Mands: 17 (Thursday) 12 (Wednesday)

This is a compound blog encompassing yesterday and today’s events. We found out Tony’s had a gluten infraction. The topical antihistamine (sp?) that was applied to his bug bites contained alchohol. In addition to exacerbating the bites themselves, the glutens had many ill effects on Tony including decreased concentration capacity, high level of frustration/irritability, and pronounced display of undesireable and typically autistic characteristics such as hand flapping and walking on tippy-toes, running back and forth across the room, and being extra loud. These behaviors have all but fallen by the wayside for the most part, but it is easy to tell that when gluten seeps into his system there is slight temporary regression.

Yesterday morning was really very good. The glutens didn’t set in until the afternoon after his OT session which started at 4:30. Before that we actually had a lot of success with our ABA program. Tony sailed through the receptives body parts category and the motor imitation with ease, getting most correct on the first try with only the appropriate SD. Way to go! When he didn’t seem to want to do intraverbals I tweaked the format slightly so it would be more fun. I brought out a microphone that he enjoys playing with and conducted an intraverbal ‘interview.’ He really liked it and thought it was funny. Today when I tried the same thing he was unreceptive to it and only wanted to focus completely on something that took little to no brain power. Yesterday was so good we’d gotten almost everything done before we even got the fifteen minute warning for his early nap!

Today, because the glutens are still affecting him somewhat, we were unable to do much of the program. Motor imitation and tacting animals were still do-able, but he was definitely getting visibly frustrated with anything I tried to hone in on after he’d given any signal he wanted to ignore that specific activity and go on about his business. He even started to almost cry and just reach for Turtle and cup and sit down. I decided to let the poor thing relax and play. We all need a break sometimes! And Jill was still on her way, so he needed some R&R.

When Jay arrived, Tony was able to show off some of his newly acquired skills, and that was fun for everyone.

Mands: 18

Whitney and I had fun with Tony today. He is doing extremely well with phase I receptives and motor imitation. So well, in fact, that Whitney thinks we may be just days away from retiring most of these items into maintenance. Way to go Tony!

At the beginning of the day Tony was a little cranky and we couldn’t figure out any reason. When Whitney blew up his new punching balloon and we all started hitting it around the room, he was so thrilled that he forgot about his crabbiness. We asked who he wanted the balloon to go to and delivered it to the recipient of his choice. During this game, he actually tried to say ‘Tony.’ Then Whitney found another new toy and decided to try to get Tony to say ‘what.’ Success!

While we were in the room playing with play-dough, before Whitney or I even noticed anyone was here, Tony’s face lit up and he suddenly got excited and ran over to the door. Jill had arrived, and Whitney quickly picked up on it and grabbed this opportunity to get Tony to say “who.” By the way Jill, what was the advice for ‘yellow’ again? First ello, then lello?

After Jill left Tony wanted to go for a walk. He only made it as far as the sidewalk in front of the house before he was completely enthralled with the piles of bricks Whitney, Marlaina, and I had unloaded while he was in speech therapy. He busied himself for a long time making tall stacks of bricks

Mands: 14

Back to phase I. Tony was ready to get down to business when I arrived this morning. He’d been awake since 7:00, so he needed a change of scenery. First we went out for a walk. It was only a little past 10:00, and already it was very hot! We headed out the door and to the left. As he charged up the mini hill of leaves I ran around the big tree to hide. We played ‘where’s Tony/ Parker’ a few times and then moved on towards the courtyard. He noticed a new addition to our outdoor landscape: there were many mulberries on the ground. He pointed at one and said “red.” I picked a few up and handed them to him, saying “mulberries.” I then said “let’s count!” And we did. Then inspiration must have struck, because I saw a light in his eyes and he exclaimed “wun!,” and ran full speed to the courtyard. As he passed through the opening between the bushes and the fence he threw all of the mulberries onto the ground and cheered.

Then . . . Whitney, can you guess his next destination? Yes, that’s right! He was off to the recycling bin for percussion and vocals! While we were out there, he manded for ‘go’ and ‘stop.’ He tacted our ‘shadows,’ which we worked on last week. A black SUV went by and it really sounded like Tony said “Look, it;s Jill!” Just as I said the other day when Jill really did drive by. After that, every vehicle that drove by evoked a string of “hi jill”‘s. He was getting upset that Jill didn’t materialize out of thin air. I had to distract him somehow, so I picked him up and ran over to a yard in which I knew there to be some rather large frog statues. “Wow! What are these?” I asked, pointing to the frogs. He tacted them correctly. Then we jumped and hopped on some square shaped stepping stones.

We then returned to the house and went into his room. Coloring was of high interest to him, and intraverbals were of very low interest. We put off the intraverbals to tact the colors of the crayons. Eventually I had to resort to taking things from him until he produced responses. It does feel a little mean, but sometimes it’s exactly what’s necessary to get our smart little one to focus. It certainly helped me cover much more ground than I would have with a more passive approach. Covering more ground results in more progress for Tony and more data for Jay.

