Horse riding and D2 Immersion Therapy

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My wonderful son, my no.1. In his own world under the water, with Immersion Therapy. The  company is called ‘Determined 2″ or “D2” for short. A place where the sounds are suspended and the only sound to focus on is the sound of your own heartbeat. Under the water. Excited to go and looks forward to it.

I believe. He likes to wear his wetsuit which is tight. A firm pressure sensation for his body. I’m relieved that we found it. A place where we can walk under water. Self confidence is getting better. Great to see. I am glad we found this organisation to  his sensory needs. It has been an. Effort to  start this routine. Hard on me. But I have wanted so much to help him find something that he loves to do. That is his. Something he can relate to and be proud. (Perhaps he just wants to get time off school!) It could turn into an occupational interest down the track.

I am happy. No. 2 Kiddo is finally able to participate in horse riding activities  through another organisation as he loves it. It seems to satisfy the stim that he has. Horseriding addresses the pressure that he needs when seated on a horse. I originally thought satisfying this stim this activity was not possible. It is possible. We have found a way to do it through exploring resources. Although 6 months later he wanted to swim more than ride a horse.

Both boys were riding horses last week. Honestly I think it is one of the best activities to do and learn. I am very pleased. It has been hard work researching to find these activities that are relevant to my children. I am so very pleased that they are doing them.

Horse riding and D2 Immersion Therapy

 

Sub categories list

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53. Autism and Problems at Mainstream school.

52. How did the kid learn to read so early?

51. Autism: Sensory Processing Disorder and Socks!

50. Murphy’s Law! Today: It’s ones of those days!

49. Autism Siblings.

48. Writing for writing’s sake!

47. Car Troubles and Laughter!

46. Comedy Radio, Laughing and walking to school!

45. Mum! Stay still I am putting a chip up your nose!

44. The 5 year old.

43. Let’s take our Xbox controller to school!

42. Autism and the 2 km walk to school!

41. Where is the demarcation line?

40. My son wants an X box!

39. Life in another Language: Auditory Processing Disorder.

38. Drama and the kiddo!

37. Don’t Let The Bastard’s Get You Down!

36. Useful Bedtime techniques for our kids.

35. Laughing and a loving family life.

34. Calming ideas for a stressed out kiddo.

33. Respite for Parents.

32. Feeling Isolated, Parental Depression, Feeling overwhelmed!

31. Autism: Clothes and Socks.

30. We have to trim your nails: “No Way Mum!”

29. “Can we wash your hair?”

28. Autism: Gloves and Bandaids.

27. Autism: Shoes, Socks and Clothes.

26. Cost of Education and Autism.

25. Swimming week 2014.

24. Autistic Meltdown 2014.

23. Diagnosis Days 2014.

22. Autism and School Socialization.

21. Why? Why? Why? Diabetes 2!

20. 9 yr old. I want an X Box.

19. Real life experience in the caravan.

18. Singing lessons? Martial Arts?

17. IPad Parental controls and Daily household chores.

16. 3rd pregnancy: Miracle Baby Jack.

15. 2nd Pregnancy: Miscarriage.

14. “No, I don’t know want to take my shoes off!”

13. Pregnancy no. 1: Birth of a miracle boy.

12. How to Survive on a camp trip with Bear Grylls!

11. Understanding signs and symptoms of Disgraphia.

10. “New Shoes! It’s Groundhog Day!”

9. Useful resources: Autism Support Groups/Reference books/films.

8. I am so proud of my Autistic son.

7. Autism and bedtime techniques.

6. Law mowing and being tired!

5.Writing therapy for parents.

4. National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and coordinating therapies.

3. Ok! Let’s talk about Autism, Poo, Toilet training and Sensory Processing Disorder.

2. Ok, let’s talk about Autism: Fixation and Obesessive Compulsive Disorder.

1. A full on Meltdown: I did not expect!

 

Autism and SensoryProcessingDisorder with socks!

