Mands: 36

Our little Tony had trouble sleeping last night which caused him to become quite sleepy during the twelve o’clock hour. His sleepiness had ill side effects such as anger and frustration. Life is hard when you’re tired. I think we’ve all felt this way before.

We went for a walk and when he manded for walk was the time I started the mand clicker. Before we made it out the door Tony wanted to make a pit stop in the hall bathroom. He brushed his teeth and fiddled with the lights. He would mand for me to turn the water on. If I did not turn it on full blast, he would reach the knob and turn the pressure up. Each time I turned the water off he wanted it back on. I said bye bye water, bye bye sink, and walked out the door. He followed my lead. We had a lovely walk which involved bus playing and stop/ go. Woo-hoo, its hot out there, especially when you run. I could tell Tony was wondering why I was nowhere close to full speed. He tried saying go with more enthusiasm; he said “doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” — and I just jogged. Sorry, it’s the heat!

This morning Tony did a little bit of each category in phase II. The tacts and intraverbals are the categories Tony excelled in and consequently we almost finished these. Maybe Tony will be ready to do some more ABA after OT this afternoon. In an attempt to make the cards less of a chore I focused on activities of Tony’s choosing and only presented the cards during the moments it took to ask a question and get a response from Tony. We took looooong breaks between the questions and played with whichever toys Tony wanted. We didn’t end up getting through a whole lot, but what we did do Tony wasn’t upset with.

What did end up frustrating him pretty badly was a toy. Marlaina decided it was time for a break, so Tony watched “Blue’s Clues.” When he was still cranky after the break we knew it was time for night night

Take that Anton…posts for two consecutive weeks!!! 🙂

I agree with Whitney…Tony is certainly getting more consistent with two-word combos and “I want ___”. I’m always so proud of how quickly he picks up on things. We did quite a bit of Q & A today with books. Who is in the tree?, Where is Barney?, What is the dog eating?, etc. Tony answered many of the questions independently, but when he had trouble,giving him a prompt by pointing to the pictures in the books totally clued him in. Just to comment on Whitney’s last post (make yours like mine), I have been doing HOH with blocks and such to get Tony to imitate things I build. I haven’t been doing it so much as to get him to imitate me, but to just show him an alternative to the usual stacking things straight up or in a straight line. This isn’t something that we’ve done daily, even weekly, but Tony has tolerated it without any problems. Occasionally, he has tried to imitate on his own. That’s all I have for now. See you all on Thursday!

Today was a pretty fun day for Tony. I came in this morning while Tony was awaiting “The Wiggles” for a show. He was also munching on a lovely breakfast of waffle and banana. Since I have been gone for several days, I was so excited to see Tony. He gave me a big hug and repeatedly greeted me (he’s honestly the sweetest kid I know). During “The Wiggles” Tony was pairing 2-words saying, “One, two knees. Two knees!” as he pointed to my knees. He also noticed my shirt as well as Marlaina’s noting, “Red shirt. White shirt.” He’s really coming along with the two-words and also “I want ___.”

After a show, Tony manded for a walk. By the way, the clicker was unavailable to part of the day. Sorry I have no mand data! Our first walk was very short. It was really just a quick stroll. We came back a few minutes later and Tony decided to get down to business with his crayons and the house. I worked on a few intraverbals during his play. I worked on better eye contact when I asked him a question. I would say, “Tony, look at me.” I would sometimes have to gently touch his chin with my finger for a prompt.

Tony wanted a car ride but due to the fact Jill was coming soon, I had to redirect with a walk. We played Tony’s favorite “Stop/Go” game (I got some good exercise this way). We ran around some more and explore a few birds nearby. When we came back from our walk we loaded up in the car to make a quick run to Chik-Fil-A before Jill was to arrive. When we returned, Jill had arrived. With his fries in hand Tony marched off for a good session in speech. During his session, he got a poopy diaper and announced “potty” several times to everyone. Jill and I took him to the big potty while we sang an impromptu potty song that JIll made up (it’s really quite catchy).

