Tag: autism

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family anecdotes momentous events

Highlights…

Wow! It’s been a busy one! Some highlights:

– my little man has now used the toilet for BOTH number 1s and number 2s (yeh, I bet you didn’t *really* want to read about that when you clicked on the link – but as a Mum of an autistic 4 year old, that’s a HUGE highlight for me!!!)

– Miss 8 asked me to start teaching her how to crochet – and she’s pretty good!

– Miss 5 has improved IMMENSELY in castings, and I’m SO proud of her, and

– Mr 4 had his immunisations yesterday (boo hiss) but it went EXTREMELY well! So well, in fact, I thought I’d write you the story:

One of the doctors in the treatment area, who’d heard my explanation that “I haven’t prepared him for this – he’s autistic, so he won’t understand” told the nurse “get another person, and do both arms at the same time then”. So my little man’s GP came back, and that’s what they did – and he screamed for about 20 seconds. TOTAL!!! I could NOT believe it! I mean, yes, he was sore and a little whingy afterwards, but WOW! I wish someone had thought of that with my other children – for every single time that they’d had needles!!! But oh well.

So. Here’s praying that today and over the next few days, are good days at Kindy for him then, while his shoulders are both so sore…!

And here’s wishing you, also, a great day, dear readers! 🙂

Categories
family anecdotes Life More about me

A rainbow *sob*

Yesterday was a memorable day. My pretty much non-verbal, autistic, Mr 3 blew me away.

“Mummy? When [it] raining… when it stop… [we see] rainbow. Okay?”

Precious words from the gorgeous lips of my (no longer non-verbal!) little man!!! It was lunchtime, and he was busy munching on his favourite sandwich – sprinkles – and we were listening to the pelting of the rain on our tin roof. And he just started talking, right out of the blue (well, grey, actually, if that phrase is referring to ‘sky’ LOL). He’d obviously been thinking about when the rain would stop (although for most of the day, it just poured and poured and poured; the type of rain that you think will never ever end) and he verbalised what he’d been thinking about.

What a tear-jerker moment!!!

And what made it more special? Posting about it on Facebook and getting SO many supportive comments and ‘Likes’ from online friends. It was just SO incredible to be able to share it with those who know me, and know Mr 3 & our situation, and to see that they were as touched as I was by it. One comment especially made me think. Katherine Howard, I’m looking at you! She mentioned that it was “a lovely observation to verbalise” – and I couldn’t agree more! The idea of the ‘rainbow’. The beauty, after all the miserable-non-stop-rain; the happiness after the perpetual dreariness; even the promise of hope from the original Noah-and-the-Ark Bible story . It perfectly mirrored what had just happened. My little man, talking, after so many months of not. So unbelievably precious!

Wow. Just wow! It was a special, special day. 😀

Thanks for letting me share that with you, too, dear readers – and have yourselves some incredible days today, too! 😀

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Uncategorized

With $200 I can…

It’s interesting, isn’t it, the value that we people place on things. $200 is a lot of money – in some respects. In others, it’s a tiny amount.

I blogged the other day about the Proloquo2Go app – and how I felt as though the $200 I spent on it was worth it, to hear my son go from pretty much zero speech, to now volunteering, audibly and fairly intelligibly “Look, Mummy, look at all the bubbles” (washing his hands in the bathroom sink). Is $200 a lot for an App? Yes, absolutely. I don’t disagree. Nor do I regret paying it; I’m daily witnessing the results!

I guess… it’s what you compare it to. See the expenditure as ‘just another app’ and it seems ridiculous. See it as ‘educational’ and then it gets classed with other such educational expenses, right?

–       It’s cheaper than Miss 8’s glasses. And HEAPS cheaper than her 6 weeks of ‘Vision Therapy’ that she attended

–       It’s more expensive (but not by much) than one term’s worth of swimming lessons. For one child, that is…

–       It’s cheaper than Miss 8’s orthotics; but it’s about the same price as the school shoes we bought for her just a couple of weeks ago

–       It’s more expensive than school books, or school uniforms (when you buy them second hand LOL) but it’s Âź the price of school fees for a term

–       It’s roughly equivalent to Hubby & I eating out at our favourite restaurant… twice

And I could keep on going, but I’m sure you get the idea.

