RE: behavior - very long - Tim and Pam

[Guest guest]

Tim-

Gosh, I read that and thought " It's Aubrie! How'd he do that?? " I know

you've met Aubrie and Kasee has spent time with her, but I still didn't

expect to see her so exactly in the phenotype. She doesn't have the

aggressive behaviors. All these years as " CHARGE behaviors " have been

discussed, I didn't think it applied to her because she's been so pleasant

and compliant. But - geesh - you hit her nail right on the head. This is

going to be so helpful for her team - who are all trying to figure her out.

I assume it's ok to share?

Yesterday, I had a talk with her school social worker. She'd seen Aubrie

for 2 brief visits before talking to me to arrange weekly sessions with her

and recommend those in the IEP. When I told her about Aubrie's obsessions

and imaginary scenarios, she pointed out how Aubrie has sucked us all in and

controls our world with her imaginary one. For instance, we've had to end a

shopping trip because of an imaginary soccer game that she was late for.

's 8th grade graduation cake ended up being candled and sung to for an

imaginary birthday. And I could go on and on. I was telling my boss about

it. She has an adult son with very significant developmental disabilities

(non-verbal, aggressive, etc). She totally didn't get that it's out of

Aubrie's control. I really don't think Aubrie is manipulating us with it.

When she's stuck in it, she's really stuck. So, Tim, how do you begin to

discipline for that??

And can I ask another opinion? The vision specialist has suggested that we

try a mercury tilt switch headband to alleviate Aubrie's rocking.

Apparently, it will play music when her head is still and quit when she

rocks. What do you think? Could it work? Or will it be an incredibly

negative and frustrating experience?

Pam - your thoughts too??

Thanks-

Michele W

Aubrie's mom 8 yrs CHaRgE

[Guest guest]

wow id of though a mum with that kind of person would understand i mean her

son posblibly cant control his stuff eather can he wierd the way people r

>

> Tim-

>

> Gosh, I read that and thought " It's Aubrie! How'd he do that?? " I know

> you've met Aubrie and Kasee has spent time with her, but I still didn't

> expect to see her so exactly in the phenotype. She doesn't have the

> aggressive behaviors. All these years as " CHARGE behaviors " have been

> discussed, I didn't think it applied to her because she's been so pleasant

> and compliant. But - geesh - you hit her nail right on the head. This is

> going to be so helpful for her team - who are all trying to figure her

> out.

> I assume it's ok to share?

>

> Yesterday, I had a talk with her school social worker. She'd seen Aubrie

> for 2 brief visits before talking to me to arrange weekly sessions with

> her

> and recommend those in the IEP. When I told her about Aubrie's obsessions

> and imaginary scenarios, she pointed out how Aubrie has sucked us all in

> and

> controls our world with her imaginary one. For instance, we've had to end

> a

> shopping trip because of an imaginary soccer game that she was late for.

> 's 8th grade graduation cake ended up being candled and sung to for

> an

> imaginary birthday. And I could go on and on. I was telling my boss about

> it. She has an adult son with very significant developmental disabilities

> (non-verbal, aggressive, etc). She totally didn't get that it's out of

> Aubrie's control. I really don't think Aubrie is manipulating us with it.

> When she's stuck in it, she's really stuck. So, Tim, how do you begin to

> discipline for that??

>

> And can I ask another opinion? The vision specialist has suggested that we

> try a mercury tilt switch headband to alleviate Aubrie's rocking.

> Apparently, it will play music when her head is still and quit when she

> rocks. What do you think? Could it work? Or will it be an incredibly

> negative and frustrating experience?

>

> Pam - your thoughts too??

>

> Thanks-

>

> Michele W

>

> Aubrie's mom 8 yrs CHaRgE

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Michele,

First, the rocking. I know we talked about that in Cleveland. I tend

to believe that the rocking is helpful to her system. You know that I

believe behavior has a purpose and communicates something to us. I

think when our kids rock or shake or wave their arms, it is their body

saying that it needs to re-regulate itself and get all of its systems

back on track. has to lie on his stomach and kick his legs, or

more calmly, lie on his back and cross his right leg over his left while

he rubs his temples. Aubrie might be able to find an alternative to

rocking that works for her, but if she is only rocking for 10 - 15

minutes at a time a few times a day, I would let her do it.

