We have not blogged for a while. All this while, we have been primarily focusing on helping Aditya with his skin condition that looks like eczema.
Today, we are getting a much needed boost to our Son Rise program-- an outreach with Senior teacher Gerd Winkler.
As I am writing this, he is observing Aditya in his class (or out on the playground-- as the day goes).
Oh what an exciting day this is!!!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Christmas Humor!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Read all about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinch
This morning, Aditya had a different idea about using the word Grinch. He said, "I am coming up with a joke. I saw a Grinch in my dream. He was eating a French Fry. I am going to call it the Grench Fry."
Aditya's sense of humor has always been great, but now he has started saying funny things to make conversations interesting.
Hurray!!!
Read all about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinch
This morning, Aditya had a different idea about using the word Grinch. He said, "I am coming up with a joke. I saw a Grinch in my dream. He was eating a French Fry. I am going to call it the Grench Fry."
Aditya's sense of humor has always been great, but now he has started saying funny things to make conversations interesting.
Hurray!!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
He "looks while talking" when motivated!
In our group meeting, the team agreed that Aditya's eye contact has dropped. It is normal when he is listening to us. However, he does not consistently look at us when he is talking to us. It feels like he is talking "at" us.
We discussed a number of techniques to help inspire Aditya to look at us more while talking:
1. Joining
2. Celebrations
3. 3E's
4. Playing silly games where we sometimes run out of energy and then need to re-charge with "eye power"!
Aai and Baba also decided to take some games inside to inspire Aditya to "look while talking"
Yesterday, Baba went in with one such game, and Aditya welcomed it with lots of energy, excitement, and enthusiasm! (He has been vocal about wanting the team to bring in some "eye power" games... so that he can master this goal:-)
In this game, Aditya and Baba sat on two sides of the room.
On one side was the easel with a marker pen.
Baba explained the game, and then Aditya got some "eye power" from Baba to kick start the game. Right as he got charged with the eye power, he sprinted to the board and wrote down the first line of a story that we had not even begun making: "The rabbits lined up for school." HE THEN LOOKED at Baba as he said the line back to him.
He darted back, and gave some eye power to Baba so he could take off and go to the board to add his line: "But the doors were closed!" Baba looked at Aditya with his eyes as he said both lines back to him, i.e. "The rabbits lined up for school. But the doors were closed!"
Baba rushed back to his base, and gave some more eye power to Aditya, who went and expanded the story further, and said everything back to Baba while looking at him: "The rabbits lined up for school. But the doors were closed! Why is it closed, the rabbits asked."
The rest of our story is captured and uploaded here for your pleasure:-)
As the story began to grow in size, he started finding it challenging to recall all those lines. So we introduced the neurotypical trick of looking some at the board, then looking at the listener, then looking back at the board to read the next line, and so on!
As we often find out in the playroom.... it is a question of motivation. When he is at the top of his motivation, he will gladly look at other human beings while talking to them.
So the real question is.... are we loving, accepting, listening to, and looking at our super-hero when he talks about his fascinations like the super-cool imaginary ADAX car company and its products?
Aditya and Shreya now have a plan for their mornings!
When Aai flew away for her week long training program, Aditya, Shreya, and Baba had a discussion about how to have the best, easiest, most fun-filled week... to the best of our ability.
We agreed that we all get unhappy in the mornings when we do "last minute scrambling" before leaving for school... i.e. "I really need to leave now but I cannot remember where I left my jacket yesterday". In other words, we believed we could have an EASY time getting ready in the morning if we planned what we were going to do in the morning.
The twins decided to take action! They made a To-Do list for the mornings. The list had:
1. Refill water bottle
2. Pack a snack (usually a fruit like an apple)
3. Eat his Pro-biotic and his Triphala (for Aditya)
4. Comb hair (Shreya)
5. Get Baba to apply coconut oil or "the balm" on his skin (Aditya)
6. Get Baba to pack lunch
7. (Find and wear your) Socks and shoes
8. (Find and wear your) Winter jacket
The twins loved making the list, and then had FUN checking off things to do from the list every morning of that week. They liked it so much, they are still doing it every morning (even as Aai... and hence sanity.. has returned)!
