Wednesday Brags 11-30

[akafred]

Go!

[akafred]

None for C, but I feel accomplished. I have a friend who homeschools her son on the spectrum, and it isn't going super well so far. She had a psychoeducational eval done when I had Charlotte's and found he has short term and working memory issues and can't really grasp abstract concepts. I know many won't agree with her homeschooling and I understand that, especially as it is not working out so great so far, but since she is and that isn't changing, I thought it would be helpful for him to work from concrete to abstract much like Montessori does. I have been working hard making her a lot of Montessori style materials. I made the bars and short chains for all the bead materials and bead stairs. I made a spindle box out of a bamboo drawer divider, balsa wood, and felt. I made number matching cards to laminate. I bought sandpaper numerals and letters. And I am planning to make number rods out of balsa wood.

[cam]

LO has been working on his letter to Santa. He has done a lot of the actual writing of the words himself, with me helping him spell them.

[numbbears]

Last Thanksgiving, DS only ate a roll. This Thanksgiving, DS ate a roll, corn, and a slice of pumpkin pie. He's also been "reading" (memorized) a book to me called "Turkey Time." He's getting the pronunciation down really well.

[mamaturtle]

DS and I went shopping for DH and the cat on Black Friday.

When we were about to get out of the car when we got home, I told DS that it was a secret and the things we bought were Christmas gifts for DH and the cat and that they were going to open them on Christmas.

DH was awake while we were gone and were awaiting the doughnuts I bought for us on the way home.

DS tells the cat that he got the cat some balls for Christmas and I hurriedly said "It is a secret. Don't tell Pepper. It is a surprise." DS stops himself.

Then DS goes to DH and says "It's a secret, Daddy." and walks away.

I don't know how long these secrets of holiday gifts between DS and I will last. The cat already knows.

[numbbears]

Awww mamaturtle, I love that he wanted to buy the cat a gift. It makes me want to see if DS will get our dog a gift.

[mirandah]

DS has been lying about something since last Saturday and I just caught on this morning. The case of the nibbled gingerbread house. We made a giant one last weekend. I let DS make a tiny one for him to eat, and told him to leave the big one alone. Later I noticed broken off icing- I asked DS if he had done it: nope. Must have been the cat. I actually believed him because the kid can't lie. Every morning I've been seeing more icing broken off. This morning I noticed an entire side nibbled. I asked DS again and he quite innocently said nope, not me. That's when I noticed the gum balls and jelly beans were gone. I pointed that out to him and told him that cats don't eat candy. He grinned sheepishly and said "oh yeah."

[akafred]

Dec 1, 2016 15:54:30 GMT -5 mirandah said:

DS has been lying about something since last Saturday and I just caught on this morning. The case of the nibbled gingerbread house. We made a giant one last weekend. I let DS make a tiny one for him to eat, and told him to leave the big one alone. Later I noticed broken off icing- I asked DS if he had done it: nope. Must have been the cat. I actually believed him because the kid can't lie. Every morning I've been seeing more icing broken off. This morning I noticed an entire side nibbled. I asked DS again and he quite innocently said nope, not me. That's when I noticed the gum balls and jelly beans were gone. I pointed that out to him and told him that cats don't eat candy. He grinned sheepishly and said "oh yeah."

Hahahahahaha! Lying really is a milestone. Sadly, it is not one that Charlotte ever had a problem with.

[Deleted]

Not much new here. ENT to decide on 3rd set of tubes is in a week. Working on the exact number of days I can get out of a hearing aid battery before it dies lol. The balance point between saving money on batteries and it dying in the afternoon at school. I'm contemplating a mommy son class on learning sign. Honestly his hearing loss is not that bad but has always fluctuated, so it could get better probably but it could get worse so maybe a plan B for communication would not be a bad option? Then I feel like I am getting ahead of myself and fearing the worse, but learning another language is never a bad thing..unless he faces rudeness in the class because the loss is not bad?

@akafred- how awesome! You're a great friend!