Regarding her imaginary world. I suspect it is a much more manageable

world than ours, partly because it goes by her rules. What does she do

if you refuse to participate? Is it a huge meltdown? Of course temper

tantrums are a very useful way to get other to comply with your wishes.

Can you anticipate the imaginary world coming into play at all? If you

can, the best way to avoid problems with any kid is to prepare. " So

Aubrie, we are going to the store. Are we going to be able to do

something else with your pretend friends? Are we going to spend our

time buying the things that we have on our list? If we get all of this

done can you have a treat? " If it is not predictable, then see if you

can put some limits on it. One option is to limit the time invested.

" We can spend five minutes watching your soccer game and then we have to

finish shopping. " Another is to postpone. " We have to finish the

shopping, and then we can spend five minutes watching the soccer. " I

think I might slip in the word " pretend " as often as I could so that the

two of you understand it is a game you are playing together. If she has

a meltdown, and if you then comply with her request, you have to be

prepared for lots of meltdowns in the future. So if she has a meltdown,

be prepared to impose a consequence, like going home, but do not give in

to her request related to her fantasy world.

Does that help at all?

Tim

S. Hartshorne, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

phone

fax

tim.hartshorne@...

[Guest guest]

Yep- it helps, but I'm still not concretely sure of how I feel about stuff.

I think trying to eliminate the rocking in a gentle way will help her to

find an alternative - if it's possible for her to do so. Does that make

sense? I don't know if it'll be successful, but I think it's ok to try if

we are gentle and respectful along the way.

Just this morning, we were talking about her spelling words - preparing for

the test. Her name is one of the spelling words today. I said something

about surely she'd get that one right. So she goes into this whole scenario

about her imaginary cousin Aubrey who spells it differently and so sometimes

they get confused. When I said, " Now Aubrie, stay in the real world with me

here. That's your imaginary cousin and I'm talking about real spelling. " -

she couldn't let go and kept on about Aubrey. Do you think she is able to

control it or is it just too real and necessary? I don't want to drive her

over the edge by taking away something that is so powerful in her mind.

Letting her have a temper tantrum is not gentle and respectful - at least it

doesn't feel that way. And, yes, she will have a meltdown if I don't allow

the pretend stuff.

Did I share with you about the shoe dilemma that she remained stuck on for

30 min? She couldn't figure out what to do because the shoes she really

wanted were upstairs and she didn't want to go get them but the alternative

pair nearby were not the ones she wanted. She went on and on for 30 min

before I finally just intervened and solved it for her. So I think there is

a " stuck " component here.

We may find the same " stuckness " with rocking in that no matter what the

reward or consequence, she can't stop and will lose her mind if we push it.

Michele W

_____

From: CHARGE [mailto:CHARGE ] On Behalf Of

Hartshorne, S

Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:31 AM

To: CHARGE

Subject: Re: behavior - very long - Tim and Pam

Hi Michele,

First, the rocking. I know we talked about that in Cleveland. I tend

to believe that the rocking is helpful to her system. You know that I

believe behavior has a purpose and communicates something to us. I

think when our kids rock or shake or wave their arms, it is their body

saying that it needs to re-regulate itself and get all of its systems

back on track. has to lie on his stomach and kick his legs, or

more calmly, lie on his back and cross his right leg over his left while

he rubs his temples. Aubrie might be able to find an alternative to

rocking that works for her, but if she is only rocking for 10 - 15

minutes at a time a few times a day, I would let her do it.

Regarding her imaginary world. I suspect it is a much more manageable

world than ours, partly because it goes by her rules. What does she do

if you refuse to participate? Is it a huge meltdown? Of course temper

tantrums are a very useful way to get other to comply with your wishes.

