More than words!

I found the most difficult part of discovering your child is on the Autism spectrum is realising you have to almost rewire your brain to understand the situation. Every thing you assumed came naturally to a child all of a sudden has to be taught to them (a lot of the time in pictures).
How to learn to play, feed themselves, toileting, speak. "Typical" kids seem to pick it up from listening and watching their parents and siblings, but kids on the spectrum need that extra help to understand the simplest of daily routines. Last May when we received the official diagnosis of Autism for Diddles, Myself and the Hubby had no idea where to start. There are no handbooks given to you, no point in the right direction where to turn to for advice or help. You are handed this report and given a list of schools and told your on a 10 month waiting list for therapy after you write a letter of referral yourself. I don't think this is good enough. All I'll say is thank god for the Internet!

After receiving our Assessment of need report I remember heading straight home, turned on my laptop. I had an email from a speech therapist I had spoken to a few months before. She had been trying to run a Parent course called More than words but she could not get the numbers she needed to go ahead with it then. The email stated that she was going to run the course later that year and also asking was I still interested in attending. When I say this was meant to be it is an under-statement!
Without a second thought, I went and did the course, we had absolutely no services and could not afford private speech or occupational therapy (@ €90 - €120 p/h). I didn't really know what to expect from it.
It turned out to be exactly what I had been looking for. I swear someone up there is looking out for us.

Diddles was four when I started the course and he had not had any therapy or services because it took us so long to get the assessment of need done.
More than words taught me how to play with him again, and that my friends is priceless!
It taught me all about his sensory needs and how these effect everything he does. Which before I knew some "habits" he had were sensory but this opened my eyes to just how much he is effected by autism.
It taught me how to teach him to use language, to slow everything down and to really listen to his attempts to communicate with us. I learned all about his echolalia, scripting and all about visual routines.
The difference in him and ME and his Dad AND brother and Nanna, we all understand each other a lot better. Every parent to a child with autism (obviously depending where they are on the spectrum) between the ages of 3 and 7 should have to do this in my opinion. Its DIY therapy, you already have most of the tools and you don't even realise it.
When I started the course Diddles had no more than a 30 second attention span, he was constantly running around and jumping and singing. Now I know why he does it. From working on him with all the visuals and people games and helping him understand. We discovered he is actually really interested in books. (Before he flicked through the argos catalogue)He did not know how to look at a book and He is now interested in a story at bedtime, he'll happily lie in bed and look at the pictures and talk about it. As opposed to hop in and out of bed 20 times and sing over you while you're trying to read to him.

All I know is this really worked, a few steps in the right direction. I wrote this for the parents who are just starting out and may feel a little helpless in the beginning just like I did. It does not solve everything but it gives you a great insight into their world and I would definitely recommend doing the More than words Hanen program.

Ah HUGE Thank you to Catts Ireland for everything! Can not thank you enough.

You learn something new everyday!

Since I have finished up work I have been attempting the domestic goddess role. This gluten free dairy free food is bloody expensive so I have been looking up recipes in an attempt to save a little on the shopping list.

I have mastered pizza bases and bread which is seriously an accomplishment for someone who was not totally sure about boiling an egg a year ago. Honestly ask me about any gadget be it ipod, laptop or fixing an internet connection great but ask me how to cook a meal from scratch and you would get recipe for disaster. Instead of home economics in school I took Technology.

 I'm not bad now but I still have the odd (giant) hiccup aka Blonde moment.

 For example a few weeks ago I was attempting to make chocolate muffins for Lukes lunch for the week. I found the recipe on a gluten free dairy free website. Thought I was following it to a tee. Until I checked on them 10 minutes after putting the baking tray in the oven and I square to bob my oven was covered in this brown ooze. It was on the top, on the sides and the bottom and expanding by the nano second. I had no clue what I had done wrong. The other half came in to see what I was giving out about and started breaking his heart laughing at me. I read the recipe twice over again until I realised I had used BREAD SODA instead of Baking powder. If you ever want to make inedible chocolate ooze I'm your woman!!

Aside from the hysterics of my Kitchen, I have been spending the rest of my time trying to find new games to get Diddles talking. What I love about these games is Madman can join in. They are both learning to take turns and learning a multitude of new words. We have moved on from the Balloon game which I had mentioned in an earlier post, we do return to this about once a week to mix up the routine. However right now we are playing the blanket game. We took down one of the kids duvet covers and lay it out on the floor. Both of the boys jump on it and then we decide that Madman takes the first turn. (He seems to be the most impatient at the tender age of 17 months) He lies in the middle of the Duvet, I grab one end and Barry will grab the other end. We say "ready steady go!" or "on your marks get set go!" or "3,2,1 Blastoff" mix it up every time so we use as much language as possible. Then we swing the duvet from side to side (narrating the whole time everything we are doing). Next we ask "want to go fast or slow?" Now, for Madman he just says GO! but he is taking in everything and loving the game.  Diddles will obviously want to go fast and this is why we give him "fast" as the first option as a big percentage of the language you will hear from Diddles is immediate Echolalia i.e he echos the words you say directly back to you but does not necessarily understand what you have said.

To test his understanding you give him what he asks for and not what you know he wants. This is so he realises the actual meaning of words.It is a long process but he is beginning to get the gist. He watches the game with Madans turn once to be sure its safe and then he gets the confidence to try himself . In some way Madman is his guinea pig. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing yet but its all trial and error!

They remind me of coyote and roadrunner at the moment. Diddles being the roadrunner and Madman being Coyote. Diddles runs back and forth for his usual sensory stimulation and Madman thinks this is a game and follows him back and forth. Madman bless his cotton little socks is just never fast enough to catch Diddles. He thinks his big brother is the king of chasing. They seem to have simultaneus bruises lately, both running and one will fall and then the other. Brotherly love ay!

The games have brought out some spontaneous speech with Diddles. He wakes me up in the morning with "Good Morning", he says "I want some juice please" instead of "Juice please"and Madman is copying everything he's really trying his best. We're making progress slowly but surely! They never cease to amaze me!