After speech, Tony manded for chalk. We took everything outside and I worked on more intraverbals, tacts and motor imitation. I noticed that he’s really coming along with some of the MIs so I took 2 out. We drew with chalk for awhile until he was ready to go inside. It was pretty hot today. When we came back in, Tony was upset because Turtle had gotten chalk on one side of his head. A quick bath in the sink took care of the problem. Marlaina turned on a show to calm him down. Only a few minutes later and after a quick snack of chips that were manded for, Tony was ready to head back to work. He manded for “tunnel” while he pulled it out. We played in the tunnel, making various animal sounds (Tony’s favorite is the lion though). We also had some “music” going on in the background and we took a few minutes to dance together. I believe the song we danced to was, You’re Not the Boss of Me Now… how appropriate!

Tony and I spent the rest of our time together working on building with blocks. Jay, I don’t know if Tony is ready for the “Make Yours Like Mine” activity. I have made some of the drills more simplisitic, but Tony still likes to build things his own way. He didn’t get too frustrated today with this activity but he does a lot of the time. What do you think?

We took a second car ride because Marlaina needed to pick up some things from the drug store. Tony really lucked out on this trip! He got a new pack of crayons, a Blue’s Clues coloring book, some Crayola modeling clay and a set of Jay Jay toys. Yes, it was a great day for Tony! When we returned, I introduced the clay. He manded for a “dog” which I attempted to make. We also took some time to arrange the crayons and put them to use with the new coloring book. Only a few minutes into coloring, Tony was rubbing his eyes and requesting “open door.” It was surely time for “night, night.”

Another good day of therapy for Tony. He’s really learning so much, so fast! Yeh Tony!

Mands: 12

Not much of an eventful blog today. It was hectic (not extremely) and Tony picked up on the fact that there was something different going on. As usual Tony started out with a few shows including “Go Baby” and “The Wiggles.” We went into his room and it looked as if we’d just missed the herd of buffalo that must have stormed through. Tony played with the house which was already out while I cleaned up.

Tony pulled his new box of interlocking pastel grid-like blocks out and said “open box.” Since the room was still somewhat chaotic I convinced the youngin to clean up the house stuff and when he was done I would indeed ‘open box.’ He did a great job cleaning up the house and I kept my end of the promise. I opened the box and we played. While we were playing we also did some intraverbals. When another human came through the room tony was driven to distraction and he left the room.

He manded for a walk and we were headed that way when Tony saw Anton. Suddenly the walk was old news as Tony followed Dad into the kitchen greeting him repeatedly. Good thing Marlaina needed to go to the grocery store because the next activity on Tony’s agenda was a car ride. That worked out well.

After the grocery we watched some “Blue’s Clues.” Tony had a hot dog and a grilled cheese. We finally went back into his room and we colored with the new crayons he’d gotten at the grocery. We did some motor imitation and just started receptives when Tony decided it was time for that walk. He got sidetracked at the bathroom.

While we went through a usual repretoire of bathroom activities, Tony threw in something new with disastrous results; as he grasped the grown-up toothpaste he knocked down a votive holder and it went crashing to the ground. Tony was upset by the shattering noise and Marlaina took him to bed while I cleaned up the broken glass.

Mands: 16

Today we started off with some Jo-Jo and the Wiggles. Tony was eating waffles, chips, and chicken. We danced around with those Wiggles, they’re dancing fools. Marlaina felt dizzy and so I followed Anton to the Jiffy Lube so he wouldn’t have to walk home.

When Tony was ready to go into his room we did some painting actually, he did. He painted on paper and on his bird house. I just let him paint – I was busy opening, closing and rinsing. In a little while Tony wanted to go for a car ride. One problem: the car was at Jiffy Lube. Tony was getting worked up, so I decided we should go outside. I pointed to the empty parking space and said the car was gone. He sadly said “dye-dye corrr,” and waved at the empty parking space.

He actually got over the car ride issue and we went for a nice walk. There were two houses he seemed to want to go into; Tony Boucher’s and one two houses to the right of it. He walked up the sidewalk to the door. I didn’t follow him, so he came back and pulled me by the hand (gently) then he touched the door and the door handle. Each time I told him they were not his house and nobody was home so we couldn’t go in.

When we got back home from the walk he was reminded of his desire to go for a car ride. The car was still absent, so Marlaina who was gardening at the time came up with alternative: we coulk play with chalk on the sidewalk. Tony and I drew a lot of things on the sidewalk and we used every color we had. By the time we were done with one section there was hardly any plain sidewalk showing at all.

