MANDS = 24

Today was a more difficult day with Tony because he had very little sleep last night. He didn’t really want to focus on any one activity. Parker and I had to redirect a lot today to get him on task. Tony manded “all done” for a lot of activities after only a few minutes. Even though he was feeling tired through most of the session, we still got some things done. We did spend a lot of the time outside. Tony really enjoyed splashing in the puddles outside and also throwing sticks into the water. Tony definitely knows the word for “throw” as he would use it as a mand by asking me to throw sticks and leaves.

While we were inside we worked on intraverbals and motor imitation. Tony was not very responsive to any of the “do this” SDs but did follow some direction when we switched to the dolls. He made the doll clap her hands and “think” in the thinking chair.

I worked on receptives with a mirror that Tony kept picking up. I had to do hand over hand with grab your nose, eyes, ears and mouth. Tony did touch his hair on the first time when I asked him to “grab your hair.” I didn’t get a whole lot done with Mr. Potato Head today because Tony had little interest. I asked him “where does Mr. Potato Head’s arm go?” and Tony was able to put it in the correct place with a gestural prompt.

I also worked on tacting adjectives with Tony “big/little” and “long/short” and also colors. Although he didn’t tact anything today, I know he is learning. He independently tacts some colors like “black” while he’s coloring which is great. He has also really taken a liking to his magnetic color book lately.

So today was not so hot, but we all have to remember that any two-year old has those days. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

I was in a hurry for work and just wanted to add a few things to today’s ABA session. First, Mands=45. Tony is starting to grasp attributes and he responded when I held up his tiny ball and asked if it was big or little with an approx for “little”. With loud/quiet Tony actually requested “loud” and turned up the volume. With long/short Tony is having difficulty. I am going to try using clearer examples (than his tubes or play-doh rolled into long/short pieces, which is what I’m using so far). And, Tony is getting better with his motor imitation/receptives. Today he completed one objective with only the SD on the first attempt. Also, even if we (Parker,ABA) use a gestural prompt to get Tony to complete an activity, we can try it again later in the session and sometimes have luck w/out prompting. Starting off w/the visual connection seems to be helping Tony grasp the SD. When it comes to asking him to grab/show me a part on his face such as his nose or mouth he sometimes says “noo” and turns away his head. I think that I already wrote this but he did it again so I thought that I’d make note. We have better luck with other body parts. Tony also played well w/Mr. Potato Head, making him jump, sit in his chair, and wave his arm. Tony is doing well with putting two words together with his mands and also said “help” today. He is also whizzing through his intraverbals. Lastly, Tony’s vocab continues to expand, echoing some new words today such as “clown” (approx) while looking through his books. He was really answering well to “what’s this” and was asking us w/an approx “what’s that”. Good day!

Tony had a pretty good day today with Elizabeth and I. We started the day off with some coloring with crayons, which he manded for by walking to the hanging giraffe and saying first “aben” and then “craigh” (for crayon,) throwing balls, and jumping on the trampoline. While he jumped, he had fun playing different songs and manipulating the volume control to produce ‘loud’ and then ‘quiet’ sounds, adjectives we began to introduce last week. Although he can only make an approximation of the words, he shows a real handle on the concept. We then went for a walk, during which he (surprise!) wanted to go to the pond and throw things into it – mostly leaves and sticks. He sat in a neighbor’s glider, tacting ‘chair’ while he climbed up and Elizabeth swung him. We made our way back to his room and got some good work accomplished before it was time for his session with Jill. A highlight of the day happened right by Conrad (the bus) when Tony was stooping down to look under it. He was looking for shoes on the other side. Elizabeth asked him “where are they, where are the shoes?,” to which Tony replied quite clearly, “right (wite) there (thea)” and pointed to my shoes.