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Having issues with socks: I recommend only giving a choice of two spare socks in bag or else its overwhelming/too many choices and heading towards meltdown territory.

Pick your battles

Mum: “Put your socks on!”

Son: “I can’t, they don’t feel right!”

Mum: “Ok, well you can get another pair of socks from your room.”

Kiddo: “No I can’t.”

Mum: “Why.”

Kiddo: “Because the others don’t feel right

Mum.” What to do in this situation?  I have to get this kid to school (or so methinks). When he finally decides to put a pair of socks on,

Kiddo says “Mum, which sock is for the left foot and which sock is for the right foot?”

Mum: Oh for Goodness sakes! Are you kidding with me? (for want of a better word!)  “Honey you have 20 pairs of socks and they are all exactly the same.”

Kiddo:”No, they aren’t Mum! I know my socks!” , can we make friends with the two black socks, and give them names.  (I remember my Nanna saying, “You would not read about it!” and I can’t help smiling because the socks just got animated in my brain, the socks have the power to  make my child’s life  suck! You wouldn’t read about it!)

😄 I love you son. (To me  they are 20 pairs of exactly the same socks but little do I know  that the fibres in these socks, do these socks have names?  How do you tell which sock is  the left and right sock  if both saocks are black, the answer is ……Drum roll please! and this is a son has a self regulated solution!

One black sock is slightly longer than the other! Tadaaaaa!

Who would of thought because I thought the difference was how worn out and tired the socks were and that is how you could work out which pair of sock actually were the one’s that felt right !

They were also the only socks that could be worn for all eternity!

 

 

 

Autism and Murphy’s Law: Today, it’s “one of those days” !

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Popping disco music on and disco/rap dancing while getting dressed is fun and helps them get ready for school. Let’s dance as we forget about sensory.

So today it’s “one of those days!” Where according to best intentions it’s just not going to happen. The too hard basket is the bracket category for today! Is it because it is Monday?

I thought, you know what: My son’s socks are no big deal, we can deal with this!

It’s no biggy for us! Son: Mum I can’t get up without my Sustagem Dutch choc milk before I put my socks on! Mum and Dad: There is no choc. Oh no! The thought of going down shop 7.30 am not appealing to us. Thinking ahead is what I do to plan day or I do try! There is nothing for it – it’s plain as day, so with a spring in my stride I’m heading down shops to get kid to school and save a meltdown!
We will just get to school when we can, so then school drop off/Walked dog/ off to gym to swim/ have an assessment for gym which is cut short because relization that there is a time clash with another appointment. When we finish the swim and to top it off, it’s raining and my slightly dodgy electronic lock in car, which has seen better days, has just doesn’t work! I can’t open car door!

The appointment.

It’s not happening.

You have to laugh!!!

Today!

 

 

Useful bedtime techniques/Autism

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After the teeth are brushed. Pop a David Attenborough nature video on if the kids want to watch something and they can’t shut their eyes. They are visual learners. The music is serene. We have used David Attenborough video’s ever since the boys were very young and it has 100 % success rate. David Attenborough we love you.

The 9 year old protests “Oh no! not David Attenborough!”. Parents: LOL. And now even when the kiddo is stressed anxious he says to us, “I need to watch David Attenborough!” LOL.

 

 

 

