Autistic Children Blog

We just got back yesterday after spending three nights at Inverloch. Just the kids and I as Paul had to work. A friend Catriona from horseriding and the HAGS (Happy Autism Group Support) has a house down there. Her and her husband have one son Jose who is 13. She also invited our friend Amanda and her 3 kids, Lachlan, Guy and Will. All together it was three mums and seven kids, three of whom has autism. What a mix! Oh and don’t forget Minka the Wonderdog.

We headed down on Monday and all met at K.F.C. on the way for lunch. We arrived at the house at about 1pm. The house slept 10 which was perfect. The kids settled in pretty quickly while we unpacked the car. Catriona had brought along four lightsabres (not sure if that’s how you spell it – from Starwars) so the boys headed outside to playfight while Beth sorted out how to use the tely. After unpacking we went for a walk to the beach. At this time of year dogs are allowed on the beach all the time. Minka loves the beach going mental when she goes in the water. Beth seems to have matured so much since we last headed off to the beach, she didn’t wander at all and sat by a rockpool for a lot of the time just checking out whatever was there. On the negative side she did keep drinking the sea water and tasting the seaweed.

On the Tuesday we went for a drive down to the town where the kids played in the playground and the mums drank coffee. Now that’s more like it! Once again I was very proud of Beth, she didn’t wander at all and listened to me if I had to call her back. I was impressed with how other mums were with her. In the past we’ve got some strange looks when Beth has been acting at her most autistic with people staring blatantly, often ending with me in tears. If I had to call out to Beth to hop off of a piece of equipment the other mums at the park would smile and say it’s ok and a couple of times engage in conversation with her. I don’t know if we were just lucky or if it’s becoming more accepted now, either way it was lovely to see. I felt so much more relaxed. We then headed down to the beach again for a little play and rolling down some small cliffs.

In the afternoon we ventured to the surf beach. Cat was very brave and went in with all the kids as the surf was pretty rough. Beth wanted to stay in for much longer than anybody else and cracked it a little bit when it was time to get out. She rolled around in the sand including on her face and hair, as payback I think for not getting her own way. She sat above us at the beach and we could hear her through the wind calling out things like “ok Beth, it’s time to go back in the surf now” in her high pitched voice that she gets when she’s not happy. To her credit though she didn’t go back in and listened to us.

On the Wednesday we did the same playground/coffee/beach thing as we had done the day before. We then went for a walk to the jetty, then back to the park for fish and chips and a little play. Beth chatted to a couple who had their dogs there. We then headed off home with Catriona and a hoard of the kids walking Minka back. It’s amazing how much you enjoy walking when you’re at the beach, it’s a whole different mindset.

We headed back home yesterday (Thursday). It had been such a good break. It was amazing how good the kids had been. They all got along so well. I think Beth had a bit of a crush on Jose. They all enjoyed watching ABC kids shows and Jose would do the voices of the shows he knew. Beth kept laughing at him which made him do it all the more. This in turn pissed the other kids off who couldn’t hear the real voices but that only spurred Jose on more which only made Beth laugh more! When it was time to leave she blew a kiss to Jose. He’s in year 7 this year and going well. He’s such a nice kid, so good with the younger ones. He played with Bill for ages and was terrific with Bridie. When it was time to leave Bridie wouldn’t go to the toilet. I heard him saying “you’d better go Bridie, otherwise your mum wont stop the car for you cos she told you to go here!” He was like that most of the time, not tough with the kids, just helping me out. He loved having Minka down there too, they had 2 dogs who mysteriously disappeared last year. They’re moving soon so will get another dog then.

Our kids have always gotten along with Amanda’s kids too. Beth and Lachlan don’t have much to do with each other even though they’re the same age. They are going to the same high school together next year so I wonder if that will make a difference? Bill and Guy are the same age, and Bridie and Will are the same age too so they’re all a good match. It was surprising how they all got along so well considering that we were all in a fairly small house together. All us mums were so pleased that Cat has suggested we do it again next holidays. I should have recovered from my exhaustion by then!

It’s the middle Saturday of the school holidays. Once again I’ve been sick this week so it’s not been a very enjoyable experience. We’ve still done things but I’ve been dragging myself out of bed to do them.

Monday we did our first trip to the movies for these hols. We went to see Rio. Not a bad flick as far as kids movies go. I’ve seen much worse. I find that the ones that combine real people with animation the worst so as Rio was fully animated it had a tick to begin with. The kids enjoyed it and we got hot chips afterwards which saved me making lunch when we got home.