There are glutens in the chalk so we went into the bathroom to wash our hands. We spent a long time in there. Besides washing his hands, Tony also brushed his teeth, sat on the potty, and turned the lights and fan on and off numerous times. He was sure having a lot of fun in the bathroom. I was glad he was so happy to sit on the toilet. We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” a few times while he sat on the potty. Marlaina and Anton decided since we were having so much fun in the bathroom that they would go fetch the car. By the time they got back we were out of the bathroom and Tony had a new diaper on. There was chalk all over his jump suit and Marlaina got him some clean clothes.

Then he noticed that the car was once again in its place, so we all packed up and went for a car ride.

Mands: 16

Today we started off with some Jo-Jo and the Wiggles. Tony was eating waffles, chips, and chicken. We danced around with those Wiggles, they’re dancing fools. Marlaina felt dizzy and so I followed Anton to the Jiffy Lube so he wouldn’t have to walk home.

When Tony was ready to go into his room we did some painting actually, he did. He painted on paper and on his bird house. I just let him paint – I was busy opening, closing and rinsing. In a little while Tony wanted to go for a car ride. One problem: the car was at Jiffy Lube. Tony was getting worked up, so I decided we should go outside. I pointed to the empty parking space and said the car was gone. He sadly said “dye-dye corrr,” and waved at the empty parking space.

He actually got over the car ride issue and we went for a nice walk. There were two houses he seemed to want to go into; Tony Boucher’s and one two houses to the right of it. He walked up the sidewalk to the door. I didn’t follow him, so he came back and pulled me by the hand (gently) then he touched the door and the door handle. Each time I told him they were not his house and nobody was home so we couldn’t go in.

When we got back home from the walk he was reminded of his desire to go for a car ride. The car was still absent, so Marlaina who was gardening at the time came up with alternative: we coulk play with chalk on the sidewalk. Tony and I drew a lot of things on the sidewalk and we used every color we had. By the time we were done with one section there was hardly any plain sidewalk showing at all.

There are glutens in the chalk so we went into the bathroom to wash our hands. We spent a long time in there. Besides washing his hands, Tony also brushed his teeth, sat on the potty, and turned the lights and fan on and off numerous times. He was sure having a lot of fun in the bathroom. I was glad he was so happy to sit on the toilet. We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” a few times while he sat on the potty. Marlaina and Anton decided since we were having so much fun in the bathroom that they would go fetch the car. By the time they got back we were out of the bathroom and Tony had a new diaper on. There was chalk all over his jump suit and Marlaina got him some clean clothes.

Then he noticed that the car was once again in its place, so we all packed up and went for a car ride.

Mands: 16

Today we started off with some Jo-Jo and the Wiggles. Tony was eating waffles, chips, and chicken. We danced around with those Wiggles, they’re dancing fools. Marlaina felt dizzy and so I followed Anton to the Jiffy Lube so he wouldn’t have to walk home.

When Tony was ready to go into his room we did some painting actually, he did. He painted on paper and on his bird house. I just let him paint – I was busy opening, closing and rinsing. In a little while Tony wanted to go for a car ride. One problem: the car was at Jiffy Lube. Tony was getting worked up, so I decided we should go outside. I pointed to the empty parking space and said the car was gone. He sadly said “dye-dye corrr,” and waved at the empty parking space.

He actually got over the car ride issue and we went for a nice walk. There were two houses he seemed to want to go into; Tony Boucher’s and one two houses to the right of it. He walked up the sidewalk to the door. I didn’t follow him, so he came back and pulled me by the hand (gently) then he touched the door and the door handle. Each time I told him they were not his house and nobody was home so we couldn’t go in.

When we got back home from the walk he was reminded of his desire to go for a car ride. The car was still absent, so Marlaina who was gardening at the time came up with alternative: we coulk play with chalk on the sidewalk. Tony and I drew a lot of things on the sidewalk and we used every color we had. By the time we were done with one section there was hardly any plain sidewalk showing at all.