Calming Idea’s that may be useful for Anxiety or Anxious kiddo

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  1. Singing Lessons and singing, lying on the floor and hums. Feeling the vibration of the voice which is self calming. It is preferable to lye on floor boards to feel the vibration of humming through the floorboards and associated effects felt through body.
  2. Martial Art  – a routinized sequence of self defence movements the kid can resort to when feeling overstimulated.
  3. Dancing
  4. Movement based activity
  5. Massage the kiddo to remind kiddo that he has a sensory body and tends to distract him from his distress.
  6. Books
  7. Sunglasses – to shade eyes
  8. Put the child in room and tone down light stimulation.
  9. Jumping and rolling around in heaped up pillows or old mattress on the floor.
  10. Go walking/running.
  11. Ball pit
  12. Trampoline
  13. Cooking
  14. Piano or guitar, instrument where kiddo is moving his hands or fingers
  15. knitting
  16. White board on wall with morning routine and afternoon routine on it to refer to, it is so helpful for me to track morning procedures and be on time.
  17. Laminated routine sequences instructions are written down, where you can just show your kiddo instead of you having to repeat things one hundred times.
  18. Structured time on the computer, if they insist that they like the computer then use it as a reward based system. You do a household task and you can have 20 mins computer time. Great technique for helping out with housework. That’s all I can think of at moment.
  19. Set tasks such as mowing the lawn, wash dishes, cleaning, washing cars is a way to earn points or money towards something he wants to purchase. This is a great way to encourage writing practice.
  20. Butcher’s paper roll, use it as a table cloth. While you are eating at table you can leave some pens lying around on table. While you are eating or talking or just sitting you can use your hands and draw/write or play a game like O’s and X’s on the table cloth. It’s fun and interactive also exercising manual dexterity of hands and encouraging writing/maths.
  21. Playing Rock/Paper/Scissors with hands
  22. Search and find games
  23. Get a wall full length body mirror so the kiddo’s can self check their own skin and cleaniness when going to loo. As the visual information input will challenge the other sensory feelings that he may have. Helps to instill a sense of self confidence in child and independance. Very helpful strategy for a stressed out parent.
  24. Get a paper bag from Coles (easy to leave some at school or pop some in schoolbag) which are there for him to use as a calming devices, as my son can get so distressed in a meltdown that he feels he is  blowing out too much air, blow into a paperbag to help stabilize breathing. Pulling one out at times when a meltdown is triggered can also be a visual emotional soother which can help as well. (100 paper bags at Coles is a few dollers). Also can be turned into a fun thing by blowing them up and popping them/drawing faces on them.
  25. Swim
  26. Pop a David Attenborough nature video on which  are very good for getting kids to sleep, wonderful soothing nature music

 

Autistic Fixation or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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My son finds it hard to get out the door to perform the daily routine. It’s hard for him. He gets physically anxious and repeats a number of rituals before he attempts to cross the thresh-hold between inside and outside of the door. Is this a Sensory Processing issue or Anxiety or a bit of both? Once over the mantle of the front door Anxiety spikes. From my observations the rituals  seem to be re-enactments of the Pixar movie called “Wally”, where when Wally wanted to leave his trailer he went on top of the roof and opened himself out bearing his chest and arms to the sun to get energy from the sun ie a solar battery. Our trailor is our house. And yes he would get up on the roof if he could, he loves it up there when he gets a chance.

This process does take some time and can be complicated by his little brother, who when feeling mischievous little brother knowingly upsets the door routine, the result is “Oh no! Now I have to do it all again!”.

I can feel the clock ticking cause its time to go to school but I also understand that if he does not go through the beginning ritual then he thinks

“Oh no! I’m going to have a bad day!” and although I point out that things are changing all the time and nothing stays the same it doesn’t matter.

He is fixated in his head that he will have a bad day . I point out that good and bad things happen all the time and whether or not he does the ritual does not make bad things happen. Doing it makes him feel better! To cope with a day at school filled with variables that he can’t control.

It’s hard to see him go through this but this physical action that he seems to need to perform for self motivation to do something seems to be what needs to happen and time just went out the window.

Sometimes he will not go in the class room or into a door, or he will not move and demand that other people do certain things and when told they will not do it, he just stands in one place barking orders!

Also he seems to need to walk/pace in school class, this is a sign of coping with anxiety of being at school, or learning. He does not sit down sometimes at school.

When he fixates on some idea that he just can’t get past I question him and say “Are you fixating…?” Or “Are you respecting me?” and this seems to cut through the fixation and bring him into the here and now or whatever I am asking him to do.

