Special Exposure Wednesday - Story Art

Yesterday's Story Art story was Mouse Paint.



Prior to visiting the art studio, we read the book at home and Frog mixed Blue and Yellow food coloring in his bath water to make a green bath.







Frog was the only one to show up for Story Art this week so he got Ms. Rosalyn all to himself.





He also got to share the story with his new Para Educator.



After the story he painted his own mouse.




We'll post mouse's picture next week after he is glazed and fired :0)

For more Special Exposure Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

Overactive Immune Systems, Chronic Inflamation and a GF/CF Diet

We tried the GF/CF diet for Frog when he was two.



We waited with baited breath for the babbling to turn into words, for more eye contact, for more focus, for him to sit still. Week after week went by and we saw none of that. Month after month and little changed. When we gave up the experiment, six months in, and gave him a wheat flour filled cookie and a glass of milk - nothing. We concluded that G and C were not issues for him and went on our merry way to the next promising intervention.




Now he is six. Time and work have made significant changes in his ability to look at people, feel comfortable in his own skin, be aware of his body, and tolerate the presence of others. He is much more tuned into speech and demonstrates that he hears and understands what we are talking about. But there are still troubling, difficult issues around expressive communication, motor planing, and executive functioning.

I have been dealing with my own troubling issues involving pain, arthritis, headaches, chronic sinusitis and sinus infections, fatigue, and weight. Medical and therapeutic interventions have taken us this far, but I feel we could both feel better. I went back into my research mode and the words that pop up again and again are Inflammation and Inflammation.



I'm already taking medication for inflammation. I did a 30 day trial of prednisone last year and felt wonderful. But the long term side effects do not make continued use a desirable remedy. My current medication - hydrochloroquine (an anti malaria drug) has been working for the most part, but I still have flare ups and it doesn't address the other pains.

Current trends in anti-inflammatory treatments lean towards dietary changes. The diet that fits the bill - GF/CF with the additional elimination of nightshade vegetables, chocolate, caffeine, and alcohol, and the addition of oily fish, green leafy vegetables, fruits and nuts. So we (at least Frog and I) are going to try this once again. I'll be relying heavily on all you GF/CF moms out there for guidance and I'm picking up a new cookbook or two.


This time I'll be looking for subtler changes in both of us. Wish me luck :0)

Let him eat cake!

I was channel surfing before bed the other night and just happened to catch this clip on The Soup on the E Network. Laughed till I cried because 1. I remember once trying (unsuccessfully) to stop my cocker spaniel from eating blueberry muffins and 2. it reminded me of all the problems I have with behavior modification as a teaching tool.

Here is a link to the clip (adult content - language).

ABA by another name? - I've seen the same look in many a child's' eye when they were just waiting for it to be over already. Now do we think this dog has learned not to eat cupcakes until given permission (self discipline)? Or just to wait out the trainer (compliance)?

Story Art

I've been looking for some activities Frog can join in the community. He is interested in other kids, but still can't play with them. It's not easy coming up with parallel play opportunities for a non-verbal 6 year old.

Our local Paint your own Ceramics shop just started a story art hour for pre-schoolers and moms. While Frog isn't wild about art projects I thought we'd give it a try. The set-up was similar to what we do at home: Listen to a story, eat a snack, do a short art project based on the theme of the story, done. Unlike the library story hour, quietness is not strictly enforced. It is also helpful that Diva is a regular at the shop and I went to high school with the owner.

The first session we attended went better than I expected. Frog spent some time rocking and singing while he took in the environment. A little boy I knew of through a mutual friend introduced himself to us, talked to Frog, and showed us his finished project from the week before.

The story was Winter's First Snowflake

by Cheri Hallwood. Frog had some trouble staying in the room for the story. Another young child wanted to play with the toy kitchen Frog was sitting in front of. Frog wanted to get to the door behind this child and leave. The third child wanted to hear the story and spent a good deal of time shhhshing the other two and telling Frog to take the toys out of his mouth.

When the story was over we moved Right on to the project. We cut our own snowflakes out of wet clay. we decorated them with stamps and painted them. Frog enjoyed the feeling of the clay and let me help him push down on the cookie cutters and stamps. He opted to finger paint his snowflake with a mixture of blue and white paint. When we were finished, we were both well painted ourselves. We left while he was still in a good mood to make sure it was a positive experience.

We did not get to go again yesterday, as Frog was in a very messy mood and had me cleaning up all morning. But Diva and I picked up his finished snowflake that the studio had glazed and fired for him.

Diva takes First Place

We are back from yet another meet. Diva took first place in the level 4, 10 year old division. She fulfilled a dream she's been dreaming for a year now - she got to stand on the podium (at the top, no less).



The team took 2nd overall and got to bring home a trophy - It was a special day for these girls :0)



And now a special day for Diva's mom and dad - we have a two week break from gymnastics meets!

UPDATE

Hello everyone - I'm still here and I've been lurking your blogs periodically.

Frog gave my laptop a drink of water and it could not be revived. The new laptop is ordered (along with a phone system and a multi function machine - copy, scan, fax). The tech is going to try to rescue my data from the old hard drive (documents, pictures, e-mail, all the Stanley pictures, movies, tax information . . .)

The snow has finally melted and I spent the last week moving into the new office. Frog is still home with me - it is taking the school district longer than planned to approve hiring the one-to-one para his IEP team agree is needed. The district is also modifying a room to give Frog some space to work one on one with the para without distractions and they are making room for his beloved swing.

We are moving forward with the Rapid Prompting Method. He is getting much better about pointing rather than batting at the answers and is identifying more letters. Soma Mukhopadhyay will be speaking in Washington State in March. Frog's teacher (and maybe his para) will be attending with me. I hope this will lead to more academic content in Frog's program.

I hope to post an office tour as soon as the new computer is ready to go - Until then, I'm still out here reading your posts when I get a few minutes with hubby's computer :0) Hope everyone had a happy holiday season and are off to a great new year!