Can you anticipate the imaginary world coming into play at all? If you

can, the best way to avoid problems with any kid is to prepare. " So

Aubrie, we are going to the store. Are we going to be able to do

something else with your pretend friends? Are we going to spend our

time buying the things that we have on our list? If we get all of this

done can you have a treat? " If it is not predictable, then see if you

can put some limits on it. One option is to limit the time invested.

" We can spend five minutes watching your soccer game and then we have to

finish shopping. " Another is to postpone. " We have to finish the

shopping, and then we can spend five minutes watching the soccer. " I

think I might slip in the word " pretend " as often as I could so that the

two of you understand it is a game you are playing together. If she has

a meltdown, and if you then comply with her request, you have to be

prepared for lots of meltdowns in the future. So if she has a meltdown,

be prepared to impose a consequence, like going home, but do not give in

to her request related to her fantasy world.

Does that help at all?

Tim

S. Hartshorne, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

phone

fax

tim.hartshorne@ <mailto:tim.hartshorne%40cmich.edu> cmich.edu

[Guest guest]

Michele,

I know I am a day late and a dollar short with this response, but you

understand!!

I am intrigued about the tilt switch headband‹I have never heard of this. I

think I am intrigued for two reasons: one is that I would assume that

something like this would be used for kids whose rocking/extraneous

movements would be interfering with their abilities to be with/do/²be² in

school and with people. From what I know, this is not the case with Aubrie.

And only to reiterate what Tim said, that for Aubrie, her rocking is

beneficial to her so can some other way be thought about. I would want to

know (Œcuz I don¹t remember what you have said about this) is if Aubrie is

aware of when she is rocking and can she say why she is rocking? Can she

stop when reminded? While the headband might be interesting to try, I could

imagine it could also be a bit alienating (depending on what it looks like)

to some of the other kids. And the other thing I am thinking about is that

yes, it might stop the rocking, but does it stop the listening to what is

going on around her? I am going to ask our Low Vision people if they have

heard of this.

Michele,

Someone here talked about putting limits on the imaginary play (?) and

identifying it, as well. I think you have always done that but I wonder if

it needs to be bumped up a notch? Not to take it away from her (my sister

played with her imaginary friends until she was around 13!), but to remind

her that at her age most people are thinking of real life AND play life.

And that play life is for certain times (after school for a while; during

each weekend day for a while) and in certain places only (her bedroom,

playroom, etc.). And that the rules for play life and real life are the

same: if mom says, ³Time for dinner², the that means now and only Aubrie is

invited. When mom says, ³we are going to ¹s soccer game², Aubrie is

to be ready and only she is invited. I don¹t know if this will be helpful

but ya¹ never know!!!

pam

[Guest guest]

Pam-

I think you're exactly right about the limits on pretend. I think she's

getting the idea just from the bit that we've talked about it already. I

don't think I wrote you guys, but I had a light bulb moment talking to the

new social worker at her school. When I was telling her about the imaginary

friends thing, she noticed that it is in fact interfering with our family

life. She is drawing us all in and requiring us to participate in this

fantasy world. Since then, I have been drawing the line more clearly, and I

think it's working. But I'm sure it will be an ongoing process.

What scares me is that I was asking her about it. She says it's hard to

stop pretending - like when she starts an imaginary thread into a

conversation and I try to bring her back to reality. So I asked if it's

hard to stop in the same way that rocking is hard to stop or is it hard to

stop cuz she doesn't want to. It was hard for her to answer me. What she

said was something to the effect of it being hard to ignore the imaginary

people if they are there.

The headband - I don't know. I'm confused but I think it's worth a try. I

mean, I thought she couldn't (as it was not able) to sleep without her music

on and without rocking. But, guess what, she did it at the sleep study.

And she does it on occasion when she's in our bed. So. maybe she " can't "

stop rocking - but she could with the right support.

When she's rocking, she knows what she's doing and can try to minimize it's

velocity or whatever - but she can't stop. And she is able to express her

frustration that she can't stop. She knows other people don't do it, etc -

but she can't stop.