There are glutens in the chalk so we went into the bathroom to wash our hands. We spent a long time in there. Besides washing his hands, Tony also brushed his teeth, sat on the potty, and turned the lights and fan on and off numerous times. He was sure having a lot of fun in the bathroom. I was glad he was so happy to sit on the toilet. We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” a few times while he sat on the potty. Marlaina and Anton decided since we were having so much fun in the bathroom that they would go fetch the car. By the time they got back we were out of the bathroom and Tony had a new diaper on. There was chalk all over his jump suit and Marlaina got him some clean clothes.

Then he noticed that the car was once again in its place, so we all packed up and went for a car ride.

Mands: 36

Whoa! That sounds like a lot of mands, but the activities we were engaging in required frequent manding. We were painting; he manded to have me lift him up, then higher, then each time he was done with one color and each time he was ready for a new one. When we first walked outside he wanted to play in the bus, and there he used such mands as ‘want up,’ ‘open door,’ ‘close door,’ and ‘want down’ repeatedly. Then when we finally got to the grass it was ‘gooooooooooooooo!’ Luckily I felt like running today.

As they sometimes do, our first walk ended by Tony manding for turtle/cup. I had him say “where?,” and than told him they were back at the house. We walked back home to see them. By the time we found them, Jill was here.

After speech we went back into his room and played. While we played we also did some ABA. We tried some form/ feature/ function receptives and built things with giant legos. At one point I took some blocks out of his hand to help him focus on a question and he reacted in a way I’ve never seen from him: he swatted the blocks right out of my hand! It looked like he wanted to scream or cry and I knew it was time to move on. I just played with him and the legos for a while until I knew he was calm and happy and then we went over intraverbals. He did really well with these, the only ones he didn’t get were you smell with your ‘nose,’ and an elephant is a big ‘animal.’ He said ‘trunk.’ An elephant has a long ‘trunk’ is a phase II intraverbal, so it must be a little confusing. I had to ask him twice before he gave an approximation of his name for the your name is ‘Tony,’ but all six others he got on the first try!

The preposition and adjective tacts are not going very well. Unless it is a light switch it is hard to get a correct on/ off answer from him. When we are cleaning something up, say crayons, he knows we are putting them ‘in’ the box, but then if I ask if the brown crayon is in or out of the box and it is in, he usually answers incorrectly. He used to get this right alot, but I don’t know exactly what’s going on here. Maybe he’s just tired of these questions which have been in the program for a long time. He is even less interested in the adjectives. He either doesn’t answer at all or answers wrong. Maybe he doesn’t care whether something is long or short or big or little. Maybe we should take these out of the program for a month and then come back.

Today Tony wanted to start painting almost immediately. He communicated very well and got exactly what he asked for: “ant up, hirer, aint, open bwoo, dye-dye bwoo, I ant wed [echoically], a done wed,” and so on. These days he is done with one color very quickly and ready to move on to the next.

This time it was Marlaina and Anton who manded for a car ride. We all packed up and went to North Charleston for a visit to Big Lots. We were sure to bring Turtle, cup, and crayons along for the ride. On the way there were many cool things to see out the car windows and Tony was enthralled. We saw big trucks in many different colors, trees, and water among other things. When Tony wasn’t gazing out the window he was coloring in a “Wiggles” coloring book. Tony’s temperament stayed steadily good for the entire trip.

One of the Big Lots purchases Tony was most fond of was a birdhouse Marlaina found. In case you, the reader, are not up on things Tony is really into houses. They’re sooo this season. When we got home Tony painted the house with finger paints. He was not thrilled with the absence of doors and windows, so I took care of that with a crayon. After we were done painting and Tony helped clean up he manded for me to open the tunnel. He had tons of fun in the tunnel and wanted to share the experience with Turtle. He patiently WAITED in the tunnel while I left the room to get Turtle. Then when he inevitably manded for cup soon after I asked him whether he wanted to come with me to look for cup or wait and he chose “wait!” Woohoo, this waiting thing is working really well! Yeah for Tony!

Again today Tony ate an entire banana. He watched an episode of “Blue’s Clues” in which the characters were painting and mixing colors. Of course we have done this before, but I was surprised to hear this smart boy answer the question “what color do blue and yellow make?” correctly. We have a budding artist on our hands, folks.

Tony had to go night night at 1:30 in order to prepare for his OT session with Britney. I wonder what kinds of things he and Britney do during their sessions. It would be very interesting to find out. (hint hint)