"N is for ...." A Phonics Lesson with Samuel

We're chugging right along with Samuel's school work, which included the 2 day break we had this week because of his EEG. I often sneak in a bit of school work on Saturdays on weeks like this. This afternoon we did a lesson about the letter N and the sound it makes. My job was to ask Samuel to tell me a few words that begin with the "n" sound. Just in case he couldn't focus enough to answer my question I printed out some pictures from "Writing with Symbols," nice little concrete things like "nest", "nickel", "night." Well, we never had to refer to it because Samuel had no problem thinking of words! His answers? "Noggin!" " Nick Jr." "Nick" "Nextel!" Gosh, I wonder what was on his mind today?!

More Challenges and I'm Overwhelmed!

Life with Samuel has been a bit of a wild ride lately! He started private Occupational Therapy services earlier this summer and I told his therapist that he was having 2 or 3 behavioral outbursts per month. Beginning about 3 weeks ago this number seemed to go up so I started keeping a log of his outbursts and the frequency had increased to more like 2 to 3 PER WEEK. In fact, this past week he had an outburst almost every day.


I'm carefully looking at our daily schedule to determine how we might be able to get things done without the outbursts. Among the culprits I blame this increase on are a change in routine as the summer ended and school was started up and my husband's and oldest son's frequent travelling for racing. At the recommendation of our occupational therapist I am trying to work more sensory activities into Samuel's schedule. They are so easy for me to overlook or brush aside as I try to get things done.

Another challenge we are facing with Samuel is the using of some very bad expletives. I strongly suspect he picked them up from watching things on You Tube, so I'm severely limiting his time on the computer and try to stay in the vicinity as he is on it so I can monitor what he is watching. He knows exactly what I'm doing and doesn't like it one bit! I'm considering moving the computer down to our family room, where it can be monitored more easily than up in my out-of-the-way office.

I am in over my head with keeping up with school work for three children. One thing I like about the new curriculum materials I am using is that I am given lots of guidance in constructing lessons. Samuel has actually had some fun doing his math work with some manipulatives, and my youngest son seems to be getting a lot more out of our time together when I have some kind of lesson planned. I'm just having a hard time adjusting to the amount of time I'm having to put in to the lesson preparation.

Samuel will be participating in a Challenger Soccer league (a league for those with special needs and different abilities) beginning in a few weeks. We would be going this week, but he has an EEG scheduled, for which he'll have to be put under general anesthesia. I have no idea how on earth he'll be able to tolerate the wearing of all the electrodes once he comes out of the anesthesia. He'll be monitored for 23 hours! I'm already talking to him about what is coming up, and am stashing away all kinds of special goodies and activities (like DVDs and videos - what else?!) Any ideas for preparing him, anyone?

Two yahoo groups I belong to have been embroiled in some very nasty discussions lately. It's very disheartening, why do people get so opinionated and so intolerant of each other!? I find I have to just let go of these kinds of things so that I can focus more on what really matters - taking care of my own children's needs!

I have greatly missed posting and visiting all my usual "blog friends," but I suspect it will be a while before I can return to it the way that I'd really like to.

End of the Summer Routine, New Curriculum for Samuel

Since returning from vacation the end of last month I would say that our life has not been as structured as it has in the past. Even though we ended up coming up with somewhat of a daily routine (my favorite part of which has been a 30-45 , minute rest each afternoon!), there are spells within the day that Samuel has a little more "free time" than he is used to. On most days I have a helper for Samuel in the morning, and then for a few hours late in the afternoon. It's that in between time without the helper that I find it challenging to keep Samuel off the computer or away from Playstation. I try to get some time with Samuel at the table. We still look at the calendar each day and fill in his journal, along with filling in his "All About Me" book, cutting activities, and some handwriting practise.

I took a bit of time to research new curriculums for Samuel. I wish more than anything that I could follow a Charlotte Mason curriculum with him, but I just cannot juggle all the preparation that curriculum entails, having four children to keep up with. I have enrolled my two other sons in Seton Home Study curriculum this year, and, at the advice of the education consultant, will be using the Lifepac curriculum for Samuel, along with some other materials. He'll be working at the first grade level again. I am looking forward to trying this because I think it will be appealing to Samuel. Also, I will not have all the outside preparation that I had with Samuel's work last year. Anything to simplify my life right now is a good thing!

Here's a sample of what our daily schedule has looked like this past month: Wake up, breakfast, "your choice" (which is usually watching videos/dvds), play (this would be with a helper; or go out, which we have done a lot in the morning this past month), lunch, play (this is free time for Samuel), rest, play (more free time), "work time" (at the table), then a helper arrives and they do playing activities for a few hours, dinner, play (free time, then I may have him join me in playing together outside), put pajamas on, "treat" (an evening snack), "your choice" (usually playing on the computer), bedtime. This schedule will be changing next week, when the "new" school year begins at our house.

My Blog World and Reality Intersect!