Jill arrived while we were in his room, and she brought a friend with her named Elizabeth. After they left, Tony and I went back in the room and played/ worked some more. Then Marlaina got back from Myrtle Beach. Tony was really excited and asked me to open the door. While his Mommy made a phone call and a snack in the kitchen, he sat on a stool across the counter so she would be in his view. When his Mommy went into the living room, he too relocated. Daddy’d made him a cheese sandwich, so we watched Blue’s Clues while he grazed on his sandwich and relished in his Mother’s presence. After half of the show, Tony started saying “car” repeatedly. Marlaina and I took him for a short ride to Chick-fil-A for some fries.

We briefly worked on brushing his teeth and off/on with the light in the bathroom before going for a much longer car ride with Mom and Dad to look at a ’73 VW Bug! Fun!

Today was my long day with Tony. He was very happy to see me, shouting “Itney” as soon as I walked in the door. How great is that??! It was a rainy day here and Tony had not gotten any sleep last night. I arrived at noon and he had just woken up. Needless to say Tony had lots of energy! We took four walks today. The little guy just loves those puddles! On our walks I worked in some of the motor imitation. As I reported yesterday, he is doing just great with these activities.

Back inside, we worked on the dolls. He hasn’t been too excited about them lately but he seemed receptive to them today. He really liked having them shake and jump, but I had to do hand over hand with “clap hands” and “kick legs.”

After a while, Tony manded for “car ride.” Marlaina decided to load everyone up for trip to KMart to reinforce his good manding (I think she also needed to get a few gardening items). Tony was very well behaved during our trip to the store as he usually is. He got 2 packs of new crayons too for asking for them as well.

After we returned, I continued to work with Tony. Taking small breaks in between to go puddle splashing outside. I had him count to 3 and then “splash” in the next puddle on our walk. He really loved doing this! He shouted “ahhyay” after every one.

Since I had a long day with Tony, I was able to get to a lot of the maintenance activities (I know you’re happy Jay).

Our day ended after our last walk. It was time for “night night.” I think today was really good. I got a lot done and most importantly, Tony was “happy”!

Today was my long day with Tony. He was very happy to see me, shouting “Itney” as soon as I walked in the door. How great is that??! It was a rainy day here and Tony had not gotten any sleep last night. I arrived at noon and he had just woken up. Needless to say Tony had lots of energy! We took four walks today. The little guy just loves those puddles! On our walks I worked in some of the motor imitation. As I reported yesterday, he is doing just great with these activities.

Back inside, we worked on the dolls. He hasn’t been too excited about them lately but he seemed receptive to them today. He really liked having them shake and jump, but I had to do hand over hand with “clap hands” and “kick legs.”

After a while, Tony manded for “car ride.” Marlaina decided to load everyone up for trip to KMart to reinforce his good manding (I think she also needed to get a few gardening items). Tony was very well behaved during our trip to the store as he usually is. He got 2 packs of new crayons too for asking for them as well.

After we returned, I continued to work with Tony. Taking small breaks in between to go puddle splashing outside. I had him count to 3 and then “splash” in the next puddle on our walk. He really loved doing this! He shouted “ahhyay” after every one.

Since I had a long day with Tony, I was able to get to a lot of the maintenance activities (I know you’re happy Jay).

Our day ended after our last walk. It was time for “night night.” I think today was really good. I got a lot done and most importantly, Tony was “happy”!

Today was my long day with Tony. He was very happy to see me, shouting “Itney” as soon as I walked in the door. How great is that??! It was a rainy day here and Tony had not gotten any sleep last night. I arrived at noon and he had just woken up. Needless to say Tony had lots of energy! We took four walks today. The little guy just loves those puddles! On our walks I worked in some of the motor imitation. As I reported yesterday, he is doing just great with these activities.

Back inside, we worked on the dolls. He hasn’t been too excited about them lately but he seemed receptive to them today. He really liked having them shake and jump, but I had to do hand over hand with “clap hands” and “kick legs.”

After a while, Tony manded for “car ride.” Marlaina decided to load everyone up for trip to KMart to reinforce his good manding (I think she also needed to get a few gardening items). Tony was very well behaved during our trip to the store as he usually is. He got 2 packs of new crayons too for asking for them as well.

After we returned, I continued to work with Tony. Taking small breaks in between to go puddle splashing outside. I had him count to 3 and then “splash” in the next puddle on our walk. He really loved doing this! He shouted “ahhyay” after every one.

Since I had a long day with Tony, I was able to get to a lot of the maintenance activities (I know you’re happy Jay).

Our day ended after our last walk. It was time for “night night.” I think today was really good. I got a lot done and most importantly, Tony was “happy”!

Mands = 7

Today was a short day with Tony because Mom and Dad were planning a trip up to Myrtle Beach. I know Tony was excited about Tony Land!

