch anything more difficult than a straight throw in his lap. However in one case, he did latch on to the (soft) ball that had struck his head and then fallen into the air. Hurray!!
After playing this game for 20 minutes or so, he asked to play Soccer.
We played much longer than we do on weekday mornings. Aditya scored 11 goals while I did 10. At this point, we learnt that our volunteer was not going to make it! Usually, a big deal for him, but today he seemed totally okay, as I offered to continue playing soccer! We did continue for another 10 minutes, and totally loved it. Aditya continued not only to kick the ball much better, he "ran around" the room when he scored a goal, imitating what he saw in a goal scoring youtube video:-)
The best part of the session came in the end where he asked to play Monopoly. For the first time, we played for over an hour, after which we went out to tell Aai (Mom) that we intended to play for another 15 minutes!
While we played we ran into some never-before scenarios like Aditya running low on cash, and therefore letting go the idea of buying new property:-) Once he also ran so low that he agreed to sell "something" he had. He had to pay $100 in rent, and had about $60 with him. To my great surprise, he picked the cheapest property (Baltic Avenue, for $60) to sell to me! Soon running into a situation where he had to pay $100 rent again to me, he now opted for a $400 property, as if to get rid of this problem once and for all! Finally, we laughed our hearts out when we realized we were preferring to go to jail than to land in a place where we had to pay $100 in rent to the other player. That moment was beyond what I could have asked for from that Sunday!
In the end... Aditya said "I don't want to stop playing". But then agreed to stop knowing that it was time to have lunch!
Baba (which means Dad, but feels more close:-) went in with a game, but Aditya asked to build the RIDE with his blocks first. We did that for about 15 minutes when Baba invited Aditya again to play the new game he had brought. This time, Aditya was game with the idea!
We began by sticking little squares of paper on the wall, numbered 1 to 6. Baba and Aditya would then play "throw and catch" until one of them dropped it. Every catch would add a half point to their score. When one of them dropped it, that would be the score of their team... say they dropped the ball after 4 throws, their score would be 2. If so they would go and take off the square numbered 2, turn it around and provide "expert advice" on the question noted.
(Questions were designed around Aditya's areas of expertise, such as, if his RIDE starts looking old and needs a new paint, what color might he choose to paint it with?)
We are aware that he has been having difficulty catching the ball (although he is really good at throwing the ball now). As is usual in a Son Rise program session, when motivated he began trying to do what he was not supposed to do... catch the ball. He mostly did not catch anything more difficult than a straight throw in his lap. However in one case, he did latch on to the (soft) ball that had struck his head and then fallen into the air. Hurray!!
After playing this game for 20 minutes or so, he asked to play Soccer.
We played much longer than we do on weekday mornings. Aditya scored 11 goals while I did 10. At this point, we learnt that our volunteer was not going to make it! Usually, a big deal for him, but today he seemed totally okay, as I offered to continue playing soccer! We did continue for another 10 minutes, and totally loved it. Aditya continued not only to kick the ball much better, he "ran around" the room when he scored a goal, imitating what he saw in a goal scoring youtube video:-)
The best part of the session came in the end where he asked to play Monopoly. For the first time, we played for over an hour, after which we went out to tell Aai (Mom) that we intended to play for another 15 minutes!
While we played we ran into some never-before scenarios like Aditya running low on cash, and therefore letting go the idea of buying new property:-) Once he also ran so low that he agreed to sell "something" he had. He had to pay $100 in rent, and had about $60 with him. To my great surprise, he picked the cheapest property (Baltic Avenue, for $60) to sell to me! Soon running into a situation where he had to pay $100 rent again to me, he now opted for a $400 property, as if to get rid of this problem once and for all! Finally, we laughed our hearts out when we realized we were preferring to go to jail than to land in a place where we had to pay $100 in rent to the other player. That moment was beyond what I could have asked for from that Sunday!
In the end... Aditya said "I don't want to stop playing". But then agreed to stop knowing that it was time to have lunch!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Soccer in the playroom- continued!
