Sunday was not as bad as Saturday and the next two days were better yet. Carol, Julia's speech therapists thought Julia's behavior was due to spring break. I am very willing to agree if it gets better soon. Of course, I am on a plane going to visit Ches, and may have upset the whole apple cart once again.
We had a good speech therapy session on Monday. Carol is good at explaining things to me as well as working with Julia. She explained Julia's autism as having a very weak auditory system in part. Julia does learn and learns pretty quickly, but she doesn't pick up things that she hears. She does better with visual learnings which is very true. For her to learn language, therefore, we have to present vocally highlighted information and we have to present the information in different situations.
Autistic kids also don't generalize well, and so if she learns something in the classroom or at the kitchen table she might not realize that it is something to use in the backyard. I have been pretty good about doing this even without knowing about it. At times I treat Julia like an infant in that I am always talking to her. I ask questions, if she doesn't answer, I ask something else or I just talk. I think that the more that she hears the better – Julia, on the other hand, does want to talk and will sometimes engage for a little while. And I have to remind myself that she does listen. She is getting very good at naming the bulb plants that we see coming up as we walk the dog.
Julia is on her second collection of 10 stickers for good behavior and she will probably get her next pet before I get back from CT. I am looking on ebay and hoping to snag some of the bigger stuff from someone who is getting rid of kid toys. It seems there is actually a collectors market for the stuff – A very rare blue bunny out of circulation since 2001??? Not gonna' catch me goin' there.
3 comments:
Ohhh. watch out. It is a slippery slope down to collector's hell!
I've been thinking of you and Julia often these last few days - seems it was "world autism day" and there were actually some articles in the paper here about the incidence of autism in Indonesia. and the woeful lack of resources to help parents and kids deal with it.Thank goodness you have speech therapists and other helpful professionals. And have a good time with the big girl!!
hey mom,
since this is the only way i know you will actually get my email, i thought i would just leave a comment! i wanted you to know how great it was to have you here - it made me honestly wish i could live at home for a while next year! One of these days, we are going to have to relocate closer to each other. i hope you had a safe trip back! i love you and miss you already, xoxo, chesh
We hope you had a great trip. Thank you for keeping us updated on your girl. We think of you and pray for you often.
Hello to Cheshire!
Traci & Family
www.joureytojaden.typepad.com/watchingthemgrow
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