Tony had a pretty good day today with Elizabeth and I. We started the day off with some coloring with crayons, which he manded for by walking to the hanging giraffe and saying first “aben” and then “craigh” (for crayon,) throwing balls, and jumping on the trampoline. While he jumped, he had fun playing different songs and manipulating the volume control to produce ‘loud’ and then ‘quiet’ sounds, adjectives we began to introduce last week. Although he can only make an approximation of the words, he shows a real handle on the concept. We then went for a walk, during which he (surprise!) wanted to go to the pond and throw things into it – mostly leaves and sticks. He sat in a neighbor’s glider, tacting ‘chair’ while he climbed up and Elizabeth swung him. We made our way back to his room and got some good work accomplished before it was time for his session with Jill. A highlight of the day happened right by Conrad (the bus) when Tony was stooping down to look under it. He was looking for shoes on the other side. Elizabeth asked him “where are they, where are the shoes?,” to which Tony replied quite clearly, “right (wite) there (thea)” and pointed to my shoes.

Hello. This is the first time I’ve blogged. Today is a dreary, rainy day but it started out sunny and nice. Tony started the day off in his room where we played with the kick ball. I would say “kick ball” and kick it across the room gently. He found this quite amusing. We quickly moved to coloring during which he tacted ‘moon’ when I drew one. I tried a tree, but he had no interest in looking at it, he manded for a ‘thinking chair’ and a ‘ball,’ both of which I drew for him. We played with the trains and then he was ready to go for a walk. We had lots of fun on the walk, starting off checking on the duck situation. No ducks at first, so we had fun throwing leaves into the water. Tony kept inching closer and closer to the pond and then I decided we should redirect our interest before we became fish food. We went to the courtyard, ran around, jumped, I pushed Tony in the hammock, then wemoved on. We walked over to someone’s bench and Tony tacted ‘chair,’ and then climbed up onto it. I tried some motor imitation and receptives. He put his hands to his cheeks, but quickly lost interest and said “all done.” I helped him jump over a green chain numerous times, having him say ‘jump’ each time. We also played on the tennis court with a tennis ball. As we were headed home, we saw Marlaina driving slowly around the parking lot. We climbed in and went to Publix to get some food in preparation for a visit from Marlaina’s parents and Morgan. Tony and I played in his room with the singing dog, the balls, the tunnel, and the trampoline. Tony was quite excited upon the arrival of his grandpatents and didn’t know exactly what to do with himself. Everyone was impressed with his attempts to say ‘grandaddy’ and ‘nanny.’ After they left Anton took Tony to bed. Night Night.

Mands=43

As soon as Parker (ABA) and I arrived Tony manded for “walk”. We went outside and he then saw the ducks and tacted “duck”. He also tacted a neighbor’s dog. However, he didn’t respond to “what sound does a_ make” today with duck or dog. Inside he did do this with a picture of a cow but was prompted to say “cow” to “what’s this”. This was the same with the pictures of a rooster and a pig. Outside Tony manded for “throw” and echoed the word “pinecone” w/an approx. When Tony wanted to throw an object I would withhold it for a moment and say “Tony, grab your_(body part)” using a gestural, and if needed, a physical prompt. On the second try Tony grabbed his foot w/out any prompting. I rewarded him by giving him the object to throw. We worked a lot on receptives w/ body parts while outside. When I said “grab your nose” Tony said “nooo” and turned his head away so I used hand-over-hand then left this one alone until later. I didn’t want to push him too hard and have him upset. We did this later once inside and I still needed physical prompting but he was happy and he said different body parts. He also said the names of clothing then pulled out his dress up game and dressed the paper dolls. We also continued to use two word sentences w/mands (today, “throw stick”, “roll train”, “open door”–he did this last one today without prompt, etc…). Tony has been using “open” universally so we’re trying to teach him some more mands. Today he picked up objects outside, handed them to us and said “open” sometimes before using a different mand. Jay (BCBA), do you think we could start using the word “help” for times when Tony doesn’t have another word (like when he gave us his toy train track pieces and wanted us to put them together) or do you want us to keep coming up w/specific words for mands?
Once inside Tony’s playroom we worked on colors quite a bit bc Tony was calling everything green. I had him tacting and echoing the colors throughout the session. He tacted black and said his other colors but not yellow (or an approx), even w/prompting. We worked again on intraverbals (we did this yesterday but I left it out). We went through all his songs and phrases making sure to do them at a time when there were no visual cues. For example, I said “you cut with_” while coloring and Tony responded “scissors”. We did “you color with a _” and Tony said “crayon” while playing later. Also, we played with Mrs. Potato Head and I asked “where does the_ go” and Tony would place the body parts in the correct places. I also had Tony make her jump and wave her arm. Jay, would you like me to say “do this” and have Tony wave her arm after watching me or do you want me to say something like “wave Mrs. Potato Head’s arm” and wave it? I’ve been doing some of everything. We also colored and Tony tacted “moon” and some letters. He also tacted pictures of numbers and his books (objects). We worked on big/little with his books and I would say “open the little book” and then we’d look through it. With loud/quiet we used the volume for the songs on his trampoline. Tony echoed “quiet” and “loud” (approx). When he was banging on his wire rack he said “loud” and then stopped and whispered “shh, quiet”. We played with a car today and worked on the mand for “stop” and “go” and Tony did both of these. Tony also independently held his sippy cup to Parker’s mouth and said “drink”. She said “no thank you” and he went back to playing. Tony’s worked long and hard both today and yesterday–good ending to the week!

