new to group, question re: fixation

[Guest guest]

I have a 7-year-old daughter, Ellen, with Down's. Last fall her

teacher wanted to start evaluating her for autism/PDD as well. We

were somewhat relieved - we had asked the school psychologist about

ADD/ADHD 6 months prior because of behavior issues and had been

thinking that there was something else going on. We are now two weeks

into a 60-day evaluation period (after a " pre-evaluation " to determine

if the full evaluation was necessary) for autism/PDD.

My fiance () and I have lots of questions and will probably be

bombarding the list soon, but initially we would like some suggestions

on how to deal with Ellen's fixations. She is obsessed with Mickey

and Minnie Mouse right now (and has been for 1 1/2 years). While that

at times gives us a good motivational tool to get her to do other

things, I am afraid that it also distracts her from interacting with

us and others. Her teacher is using the ABA program with her, and

uses Mickey sno-globes and the like for motivation/positive feedback.

While I try to mimic this at home, she has too much Mickey stuff

(from doting relatives) to keep it all away without me feeling like

I'm punishing her all the time. Should we go cold-turkey with Mickey

and friends or just continue minimizing it by trying to interest her

in other things (such as non-Mickey computer learning games)? Other

ideas?

Thanks!

(Mom to Ellen - 7, only child, DS and possible autism

spectrum)

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Welcome to the group. My son is fixated with beanie babies. My typical

granddaughter 8, is also fixated with certain toys. I wouldn't take anything

away. I

do use the beanies as an incentive.

Charlyne

Mom to Zeb 11 DS/OCD

[Guest guest]

You know what also. will go through phases of say Spongebob or

even lilo and stitch. Where he'll quote from teh movie out of nowhere,

draw pictures of lilo write stories about her, stare at pictures of her

and twirl his finger. I just recently started removing all teh stims

for that. I just slowly (one by one) during the day took all the

stimulis away. Said I didn't know what happened to them. It seems to

reduce the obession. It doesn't get rid of it. But, it also encourage

him to move onto the next obsession (which moved to Harry Potter and is

on it's way to " School of Rock " ). But at least it's evolving (for one

thing it doesn't drive us so crazy) . Maybe if you reduced her stash

she might be more motivated to use it? (maybe not, just a thought)

We use 's computer time as motivation. He's not allowed to go

beyond 30 minutes of computer time (he loves being on the computer - he

would stay on it for hours if let him and totally withdraw into it). We

break it down into 3 10 minutes intervals. RIght now we reward 1)getting

ready for school; 2)not twirling his finger during teh day; 3)showering

himself.

Though I do have to say, he carries a book around with him where ever he

goes. We've reduced it to 1 (ie. said one or none and stuck to it).

But it used to be 3 (and he used to have a million books on his bed at

one time). The book he's memorizing changes (once it was Emeril's kids

cook book - that got " lost " for a while). Now it's " Scary Creatures " ...

Still another form of obsessiveness and stimulation!

that aba book i was talking about :

Solving Behavior Problems in Autism by A. Hodgdon

and also

A Work in Progress (Behavior Mgmt strategies) by Leaf and McEachlin

new to group, question re: fixation

I have a 7-year-old daughter, Ellen, with Down's. Last fall her

teacher wanted to start evaluating her for autism/PDD as well.

We

were somewhat relieved - we had asked the school psychologist

about

ADD/ADHD 6 months prior because of behavior issues and had been

thinking that there was something else going on. We are now two

weeks

into a 60-day evaluation period (after a " pre-evaluation " to

determine

if the full evaluation was necessary) for autism/PDD.

My fiance () and I have lots of questions and will probably

be

bombarding the list soon, but initially we would like some

suggestions

on how to deal with Ellen's fixations. She is obsessed with

Mickey

and Minnie Mouse right now (and has been for 1 1/2 years).

While that

at times gives us a good motivational tool to get her to do

other

things, I am afraid that it also distracts her from interacting

with

us and others. Her teacher is using the ABA program with her,

and

uses Mickey sno-globes and the like for motivation/positive

feedback.

While I try to mimic this at home, she has too much Mickey stuff

(from doting relatives) to keep it all away without me feeling

like

I'm punishing her all the time. Should we go cold-turkey with

Mickey

and friends or just continue minimizing it by trying to interest

her

in other things (such as non-Mickey computer learning games)?

Other

ideas?

Thanks!

(Mom to Ellen - 7, only child, DS and possible

autism

spectrum)

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[Guest guest]

Hi I am also new to the list. Our son was stuck on Barney,

yes, he was hot at one time, but as our son was heading into the third grade, we

had heard all the made up songs from other kids, about " Barney being

dead. " ... (And we fight for inclusion) When we had our sons birthday party my

husband

hid all the Barney stuff in a couple of boxes (yes, loving relatives)

including videos (my sanity) ......he thought the other kids would tease Devin

and

that his " Barney stuff " was not " age appropriate. " Surprisingly Devin survived,

the boxes never were opened again, disappeared and he transferred his fixation

to Curious then Winne the Pooh and other Disney friends. He still

loves and Pooh, but they live in his room only along with Buzz, Woody and

alot of friends. In elementary school they used stickers of the Disney

characters amongst other things for reinforcers.

Ellen sounds like she is doing great if she is able to give back the

Mickey snowglobe so it can be used as a reinforcer for another day.

Hope this helps...

Joan Mom to Devin 13