Some other amazing things they did:
1. prepare and pack their own rice cracker sandwiches for the thanksgiving feast held in school
2. play with each other when Baba was cooking or cleaning... without ever getting into a fight
3. show extreme flexibility and patience with baba's cooking skills:-)
We agreed that we all get unhappy in the mornings when we do "last minute scrambling" before leaving for school... i.e. "I really need to leave now but I cannot remember where I left my jacket yesterday". In other words, we believed we could have an EASY time getting ready in the morning if we planned what we were going to do in the morning.
The twins decided to take action! They made a To-Do list for the mornings. The list had:
1. Refill water bottle
2. Pack a snack (usually a fruit like an apple)
3. Eat his Pro-biotic and his Triphala (for Aditya)
4. Comb hair (Shreya)
5. Get Baba to apply coconut oil or "the balm" on his skin (Aditya)
6. Get Baba to pack lunch
7. (Find and wear your) Socks and shoes
8. (Find and wear your) Winter jacket
The twins loved making the list, and then had FUN checking off things to do from the list every morning of that week. They liked it so much, they are still doing it every morning (even as Aai... and hence sanity.. has returned)!
Some other amazing things they did:
1. prepare and pack their own rice cracker sandwiches for the thanksgiving feast held in school
2. play with each other when Baba was cooking or cleaning... without ever getting into a fight
3. show extreme flexibility and patience with baba's cooking skills:-)
Aditya's letter to SON RISE!
First in this series.... the letter that Aditya wrote to his Son Rise program facilitator friends at Option Instittute, Sheffield, MA. Aai was at Option Institute for her New Frontiers training program, which is when she hand-delivered this beautiful letter!
Last year in November, these same amazing people gave their heart and soul as they worked on inspiring Aditya to play
1. 6 and 7 year old games like beyblades
with
2. 6 and 7 year old kids at his school!
The letter says:
"11/7/12
Dear Son Rise friends!!! Thanx For The 2 Intensive & 1 Outreach. How are you Doing? I Am Doing Good. I play beyblade's now! I go to 1st grade! I Have 2 friend's At School!!! There Names Are... Kelly & Alisa. They Are 2 girls in my Class In 1st Grade Like me. Why I Told you This Is Cause my class Has 1st & 2nd grade. It's A 1/2 class. bye, Aditya"
Last year in November, these same amazing people gave their heart and soul as they worked on inspiring Aditya to play
1. 6 and 7 year old games like beyblades
with
2. 6 and 7 year old kids at his school!
The letter says:
"11/7/12
Dear Son Rise friends!!! Thanx For The 2 Intensive & 1 Outreach. How are you Doing? I Am Doing Good. I play beyblade's now! I go to 1st grade! I Have 2 friend's At School!!! There Names Are... Kelly & Alisa. They Are 2 girls in my Class In 1st Grade Like me. Why I Told you This Is Cause my class Has 1st & 2nd grade. It's A 1/2 class. bye, Aditya"
Monday, November 19, 2012
"Don't draw... I think I get it."
This happened over the weekend when Aditya was playing with his Son Rise volunteer friend Arjun.
Aditya has had a challenge flowing with physical or even "on your feet" activities for almost two years. He oftentimes decides to stop playing and starts asking deep philosophical "how would you feel" questions that the other person is usually not interested in answering during that moment of play.
But on this last Sunday... it was Arjun who took a 1 second break from their pretend play game of a cross country road trip in order to explain a concept on the easel.
"I think I get it", quickly said Aditya, suggesting to Arjun that they do not waste time drawing, and instead move on with their exciting journey to their next destination!!! Woo Hoo!