Mands=49

Tony’s verbal repetoire continues to move along. He’s echoing to “say_” well and said “cloud”, “bus”, “train”, an approx for “paper” (pape). And, as you can see, Tony manded a lot today, such as “throw”, “roll”, “crayon”, “blow”, and we worked on putting two words (ex, “roll train” and “blow bubble”) together since I saw that Jill is doing this. Outside we spent a lot of time working on the receptives with “do this” and “grab your_(body part)”. Tony responded to “do this” with the clapping and stomping and putting his hand to his cheek. With “grab your hand” while pairing a gestural prompt with the SD Tony completed this by grabbing his hand on the first attempt. For the other body parts Tony needed physical prompting but did label his body parts independently. He also saw the ducks outside and said “duck” and quacked. He manded to throw objects into the pond and wanted to go to the water so we (Parker, ABA, also working w/me) redirected him by walking somewhere new. Tony was really fixated on the water though and anytime we came across a puddle Tony wanted to put his hands in it and throw objects into it.

Once inside the therapy room Tony manded for “crayon” and it wasn’t an approx. He’s really enunciating his words more clearly. We colored and Tony independently drew a circle and tacted it. He also tacted alphabet letters. He manded for “draw”, “color”, and “crayon” quite a bit. Tony also manded for “book” and pulled out his magnetic one and placed the objects in the correct spots to “where does the_go?” With color tacts Tony labeled the colors incorrectly except for “green”. He did say “red” correctly but before I asked “what color is this” and when I did ask he said nothing and was prompted. He was prompted “say_” to all the colors except green and we didn’t work on black. I really need to mention this, too. Tony took three blocks and built a house then said “how” (approx for house) and did this several times. Marlaina (mom) said that she has been playing with Tony, building homes with his different blocks and apparently he’s learned it.

We worked on the attributes hot/cold, long/short, hard/soft, loud/quiet, and big/little. For hot and cold I brought a frozen potato and a microwaved one. Tony tacted “hot” correctly and echoed very well “cold”. Unfortunately the temps of the potatoes seemed to freak him out a little whenever he touched them. For long and short I used his play-doh (he echoed the word) and rolled it into two pieces of different lengths. I letting Tony do things with the two pieces like roll them and tap them while saying there attributes. I need more examples for this, along with hard/soft. We worked on this by simply touching different objects and saying their attributes. With loud and quiet I yelled “loud” loudly while getting Tony to echo it and whispered “quiet” and made the gesture for “shh”. Tony whispered but didn’t echo the word. He did well w/big and little by throwing the little ball. Other things Tony did was play w/Mrs. Potato Head (new one) and performed a couple of actions with the body parts such as “put the ear in the box”. Tony played with his dress up game, too, and tacted some of the clothing. He had fun making his dolls spin, bounce, kicked, and other activities. We didn’t have a lot of luck with tacting animals or their sounds today. Tony responded to a couple such as “duck” but he did echo the names and sounds. Lastly, Lane, Tony wore his weighted vest several times for a few seconds each. He held out his arms each time so I slid it on him. Then we he said “all done”, I removed the vest. At first Tony was a little distracted and outside he was really fixated on the water. But despite these things, Tony was responsive and I’m pleased that he did the “grab your_” with the gestural prompt bc pairing the visual prompt with the verbal SD seemed to work. I also tried this later with just the SD but had to use the gestural. We will work on this until we can fade the prompt. Good day!