When it comes down to it, value is in the eye of the beholder. Do I feel as though the expense was worth it? Yup. Absolutely. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Categories
family anecdotes Technology

App review: Proloquo2Go

Late last year, I purchased the App “Proloquo2Go”, on the recommendation of Mr 3’s Speech Therapist. It was expensive. But worth it!

It’s programmable, so you can make words (buttons) and phrases and sentences, categorise them according to high-interest activities (we have one folder for Playstation games and a separate one for Wii games, and then folders for breakfast, lunch, etc etc) and if the photo to accompany the word isn’t already in the App’s library, you can take a photo of the concept, and use that.

One downfall is that you can’t program your own voice – but that’s a pretty minor disadvantage, compared to all the positives.

Worth the $200? To hear my autistic boy move from being non-verbal to verbal?!

YES!!!!!

Categories
#Springinyourstep

Warmth

Today I noticed how quickly it warmed up. This morning for an early meeting with a client, it was jacket weather, and Miss4 and Mr3, engrossed in ‘The Wild’ on the portable DVD player, were in jumpers and long pants. But roll on 8.45, and we were removing outer layers on the way to ‘Grandma playgroup’ and Mr 3’s last ever ECDP playgroup session. (The next two weeks I’m committed on Wednesday mornings. And no, I don’t mean the ‘mental health facility’. Although perhaps I should consider it, methinks…! But back to ‘the warmth’…)
By Speech therapy time, I was decidedly comfortable; almost ‘warm’. Man, how I love the warmer weather!
So tonight I’m out at a meeting, and I know that it’s going to be chilly again. But at least, for now, I’m warm. And I love that!!!

Categories
#Springinyourstep

Making memories

On the whole, today was a good day. I even squeezed in some playtime with Mr3 in the cubbyhouse! Now *that* was fun!

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Mr3 LOVES the cubbyhouse. It’s high up, with a front and back verandah, and the front has a ladder to a ‘crows nest’. In the first photo, I was on the back verandah, Mr3 in the crows nest. In the second, he was making me a cup of tea. So cute!

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#blog12daysxmas #blog5daysAustenese #blogjune Random thoughts

Getting older, getting wiser?

Today is the last day of June. Today I’m finishing this #blogjune challenge, where I’ve tried diligently to blog every day. This was my second attempt at #blogjune, and I’m proud to say that I was a lot more consistent this year!

So, according to my calendar, I am one year older. I wonder however, whether or not it’s possible to measure if I am one year wiser?!

I certainly had a lot of new experiences this year. Since my last #blogjune, I have (in chronological-ish order):
– Studied an elective outside the LIS sphere. I didn’t like it.
– Added six new clients to my new “Bloxham Marketing” business.
– Started, and finished, gymnastics lessons for Miss 7.
– Started, and have continued with, swimming lessons for Miss 7.
– Used the #blog12daysxmas challenge to start blogging regularly again.
– Read so many Jane Austen novels that I initiated the #blog5daysAustenese challenge… and had four brave fellow bloggers join me in the journey!
– Presented a 3 hour digital marketing presentation live on LEQ TV.
– Plucked up enough courage to see if Mr 3 was autistic.
– Had my daughter’s eyes tested, and sure enough Miss 7 now wears glasses for reading.
– Supported a good friend who was doctoring in New Guinea. We’d meet each other daily, online, and hold each other accountable in our Christian walks.

– Scored a HD in INN530 Online Information Services, courtesy of the truly wonderful @katiedatwork (still can’t believe that one. SOOOOOOOOOO majorly STOKED!!!!!!)

So… older? Yes. That bit’s inevitable. Wiser? I’m not so sure. I certainly hope so, though! And here ends the #blogjune challenge for another year. I wonder what will happen between this one and the 2013 version? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Thanks for sharing this journey with me, dear readers. Your support is far more of an encouragement than you could ever know. You guys rock!!!

Categories
#blogjune

Autism Quote Number 5

I love this one. Hope you like it, too!

Categories
#blogjune

Autism Quote Number 4

So I’m going to start this post by referring to the American sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. Which used to be one of my favourite shows… until someone pointed out to me that the character Dr Sheldon Cooper was a classic autistic. Which, of course, I had always kind of *known*, but hadn’t really connected the dots between this man, and my son.

And when I did, I didn’t find the show all that funny any more.

Here’s today’s quote. (Again, from the ‘Always Unique, Totally Intelligent, Sometimes Mysterious’ Facebook community):

Categories
#blogjune

Autism Quote Number 3

Do *you* know what to “look” for?