"RYAN HATES MAKE DANCE" OT OBSERVATION

An OT was observing Ryan session with his therapist the other day. She was talking about Ryan to the observer but saying only positive things.......BUT Ryan got upset AND SAID FIRST

RYAN NOT DANCE

then

RYAN HATES MAKE DANCE ... of course in tears and screams he is spelling this out..

I knew what he meant......He doesnt want to feel like he has to perform for people..............UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I asked him do you me perform for "X" and he said YES. My awesome OT asked the observer to step out and Ryan calmed down ..

Remember are kids get it they are in there...........we must pay attention!

Feelings about School! and Ohio Virtual Academy

Ryan is doing Ohio Virtual Academy this year. They have a thing called class connects. It is on illuminate a meeting site. Kids get on and the teacher does instruction! The kids can raise there hands and answer questions.. Talk on the mic... The teacher is doing Literature.. a novel." The Sign of the Beaver" Ryan came to the table and banged the computer wanting to listen to the story and interact with the kids. See he can make noise and take breaks whenever he wants.. IT IS SO COOL. But he feels like an active part of the class answering on his board. He was asked to make a prediction based on the cover what the book is about. Will post that next.. So smart.. and intuitive!

Well I asked him. hey do you like being with the teacher and learning with the kids.. and this was his answer:

Spelled name of his past school... then said _xxxxxxx SCHOOL SEPERATES RYAN..LIKE MAKING DECISIONS

See in the classroom he can answer with the kids at his pace we can keep talking while the teacher is teaching.. it works.. it is brilliant.......... we really love the repeats.. because I can pause the teacher .... give Ryan time to think and respond.. and then not miss a lick............... Ryan feels like he is participating making decisions.. answering her provoking questions.. she is getting the kids to think.. and Ryan loves it He loves to make decisions!

Visit with the new speech therapist!

I have not had to start up with a new speech therapist in a long while.. This situation was perfect for RPM... because we sat at a table. THIS IS WHAT WAS SO COOL................Everything had changed.. Before I would speak for Ryan.. I would say what he was interested in and what he wanted to accomplish at the sessions.. I spoke for him always...............This time Ryan had his voice........he told her ......

Please HELP ME SPEAK. I DON'T LIKE COMPUTER. LIKE TV I LIKE MOVIES I THINK SOME GAMES ARE .. NOT FOR RYAN .

He sat there answering her interview questions via his letter board. ..... that was awesome!!!!

He kept gently touching under the therapist chin.......well before rpm I would have said. NO hands down.. thinking it was a quirky behavior.. However, he told me several months back that he does that to say I like you will you and will you be my friend..................think about that...........how loving is that .. and I was grabbing his hand. and feeling somewhat embarrassed about the action..

God is good......is what comes to mind.. I am so grateful to have my son's voice.. we get each other now.

What every Mom wants to KNOW!!!

Ryan is non-verbal.. so he could never tell me if he was sick or something hurt...............Well now he can!

I noticed dry blood in his ear and a scab .. like he was picking at his ear..so I said the following.. Ryan does your ear hurt ..does it bother you.. do you have an boo boo..?? why am I going into such detail and talking baby talk........NO IDEA .. I do know I needed to get his attentions so talked for a little bit about what I was going to be asking him . however.. did I need to babytalk........NOPE.. so he says to me:

EAR IS TOTALLY HEALTHY.

Well after that mature comment.... I was the one feeling stupid.......... so good to be able to talk to my son......... We must come to a point of understanding.. just because our kids can not speak does not mean they are stupid............ yes.........lets start the change of thinking.... I am first in line and have to be reminded at times. Thank God for Ryan' s sake .. I don't have to be reminded so often any more!

The true heart of Ryan and how it helped Ashley

To honor Ryan I will not share specifics but a few minutes ago Ashley had to help Ryan while I was on the phone. She wanted him to wait for Mom to help him vs her and had also damaged a personal item in here room.

So I came to help them got Ryan all fixed up and knew from his noises and upset sounds he was very upset for sure over the entire incident.

he spells on board when we came downstairs

RYAN WANTS YESTERDAY

I said why...

NOT WANT TO HELP RYAN..

I knew he was talking about Ashley but asked and he spelled ASHLEY

Called ASHLEY DOWN AND Ryan said..

DID NOT MEAN TO ________________ CAN YOU PLEASE FORGIVE ME
Ashley was sitting at the kitchen table she ran around the table crying telling ryan I was not mad at you I was just tired and in a bad mood I love you Ryan... yah.. I was holding back my tears..Then he spells out

SOMETIMES IT IS HARD TO _____________________. and ran upstairs Ashley followed. She now is sitting next to me and told me what she told Ryan... she said.. ,"I should ask you to forgive me. Ryan, you are the most awesome brother..and several other sweet things ....... she has the heart of God and so does Ryan.. together we will get through all that comes are way.

I shared with Ashley how it must be very hard and at times humilating to not be able to make your body do the right thing or be trapped inside and have no way to explain anything. Please if you have a child with Autism learn this method.. help your child have a voice...

I am sorry I point Kate!

Well Kate came over and Ryan and all of us were talking.. He told her he liked snicker doodle cookies at Whole foods. ...this was a new food item which earlier this morning I had him read the sign at the store vs. going in and grabbing the cookie..and then spell the word to me . Next I showed him how to use the tissue paper and take a cookie from the glass shelf. He remember how to spell the word hours later as we sat talking to Kate..impressive!!