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Sharon, whose blog is The Skates Family 7. She graciously agreed to bake one of her specialty cakes for my oldest son's 11th birthday. We live about an hour's drive from each other, but we met each other about half-way. We were able to talk for a few minutes and I also met her two lovely daughters. I wish we could have visited together longer, but it was already well into the evening and we both had families to get home and take care of (plus, I found out just today, Sharon has a lot going on right now!)



Here is a picture of the cake. My son was very happy with how it turned out and so was I. Not only was it gorgeous, but it tasted yummy too! Everything you see on the cake is edible: the number 11 track, the cars, the Happy Birthday banner, all of it! The frosting is buttercream and the rest is fondant. The cake itself was fudge chip, and it was delicious! (Sharon has a picture of it on her blog too).

My special thanks go to Sharon!

One other thing.. Sharon has a cool bumpersticker on her car "Today's autistic kid is tomorrow's genius." I like that!

Some day I hope I'll get to meet other blogging friends too!

How Much is Okay?

This very thought-provoking video was put on You Tube by CS. He has several videos on Vimeo, check them out! I initially saw this on Andrea's blog, "Autism Unplugged."

Are you comfortable with your autistic child rocking, flapping, and displaying other "autistic" behaviors? I have always tried to let Samuel do these things (and I'm talking about rocking and flapping as well as scripting) as much as possible, but I will admit that as he gets older I am trying to develop the awareness in him that these behaviors are different and that it might be a good idea to do them in private if he can. I do this not because I want him to appear "normal" but because his stimming behaviors seem to get in the way of other things he needs to do. I'd gladly let Samuel rock his way through his school work, like Bill Gates was rocking in his meetings in this video. Right now, however, Samuel repeatedly tunes in and out of his work and his involvement with us as he scripts. I'm moving very slowly in talking to Samuel about this. As far as I'm concerned, I have his whole entire childhood (and maybe longer, if necessary) to educate him and help him learn to cope with life!

I appreciate the opinions that autistic people are making public about the importance of behaviors that convention has held as being "non-functional." That seems to not be the case. They ARE purposeful and functional and we parents should be careful when we try to limit them. We have so much to learn about autism. My gosh, we're still just coming out of the days when autistic people were thought merely to be mentally deficient. We're just beginning to understand that they have a different way of experiencing their surroundings and that they have a different way of learning. Let's be patient and try to understand them better before we go trying to change them in ways that are harmful!

Between School Years

I have mentioned before that school is an ongoing, year-round endeavor in our household. We take breaks when there are special events, holidays or vacations. We also run on a relaxed schedule during part of the summer. That is where we are with school work right now. Samuel is participating in a "speech camp" this week and his older brother is participating in a "history camp." Both of these occur in the morning. In the afternoon, after we have had our lunch and taken a rest, I come up with a bit of work for the boys to do. Samuel has been filling in his calendar, writing in a journal, finishing up his religion book. I also found some workbooks at a wonderful teacher supply store up in Maine.



The store where I got the workbooks is called Play and Learn Toys and Teaching Resources and it is located in Freeport. It has become a family tradition to visit while we are on vacation here. My children love it for all the cool toys. They have a fun Thomas the Tank Engine display and it kept them entertained while I took a long look at the teacher supplies. I am always so tempted to buy all kinds of posters, workbooks and bulletin board supplies, but this year I restricted myself to just a few workbooks and stickers. I will have Samuel work on the two books shown in this photo during the month of August. They are both from Carson-Dellosa Publishing. I really like the "All About Me" book. It is 64 pages long and in it he gets to draw all kinds of pictures and fill in blanks to tell about himself. It's a pre-k to grade 1 level and it is perfect for Samuel. It's easy, the pages are visually "do-able" for him (no color or distracting pictures) and the assignments are short. Also, there is a sticker chart built in to the back cover of the book. I am hoping that Samuel will enjoy filling it in and feel a sense of accomplishment. I'm looking forward to him completing the pages where he tells us what his favorite color is, and what he wants to be when he grows up. He doesn't usually talk about these kinds of things on his own. (In the past he has answered "firefighter" when he is asked what he wants to be when he grows up. I'm curious to see if he'll say that again. It's hard to know if he really means it. He never demonstrates that outside of being asked that question. I wouldn't put it past Samuel to just say an answer to get people to stop asking him the question.)

The Scissor Skills book is also very easy, at least it starts off that way. It looks like it will get much more appropriately challenging as he works through it. I ended up getting scissor skill books for Samuel's younger brother and sister as well. I never would have allowed my two oldest boys to try scissors at age 2, but I am comfortable letting my little girl, age 2, do so now. I make sure she only tries it while I am close by at the table with her. She just loves "working" at the table like her big brothers do!

My big job for the month of August is to write up a new IEP for Samuel, choose and order curriculum materials for him, and organize work for my two other sons. I already have their books. This is the first year that I am using a pre-organized curriculum for both of his brothers, in which I "enrolled" both boys and will send off some of their work for grading. I may end up ordering some of Samuel's workbooks from the same place, but there is no way that he can follow a packaged curriculum.