[akafred]

Dec 2, 2016 8:09:42 GMT -5 @clarypax said:

Not much new here. ENT to decide on 3rd set of tubes is in a week. Working on the exact number of days I can get out of a hearing aid battery before it dies lol. The balance point between saving money on batteries and it dying in the afternoon at school. I'm contemplating a mommy son class on learning sign. Honestly his hearing loss is not that bad but has always fluctuated, so it could get better probably but it could get worse so maybe a plan B for communication would not be a bad option? Then I feel like I am getting ahead of myself and fearing the worse, but learning another language is never a bad thing..unless he faces rudeness in the class because the loss is not bad?

@akafred- how awesome! You're a great friend!

I don't think anyone would be rude. I am looking into classes from BRIDGES locally that I could take with Charlotte just to learn ASL together because she is interested.

[Deleted]

@akafred, Let me know how it goes if you end up doing it.

[seadragon2013]

Dec 1, 2016 15:54:30 GMT -5 mirandah said:

DS has been lying about something since last Saturday and I just caught on this morning. The case of the nibbled gingerbread house. We made a giant one last weekend. I let DS make a tiny one for him to eat, and told him to leave the big one alone. Later I noticed broken off icing- I asked DS if he had done it: nope. Must have been the cat. I actually believed him because the kid can't lie. Every morning I've been seeing more icing broken off. This morning I noticed an entire side nibbled. I asked DS again and he quite innocently said nope, not me. That's when I noticed the gum balls and jelly beans were gone. I pointed that out to him and told him that cats don't eat candy. He grinned sheepishly and said "oh yeah."

DS took a bunch of the candy off of our gingerbread house this week, but last night we also caught the cat licking off the frosting...it is now on top of the fridge where neither of them can get it. 😉

[seadragon2013]

After three weeks of daily special ed preschool plus a week of my chatterbox niece (6 years old) visiting, DS has started talking up a storm. He has struggled with initiating and responding to conversations, so it's a nice improvement. He is actually answering me when I ask him questions more often than not and verbalizing both his needs and his playtime.

Of course, this step forward is coming along with upticks in bossiness and hyperactivity, but I'll totally take it.

[mrsbuttinski]

It'll be interesting to see how your approach works akafred,

Many kids on spectrum can be distracted by manipulatives. They get so focused on the sticks, candy, buttons, etc. that they don't process the information being presented. I don't care for it for my DS, but for some kids with processing/memory issues Touch Math can be a good curriculum.

www.touchmath.com/

mirandah, Break out the memory book for "Baby's First Lie"

That is so awesome. No just an unthruth, but a demonstration of ToM in that it is a seriously plausible scenario that he understood you would accept.

I remember how chuffed I was at DS's first real lie- he and a pal had given each other haircuts on the bus ride home in 1st grade. When I asked, DS claimed the class pest wandered by after he;d completed his math sheet and cut his hair. Totally believable; this kid once opened a door riding in my car at 55 mph. Another time he tore the cover off my Jeep's center console. DS knew I wasn't a fan and chose to pin the blame on him.

DH totally bought into that "People with Aspergers can't lie" nonsense. I don't know that DS said anything factual between the ages of about 10 and 17. Fun times.

[Deleted]

DD's teacher sent us an email Friday praising her behavior this week. She followed directions within the first few times they were stated, did not refuse to join the class on the carpet, stayed with the group at all times, completed her classwork, and even answered a question voluntarily.

This is pretty much unprecedented behavior for her this year.

[akafred]

Dec 3, 2016 5:57:08 GMT -5 mrsbuttinski said:

It'll be interesting to see how your approach works akafred,

Many kids on spectrum can be distracted by manipulatives. They get so focused on the sticks, candy, buttons, etc. that they don't process the information being presented. I don't care for it for my DS, but for some kids with processing/memory issues Touch Math can be a good curriculum.

www.touchmath.com/

The beautiful thing about Montessori is the materials are very natural and calming and self-correcting. No candy, bright crazy colors (pretty much just red or pink and blue on a large scale). They are beautiful but naturally calming. Contrast this classroom s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/90/dc/73/90dc7381f9ae20d148f6fbc90b69e7b1.jpg with this one: www.deliberateparenting.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/traditional_classroom.jpg.

But of course the way the materials are presented and worked with matters a lot with Montessori too. So he may not get much out of it if not presented properly. Still, I am hoping it helps. Something needs to help.