Our in-home services staff wasn't able to come today, her car broke down. I discovered it 15 minutes after she was due to arrive (she had left a phone message before we got home) and was in the middle of trying to keep Samuel calm. Quick change in expectations for the afternoon!
Every day when Samuel gets home he has 4 or 5 things to complete on his visual schedule, all related to putting his coat, backpack away, using the toilet, and then getting to have a snack. On days that our in-home person is here, he then has 3 more hours of activities (including a good bit of unwind time!). On days they are not here, I usually let Samuel play for about 2 hours and then I try to squeeze in a bit of homework before dinner time.
There was a time when Samuel rushed through these first few tasks, eager to get his snack. That hasn't been the case lately. He tries to hide in my husband's home office and looks at his videos. Today I had put the videos away, and he was angry that we hadn't picked up any new videos at the library (we went while he was at school). I spent the first hour we were home today helping him take several breaks. I had really hoped to clean up a bit around here, but I wanted Samuel to know that I wasn't going to put up with him being so cranky so I helped him take several breaks in a row, in which he got explanations from me about how he needed use a calm voice and have "calm hands and feet" to be able to stay downstairs. He finally settled down early in the evening.
Samuel has been asking us to repeat sentences. I used the promise of repeating a sentence as an incentive for him during his homework today! He says "Can you say 'You can't watch Cyberchase on TV because you get too upset? ' " After I do repeat him he says "I don't get too upset when I watch it on DVD"
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