I started out the day with our feeding ritual. Today I had cookies, chips, and waffle to present. He hasn’t had cookies in awhile (they are animal cookies by the way) and he seemed very excited about them. He manded for them several times during his meal, more than the chips and waffle. That brings me to a question I have for Jay. I know we are working in 2-word combos for mands and speech in general. We have “Eat ___” as a target mand for all food items for Phase 2, but today Tony was very reluctant to say “eat” before asking for the desired food (he didn’t even want to do it as an echoic). He is picking up fast on all the tacts for foods and Marlaina has reported to me that he is manding for food items throughout the day using the correct mand. So, my question is, is it acceptable to give him a “yes” for manding for the food if he doesn’t say “Eat” to begin with?

We had a fun day and Parker and I were able to get through most of the drills for the day. Not a lot of “yeses” for the intraverbals for this phase, but I am convinced they will come soon (we have been working longer on Phase 1 longer than 2 anyway). For motor imitation Tony did really well. I feel like he is very responsive to our SD of “do this.” He got almost all of them right on the first time!

Receptives have also been going well. Parker and I have been creative using Mt. Potato Head’s parts. Today we asked Tony to put the parts on Turtle (his favorite part was putting the glasses on him!). He did so well with this and really seemed to enjoy the activity. Learning is so much better if it’s fun. OK, that’s all for today. I’ll be back for tomorrow.

Mands: 11

Today was far from a typical day for our little youngster Tony. When I arrived, there was a nurse in the living room here to assess Tony’s care needs. The nurse, Cindy, was having a conference with Marlaina, and Whitney was on the couch, so I joined her. Tony was free to move about the room. He was being very good and it was evident that he posessed high levels of energy. He would color a little, then walk across to visit different areas. He was being very talkative. Even when he isn’t saying actual words, Tony’s running narration is sounding more and more like true conversation every week!

While Tony was free range he did some interesting things. Over by Marlaina and Cindy he said “bye bye turtle” and put his turtle on the floor, then he said “bye bye cup” and put his cup on the floor. He also walked up to his clown and started tacting its body parts completely unprompted. While he was coloring with those super-glide crayons, everytime he runs out of the tip, he brings the used-up crayon to Whitney or me. We are working on the two word combo ‘more crayon.’ Sometimes he does say ‘more’ echoically.

The other change-ups from our regular schedule included a trip downtown for a specialized car seat and an early nap in order to prepare for a late (4:30) session with his new OT Britney. She and he both did well and she was impressed with his fine motor skills. Good job guys!

After the trip downtown and before Jill arrived, we got some work done in his room. We worked hard on most of phase II and accopmlished a lot. While we were doing receptives with Potatohead Whitney set a green stackable cup in front of herself and gave Tony a fully loaded Potatohead and asked him to ‘put Potatohead’s arm in the cup.’ At first we were slightly confused, because Tony was walking across the room with the plastic potato limb in tow. What we soon found out was that he was headed for his own drinking cup! Smart boy!

Today was a fun day in Beaufort for everyone. Tony stayed with me at Grandma and Grandpa’s house while Mom and Dad headed out for a nice lunch with a friend. Tony also had the benefit of having a playmate, Alaynna, during his stay. This was great for Tony’s social interaction. They danced and sang together while watching Sesame Street and Barney. We also had some fun with paper dolls, coloring and Easter eggs. Tony did really well considering the absence of his mom and dad. There was only one moment when he was upset. Tony noticed a picture of Marlaina on top of the TV and I pointed her out saying, “Yes, that’s Mama.” At that moment, Tony burst into tears asking for “Mama.” After some hugs, a few minutes of TV, and some cuddle time with Turtle, Tony was much better. Mom and Dad arrived only a short while after. Tony was very excited to see them finally. So, today Tony went about 5 hours without Mom and Dad. This was the longest time they have left Tony with anyone besides his grandparents…a big step for me and Tony!

Hi all…sorry it’s been so long! We have really been pushing two-word combos in speech. One of the big ones we’ve been focusing on is “give ____” and having Tony hold his hand out, palm up to receive the item he is requesting. Also trying to combine other object + verb/verb + object with familiar actions and objects. For example, kick/roll/bounce ball, baby/Jill/Tony jump, eat fries/chicken/waffle, drink juice/milk, read book, open box/bag/door. We have also been working on Tony using “my turn” when he attempt to grab something from me. I prompt him by taking his hand an tapping his chest. Most of the time I will say “Oh, you want a turn to play with the magnets, tell me my turn” while having him tap his chest. I haven’t chatted with you guys in a while to know exactly what targets you are working on in ABA…I feel like Tony has gotten really consistent with naming colors (primary colors)as well as naming letters. There are a few that he doesn’t appear to have just yet.

I think Tony’s new haircut is quite adorable…he knows he can rock the long and short looks! See you tomorrow around 1. Hey Whitney…I believe you will be with the little man this weekend. I would love for you guys to come to the Walk for Autism Sat. morning. Tony would have a great time…jump castle, music, other kids to interact with. I think it would be a good little social opportunity for him. The walk actually starts at 10, registration is at 9. Let me know what you think. It’s downtown at Hampton Park, near the Citadel.