Mands:20

I am thrilled to report that there were no tantrums today. We closely averted one this morning when we went out for a walk and Tony caught a glimpse of the beach / pool bag. Of upon viewing this tantalizing bag all he could think of was going to the pool. (Well, the beach definitely would have been an acceptable alternative.) I could feel things going awry, so I swooped him up and reminded him of the reason we were going out the door in the first place. Luckily there were some squirrels playing out by the tree, so I skipped over to them and scared them up the tree. It was fun for Tony to look up into the branches and leaves and try to spot the little creatures.

As Whitney finished new data sheets for our new objectives she brought them to me to test out. Tony came to the table when I asked him to, but sitting on the chair required some bribery. He didn’t do well with receptively identifying letters based on their sounds, so we will be working on sounds. Another challenge for him was matching objects with pictures. I’m not sure whether he wasn’t getting it or he just wasn’t interested. We have plenty of time to introduce these properly in the coming week! Oooh what fun for everyone to have new activities and material!

Today was our meeting with Jay who we haven’t seen in awhile. His visit, although short, was a great thing for all of us. We mainly discussed three important issues…

The first was using extinction to eliminate the tantrum behavior. We all decided that going out the back door to the yard area would be the best place to take him in the event of a tantrum. This is a fairly neutral ground so little reinforcement is accessible. The drill is, once Tony has a tantrum over something that he can’t have (that is if we can’t redirect first) then we are to whisk Tony away to the back yard area and let him cry it out. After 30 seconds we are to attempt to approach him. If he calms down, the tantrum is over and we can go back inside. If he doesn’t calm down when we approach after 30 seconds or if he gets louder, we will back away until he calms down. Jay asked us to keep strict data on the duration of these tantrums. We hope to see a decrease as a result of the tantrums, although an extinction bust (a increase in tantrum duration) may occur initially.

The second issue we discussed was Tony’s crayon fetish. We have had a problem with Tony manding for new boxes of crayons (the old ones just don’t do it for him anymore I guess). Jay’s idea is to remove all crayons from Tony’s reach and then deliver them contingent on good behavior or completing a task. This way, the therapists and parents can have better control over delivery of reinforcement. Tony will be able to ‘earn’ crayons throughout the day instead of having them as a free-access item. Marlaina does have issue with this method, however. She believes that it is possible that Tony uses the crayons as a coping mechanism for his anxiety. Thus taking them away would only bring about further anxiety and stress. Jay, do you have a comment about this idea? She still wants to go with your route first to try it out.

Lastly, we went over the ABLLS for Tony. I have spent the last couple weeks assessing Tony and I think we are all pleased to see actual data that proves Tony is learning!! I was especially pleased to see such a leap in his receptive language abilities. Jay would like to see better stimulus control used while we are implementing the program. One thing that we are going to concentrate on is Tony’s ability to follow direction. We are to start out by asking him to come to the table and sit down, then consequently reinforce his compliance by following direction. We brainstormed about this idea and decided that a mystery bag would be a useful tool for reinforcement. This would be a bag full of toys, both old and novel toys, that would be different every day. Much like the exciting bags carried by Jill and Brittany (AKA Bebe). We also decided that individual crayons could be distributed as reinforcement.

Thus ends our meeting with Jay. I think that although we didn’t get to go over the specifics of the new program, we had a lot of important issues discussed and questions answered. I look forward to our upcoming meeting!

No mand count today. This morning Tony was starting to get perturbed about the absence of new packs of crayons, and he went through the thinking it took to realize that in order for him to get new crayons, a car ride was all important. We were already planning a car ride, but we had to wait until Whitney arrived. I took Tony out for a walk. He was resisting and he wasn’t thrilled I was taking him somewhere other than the car. There was a small amount of whining and semi-screaming, but we also did some running. Soon Whitney arrived and I saw her car in the parking spot. It was time for a car ride!!!!!

The middle of the day was spent with Whitney testing ABLLS objectives while I rearranged the art section. This afternoon we went to the pool with Tony and Morgan. We all had a grand time! The only part Tony doesn’t enjoy is the removal of his wet bathing suit.