It doesn't interfere with her functioning in areas of daily living or

whatever --- but it's a bit obstacle socially. If we could help her to stop

or to find a more socially acceptable alternative, it would make a big

difference for her socially. And that's what drives me to look for

solutions.

While I'm on a roll, let me tell you about soccer. We knew this would be

her last year playing because the field is now larger and too much area for

her to run, the kids are way faster than her, and they are bigger, and they

can kick the ball hard. So safety is becoming an issue. But she loves it

and wanted to play one more year. But at her first game, she cried thru the

entire 2 quarters she was on the field. It was just too stressful! You

know how intense it is for anyone when the ball is coming your way, all

those kids are coming together to get the ball, the parents are yelling from

the sidelines, etc.

After the game, she was upset for quite a while going on about how the kids

on the other team are her friends but they didn't say hello to her. And

they didn't kick the ball to her. And when she told the coach he said she

had to run the field and steal the ball. But she can't run that big long

field. And stealing isn't nice. And on and on. So I told her to relax and

think about maybe giving up soccer because it's just too stressful. But she

said all she could think about was that she wanted to be with her team.

Luckily, Girl Scouts at ISD began the next night of soccer practice so she

was able to let go of soccer when she had such a good alternative. And she

wants to go watch her team play. But she's relieved to not be playing.

It was so hard to watch her struggle on the field. She was so overwhelmed

but wanted to be successful. And she simply doesn't get the whole

competition thing.

What a precious little doll. But golly. And this past weekend, we had a

garage sale and the neighbor girl who is Aubrie's age was over helping us

prepare. I had some large things that needed to be hosed off. I could

never have sent Aubrie to do that independently. She'd want to, but she

wouldn't be able to manage the hose, she'd miss spots, etc. But this girl

just took over and did it - and did many other things for us too. Aubrie

was there involved as well. But it was so clear all the competencies that

her peers have developed that she has not yet. We all know how difficult

those moments are when our kids' differences are glaring.

Michele W

[Guest guest]

Michele,

I read Pam's response to you. Take all she says to heart. I mean TO HEART.

You know what I mean. I haven't read what Tim wrote but I am sure it was

perfect.

Now for Patty, when she was younger she used to " pretend " to be a cowboy. It

started out as a game that she did with her father after watching a

particular t.v. show. Soon she was pretending with other family members and it

carried

over into school. Her OT and APE teachers joined in this activity while her

teacher and SLP didn't allow her to do it. Boy oh boy was that confusing to

Patty and caused problems. I had them not allow " pretend " time during work

time. And if she pretended she had to do it with one or two friends. That's

when she learned how to play doctor. (But that's another story!). We did this

so that everyone had to be consistent with the rules and not allow it. That

worked much better for Patty. We had to be clear and consistent. We also had

to say, right now you are pretending to be Brisko but you are always Patty.

Oh, and during the Christmas season she used to pretend to be Santa. That

was fine till she would tell us she wasn't going to bring us gifts when we

reprimanded her. Gotta love her. Again we had to give rules about it. She

understood and I am sure Aubrie does as well. Without the rules Patty got

stuck.

Now for the funny one. I guess it was in kindergarten that she had an

invisible friend that she held in her hand. She walked around holding it,

talking

to it and having it with her every where she went. At first we said stuff like

put your friend down. I think that confused her because in saying things

like that we were accepting it. To make a long story short this went on for

about two weeks. We went to visit my cousin who was about 16 at the time.

Patty

told him of her friend and asked him if he wanted to hold it. He said sure

and stuck out his hand. Patty pretended to put it in his hand. The next thing

you know my cousin pretended to put this friend in his mouth and swallowed

hard. He ate it!

I thought Patty would bust but she didn't. She just said he ate my friend

and now he's gone. And with that she ran off to play.

The friend never came back.

How's that one!

Bonnie, Mom to Kris 23, Patty CHARGE 21 and wife to

[Guest guest]

Bonnie-

Great stories! Love the friend that got eaten. That's what's sort of

puzzling -- you can't predict the response to any of it. I talked to her

aide today. I think we'll all be on the same page soon. You know, things

just escalate and what you thought was the least of your worries somehow

becomes the biggest mountain in your path! This CHARGE thing has my head

spinning in a whole new way these days.