A minute later, he asked Arjun to put the car in the "drive" mode. When Arjun misunderstood and began to drive the car, he HURRIED to TAP Arjun ON HIS HANDS thereby asking Arjun to stop doing that, and then used words to say, "No, just put it in the drive mode".
Aditya was using his body to communicate! Woo-Hoo!
A little later, when they reached an imaginary car shop, he decided to pull the foam roll that was lying around on the floor, and started rotating it and calling it a tire making machine! Did I already say it... WOO HOO!!!
Aditya has had a challenge flowing with physical or even "on your feet" activities for almost two years. He oftentimes decides to stop playing and starts asking deep philosophical "how would you feel" questions that the other person is usually not interested in answering during that moment of play.
But on this last Sunday... it was Arjun who took a 1 second break from their pretend play game of a cross country road trip in order to explain a concept on the easel.
"I think I get it", quickly said Aditya, suggesting to Arjun that they do not waste time drawing, and instead move on with their exciting journey to their next destination!!! Woo Hoo!
A minute later, he asked Arjun to put the car in the "drive" mode. When Arjun misunderstood and began to drive the car, he HURRIED to TAP Arjun ON HIS HANDS thereby asking Arjun to stop doing that, and then used words to say, "No, just put it in the drive mode".
Aditya was using his body to communicate! Woo-Hoo!
A little later, when they reached an imaginary car shop, he decided to pull the foam roll that was lying around on the floor, and started rotating it and calling it a tire making machine! Did I already say it... WOO HOO!!!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Hot off the press
Lots of stories to share, tons to write, plenty to do .. A quick update is what I decided.
Yesterday I went for a lunch date with my husband, close to his workplace, about a 40 minute drive away from home. After lunch, I left to pick up the kids from school, with more than enough time for the drive back. But there was accident on the freeway and traffic had come to a standstill. I called up a parent from Shreya's class and asked her to pick up the kids and wait at the playground. I expected Aditya to be upset and ask me tons of questions. But when I arrived about 30 minutes later, I saw him sitting next to the parent and giggling while a little toddler ran around trying to catch a piece of trash flying around. As I approached him, he smiled and waved, then asked, "Why are you late?" I told him that I was stuck in traffic on 101 (the freeway)
"101? What were you doing there?"
"I had gone to meet your dad over lunch."
"All the way to San Mateo?"
"Yes!"
He shook his head (I think, in disbelief) and said "Ok! Now can we go home?"
I was amazed how calm he was when he got to know that I had gone away while he was at school!
Seen today when I went to aid in his class.. Can you make out which child there has autism?
I will be heading to ATCA this weekend for New Frontiers so we can take our program to the next level! We had a casual chat about it over lunch on Sunday, wrote to Brian on Monday and finalized on Tuesday! Ciao!
Yesterday I went for a lunch date with my husband, close to his workplace, about a 40 minute drive away from home. After lunch, I left to pick up the kids from school, with more than enough time for the drive back. But there was accident on the freeway and traffic had come to a standstill. I called up a parent from Shreya's class and asked her to pick up the kids and wait at the playground. I expected Aditya to be upset and ask me tons of questions. But when I arrived about 30 minutes later, I saw him sitting next to the parent and giggling while a little toddler ran around trying to catch a piece of trash flying around. As I approached him, he smiled and waved, then asked, "Why are you late?" I told him that I was stuck in traffic on 101 (the freeway)
"101? What were you doing there?"
"I had gone to meet your dad over lunch."
"All the way to San Mateo?"
"Yes!"
He shook his head (I think, in disbelief) and said "Ok! Now can we go home?"
I was amazed how calm he was when he got to know that I had gone away while he was at school!
Seen today when I went to aid in his class.. Can you make out which child there has autism?
I will be heading to ATCA this weekend for New Frontiers so we can take our program to the next level! We had a casual chat about it over lunch on Sunday, wrote to Brian on Monday and finalized on Tuesday! Ciao!
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