Tuesday we went for a play at Bec’s house. Beth knows the drill now, she goes straight to the dvd pile and has worked out the remote controls to the dvds and foxtel. She’s a clever girl. Bill and Will are in the same year at school as are Bridie and Kasey so they went off and did their own thing. I always have a lovely time at Bec’s house, we never seem to run out of things to talk about.

Her Will also has autism and we had great discussions about schooling. Mainly because I’m still half thinking about the benefits of home schooling. Sue Larkey (a speaker who knows all about autism and schooling) put a question on Facebook earlier in the week, asking people’s opinions on home schooling. Except for me and my sanity issues (for myself) everybody else had an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards it. People spoke of how much their child had progressed when the anxiety of attending school was taken out of the equation. How their kids had learnt so much when doing one on one with them. Once again it really comes back to if I could handle it myself with no breaks. Also, I still believe I have to give Beth a chance at high school. I’m willing to change my mind if it doesn’t work out but it wouldn’t be as easy to go the other way. She has to start school with the other kids, otherwise she’d be not only the weird one, but the new weird one. It’s just such a scary prospect.

Wednesday we went for a visit to my aunt and uncle’s house. We try to catch up with Peter and Margaret each school holidays, it’s the only chance we get because they both work on weekends. Once again Beth sorted the tv out and plonked herself down for the majority of the time. They have all their favourite treats there and Beth was expecting them, asking Marg where the chips were when they weren’t on the table when she sat down! They came home laden with easter eggs and tummy aches but very happy.

Thursday we had Sensational Kids. We had a sit in Speech Therapist as well as Rod this week. She was lovely but I don’t think she got Beth’s sense of humour. After Beth trying to get info out of her for her standard joke she wasn’t sure of the punchline. Beth asks “what’s your favourite colour, part of the body, number and animal” one at a time. At the end she puts it all together. Her answers on Thursday made it (in her Fizz from the Tweenies voice – where it originated) “Your favourite thing is a green dog with six legs!” The speechie replied with “but dogs don’t have six legs so it doesn’t make much sense.” I had to explain that it was in fact a joke so not to take Beth too seriously. I didn’t say that they are also not green! She seemed lovely though and enjoyed Beth and Rods accents and burping the alphabet.

I had told Rod of my concerns with high school so he had drawn a picture of a girl being bullied by 2 boys. Beth had to help the girl and did quite well with what she said. Things such as ‘go away’ and ‘leave me alone’. She did seem to put herself in the girl’s position. After the session they went into the big gym. A boy had a Thomas the Tank Engine book which was playing the theme song, Beth jumped onto a xylophone that was on the ground and played some of it in the same tune. Maybe it’s time to try piano lessons once again.

Beth had a good session with Whiskas (not her real name) – the Occupational Therapist. They did a similar thing as was done in Speech as I told Whiskas my concerns. She made some great suggestions re aide time. She said when she was studying there were opportunities for the students to have work experience in schools helping with different students. If Beth’s aide time is cut in any way this is a possibility. It may even be a possibility for me at home if necessary. Whether Beth is part time of full time home schooled it would certainly benefit me to have assistance.

Friday we didn’t do much at all as I was feeling like crap! I had a doctors appointment in the morning and that’s it. He basically told me that as I seem to be running on empty most of the time as I had my hands full, there wasn’t anything left to give when I got sick. Basically my immune system is probably so low that there’s nothing left. I need to try and get healthier and fitter as I can see it’s only going to get harder.

We’re off to Inverloch on Monday with Amanda and her kids and Catriona and her son. That’ll equal 3 mums, 3 kids with autism and 4 ‘normal’ kids! Oh, and of course, Minka the Wonderdog! I’m looking forward to it actually, at least we get each other and the kids. We’ve already sat down over coffee to discuss our kids idiosyncracys. We discovered that they all still like little kids shows such as Playschool and Grandpa in my pocket. I did state that Beth didn’t like sitcoms or anything with laughter tracks but surprisingly this morning she’s watching them one after the other! Don’t know what’s going on there. She’s been great the last few days, seems pretty chilled out. Maybe not having to go to school is keeping her calm. She asked me last night “Mum, are you feeling better now?” Just like any ‘normal’ kid would. Sometimes she surprises me.

We have a new music teacher at school. Beth has done choir for several years with a teacher who was very quietly spoken and Beth loved going. We didn’t have a music teacher as such before, our grade 1/2 teacher took music and Beth was familiar with her as she had been her teacher. Since getting a whole new building built at our school the old prep room has been turned into the music room. Our new teacher is a parent of 2 of the kids at school and Beth was familiar with her before. She is American and is a lovely enthusiastic woman. I anticipated that Beth would love music this year as the new teacher looks like she’s lots of fun. Unfortunately it’s gone the other way. Thursdays come around (music lesson time) and Beth is telling me how sick she is, more than usual in fact.

