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!
Posted tagged ‘autism’
Nanny 911
April 22, 2009Snakes in a school
September 23, 2008Well, Belle has presented us with a new challenge that I never thought i would face- she only likes to go to a class if the teacher has a snake!
How was science?-Good Mom, the snake looked at me, you know he eats goldfish?! (they’re studying the metric system)
How was Mr. Rabe’s class? –Good, do you know he thinks he’s getting a snake, but he could only find a big one. I told him maybe we could find one for him! (they study social skills in that class)
Pretty soon she’ll find a way for the principal to have a snake in her office and we’ll be donating frozen mice to the school.
She only learns what she wants to learn and right now it’s reptiles!
I believe
September 22, 2008- I believe in the power of attraction, visualization and getting what you need from God and the universe
- I believe that someone will come into our lives that is knowledgeable, loving, kind and confident
- i believe that belle will find a way to give her gifts to the world
- i believe that belle will find someone who will see her intelligence, humor, love, passion and creativity
- I believe that we can find (or create) a school for belle that will let her shine and be at her best
- I believe that Belle is in our life to change the world
- I believe that we will always have friends and family that will stand by us and support us
I believe that God will bring us who and what we need- It has always happened before, it will happen again
pulling rank and testing behaviors at school
September 18, 2008My daughter’s aide asked me today if she should try to get belle to do things for herself and gave the example of throwing away her garbage.
this is what i wrote to them:
I’ll use the garbage example to explain the strategies that i would use to increase compliance and why. I’m really glad she asked my advice before deciding how to handle the situation, her patience and maturity is greatly appreciated.
my recommendations-
- continue to build trust and respect- the more maribel feels safe around you the more she will want to do things for you when asked or even independently.
- make requests in a positive proactive way- “Belle, how about if we move the garbage can right next to your desk for a while then when you need to throw away your garbage it will be right there.” In that way your are making the assumption that eventually she will be independent in throwing things away and assuming also that it was only a logistics problem as apposed to her being defiant.
- make things rule based- ” the janitors have a rule that we throw away all of our garbage or we can’t eat or play here anymore – and we don’t want to get ants.”
- break it down into small steps or make it a team effort- “belle, i’m gonna get your milk carton, can you grab the plate and throw it away?”
- ask for help instead of giving orders- “I’m so busy right now- can you help me clean up here so we can move on to —-?”
- reinforce- “thanks for helping, cleaning, following the rules!” “you earned a __”
- appreciate small steps toward compliance, respect and cooperation throughout the day.
- model what you would like to see and hear-
- make it fun? that could be tricky, but we have lots of fun at home doing boring things
basically i think: familiarize, desensitize, reinforce.
I often think of that movie “My Big fat Greek wedding” when she says that her trick to get her husband to do anything she wants him to is to make him think it was his idea. It works with men and Belle!
of course, you don’t have to do all the things above with every issue, but one or two should help move things in the right direction.
Also, it helps that I’m aware of the problem because i can really emphasize at home that she needs to be responsible for herself and not to expect others to do things for her- even me!