Ok…I have tears in my eyes after reading Anton’s post! These things are so amazing and truly not something one typically sees in a child with Autism. I’m so excited for Tony and for everyone who has watched this kiddo progress from having very little interest in interaction and learning to becoming this little sponge that appears to soak up all of the things we throw at him.

We have had 2 really fun days this week. Tony has been really interested in the Muppet dolls,(which I find absolutely hilarious!) making them spin on the sit n spin, dance, jump, bounce on the ball and trampoline. Tony had tons o’ fun on the trampoline today. He seems to have discovered how to navigate the music buttons and is really fond of one of the songs. He has a dance that he did each time for one specific song. So, we did a lot of jumping and dancing today. We would jump, jump, jump then shake, shake, shake. Tony laughed so hard at this the first time I did it! I couldn’t remember earlier today the 2-word combo that Tony used on Mon., but it was “roll ball”…it took word for word modeling initially, but he used it spontaneously 2x. I’m sure we’ll have more good times on Thurs. See you guys at 12:45/1, unless I can work an earlier time out.

Tony met his baby cousin only a week ago, and while formally never taught the word “baby,” he saw Sidney and started saying baby right away. And didn’t stop. In a very autistic way, he has start obsessing somewhat over babies, and everywhere he sees an image of a small child, he says “baby.”

We decided that perhaps Tony would like a baby doll, and so Marlaina and the girls went out to KMart to see what they could find.

They came home with a remarkable life-like tan baby (who smells slightly of lavender) and after Tony woke from his nap, we presented the baby to him.

They have been inseparable ever since…with Tony ‘manding for the car (pronounced crraa) and the baby (said very clearly). So we took Tony to Chik Fil A for some french fries (gluten free…after the trauma we suffered last month with McD’s now-revealed gluten-laden fires, Burger King and Chik are it) and then headed home. It is a special treat for Tony to go for a ride, and we always reward his particularly good days with fries. While in the car Tony spoke to his baby, pointed out different parts of the baby’s body, and even had the baby “jump,” “shake-shake-shake” and wave “hi” and bye” to us.

TOTALLY AMAZING.

But it gets better…when we got home and put Tony in his high chair to eat, he wanted the baby next to him. Tony then proceeded to feed the baby french fries, saying “yum yum yum” and also put the cup to the baby’s mouth saying “kkkkkk” which is his short word for cup. He continued doing this throughout his meal, and again made the baby act out specific actions.

We were completely blown away.

Tony is demonstrating that he knows this baby is another person, and needs to be cared for. He has demonstrated empathy for this baby, which totally contradicts (at least from what I have read) the Theory of Mind in Autistic children (especially young toddlers like Tony).

But it gets better…

He continued playing with his baby, and added the girl baby (in pink) to the mix, and sat them down in his recliner (the THINKING CHAIR) and started playing Blues Clues with his new students!

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is actually interacting with them as if they were other kids. He even came over to them and point out some different objects, which he brought to them.

This type of play is SO ordinary for TDCs (typical children), but for Tony at the tender (Autistic) age of two to be picking up UNPROMPTED on his own indicates that he is really starting to “learn to learn.” His mastery of words grows every day, and now he is displaying emotional interaction and demonstrating imaginative play on a 12-18 month old level. Maybe higher.

I guess I can’t express in just mere words how huge this is for us.

