Adventures in Autism

by Peggy Meador

the “stern” look

belle and i have been working on why she feels the staff get frustrated with her and i drew her a chart that showed

belle :) + “yes” +”ok”= staff  :)

She seemed to respond well to that, but i also explained that the staff can also get frustrated about things unrelated to her and that if they ask her to do her work they are not always frustrated. Then we reviewed the nanny 911 concepts of communication and respect.

Hard concepts…… i wrote to her teachers to explain what Belle and I had talked about so we could send similar messages.

Her teacher wrote back:   Belle talked with me this morning about “stern” looks and what that means.  We explored that sometimes people don’t look happy or sad or angry while they are giving her time (ie: to engage in tasks, check her schedule, make a choice, etc.).  She ended up calling that the “blank” face.  it was a good discussion.

If that’s not communication and respect I don’t know what is.

April 26, 2009 Posted by peggy | ABA/PBS, school, strategies | , , | No Comments Yet

Nanny 911

My daughter always amazes me by being attracted to TV shows that fill some of the academic, behavioral or language gaps in her life. She loved poko who taught her about sharing and feelings, She loves funniest home video when she needs to bridge the gap with family members and share a laugh. She learned how to read and greatly improve her vocabulary by watching between the lions religiously. And now she is really into nanny 911. It’s interesting that a child who is very rigid, has poor frustration tolerance and trouble seeing other’s perspective would love a show that shows just that in other children. She invites me to watch along and we discuss the feelings, facial expressions and communication abilities of the family members. She’s starting to see the recipe for success -rules, respect,+reinforcement, and communication. Belle went off to school this morning a little concerned about a problem she had with a staff member yesterday and we both agreed respect and communication is all that’s needed. She came home glowing!
Thanks nanny 911!

April 22, 2009 Posted by peggy | ABA/PBS, school, special interests | , , | No Comments Yet