 

 

 

Autism and Sensory Processing: Clothes and Socks

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My Kiddo did not like to wear his socks. He hated feeling the seems in his socks. This was frustrating for me! So instead of tearing my hair out:

So I turned the socks inside out! When I finally did get online to order the seamless socks that you could buy, which people talked about, Well, I could not order them anywhere and they were pretty much always out of stock. I just turned the socks inside out which did the trick!

By the time I had gotten a pair of seamless socks my son said he did not like them anyway!

I was finding it hard to get my kiddo’s shoes and socks on, I was finding it hard to get clothes on my child until I realized that the weave of the fabric of the clothes was not suitable for him. The material weave was not breathing enough. What I mean is that polyester fibre weaves of clothes nowadays make people hotter. Cotton clothes breathe easier and they absorb perspiration. This means if the clothes the children are being told to put on are not feeling right because they are too hot well then this is why the don’t feel right. The clothes may feel itchy, hot, etc. and the child does not have the words to explain this to you.

My kiddo had a few thermo regulation issues, it could be freezing outside and he would be walking around in a pair of boxer shorts. He hated putting his socks on, I looked at the label which said polyester. Its hard to find cotton anything nowadays. But cotton and wool weaves it must be. I have found a few cotton socks in Target, David Jones has pretty expensive cotton ones too.

Also cutting the tags off kids clothes may help if kid is bothered by tags.

Hopefully this will be a helpful hint for parents/caregivers of your child with similar sensitivities. Cheers Jane

 

 

 

Autism and Sensory Processing: Gloves and Bandaids

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Dear Mums! If you think bandaids and gloves are a good idea to cover hands: think again as the glue on the underside of bandaids causing skin irritation.  Leaving gloves on can also make hands sweat depending on material of glove. The kid does not get the sensory input from using bare hands.

My experience  with my kid is this:  The kid would have a minor abrasion on hands or other body parts and a bandaid would have to go on to cover. This happened again and again until we were going through so many packets of bandaids. Kiddo would not like to take the bandaids off either but preferred to leave them on. So: doing regular maintenance health check Mummy notices the bandaids are getting old and dirty and there is quite allot on the kids hands. This was not a good look. I find out that the bandaids are there to cover minor scrape and falling injuries (nothing to worry about but very) hyper painful to the kiddo. I notice that skin is peeling and irritated redness on fingers underneath the sticking part to bandaid.

Being a kid with Autism and sensory challenges is not easy by any means. The bandaids are kiddo’s attempt to armour himself (with bandaids) against an abrasive world. I understand this, but also not wanting the bandaids to get out of hand and turn into a fixation or Obsessive Compulsive thing I limit supply of bandaids. I’m also “caught between a rock and a hard place”  because I don’t want to injure a developing self esteem and self preservation ideas in kiddo.Its a double edged sword. I look for alternatives. I think, well its cold and winter is coming on and the obvious solution is the wooden gloves for winter.

I thought it was a great idea . So kiddo wore them everywhere, at school, at home, to bed. The hand was warm and protected in the glove.

I realised that getting the glove off him for washing was going to be a big deal. We eventually worked out that I was to wash the gloves at night when he was in bed. HE was to take gloves off while in bed to let the skin on his hands breath. If I didn’t wash them at night then there would be problems.

If you are going down the glove road with your child just beware that if the fabric of the glove is made of a polyester or poly fibre then your child’s hands are more likely to sweat underneath. This can be a breading ground for bacteria leadings to infections if not properly maintained.

To avoid this hand sweat thing kiddo would clap hands and demand that Mummy blow dry them at a certain place in the house many times a day. I got sick of this quick as it became time consuming and not functional in the daily routine. I tried to envisage myself doing this routine for a long time and I just did’t like what I saw. So that moment, I just said “No I am not doing this any more!” I got all the pairs of gloves from that had accumulated in the house and I drove to a bin somewhere, I don’t know where, and I just dumped them in the bin and went to my piano class. I did this in full view of my kiddo so he could see there were no more gloves ever to be in this house again. Kiddo did not like it one bit.