We have been now playing soccer every day this week, and we are greatly excited about it!
Every single day that we have played this week, Aditya has displayed:
1) A greater degree enthusiasm and excitement about playing soccer! Hurray!
2) A slow but certain improvement in his skill- in especially kicking the ball. This morning he managed to kick the ball once from one goal post to the other! What's even cooler, he was then basking in the thought that he actually did something as cool as that:-)
3) Improvement in his understanding of the game
4) An acceptance as well as an understanding of this relatively aggressive game. For example, by design soccer is something where he is required to cause obstruction to the other player, and also be accepting of the other player obstructing him! He also seems to like the "half time" concept which requires us to switch sides and take the ball to the goal post on the opposite side.
Every single day that we have played this week, Aditya has displayed:
1) A greater degree enthusiasm and excitement about playing soccer! Hurray!
2) A slow but certain improvement in his skill- in especially kicking the ball. This morning he managed to kick the ball once from one goal post to the other! What's even cooler, he was then basking in the thought that he actually did something as cool as that:-)
3) Improvement in his understanding of the game
4) An acceptance as well as an understanding of this relatively aggressive game. For example, by design soccer is something where he is required to cause obstruction to the other player, and also be accepting of the other player obstructing him! He also seems to like the "half time" concept which requires us to switch sides and take the ball to the goal post on the opposite side.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Soccer in the playroom!
When he plays, Aditya has a strong preference for sit-down activities like talking, drawing, and these days.... board games like Chutes & Ladders or Monopoly.
One of our current goals is to inspire Aditya to do things that are more "physical" in nature. Inspire a love for soccer, for example. He has begun having 1:1 play dates with peers, so being open to playing soccer (or a similar sport) would come in really handy.
The news is, we just played soccer in the playroom this morning. I first played Monopoly with him for 30 minutes. We had struck a deal that for the first 30 minutes we would play his favorite game. Then in the end we were going to play my favorite game.
So when it was 30 minutes, I enthusiastically invited him to play soccer. (On Sunday, we had dabbled with soccer as part of another game, where he had enjoyed kicking the ball to the "cards" attached to the wall, each card with one of his favorite topics that he could talk about... only if he "kicked" the ball so that it touched the card.)
He seemed hesitant but agreed. He is fantastic when it comes to making and keeping a deal!
And then off we went. He suddenly seemed to like dribbling the ball and taking it from one side of the room to the other, and finally sending it through his desk, turned into a goal post. His enthusiasm was excellent, and he scored 3 goals before the 10 minute half time. By the end of the second half (another 5 minutes), he scored another 3, to beat Dad by 6 goals to 4.
We made sure to celebrate him for being open to playing soccer, and told him how happy we were that he liked playing soccer.
Go Aditya!
One of our current goals is to inspire Aditya to do things that are more "physical" in nature. Inspire a love for soccer, for example. He has begun having 1:1 play dates with peers, so being open to playing soccer (or a similar sport) would come in really handy.
The news is, we just played soccer in the playroom this morning. I first played Monopoly with him for 30 minutes. We had struck a deal that for the first 30 minutes we would play his favorite game. Then in the end we were going to play my favorite game.
So when it was 30 minutes, I enthusiastically invited him to play soccer. (On Sunday, we had dabbled with soccer as part of another game, where he had enjoyed kicking the ball to the "cards" attached to the wall, each card with one of his favorite topics that he could talk about... only if he "kicked" the ball so that it touched the card.)
He seemed hesitant but agreed. He is fantastic when it comes to making and keeping a deal!
And then off we went. He suddenly seemed to like dribbling the ball and taking it from one side of the room to the other, and finally sending it through his desk, turned into a goal post. His enthusiasm was excellent, and he scored 3 goals before the 10 minute half time. By the end of the second half (another 5 minutes), he scored another 3, to beat Dad by 6 goals to 4.
We made sure to celebrate him for being open to playing soccer, and told him how happy we were that he liked playing soccer.
Go Aditya!
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