Today I am blogging for Tony’s Wednesday session with Brittany. OT has been going very well and Brittany is currently focusing a lot of time on feeding. Tony has gotten better at eating certain food items like bananas so Brittany is expanding Tony’s sensory horizons by introducing new foods like apple, green beans and soy yogurt. Yesterday served as a time to introduce Tony to the new foods. They mainly played in the food items to get Tony comfortable with them in his hands. Parker and I will continue working on these specific foods throughout our ABA and respite periods as well. Additionally, Brittany reports that Tony is coming right along with the beading activity. Jay, Brittany and Marlaina would like this activity to be added to the program when we have our next evaluation. She thinks Tony is ready to move on to using smaller beads because his fine motor skills are developed so well.

Mands: 12

I can’t believe Tony’s still awake! He’s a machine. This boy has been awake since quarter to three in the morning!!!!!! So has Marlaina. Both of them are still going strong and amazingly still in a great mood. We started off watching Sesame Street and we built a quasi-fort with some pillows and a quilt. Later on Tony got a playhouse. We went for a walk while Marlaina and Whitney assembled it. Of course it is a major hit with Tony who has been in and out of it at least 25 times since its assembly.

We took two walks today and neither was too eventful. Just the usual running and playing in the dirt. During the digging in the dirt we relocated many times all over the courtyard like archaeologists. Then he checked out a pile of bricks and concrete he frequents. We said goodbye pretty quickly when I noticed some fire ants crawling around. On the first walk he looked through a crack in the fence and saw some crayons in his back yard. He desperately wanted me to open the gate and I tried but couldn’t. He got worked up and I told him we could open the front door instead. He was not accepting this as a valid option so I picked him up and started to carry him. Then, just in the ta-da nick of time Whitney arrived in her car. Greeting his beloved Whitney was definitely an acceptable alternative to the opening of the gate.

Now he is finished with speech and his Mom is getting him a show to watch. It will be very interesting to see how much longer he will be awake.

Mands: 28

Lovely day! Tony was a very happy boy almost all day! We got to watch Sesame Street and play with legos too. While we were playing in the room we decided to try some ‘make yours like mine’ with big legos. Tony did pretty well with this, especially with Whitney’s Tony friendly approach. Yeah Whitney! Also while we were in there Tony manded for his butterfly wings to be put on. Whitney asked if he could fly and he gleefully complied.

Our walk was fun and we helped Marlaina by filling two large plastic planters with leaf litter for her new composting project. Then we did some running and Tony shoveled some dirt in one of his favorite spots: under the trees that support the hammock. One of the hazards of dirt play is the likliness of getting dirt in uncomfortable places. The eyes are definitely at the top of the list. Tony got some dirt in his eyes so Whitney took him inside and cleaned him up. Marlaina suggested that we go to the pool.

Great idea Marlaina! We all had tons of fun at the pool. We swam, kicked, jumped, splashed, and Tony almost polished off his entire ‘pool snacks’ container. When the pool area became suddenly flooded with a large number of people Tony became a shy boy and hid his face. There were a lot of people. Oh well.

The only crying Tony did before his naptime today was during the removal of his wet bathing suit. We all know how unpleasant wet bathing suits can be. once it was off, he was fine and we went for a car ride. After the car ride he was so exhausted that he fell asleep watching a “Fraggle Rock” DVD.

Not a terrible day for starting out with fits and a mand for night night. We went on a car ride to re-up on crayons and get a booster seat for Jetta and Trooper outings. In K-mart Tony was quite irritable with dashes of happiness mixed in. In the crayon isle Whitney, Marlaina, Tony, and I had a Dr. Evil style laugh fest. It was more of a worried laugh rather than a humerous one for we weren’t sure we would find Tony’s favorite type of crayon. Luckily we did. The store adventure ended with Whitney carrying Tony to the car. On the way out he was gurgling “CRRRRRRRRRAAAYYYYOOOOONNN” and sounding like he was posessed.

When we got back home Tony and I played with his new toys. We grouped crayons with like colors, then we played with his new legos. We had fun playing and even did some intraverbals and motor imitation. Then we went for a fabulously long walk during which we got extremely hot and extremely dirty. He’s a boy, he likes dirt, what can I say?

Mands: 16

Lovely day this Monday, especially compared to last week and this weekend. Yes, Tony’s behavior has been quite trying lately. I heard horror stories from Marlaina about the weekend; among the things we’d love to put an end to are yelling, screaming, and throwing things, especially at humans. Since ignoring isn’t an option we are pretty much relying on redirection as the be all end all. But we have a lot to learn, little grasshoppers, about what works and what doesn’t with Tony. Trial and error is our current stage and we are wading through it.