She first did this about 3 weeks ago and luckily she also stated that she didn’t want to do music that week, otherwise I wouldn’t have clicked. My ears pricked up as she’d told me the week before that she didn’t want to do choir anymore. I had thought it was because the choir had swelled to 50 kids, much higher than the 10 – 15 kids we had had last year. She said no, she didn’t like the new teacher’s voice. I asked if it was the accent and she said no, she just didn’t like it. Kids like Beth often have super sensitive senses and Beth’s particular one is sound. All of her anxieties relate to issues with sound and the issues snowball until she can no longer be in a room at certain times in case that sound happens again. She’s like it in the mornings when the bell rings. I think it’s the sound of the chairs being scraped off the tables but I’m not really sure. I think the music teacher has a certain pitch that Beth can’t handle. That compounded with an almost empty huge room which would have great acoustics. I can understand her issue. Two weeks ago I told her teacher and we decided to put head phones on Beth to see if it lessened the discomfort. It was reported that she had gone but had spent a lot of the time in the back corner.

Beth had an issue like this once before. When she was first diagnosed we went to an early intervention program at a local school. The lady that ran it had quite a deep voice and a booming laugh. Beth was ok to start with, she loved going there, but bit by bit it got to the stage where she wouldn’t let me leave and hated being there.  I don’t believe in letting kids dictate how we run our lives but if we weren’t getting any benefit out of the program, and it was physically affecting her, what was the point of going? Luckily we got a place at Irabina Early Intervention the next year so it didn’t look like I was ‘giving in’ to her.

I thought that the headphones would do the trick in music, she even told me that she had gone and enjoyed it. Or at least she had answered a monotonous ‘yes’ when I asked her! This week however she kept telling me that she had a rash and couldn’t go to school. When I looked and saw that she had scratched herself to make herself bleed I thought that no, it was much more stressful than I thought. I told her to wear her sunglasses and the headphones to music class. Donna Williams (the autistic author and artist) told me once that sunglasses may lessen the sensory issues. As we walked to class she told me that we were going in the wrong direction, the sick bay was the other way! I spoke with her teacher. I told him that we had been lucky, 7 years without this happening was such a bonus. It may have been different if it had been him she had a problem with but it was a teacher who she only had to see for 40 minutes each week. As it was her last year at school, was it worthwhile putting her through the stress? He was terrific and agreed, if she was actually hurting herself it wasn’t fair to put her in that situation. She could do one on one with her aide at that time doing some other work.

I don’t know what I would have done if it had happened with one of her main teachers. Being such a small school there’s often not much room for movement. In grade prep, 5 and now 6 it has been a straight grade instead of a composite, so there has been only one grade of that level. We’re so lucky that she’s not had issues with any of her teachers.

I just want to point out that there is nothing strange or unusual about our music teacher’s voice, nor about her. She’s a lovely lady and did not take offence at all about Beth’s issues. Also, Beth is by no means saying she doesn’t like this teacher, just that she can’t cope with her voice. I guess Beth has hearing sort of like a dog, she can hear pitches that others of us cannot hear. I don’t like certain sounds so I can only imagine how hard it would be to have issues with noise all the time. No wonder it’s hard for kids like Beth to concentrate at times when they can hear extra sounds or be anticipating these sounds happening. What a scary world it must be.

The time has come and I’m already feeling sick about high school next year. I spoke to our principal last week and to the school speech therapist and psychologist. It’s testing time to assess 1) if Beth will be eligible for an aide and 2) the level of funding that she will receive. Sadly once again we have to look at worst case scenario as far as behaviour is concerned. We also needed a score of under 70 in her speech assessment. It’s so hard to hear the results of these tests. Obviously you want your child to be the best that they can be but if their score is too high they don’t qualify. Beth was uncooperative during her testing which in the end was a good thing for our cause. What a shitty system we have where we have to prove again and again that they need help.

We had Sensational Kids today and I spoke to Rod about our schooling situation. He’s happy to do a report outlining what areas Beth needs help in as is Whiskas (The Occupational Therapist – not her real name.) She too said she would do a report showing where support is needed. I feel for the professionals put in this situation. They are almost apologetic, explaining that this is how the system works and they have to put in the reality. Nature makes people in personal relationships tread softly when talking about issues, softening the blow so as not to hurt people’s feelings. In this case it has to be blunt and to the point and basically make your kids sound almost like monsters. Unfortunately that is what is needed.