Michele W

___

[Guest guest]

LOL like that one bonnie

>

> Michele,

>

> I read Pam's response to you. Take all she says to heart. I mean TO HEART.

>

> You know what I mean. I haven't read what Tim wrote but I am sure it was

> perfect.

>

> Now for Patty, when she was younger she used to " pretend " to be a cowboy.

> It

> started out as a game that she did with her father after watching a

> particular t.v. show. Soon she was pretending with other family members

> and it carried

> over into school. Her OT and APE teachers joined in this activity while

> her

> teacher and SLP didn't allow her to do it. Boy oh boy was that confusing

> to

> Patty and caused problems. I had them not allow " pretend " time during work

>

> time. And if she pretended she had to do it with one or two friends.

> That's

> when she learned how to play doctor. (But that's another story!). We did

> this

> so that everyone had to be consistent with the rules and not allow it.

> That

> worked much better for Patty. We had to be clear and consistent. We also

> had

> to say, right now you are pretending to be Brisko but you are always

> Patty.

>

> Oh, and during the Christmas season she used to pretend to be Santa. That

> was fine till she would tell us she wasn't going to bring us gifts when we

>

> reprimanded her. Gotta love her. Again we had to give rules about it. She

> understood and I am sure Aubrie does as well. Without the rules Patty got

> stuck.

>

> Now for the funny one. I guess it was in kindergarten that she had an

> invisible friend that she held in her hand. She walked around holding it,

> talking

> to it and having it with her every where she went. At first we said stuff

> like

> put your friend down. I think that confused her because in saying things

> like that we were accepting it. To make a long story short this went on

> for

> about two weeks. We went to visit my cousin who was about 16 at the time.

> Patty

> told him of her friend and asked him if he wanted to hold it. He said sure

>

> and stuck out his hand. Patty pretended to put it in his hand. The next

> thing

> you know my cousin pretended to put this friend in his mouth and swallowed

>

> hard. He ate it!

>

> I thought Patty would bust but she didn't. She just said he ate my friend

> and now he's gone. And with that she ran off to play.

>

> The friend never came back.

>

> How's that one!

>

> Bonnie, Mom to Kris 23, Patty CHARGE 21 and wife to

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Michele,

I know this is late--I asked our Low Vision people about the band/music/rocking

thing and they had never heard of it. They would also love more information!

The first question they had was my question--will it be off-putting to other

kids and isolate her? Hard to know, but I would love to hear what you think,

what she thinks, and if you try it, how it works.

How is life going with the imaginary friends?

And..it was an interesting to read your story about soccer. It is amazing to

see how the kids begin to see these things about themselves--and how they cope.

It is so good that Girl Scouts " interfered " with soccer so she really had a

choice and she made a good one for herself without having to fail first. I am

sure that it will not always be this easy, but nice that she has this for now.

I guess the bottom line is that she is a precious doll and that is what we have

to preserve--for herself and for us!!

xo

pam

RE: behavior - very long - Tim and Pam

Pam-

I think you're exactly right about the limits on pretend. I think she's

getting the idea just from the bit that we've talked about it already. I

don't think I wrote you guys, but I had a light bulb moment talking to the

new social worker at her school. When I was telling her about the imaginary

friends thing, she noticed that it is in fact interfering with our family

life. She is drawing us all in and requiring us to participate in this

fantasy world. Since then, I have been drawing the line more clearly, and I

think it's working. But I'm sure it will be an ongoing process.

What scares me is that I was asking her about it. She says it's hard to

stop pretending - like when she starts an imaginary thread into a

conversation and I try to bring her back to reality. So I asked if it's

hard to stop in the same way that rocking is hard to stop or is it hard to

stop cuz she doesn't want to. It was hard for her to answer me. What she

said was something to the effect of it being hard to ignore the imaginary

people if they are there.