Considering Tony threw legos at Mommy this morning he was very well behaved. We painted in his room and watched the Wiggles in the living room, then we went for a lovely car ride with Marlaina. By the time we got back it was only minutes until Jill’s estimated time of arrival, so we just watched some more Wiggles and waited patiently.

Tony was in speech therapy he showed Jill some of his not so fabulous behavior. I watched her handle the throwing things issue with ease and grace. I took mental notes which I consulted later when he displayed his throwing things behavior once again. As per Jill’s demonstration I did not fuss or say ‘no,’ just matter-of-factly said “We don’t throw ________. Let’s go pick it up.” Then walked Tony over to the landing spot and hand-over-hand picked the object up with him. So far, so good.

This afternoon we completed most of phase one and it went well, except for form feature function receptives. The ones he answered he answered correctly, but the elephant and the shoe in the elephant, shoe, ball receptive objects lineup are what Tony sent flying across the room.
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After our afternoon walk Tony was tired and getting cranky. Marlaina took him to bed

Mands: 17

Today we had a good morning, we watched some Blue’s Clues and Wiggles, we colored, we painted, we even went for a walk. Tony manded a lot on our walk; he had me going and stopping quite a bit. When we were painting Tony was having the greatest time, he was so into it. So into it that he actually sat right on the paper where there was already paint. I tried to wipe it off before he becamealarmed, but he caught on that he had paint all over his leg and he was not pleased. Once I cleaned his leg and his hands it was right back to painting. His hands did not stay clean for long, these are fingerpaints, after all. Next Tony decided his creation would be mixed-media. He grabbed his crayons and scribbled where he saw fit. The only problem was that he got paint all over the crayons. When he saw how messy they were, he was distraught.

Chapter two is the pool. Tony and I went to the pool with the high hopes of staying there all day. At first it seemed possible, and we had so much fun getting in and out of the water, jumping, and swimming. While we were in the pool Tony commuincated very well, saying “jump,” “throw,” “wall,” “stairs,” “ladder,” and even “cookie” (when he wanted to resurface for a snack.) When he said “jump,” I jumped up with him in of my arms, when he said “throw,” I didn’t really throw him, i just made a throwing motion and extended my arms out away from me. His head often went under during these “throws,” but he seemed almost unphased and kept manding for throws just as much as he manded for jumps.

Unfortunately our trip was cut short because Tony’s foot was bleeding – we didn’t want to mess up the ph level or turn the entire expanse of concrete red, so we left. The return visit was excruciating. Maybe Tony finally realized he was hurt (he’d been bleeding for awhile before we left and it hadn’t bothered him.) Anyway, something was wrong and he screamed and cried all the way home. He is now safe and sound in his bed asleep.

Short blog for today, no record of mands. When I first got to the house Tony said “Parker, Parker” before he could even see me. While I was chatting with Marlaina Tony seemed deeply engrossed in the various happenings on Sesame Street. Then I felt a little hand hold mine and I heard a little voice say “walk.” So I did. I followed Tony into the room to reinforce his mand and his lovely hands-on and vocal communication. Let’s face it, the boy’s got skills! We are all very proud of his accomplishments.

Once he got me in the room he manded for paint. Whitney and Tony painted last night, and I’m sure she found a great place for the paint but I wish I knew where it was. Tony was patient while Marlaina and I looked for the paint. We were asking ‘where’ and Tony was echoing. I told Tony that we were looking for the paint with our eyes and slipped in a current intraverbal: we see with our _____ (eyes.) Eventually we just decided to open some new paint. We had a swell time painting. We used a brush a little but mostly just our hands.

After we were finished painting, Tony watched Telletubbies (sp?) while I changed into my suit. Marlaina got Tony changed and then we were off. To the pool, we walked and talked and sang the whole way there and then we did lots of jumping, splashing, wading, ball fetching, walking, floating, and even partially swimming. Of course I was fully swimming. We had so much fun it was tough to convince tony we should go home, even after his longing for cup and turtle had set in and he knew they were his for the taking inside his house.

Something must have happened to his foot and we don’t know when or how. He tripped on the sidewalk on the way home and skinned his knee, but he had his shoes on at the time. He recovered from this incident pretty quickly, but while Marlaina and I were taking off his bathing suit to put on new dry, clean clothes Tony started screaming in what sounded like agony. Marlaina questioned him for details of his discomfort and found the boo boo. Tony was seemingly still in pain when Jill arrived, but the sight of Jill and the prospect of playing with Jill made the pain subside. All hail the power that is Jill!