Thats our boy! Jonah is just amazing. In the two weeks that he's been at the LC he has come ahead in leaps and bounds. On Monday his carers were so excited, not only had Jonah shown interest in another child, he had gotten so in this boys face that he (the other child) reciprocated and apparently it was the FIRST time EVER that this little boy had shown interest in anyone. The carers couldn't wait to tell me but were moreso excited about telling the other little boys Mum lol. Seems Jonah does play nicely with others!
From what they said, Jonah was following this little guy around but was being completely ignored in return. The little guy stopped walking and looked down, Jonah walked around to the front of him, knelt down and looked up into the boys face. This caused them both to burst into laughter, something the staff had never seen from the other little guy.
Great stuff Jman!
And, I am happy to report that Jonah regularly brings us his cup to be filled and if there is any mention whatsoever of the C.A.R (we don't say that word!) he runs around gathering all of our jackets and shoes so we can hurry the hell up to go for a ride in the C.A.R :P
I'm getting a new camera soon and this blog will soon be fillled with pics!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Centre of Attention
This week Jonah started at his new Learning Centre (LC). It's an autism specific LC which has been purpose built to enhance the learning experience of children with autism. I found out about it with my stealthy Google skills and badgered the poor coordinator until she let me know how to get Jonah enrolled (he didn't jump the queue, there are still spaces left) which we did and he started last Monday.
I will put some pictures up of the centre if I get a chance but I just wanted to say that it is truly a wonderful place. My little Bear loves it there and there is so much for him to do. There are three staff and currently only 5 children attending so the child staff ratio is almost 1:1. The rooms have just finished completion and have been purpose build to ensure that children attending have the best opportunity to learn in areas where their autism makes it almost impossible.
They are SO accomodating. Honestly, what Jonah wants, Jonah gets. What Jonah needs, Jonah gets. If he doesn't want lunch at lunch time they will feed him when he is ready. If he doesn't want to eat from their menu they will get him something else (healthyof course), if he doesn't want to sleep a carer will attend to him while the other children sleep. The centre has a special 'chill out' room where the childern can go if they are over stimulated. It has big bean bags, dim lights and lots of books and cuddle toys. There is an occupational therapist and speech therapist there at all times and it is staffed by qualified teachers and is overseen by paediatricians and our states largest childrens hospital.
Honestly, it's an ASD child (and parents!) dream come true! Jonah started on Monday and he loves it. He's none too happy when we leave which we have only done for no more than an hour, but when we get back he is happy and playing. The tears are just to make Mummy feel awful LOL. This week we will be increasing his hours to three hours a day to see how he goes. He will be going full time as soon as he is integrated, probably in about three weeks.
In other news we had a visit from our state Early Intervention (EI) team this week and they noticed a huge difference in Jonah's eye contact. Because we see him all day every day its hard for us to be objective when it comes to how he is progressing but the EI team hadn't seen Jonah for a month and couldn't believe how much more eye contact he had. He is now looking at people from a distance and smiling at them. He often holds the gaze until he walks to the person and is picked up. He is also bringing people objects that are relevant to the situation, for example if he hears us saying we're going out soon, Jonah will run and get his shoes or his jacket and give it to one of us. This is pretty huge news!
What we really need to work on with him though is his speech and his joint attention. He still doesn't mimick us and has no idea about taking turns. He also doesn't seek other people out to play with. At the LC he will wander around the perimeter of the room and yard, not paying any attention to the other children or staff. However, more and more he is playing appropriately with toys, not just carrying them around and dropping them. He will often use toys as they are meant to be used. For example with shape sorters he will attempt to get the shapes into the right hole and if he can't he will try another hole. He is also sitting on bikes and trying to push them along.
And best of all, he's starting to dance! I remember saying to his paediatrician back in February that Jonah never danced and I knew it was something he should be doing. Well, he has a big Iggle Piggle who dances and he's started to dance too when Iggle Piggle is getting his groove on. The cuteness is astounding lol.
Again, I promise some pics to come soon!
I will put some pictures up of the centre if I get a chance but I just wanted to say that it is truly a wonderful place. My little Bear loves it there and there is so much for him to do. There are three staff and currently only 5 children attending so the child staff ratio is almost 1:1. The rooms have just finished completion and have been purpose build to ensure that children attending have the best opportunity to learn in areas where their autism makes it almost impossible.
They are SO accomodating. Honestly, what Jonah wants, Jonah gets. What Jonah needs, Jonah gets. If he doesn't want lunch at lunch time they will feed him when he is ready. If he doesn't want to eat from their menu they will get him something else (healthyof course), if he doesn't want to sleep a carer will attend to him while the other children sleep. The centre has a special 'chill out' room where the childern can go if they are over stimulated. It has big bean bags, dim lights and lots of books and cuddle toys. There is an occupational therapist and speech therapist there at all times and it is staffed by qualified teachers and is overseen by paediatricians and our states largest childrens hospital.