It is a funny thing…prior to having an Autistic child, I always though the term “special” as it applies to developmentally delayed kiddos was “nice” and a good way of avoiding odious terms like “mentally retarded” or “slow” or “handicapped.” But the larger reality is that these kiddos ARE special and that with each new developmental milestone, a very special learning moment is displayed…and that is TRULY special. There is simply no better way of looking at it.

Any how…that is my February update for now. I may write more as this month moves forward. In fact, I need to recap Tony’s second (and MUCH better) camping trip at Edisto during the full moon. I’ll do that later this week, I think.

Love,
Dad/Anton

Mands=49

Tony’s verbal repetoire continues to move along. He’s echoing to “say_” well and said “cloud”, “bus”, “train”, an approx for “paper” (pape). And, as you can see, Tony manded a lot today, such as “throw”, “roll”, “crayon”, “blow”, and we worked on putting two words (ex, “roll train” and “blow bubble”) together since I saw that Jill is doing this. Outside we spent a lot of time working on the receptives with “do this” and “grab your_(body part)”. Tony responded to “do this” with the clapping and stomping and putting his hand to his cheek. With “grab your hand” while pairing a gestural prompt with the SD Tony completed this by grabbing his hand on the first attempt. For the other body parts Tony needed physical prompting but did label his body parts independently. He also saw the ducks outside and said “duck” and quacked. He manded to throw objects into the pond and wanted to go to the water so we (Parker, ABA, also working w/me) redirected him by walking somewhere new. Tony was really fixated on the water though and anytime we came across a puddle Tony wanted to put his hands in it and throw objects into it.
Once inside the therapy room Tony manded for “crayon” and it wasn’t an approx. He’s really enunciating his words more clearly. We colored and Tony independently drew a circle and tacted it. He also tacted alphabet letters. He manded for “draw”, “color”, and “crayon” quite a bit. Tony also manded for “book” and pulled out his magnetic one and placed the objects in the correct spots to “where does the_go?” With color tacts Tony labeled the colors incorrectly except for “green”. He did say “red” correctly but before I asked “what color is this” and when I did ask he said nothing and was prompted. He was prompted “say_” to all the colors except green and we didn’t work on black. I really need to mention this, too. Tony took three blocks and built a house then said “how” (approx for house) and did this several times. Marlaina (mom) said that she has been playing with Tony, building homes with his different blocks and apparently he’s learned it.
We worked on the attributes hot/cold, long/short, hard/soft, loud/quiet, and big/little. For hot and cold I brought a frozen potato and a microwaved one. Tony tacted “hot” correctly and echoed very well “cold”. Unfortunately the temps of the potatoes seemed to freak him out a little whenever he touched them. For long and short I used his play-doh (he echoed the word) and rolled it into two pieces of different lengths. I letting Tony do things with the two pieces like roll them and tap them while saying there attributes. I need more examples for this, along with hard/soft. We worked on this by simply touching different objects and saying their attributes. With loud and quiet I yelled “loud” loudly while getting Tony to echo it and whispered “quiet” and made the gesture for “shh”. Tony whispered but didn’t echo the word. He did well w/big and little by throwing the little ball. Other things Tony did was play w/Mrs. Potato Head (new one) and performed a couple of actions with the body parts such as “put the ear in the box”. Tony played with his dress up game, too, and tacted some of the clothing. He had fun making his dolls spin, bounce, kicked, and other activities. We didn’t have a lot of luck with tacting animals or their sounds today. Tony responded to a couple such as “duck” but he did echo the names and sounds. Lastly, Lane, Tony wore his weighted vest several times for a few seconds each. He held out his arms each time so I slid it on him. Then we he said “all done”, I removed the vest. At first Tony was a little distracted and outside he was really fixated on the water. But despite these things, Tony was responsive and I’m pleased that he did the “grab your_” with the gestural prompt bc pairing the visual prompt with the verbal SD seemed to work. I also tried this later with just the SD but had to use the gestural. We will work on this until we can fade the prompt. Good day!