A typical hectic school morning ..........

The last few weeks have been a tad hectic. Diddles school had their official open day for the new autism unit. His teacher nabbed me the day before as I was collecting him and asked that I say a few words on behalf of all the parents. I am soooo nervous when it comes to public speaking. The minute she asked me this I felt my heart in my shoes!! She had mentioned the week before that if none of the parents came forward and volunteered that she would have to nominate someone. I am guessing she picked me because lately the mention of the word Autism and I can not shut up! Its like a chemical reaction in my brain, all the researching and studying of it just oozes out of me and after waffling on for about ten minutes realise that the person who asked me how Diddles was getting on was in fact only being polite! I agreed to say a few words not realising that the Mayor of the town and local priest and parents and teachers of the infant classes would be there also. I had myself all convinced that I would be fine, not a bother. However when the morning came as most parents know the morning you really want things to go to plan they absolutely NEVER do!

The Boys woke up at about 8am as both of them had been awake several times the night before, one of them teething and the other asking for rice crispies and thomas the tank engine (as you do at 4 in the morning). I had their clothes ready to go, I just had to get them dressed and fed and in the car to be at the school for 9:30. Simple yes?? ha one would assume but one would be wrong! I try to keep to a routine with the boys in the mornings but after a long night they are not always willing to co-operate (nor am I if I'm honest, just 5 more minutes please. I wish!!)

Incident number one was chasing Diddles around the landing with a tooth brush while I was singing "Old mac Donald had a farm" to Madman who was waiting impatiently in his cot.
Incident number two was dressing Diddles. He was quite calm and collective which I thought was great until I went to change Madmans nappy, I turned around to see Diddles leaping around the landing in his nip with his uniform in a pile on the floor!!  
Incident number three was getting breakfast for the two of them and Diddles asked for his usual "Juice please". I gave him his juice and he proceded to pour it all down his uniform! Madman thought this was hilarious and knocked his wheatabix to the floor while I was cleaning it up.

At this point I was just ready to get in the car and leave before they did anything else. I drank a cup of coffee like a shot, found Diddles spare uniform, dressed him then chased him with the hairbrush and got him into the car. Then wrestled Madman into his car seat. These are the mornings I miss working in the office!!
It is a 15-30 minute (in traffic) journey to the school and in that time Diddles managed to unbuckle his seat belt 5 times which led me to stop the car 5 times which in turn made us late for the open day.

By the time I got to the school I had developed a twitch! His teacher came rushing out to me to give me a hand with the buggy, I had a feeling she was trying to judge whether I was going to speak or not and right up until the moment she asked me I had intended to do it but I could feel the flash of nerves over me and I knew there was no way in hell I would manage to speak infront of a crowd with out bursting into tears or fainting or something. It worked out ok she said a few words for me. I managed to cut the ribbon! I'm surprised I remembered how to work a scissors! Only photo of that moment is of me with my back to the camera haha typical! Oh well if you can't laugh about it you'll cry as they say!

If you want anything done around here DO IT YOURSELF!

Shock Shock Horror Horror !! We are still on a waiting list for services! I have gotten to the point that I really want to get qualified in speech therapy or occupational therapy and have the skills myself rather than wait around for the bloody health service team to get back to me. I think the child will be 8 before they get around to showing him his alphabet. So I have decided to put all the energy I have been using due to anger and frustration into getting a little more proactive. I have been spending my spare time watching OT videos on youtube trying to get myself offay with various games to play with Diddles in order to get him talking and playing and socialising. So far SO GOOD!!!

As part of the course the first task we have been given is to play people games (chasing,tickles, bubbles etc.) to provoke talking. Now since Diddles had his first speech therapy session back in 2009 we have been using bubbles, in fact this is how we opened that little window in his mind to get him labelling things and making eye contact and getting his attention. Diddles is now at the stage that he is bored out of his Barney by bubbles! I might as well be reading the dishwasher instruction manual for all he cares. Which means I have had to look for something a tad more fun and attention grabbing.

This in turn has led to the BALLOON GAME!
Its working great, god knows how long it will last but at this moment he thinks this is hilarious.
I have discovered that you really have to be comfortable with making a right eejit out of yourself in order for these games to be successful, anyone who knows me well enough will know that this really is not a problem!!
How it works is, you make sure there are absolutely no distractions. No radio or TV in the background, nobody on a phone and for everyones sanity no one is permitted to hoover! Then become as animated as a Tweenie!
I basically call Diddles by name once to get his attention. Say "oh look a balloon" Blow it up a small amount and say "Bigger?" Blow it up more and say "Bigger again?" and then say "ready, steady, GO!" and let it whizz around the room. When I first did this Diddles looked at me like I was a complete Lunatic and went about his business. The second time he watched me from a distance. The third time he had realised it was safe and fun so I blew up the balloon and paused. I took out all the language I had used so he had only one option to continue the game. He had to initiate the communication. I blew it up half way and paused, he pushed the balloon closer to my mouth signalling to blow, I held out a few seconds longer and he said "bigger mammy" and with that I almost fell off the chair with shock and the balloon went whizzing around the room. He picked the balloon up and handed it to me. I said what do I do? (Still in tweenie mode) .. put it on my.... NOSE?? with that he was in giggle mode but he managed to say "no nose mammy, BLOW".

He kept eye contact the whole time and was wanting to play with me. Without out a doubt one of THE best feelings in the world! Something so simple as a balloon. We paid a speech and language therapist the guts of 2/3 thousand euro and never got that much from him. Who needs a speech therapist when you can get that much done yourself! Feck the waiting lists! Life is too short, you create your own opportunity and run with it! This I think is the start of a newer bigger window!