Honestly, it's an ASD child (and parents!) dream come true! Jonah started on Monday and he loves it. He's none too happy when we leave which we have only done for no more than an hour, but when we get back he is happy and playing. The tears are just to make Mummy feel awful LOL. This week we will be increasing his hours to three hours a day to see how he goes. He will be going full time as soon as he is integrated, probably in about three weeks.
In other news we had a visit from our state Early Intervention (EI) team this week and they noticed a huge difference in Jonah's eye contact. Because we see him all day every day its hard for us to be objective when it comes to how he is progressing but the EI team hadn't seen Jonah for a month and couldn't believe how much more eye contact he had. He is now looking at people from a distance and smiling at them. He often holds the gaze until he walks to the person and is picked up. He is also bringing people objects that are relevant to the situation, for example if he hears us saying we're going out soon, Jonah will run and get his shoes or his jacket and give it to one of us. This is pretty huge news!
What we really need to work on with him though is his speech and his joint attention. He still doesn't mimick us and has no idea about taking turns. He also doesn't seek other people out to play with. At the LC he will wander around the perimeter of the room and yard, not paying any attention to the other children or staff. However, more and more he is playing appropriately with toys, not just carrying them around and dropping them. He will often use toys as they are meant to be used. For example with shape sorters he will attempt to get the shapes into the right hole and if he can't he will try another hole. He is also sitting on bikes and trying to push them along.
And best of all, he's starting to dance! I remember saying to his paediatrician back in February that Jonah never danced and I knew it was something he should be doing. Well, he has a big Iggle Piggle who dances and he's started to dance too when Iggle Piggle is getting his groove on. The cuteness is astounding lol.
Again, I promise some pics to come soon!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Oh forgive me!
My darling blog followers forgive me. It's been so long since I last posted. I'm so sorry about that but my computer broke and all I had to access the internet was an iPhone. Every tried doing a whole post on an iPhone? LOL, not easy!
Well now I have a new computer so I am getting back to blogging :) I will update on Jonah first and then go post something on 5by40.
Well, Jonah is going great and going not so great. He is profoundly autistic and is very developmentally delayed for his age but he is learning and he is gradually catching up.
He still has very minimal speech with almost all words being lost and some recovered, then lost again, then recovered...
His current vocabulary consists of
Mum
Bub
Dadda
Go
Car
Banana (yah yah)
All Gone
So, he does have some words but not as many as he should for his age. Still, we're very happy that he is gaining words still as it appears that the regression has finally stopped :) Yesterday we had an amazing milestone with his receptive language when he went and bought me Sam's jacket after I had asked Sam to go find it. Awesome stuff! It's the first time Jonah has bought me something I've asked for and I wasn't even asking him!!
Tonight for the first time ever and after almost a year of trying, he spood fed himself his dinner! I had been feeding him then got up to get something for him and while I was gone he picked up the spoon and started feeding himself. I was so shocked lol. He ended up feeding himself almost all of his dinner with only minimal help from me. Every time he put the spoon in his mouth we would all clap and cheer and he LOVED it! LOL. He smiled and cheered himself on too haha. I am just so proud of him.
Can you believe he turns 2 this Sunday? I know, pick yourself up off the floor, it's true! LOL. He's still a little shorty though, very comfortable in size one clothes but he's no lightweight, he's 12kg now!
OK, must run, I still have to update my other blog hopefully tonight. I promise I will be back soon, my friends :) Thanks for sticking around if you're all still out there :)
Well now I have a new computer so I am getting back to blogging :) I will update on Jonah first and then go post something on 5by40.
Well, Jonah is going great and going not so great. He is profoundly autistic and is very developmentally delayed for his age but he is learning and he is gradually catching up.
He still has very minimal speech with almost all words being lost and some recovered, then lost again, then recovered...
His current vocabulary consists of
Mum
Bub
Dadda
Go
Car
Banana (yah yah)
All Gone
So, he does have some words but not as many as he should for his age. Still, we're very happy that he is gaining words still as it appears that the regression has finally stopped :) Yesterday we had an amazing milestone with his receptive language when he went and bought me Sam's jacket after I had asked Sam to go find it. Awesome stuff! It's the first time Jonah has bought me something I've asked for and I wasn't even asking him!!
Tonight for the first time ever and after almost a year of trying, he spood fed himself his dinner! I had been feeding him then got up to get something for him and while I was gone he picked up the spoon and started feeding himself. I was so shocked lol. He ended up feeding himself almost all of his dinner with only minimal help from me. Every time he put the spoon in his mouth we would all clap and cheer and he LOVED it! LOL. He smiled and cheered himself on too haha. I am just so proud of him.
Can you believe he turns 2 this Sunday? I know, pick yourself up off the floor, it's true! LOL. He's still a little shorty though, very comfortable in size one clothes but he's no lightweight, he's 12kg now!
OK, must run, I still have to update my other blog hopefully tonight. I promise I will be back soon, my friends :) Thanks for sticking around if you're all still out there :)
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