Maine Vacation 2008

We returned this summer to Midcoast Maine, to Bristol. It is about an hour's drive north of Portland, along Route 1, which goes right up the coast. We stayed with the same friends we stayed with last Christmas. They have an 1800s house with plenty of bedrooms and space for us to relax. They acquired a few animals this spring and my children had a few opportunities to help feed them. I don't think Samuel ever helped with the feeding, but my oldest son helped feed the geese and my youngest son enjoyed gathering eggs every day.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! I really wanted to take some photos and share some more of the sights up there. On this trip we took a drive north from where we stayed to Lincolnville. We crossed a narrow stretch of Penobscot Bay over to Isleboro, a small town on an island. We were there for a very quick visit with our friend's son, who is currently working there. The views on the ferry ride were just lovely. We could see some areas to the north where we have driven to and stayed in the past. Nowadays we don't go up that far because the kids don't have the patience to endure the long car ride.

We also visited Fort William Henry. This was an English settlement in the early 1600's, but did not remain inhabited for more than a few decades because the territory was in dispute between the English, French, and Indians. A stone fortification was reconstructed at the site in the early 1900s. It looks like a castle turret, so that makes it fun for the kids to look at. We were able to go to the top of it and from there you get a good view of Pemaquid Harbor. While we visited there we were able to see local author James Nelson's re-enactment presentation of Dixy Bull, a pirate who raided the area in the 1630's. We all enjoyed that.

It rained almost every day of our vacation but we still got few good beach days in. My favorite trip to the beach was our last evening there. We got there as the sun was setting and, in typical tourist fashion, combed the beach for pieces of drift wood and rocks. (I just cannot believe I forgot my camera!)

Now we are back in Virginia and I'm wondering where our vacation went, it passed so quickly!

We took a break from Samuel's visual schedule this trip. I didn't even bring it along, though I did bring a marker board, just in case there were any emergency situations that a schedule would have helped. We did bring along a portable DVD player and a select few videos and DVDs. We also had a DVD player and VCR available at the house we stayed at, so these were all helpful reinforcers to get Samuel through his day and some of the things he needed to do. He did get a bit homesick. Our second night away we stayed in Freeport. As we went into McDonalds to get sundaes (for those of our kids who didn't want a dish of Ben and Jerry's ice cream), he started bawling, "I want to go home! I miss Virginia!" I had to take him out of the restaurant and we took a little walk. We had a conversation about how he felt and that helped calm him down. As we did a bit of gift shopping in the various places we stayed, he was determined to find videos. He went up to several clerks and said, "Woman, do you have any videos?" Sometimes he would be a little more specific, "Woman, do you have any Columbia-TriStar videos?"

Lastly, our friends have decided to rent out their house for vacation rentals. I told them I would post information about it, so here it is! This would be a unique vacation opportunity for anyone who wants to experience a bit of life in coastal Maine that is off the typical tourist path. Kurt and Andrea Rauscher, the owners, also live on the property in an electricity-free home they built several years ago (the rental home DOES have electricity). We have become very good friends since we met them on a previous trip to Maine ten years ago. They are wonderful friends and I know will make terrific hosts to vacationers who stay with them!

Coastal Maine Farmhouse Vacation
Rental
call 207.563.2437
Rent a circa 1800, five bedroom,
1.5 bath house located on a very private 20 acres smack – dab in the middle of
the beautiful Pemaquid Peninsula. This house is located in rural Bristol
within 10 minutes drive of Round Pond harbor, New Harbor, Pemaquid point, South
Bristol, Damariscotta and a host of other Maine attractions. Just an hour
and 15 minutes drive north of Portland takes you to the heart of coastal
Maine. Rate $900.00 per week or longer terms available.
Also
available on this property are the following:
An introduction to living
without electricity (rental house has electricity)
Gardening and preserving
food for the family
Animal husbandry – goats, chickens, geese
Woodworking lessons
Boatbuilding lessons
Sailing lessons
Bronze
casting lessons (view our video on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFOo5EWNl8M
Learn how to
heat your house with firewood

The photo at the beginning of this post is of Muscongus Bay. I obtained it from FLICKR , where it was posted by CA. Thank you, CA, for allowing this photo to be shared! Most photographers on FLICKR have now copyrighted their photos (which I completely understand!), so it was much harder to find things I could legally share on my blog this year. That's okay, I just simply need to remember my camera in the future! Anyways, if you are interested in seeing more scenes of where my family vacationed, you can go to FLICKR, in the "Search" field enter "Pemaquid Harbor", "Pemaquid Point", "Round Pond," "Fort William Henry, Pemaquid, Maine" and you will see lots of terrific photos of the area we stayed at!

The photo of the house is where we stayed, and is the house available for vacation rental. The goats belong to the Rauscher family. They acquired them this past spring and have plans to increase the herd.