Hoping you all had a super lovely Valentine's Day today! We had a great one! We got some neat lovies and books and other cool stuff. Thank you to all our family who sent cards and goodies. We really appreciate all of the love...and the gifts and $$$ don't hurt, either! Just kidding...ok, maybe I'm kidding...I don't know about that Nixi.
Anyhow, we had a super eventful and great week. I had my psych evaluation for Regional Center with a really nice lady. She had tons of stuff for me to play with while she asked mom a bunch of questions. It was 2 hours long, but I hung in there. Mom met with the director of my ABA progam to discuss things. The meeting went great and we got everything we asked for. I won't have to do ABA everyday, but I'll still get to see my BIA one day a week and her direct supervisor on another day of the week. I'm really glad because I didn't want to stop everything with them, I just didn't want to be so overwhelmed 5 days a week. We didn't think they'd be ok with cutting back so much, but we went for broke and it worked out in our favor! I'm just so excited to start my new program. Now, I'll have just one type of therapy session a day, 4 days a week, with Friday's off for park time! SCORE!
We went to look at some motorhomes this weekend. It was super fun. I loved them all. Mom and dad even got an opportunity to do a little psychoeducation about autism with the dealer...'cuz I had a little bit of a meltdown at one point. For all kids, but especially kids with autism, transitioning from one activity to the next is difficult. I was really enjoying each RV and it was hard to move on so quickly. There was so much to see, and touch, and figure out. It was still super fun and I didn't even take a nap on the ride home. Mom stopped for gas and bought what she called "road food". I had something called Cheetos and Rice Crispy Treats for the first time. WOW! I was on a junk food high the likes of which I never even knew existed! If this is what being on the road is like...let's hit it! I was born for the road! Incidentally, Nixi cried, like, the whole time. It was SOOOO embarassing. She pulled it together in the end, though, and we had fun.
Nixi had a big week. She started waving, playing peek-a-boo with a piece of cloth, and banging toys together! I have a distinct feeling that things are about to get a lot louder in our house! I have to tell you, I might say she's a pain in the butt sometimes...but, I really think my sister is cool. Lately I've been immitating her when she makes noises and she thinks its hysterical. I even do it when we're in other rooms...we both giggle while we're waiting for the other one to respond. It's pretty great being a big sister.
Now, just a moment to touch on a docudrama movie playing on HBO, "Temple Grandin." It's a slightly theatrically embellished biopic about one of the most well-known people on the autistic spectrum, Temple Grandin. If you've seen it or plan to, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, autism is a broad name for a number of pervasive developmental disorders that are in the catagory of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. To say one has autism is no more discriptive than it is to say one has cancer(What kind..bone cancer, lung cancer, breast, etc?). All disorders on the Autistic Spectrum have one thing in common,impairment in a person's ability to communicate with others and to read cues from the environment. Apart from that, they are vastly different in symptoms, appearance, and severity. Mom will elaborate on this in her April Autism Awareness email. Temple Grandin didn't speak until she was 4 years old and she now has a doctorate, lives by herself, and is a professor/author/etc. Temple had what was called "selective mutism." Once she began to speak at 4, she spoke clearly and in full sentences as is typical in selective mutism. It's pretty common among people with classic autism. I have classic autism but I have never had selective mutism. I babbled when I was a baby, moved on to "jargon" and got stuck because of my verbal apraxia. I said my first word after I was 2 yrs because the muscles in my mouth don't recieve the instructions from my brain very well. That's why I continue to struggle with speech that people can understand. Also, Temple has terrific spontaneous speech, while she may say things without much of a censor, its her own spontaneous words. A lot of what I say is things I've heard other people say. Some of this is a syptom of my autism called echolalia. Echolalia isn't spontaneous and it doesn't help me to communicate anything outright. It's just what it sounds like, I echo, or repeat verbatum the what someone says. However, it does help me to communicate that I'm anxious, as I tend to do it more intensly when I'm nervous. Most of the rest of the time, I sort of borrow phrases I've heard and use them spontaneously. I do this mainly because of my apraxia...its a model I can practice over and over again and I know my chances of being understood are pretty good, just as long as I can emulate the phrase well enough. For example, on the Wonderpets cartoon they say, "What's gonna work? Teamwork.", when they need to work together to get something done. Sometimes if I want to do something like swing, I say "swing" to mom or dad. If I think they didn't hear me, I'll say "swing" and take them to the patio door. I then look at the swing and say, "what's gonna work? teamwork" to get them to understand that I need their help to open the patio door. Pretty darn clever, eh? A similarity between Temple and me is that she needs deep pressure stimulation to calm herself. She built a squeeze machine that does for her what mom and dad doing a tight squeeze on me does for me. Pretty cool. So, if you get a chance to see the movie...enjoy. Also, be aware that it's one person's story of living on the spectrum with the added flair of movie embellishments!
So, have a great week! I'm getting a visit from my grandma and mom's gonna take me to an indoor bounce house place for an Early Intervention family day. Fingers crossed that it goes well and I have fun. Could be a neat new place for me to go to every so often to blow off some steam!
xoxo
Saf
Ok, so part of being a good big sister is sharing...
Part of the reality of being a big sister...sharing can, and does, get old!
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