We never went through with it, but just lately I've been watching G and thinking maybe we should re-consider. If you've ever dabbled in all the bio-medical stuff, anytime there's a change in your child's development you can't help thinking, "Is he eating differently?, etc. Just lately G. has done so many things for me that he wouldn't have done six months ago. In the pediatricians' waiting room I showed him how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle" on a music app. He took the IPad from me and played it himself. Then he tried to play Happy Birthday, and got a lot of the notes right. He has also been doing all the things I mentioned in the last post.
So here are the possible interventions:
- Huge numbers of Kroger brand mini-pancakes. Substitution of healthier-seeming, name-brand mini pancakes is unacceptable.
- Excessive exposure to YouTube -- in particular a medley of The Rose, Happy Birthday and We are the World. Also endless viewings of grammar videos made by English as a Second Language websites (www.mes-english.com).
- File Folder Games-- G. will do any task that I present to him as matching Velcroed things in a file folder -- numbers, words, pictures of emotions, categories of objects. This could be a passing phase, in which case I'll be stuck with a whole bunch of file folders filled with clip art images and velcro.
In all seriousness, I think a lot of the changes can be chalked up to the IPad. Being able to operate the IPad with a touchscreen has changed the world for the twins. I don't know if it's all the fine-motor practice, or an increase in confidence, but now they are trying to use the computer mouse and doing things with apps they could never have done before.
5 comments:
I love this post! I like that protocol as well, sounds like a plan to me:)
LOL, on the waffle brand choices. I tried getting E. to eat Kashi, but ummm, NO. He will eat Annie's mac and cheese, which makes me feel slightly better about it being a staple of his diet (like, every day), but otherwise, he is on to my nutritional manipulations the same as any other 6 year old kid would be.
iPad is his favorite, too. Wish Jobs could be convinced to start a scholarship foundation for families with children with autism/learning disabilities who could apply for full or partial grants. He certainly could afford it! I wonder if he knows about the impact the iPad has had on such a enormous number of families. I also wonder if it was an unintended benefit or if Apple's designers/programmers had that benefit in mind. Someone should ask that question.
@JD in TLH- I really want to send Apple a thank you letter, or even better, a video. I feel bad for Jobs because I think for him to retire means he must be really sick.
It would be wonderful if Apple had scholarships. There are a couple of organizations on Facebook which are giving IPads to kids with autism.
It's good to hear that your children are improving. I wish all the best for them. I hope they will improve more in the future. counselling southampton
Oh wow. You guys have found the SAME protocol as we have with our twin boys on the spectrum. Maybe there IS something in those Kroger mini-pancakes!! Now that they are 8 years old, we have updated a little bit...but not much! Maybe we can all go in together and make a profit ;-)
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