One of Samuel's favorite activities is watching television. Watching Samuel watch television can be kind of entertaining too! I took these photos on a recent lazy Sunday morning. When certain advertisements or shows appear on the screen, Samuel will cover his ears and recently I have heard him singing while he is covering his ears. Then, if the visual images get to be too much he will run out of the family room.
The first signs of Samuel having odd behavior while watching television were when he was two years old. He had watched "Arthur" for months, but one day when it came on the screen he ran out of the family room screaming and crying. It was several years before he could watch it on television again. It's not that he doesn't like the things he is seeing or hearing; this is what he does for the things he likes, but I guess he just doesn'
t know how to handle the pleasure that it brings him!
t know how to handle the pleasure that it brings him!I'm still struggling with my increased teaching responsibilities this fall. I'm continuing the ABLLS assessment. My attempts at finding consultant help aren't going as well as I had hoped. One contact will not return my phone calls, another is way too expensive, and another wants me to go to a Dr. Carbone workshop. That's all well and good, but kind of difficult right now when the only ones I see on the schedule entail travelling out of the area and probably mean an overnight stay. I'm also dealing, really for the first time.. teaching Samuel some new concepts. Besides Samuel's different behavior, this is the first real struggle I have had with trying to work with him at home. I have to remember that there will be a lot of trial and error and that I shouldn't let a few challenges get me down!
5 comments:
Pamela still does that when she walks through the dining room, which has no television and is very quiet. She has told me several times that dragons live there. And, they say people with autism have no imagination . . .
The first time we noticed something like that Pamela was four months old. We received one of those barbershop pole rattles, which made her start crying on the spot. We put it back in the box, waited for her to calm down, and tried again. She cried again. I have always wondered if the pleasure was so intense of seeing it was so intense that it shut down her system.
It was months before she could play with that toy.
G use to slap the TV constantly. He still will start to echo the show if it gets really exciting.
It's helpful when your child can verbalize and explain their funny behavior!
Wow, I'm amazed how young Pamela was when you noticed her different behavior. I remember my husband and I noticing how quiet Samuel was at about age 1, but it wasn't until around age 2 that we took notice of how different he was from his brother.
I have said, in recent years, that Samuel was always "different". I never saw any marked signs of regression in his behavior. However, I just watched, probably for the first time, some video I shot of Samuel at age 9 months. I was struck how "typical" his behavior was. He was getting into some things in my kitchen and was very responsive to me as I was talking to him. I wonder at what age, between when that video was shot and the time I took him to the developmental pediatrician when he was diagnosed with autism, his behaviors might have become different from that of his NT peers. It's hard to remember back then now, after having 2 more children. Maybe more old video I have recorded will help me to remember.
We're still at the trial and error stage ourselves. Wishing you lots of patience and emergency batteries.
Best wishes
Junior will sometimes just leave the room in a hurried rush, if something comes on the tv that affects him in some way. He usually goes to the bathroom and lays on the floor or he has gone to his room. Sometimes he is holding his ears and sometimes weeping for whatever reason. Sometimes he will tell me "I don't like it".
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