Friday, October 28, 2011

Weekend Here We Come......

It is 6pm on a Friday night. Therapy is officially done for this week when I have to provide my signature on yet another form. Therapy runs our schedule during the week. We have therapy Mon-Fri. Four days a week it is in house, on Thursdays we have to travel 20 minutes to Occupational Therapy. That starts at 5pm and ends at 6pm. Weekends we get to ourselves, and if it is a good weekend, we get a chance to feel like just your average family.

This was Nick at Occupational Therapy yesterday. He likes to lounge and bounce on the exercise ball they have.

At Occupational Therapy she also works with him on getting him to write or color with a crayon, getting him to put small items in a container(working on using his pincer grasp and fine motor skills). At the end of the session she brings out the Ipad. This is his favorite time of all. She can barely manage to get him to draw a circle using a crayon, but with the Ipad he can do this in a matter of seconds just by using his finger. Holding small items like a pencil or crayon is hard for Nick. He does not have the fine motor skills to firmly grasp these items. It is a work in progress. A lot of kids w/autism do not like to write or color for that very reason.
Nick, we suspect is also getting more sensitive to light. Within five minutes of OT he went and turned off the lights. They remained off for the duration of therapy. We also have had to turn down the lights at home. Flourescent lights hurt his eyes, as they do with many other autistics. These are just some of the things that can make daily life difficult around here. This week has been good. Not too many meltdowns, a rather successful trip to the dentist on Wed(despite all the screaming), and even a few smiles!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

CBS News video on the Ipad...



Nick LOVES his Ipad! It has been the single most motivating thing that has been used during his therapy sessions. He loves the picture app where he can turn the camera to himself and look at himself in real time. He goes on youtube and looks at videos of zambonis. In therapy he writes letters on it and draws.
WARNING: You might need some tissues!