The headband - I don't know. I'm confused but I think it's worth a try. I

mean, I thought she couldn't (as it was not able) to sleep without her music

on and without rocking. But, guess what, she did it at the sleep study.

And she does it on occasion when she's in our bed. So. maybe she " can't "

stop rocking - but she could with the right support.

When she's rocking, she knows what she's doing and can try to minimize it's

velocity or whatever - but she can't stop. And she is able to express her

frustration that she can't stop. She knows other people don't do it, etc -

but she can't stop.

It doesn't interfere with her functioning in areas of daily living or

whatever --- but it's a bit obstacle socially. If we could help her to stop

or to find a more socially acceptable alternative, it would make a big

difference for her socially. And that's what drives me to look for

solutions.

While I'm on a roll, let me tell you about soccer. We knew this would be

her last year playing because the field is now larger and too much area for

her to run, the kids are way faster than her, and they are bigger, and they

can kick the ball hard. So safety is becoming an issue. But she loves it

and wanted to play one more year. But at her first game, she cried thru the

entire 2 quarters she was on the field. It was just too stressful! You

know how intense it is for anyone when the ball is coming your way, all

those kids are coming together to get the ball, the parents are yelling from

the sidelines, etc.

After the game, she was upset for quite a while going on about how the kids

on the other team are her friends but they didn't say hello to her. And

they didn't kick the ball to her. And when she told the coach he said she

had to run the field and steal the ball. But she can't run that big long

field. And stealing isn't nice. And on and on. So I told her to relax and

think about maybe giving up soccer because it's just too stressful. But she

said all she could think about was that she wanted to be with her team.

Luckily, Girl Scouts at ISD began the next night of soccer practice so she

was able to let go of soccer when she had such a good alternative. And she

wants to go watch her team play. But she's relieved to not be playing.

It was so hard to watch her struggle on the field. She was so overwhelmed

but wanted to be successful. And she simply doesn't get the whole

competition thing.

What a precious little doll. But golly. And this past weekend, we had a

garage sale and the neighbor girl who is Aubrie's age was over helping us

prepare. I had some large things that needed to be hosed off. I could

never have sent Aubrie to do that independently. She'd want to, but she

wouldn't be able to manage the hose, she'd miss spots, etc. But this girl

just took over and did it - and did many other things for us too. Aubrie

was there involved as well. But it was so clear all the competencies that

her peers have developed that she has not yet. We all know how difficult

those moments are when our kids' differences are glaring.

Michele W

[Guest guest]

Pam-

Here's a link to one of the products:

http://enablingdevices.com/viewproduct.aspx?id=1014

<http://enablingdevices.com/viewproduct.aspx?id=1014 & session=child>

& session=child

This one has a pretty large headset with the tilt switch attached. But they

also have one where the headband works with any headset or CD player so you

don't have that heavy thing on your head but the music or whatever device is

activated by the switch. It's my understanding that you can set the switch

to activate with any particular movement - side-to-side, back-and-forth,

etc.

I don't think they were planning on her wearing it all the time. I think

just short trials of using it at home to try to learn to listen to music,

watch TV, etc without rocking. Sort of a motivation to unlearn a habit.

When and if we get it I'll definitely let you know how it goes.

The other cool thing her OT has done is to create a " sensory snack kit " for

her. It has koosh balls, thera-bands, playdo, etc. We've added some stuff

from around the house. She has it on her desk, in the bus, in the car, at

home, whenever she needs some stimulation. She seems to like it a lot. But

she's forgetting to keep it with her. I think we have enough stuff around

to create 2 kits - one for school and one for home - plus keep a few items

in her back pack for on the bus and in the car for traveling. How simple

was that - and no one ever suggested it before - even though our district OT

fancies herself as very capable about SI stuff.

Now - here's the amazing thing with the imaginary friends. They're still

there. But she interacts with them in her private play time. They are not

a part of our family life anymore. How amazing that she could control it

with just a little discussion. I miss overhearing her imaginary

conversations since they were a peek into her thinking. But I think it's in

her best interest that she continue to manage things appropriately by

keeping it private.

