We went to see Jason's new friend Dr. Peine. We've met with him twice now, and I think I really like him. He's down to earth, and really seems to know his stuff. He said that there was an report on last night that said that Autism affects 1 in 100 kids in the U.S. Here in Utah it's 1 in 150 girls and 1 in 80 boys. The article can be found here.
He uses the surveys that we had passed out, to get a good idea about Jason, as well as a tool to educate us about the kinds of things that we need to watch for. We discussed and compared them to show us what his strengths and weaknesses are. It looks like he's definitely on the spectrum but he is not diagnosing it at this point. We just are trying to get a head start for him.
I took notes so that I can make sure to get this all down!!
1. No more then 2 hours of T.V. a day. I know he's 2 years old. This will actually be quite hard for me. I work from home, and my computer is in the T.V. room. I've used this to keep them busy for quite some time. This will need to stop!! Hopefully, I will be able to get my office moved in the room next to mine and his in the next 2 weeks.
2. Focus on Imitation. He needs to learn to repeat things. Since he's not verbalizing anything, we are going to start with clapping and hand motions and the like. Then we will use Behavioral Momentum to encourage him to continue growth. This will take rewards, such as edible rewards, social praise, or play. Once we get him imitating those types of things we can move to mouth control. Not speech necessarily, but using his muscles. For example blowing a ping-pong ball across the table, or blowing a feather.
3. Floor Time. We need to get down on his level and play with him and interact in a way that will draw him into the game. When we are working with him and we really would like to start him with the reward, we can use hand over hand manipulation and show him what we want him to do. Hopefully he will eventually get it, and respond to the reward.
Our goal is to Strengthen his good behaviors, teach him new behaviors, and decrease the bad behaviors. We are to focus on eye to eye contact and imitation. Dr. Peine suggested that we share his findings with Early Intervention.
I also spoke with him about my concerns for Samantha and her need for a lot of attention lately. He gave us a fun activity to try with all the kids and disposable camera's. I'll get into more detail with this when we are done with it.
1 comment:
I would get him in Early Intervention as soon as possible. With help early on, they can progress and do so much better!
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