Well he said to Kate: I XTREMELY WANT TO SPEAK RYAN SORRY HE POINTS ..

Kate being her totally sweet self said .. that's OK Ryan I like that you point.. Ryan got really silly tried to say something else then ran away........it was fun and so cool.. Ryan really felt OK for that moment about pointing .. like I said to Ryan we are working on speaking and pointing ..it is all coming along so well..

We love Kate!!

Spelling a question and describing the car!

Ashley always says.. your funny Mom you spell everything now.......... Well, I was talking to Paul and Ryan and started spelling.. a word...... and thought. Ryan are you even paying attention to me..... So I spelled the following sentence to him NOT saying the words.. spelling the words.. Letter by letter I spelled this:

F-L-O-W-E-R- O-N- T-A-B-L-E- -I-S-W-H-A-T-C-O-L-O-R?

Ryan spells on board YELLOW....................He is correct! He is listening to me spelling multiple words comprehending the words the question and then answering!!

So blown away.... I was thinking. About sentences and I said.you know what Ryan I think you need to write higher level sentences like people do in college.. how about that!!!! So, I explained when I was in college my teachers wanted us to use more description when writing . using adjectives for example. Explained what an adjective was then took his plastic toy cat he was holding and said, I could create a sentence about this cat like this: THIS IS A CAT or I could use adjectives and describe the cat this way: THIS IS A GRAY CAT WITH WHITE STRIPES AND DARK SLANTED EYES.

So next I grabbed a toy car out of toy basket and said Ryan make a sentences describing this car. This is the awesome sentence he wrote.. the car had all those colors on it....


................. THIS IS A PURPLE WHITE GREEN TOY CAR.

Wow............. I am so impressed and all this took place this morning sitting on the floor in the morning room by the cool air duct..........his favorite place:) Today is a great day!!

Our Kids ARE hearing us............

Sharing this to let other parents understand... our kids hear and are affected by what we say.


Paul and I were discussing a problem and Paul when he is upset can take on this tone...... but Ryan is very aware when he is upset about something. . Paul brought up past situations of problem X .. well Ryan said the following but before that he starting pacing and talking/ sounds in DAD's face...trying to tell us to stop.

So Paul got the board and Paul and Ryan were talking ..Ryan spelled
DAD STOP YELLING

Ryan was standing up...and getting tired so we said lets talk sitting down.. then I took over the board and Ryan spelled:

PLEASE RYAN REALLY WANTS EITHER YOU STOP REMEMBERING
RYAN UPSET XTREMELY
STOP YELLING

Then Paul said I am sorry Ryan when I get upset I tend to speak louder and I am sorry buddy. Ryan consoles Paul here we go

WAS VERY SORRY TO ( we said do you mean to as in also..he spelled YES.)
SOMETIMES RYAN SO MAD TO
SO VERY HARD TO REACH OUT

then we talked about that and then I said anything else you want to tell us

LOVE YOU.....

My son .. I he is so kind and so understanding.. I want to be more like him

WII .. I AM NERVOUS AND SCARED!

WII COMPUTER GAME TENNIS AND SKIING............... HE SHARED HE WAS "SCARED NOT WANT TO MAKE A MISTAKE"...... WE DID IT TOGETHER AND HE SAID ," WII IS SO FUN.. RYAN PLAYED TENNIS WELL!

GOOD DAY!

WOW.........THE MAZE!.. HE LIKES IT!

I WOULD NEVER TRY A MAZE BECAUSE WE CAN NOT EVEN WRITE OUR LETTERS INDEPENDENTLY.... BUT TODAY WAS OUR DAY.. AND RYAN FELT GREAT ABOUT DOING A MAZE. I HAD HIM CHOOSE THE COLOR MARKER BY SPELLING THE COLOR ON THE BOARD.. THEN STARTED. THE BOOK WAS A NEMO COLORING BOOK. .. WELL RYAN AND I DID IT TOGETHER .. I TOLD HIM.. YOU TELL ME WHICH WAY TO GO. GIVE ME DIRECTIONS.. START SAID WHICH WAY RYAN UP... WE HIT A WALL OR DO WE GO DOWN.. CHOSE DOWN. THEN CONTINUED WITH OUT LEADING QUESTIONS...HE WAS "PLEASED" AND ALSO SAID "VERY LIKEABLE" AND SAID," RYAN IS VERY ACADEMIC"........GREAT MORNING......... HE ASKED TO DO A SECOND MAZE........NO WAY!!!NOW WE HAVE A NEW FUN THING TO DO..

Think on this... we say kids with Autism may have memory retrieval issues!

Went to Kings Island it has been three years since we visited the park .Walked the park rode some rides and heading to the parking lot..calling it a night...got to what I will call the split.. One way took us to the parking lot and one way to other side of the park with the small kid rides. Ryan loved this one ride when he was little but he was smaller and I figured he would not fit into the small train so we never went into that section of the park that day.

Well give a guess which way Ryan was pulling me. I said...no the parking lot is this way.. kept pulling. so I stopped got out his board and said..Where are we going?

TO RYANS RIDE

Yep he took us straight there we were BLOWN AWAY........

The park had changed hands and much looked different... he knew. He remembered!! A good night!