Michele

[Guest guest]

Michele,

I think it is amazing about Aubrie's " friends " being relegated to private time!

that little girl so gets it--I guess we all can learn from this: if we want

anyone to understand us or we have an issue, we should just tell them!!

re: the headset--Interesting!

re: the SI kit: brilliant!! I love the idea of two--one for home and one for

school to be kept in backpack for when she needs it. It is a great idea for on

the bus and gives her a way to destress/decompress either going or coming. Has

she talked about noticing a difference?

re: life moves on!! I am glad that things are going well with school--are you

feeling (deep down) that you made the right decision? Has Aubrie talked about

the differences? has she made some friends?

Well, back to my studies (genetics course!!! what was I thinking????)

pam

RE: behavior - very long - Tim and Pam

Pam-

Here's a link to one of the products:

http://enablingdevices.com/viewproduct.aspx?id=1014

<http://enablingdevices.com/viewproduct.aspx?id=1014 & session=child>

& session=child

This one has a pretty large headset with the tilt switch attached. But they

also have one where the headband works with any headset or CD player so you

don't have that heavy thing on your head but the music or whatever device is

activated by the switch. It's my understanding that you can set the switch

to activate with any particular movement - side-to-side, back-and-forth,

etc.

I don't think they were planning on her wearing it all the time. I think

just short trials of using it at home to try to learn to listen to music,

watch TV, etc without rocking. Sort of a motivation to unlearn a habit.

When and if we get it I'll definitely let you know how it goes.

The other cool thing her OT has done is to create a " sensory snack kit " for

her. It has koosh balls, thera-bands, playdo, etc. We've added some stuff

from around the house. She has it on her desk, in the bus, in the car, at

home, whenever she needs some stimulation. She seems to like it a lot. But

she's forgetting to keep it with her. I think we have enough stuff around

to create 2 kits - one for school and one for home - plus keep a few items

in her back pack for on the bus and in the car for traveling. How simple

was that - and no one ever suggested it before - even though our district OT

fancies herself as very capable about SI stuff.

Now - here's the amazing thing with the imaginary friends. They're still

there. But she interacts with them in her private play time. They are not

a part of our family life anymore. How amazing that she could control it

with just a little discussion. I miss overhearing her imaginary

conversations since they were a peek into her thinking. But I think it's in

her best interest that she continue to manage things appropriately by

keeping it private.

Michele

[Guest guest]

Pam-

Aubrie seems to enjoy ISD very much! She likes her friends there although

she has difficulty communicating still. She's learning more and more sign

every day, but it takes time. I think the pace of things and the smaller

class size is making a big difference for her.

I'm sure it was the right decision for many reasons. The extra services are

awesome. What I worry about are the academics and the transition back into

regular school. I don't know when we'll choose to do that and how we'll

make that decision, but I guess it will become apparent when the time comes.

She's made friends with one girl who can talk and hear a bit. But she's

also ADHD and can make Aubrie crazy so there's a delicate balance there.

The others are friendly as well but the communication thing gets in the way.

On the day I visited, she was running to the playground with one of the boys

ready to play.

Gotta run for dinner...

Michele

[Guest guest]

This all sounds good! And you are right, you will know the right time for

transition back.

pam

RE: behavior - very long - Tim and Pam

Pam-

Aubrie seems to enjoy ISD very much! She likes her friends there although

she has difficulty communicating still. She's learning more and more sign

every day, but it takes time. I think the pace of things and the smaller

class size is making a big difference for her.

I'm sure it was the right decision for many reasons. The extra services are

awesome. What I worry about are the academics and the transition back into

regular school. I don't know when we'll choose to do that and how we'll

make that decision, but I guess it will become apparent when the time comes.

She's made friends with one girl who can talk and hear a bit. But she's

also ADHD and can make Aubrie crazy so there's a delicate balance there.

The others are friendly as well but the communication thing gets in the way.

On the day I visited, she was running to the playground with one of the boys

ready to play.

Gotta run for dinner...

Michele