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!

Diva's Home Meet

Diva has been a very busy gymnast this fall. Here is video of her home meet yesterday - her very best meet yet. She competes as a USGA Level 4.



She scored a 9.0 on Bars, a 9.1 on Vault, am 8.6 on Floor, and an 8.9 on Beam - she was very happy with her performance.

We tried to take Frog to the meet. He loves to watch the girls practice. Spectators were seated up in the mezzanine of the gym. The view from the top of the gym sent him into a complete sensory meltdown. He and I finally had to leave before the meet even started. When he calmed down, all he could tell me was the it was scary. I'm not sure if it was a perceptual processing issue or if seeing all the girls running around the floor for warm up, all dressed exactly alike with their hair up, made him think Diva had suddenly become 20 people or was moving so fast he could see her in multiple places at once. We headed for home and did a little rapid prompting session before he retired to his room for some quite time.

Today we woke up to several inches of snow. We are planning on making and baking Christmas presents today (hot chocolate mix, homemade marshmallows, and honey spiced nuts.)

All is Well, just no time to type :0)

Just a quick note of thanks to everyone who has checked up on me! We are all fine here at the pond. We've spent the last weeks working on getting a re-evaluation for Frog - closing out the old IEP and getting a new one together. I've also been teaching an enrichment cluster in Diva's multi age cohort at school - 12 kids ranging between 1st and 5th grade. The theme this year was Winter Celebrations around the world - we are studying celebrations that grew out of a recognition of winter solstice - the shortest night of the year. Lots and lots of prep time have gone into project which we based on Lights of Winter



We've made Yule logs, wassail, Swags, Saturnalia cake and meed (mock of course), Chinese lanterns, and Raven masks. We've told stories from Scandinavia, Italy, China, India and America. We are noting many similarities between ancient celebrations and some of our current winter celebration customs.

I also have new office space and hope to start moving in and getting set-up the week of the 15th (when the enrichment cluster is over). I've been busily scouring the Internet for deals on office furnishings and equipment.

Today we are off to Bellevue for Diva's first State Championship Gymnastics Meet. Tomorrow she has a mini dance recital and next Saturday her gymnastics club is holding their home meet/exhibition.

If all goes well - I'll be back to posting around the 22nd. I promise I am coming back!

Rain, Rain, Rain

Oh my goodness, we have art for Magic Marker Monday!

The last two weeks we've been working on rain stories. On the the favorites was Coyote's Rain Song a traditional Native American folk tale from our ENKI materials.

We made this rain stick to shake while we sang Coyote's Rain Song -



Then we sang the song -

Rain! Dark Cloud,, Rain Cloud,
Rain, tumble down!
Rain on Prairie Dog Town.
Rain!
Rain!
Rain!
Rain!

I hope we were not to blame for the flooding in our state last week!

We took advantage of the rain do some Rain Painting -



For more Magic Marker Monday posts, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs

Tagged Again!

Before -


China at Brilliant Spectrum Child tagged me to post 8 random facts about me. I think I'm running out of random facts, but here goes:

1. When I get stressed, I change my hair. Last month my hair was blond with brown low lights and about 19 inches long. Today my hair is a dark auburn brown with red highlights - and 10 inches long!

2. I just spent $800.00 to update my legal deskbooks so I can start practicing law with current information. We will have to eat mac-n-cheese out of the box for the rest of the month!

3. I have to get up at 4am tomorrow to take my daughter to her gymnastics meet - 4 hours driving and a ferry boat ride each way.

4. I'm looking out my front window and I have to say my neighbor's grass truly is greener - a brilliant emerald green to be precise.



5. I was born on Abraham Lincoln's birthday - February 12th.

6. I can't sing - when I try, my husband changes the radio station.

7. I love to cook.

8. I don't have time to cook! I'm starting to rely on my pressure cooker (one pot, fraction of the usual cooking time). I'm even considering a Rachel Ray 60 minute Thanksgiving dinner as blasphemous as that sounds!

The tag rules are as follows:

1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post thee rules.
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag eight people and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and to read your blog.

Since I have been tagging everyone left and right the past few months - and I have to get everything in order for the gymnastics meet - I'm going to let you all tag yourselves this time! Leave me a comment if you want to play and I'll add your link.

Hey, how about some of you who've been lurking out there - yes, I see you! Leave me your link and introduce yourselves with 8 random facts :0)

Look Who Decided to Play - Yea!!!!

1. Krist at My Life for the World to See

After -

Linus for President

Don't Forget to Vote!!!!! Happy Election Day :0)

SOOC - After the Ball

OK, I'm having and SOOC Sunday instead of Saturday. Yesterday was Diva's 10th birthday - no time for blogging :0)

Diva was a princess for Halloween. But not one of the fake, sacrin Disney princesses. Diva wanted to be a real, serious princess - Princess Zia Zia (her self proclaimed - at age 18month - alter ego). She chose her best party dress, understated tiara, and riding boots - Princesses ride horses after all and it was a little cool and wet on Halloween night. This is what Princess Zia Zia looks like after a long day of attending to royal duties -




She is pictured with our house guest, Flat Stanley from Missouri. He dressed up as a ghost for Halloween.




For more SOOC posts visit Slurping Life.

PUMPKIN PATCH PARADE

Welcome to the Pumpkin Patch Parade. Add your name and link your pumpkin / Halloween post at Mr. Linky, and don't forget to leave comments!



Now show me what you've got!

Special Exposure / WW Wednesday - Pumpkin Project

Our home school art project for today - contact paper pumpkin face with glitter.



Frog enjoyed dumping and tasting the rice/paper/glitter mix the most.



And we are back to the fountain!

DON'T FORGET TO LINK YOUR HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN (DECORATION, KIDS IN COSTUME, ETC.) PICTURES HERE AT 4-FROG'S PUMPKIN PATCH PARADE TOMORROW NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY


For more Special Exposure Wednesday or Wordless Wednesday posts go Here and Here!

New Award

Maddy at Whitterer on Autism has honored me with this nifty award! Now I feel bad - I didn't even get a Try This Tuesday post together - Maybe this is her way of giving me a gentle nudge to get back with the program :0) Thank you Maddy, it means a lot to me!

I absolutely have to pass this one on to CC at If I Only Had Superpowers who always has links to wonderful resources,
Christine at Adventures in Home Schooling Who's Oliver is so much like my Frog that it is easy to share ideas, and
Melody at Slurping Life for fabulous photography advices and inspiration.

And I reserve the right to pass it on to a few more when I have some time!