We had a good session this morning. Beth was in fine spirits and communicated well. She still finds it hard to tell stories without (we think) thinking that we know what she’s talking about. For example Rod asked her what she did on the weekend. She told him that she ate cotton candy and that we went to see Rango. She also said that we went to Hogs Breath. She didn’t however explain that the cotton candy was from the school fete. Nor that the movies and Hogs Breath were for her birthday party. She does have problems linking her thoughts with her words in this way but she’s so much better than she was when we first started speech therapy.

She then had her session with Whiskas. I don’t go in to those but from all accounts it went well. Whiskas is still building a rapport with Beth and they chatted a lot. Whiskas did say though that she’s not sure whether Beth’s answers are from a movie, or something that her friends have done, you never know with Beth.

I’ll leave you with a Beth funny. She seems to have a bit of a crush on a boy at school. Apparently she has nicknamed all the kids in the class with names from Bob the Builder. She has dubbed him Pilchard. He is going out with another girl who is a bit obsessed with Justin Bieber. When she saw this girl at the school fete she said matter of factly “Why don’t you just go out with Justin Bieber, then you can leave ‘Pilchard’ for me!” She’s so funny!

Beth had a lovely party yesterday. I took Bill to buy the tickets early so we didn’t have to line up and Paul brought the girls in the car with him. Jessica and Erin were dropped at our house at about 10am. We went to see Rango. It was a strange movie, not what I expected at all. I half expected a meltdown when I realised that it wasn’t the 3D version but Beth was so happy to be out with her best buds that she took it all in her stride.

After the movies we went to Hogs Breath for lunch. A friend and aide from school – Laurine – had come along too. I got some lovely photos of the girls all together having a laugh and a cuddle, as well as some of them pulling funny faces. I always love it when I get candid shots of Beth. She doesn’t always know how to act when having her photo taken and the photos often look forced or silly. It was nice to see some of her not looking ‘so autistic’ if you know what I mean.

After lunch we all came home and the girls played hide and seek and listened to some music in Beth’s room. It was great to hear them all groan when I said it was time to take them home. It meant that the other girls had had as good a time too! As girls do, they sang along to tunes on the car radio. Beth’s got such special friendships with those two, we’re so lucky in that sense. Not that she’s not worth it, just that often I hear of kids on the outer as far as friendships are concerned. Hopefully she’ll find new friends at high school that treat her with the respect and kindness that Jessica and Erin do.

We had our school fete yesterday. Once again it reminded me of what a fabulous school we have. The sense of community is that of a small country school and it’s clear that students,  teachers and parents alike love their school so much.

I’ve had Bethie home with me all week. Luckily her spots are gone now as she never would have forgiven me if she hadn’t gone to the fete. We’ve also got her birthday party on today. Friday the grade 6’s had their leadership badges given out at assembly so I put Beth in her school uniform so that she could at least collect her Red House Captain badge with the rest of her class. She then came along with me to my art class again, armed with dvds and food this time. Last time I wasn’t so prepared and we took an awfully long time to decide on which of their dvds she would be able to watch.

Yesterday (Saturday) was an early one as Bill had basketball 1/2 an hour away at 9.10am. Normally Paul or myself would take him alone but as it was his last game we all went along. Bill’s team won. He got a certificate last week as he has improved so much since he started this term. It’s great for him to participate in a team sport and he really enjoys it. Bridie runs around playing with a friend and Beth leans back on me either reading or playing on the best babysitter in the world, her DSi.

After a short interlude at home we went to Bev and John’s (my inlaws) for lunch and to leave Minka the Wonderdog for the afternoon. I had to change the kids into their school uniforms before we left for the fete. There has been a long awaited new building built at our school and the big opening was yesterday before the fete. The kids all went and sat on the floor as the speeches were made, the choir sang and Bill’s class sang the school song. We then looked around at all the wonderful new rooms and artwork. Then it was time to party on at the fete.

Bill nicked off with his friends from the start as any boy would do, only coming back to ask for money or food. Bridie did this for a little while too but spent most of her time with Paul or myself. The kids had armbands which meant they could go on all the rides without buying tickets first. One of the rides was a bucking bull in a blowup ring. It reminded me that my aunty had one of these at her 60th birthday party! I think I’ve inherited her craziness because I love that idea! There were lots of jumping castle type of things with blow up slides and tunnels which Beth loved. The octopus, that she loves, wasn’t running early on so Beth was disappointed in that as she loves the scary rides.

I was on the dishes tent from 4 ’til 7. We try to be an environmentally friendly school and for the last 3 years have used reusable cutlery and crockery. My girlfriend Bree and her husband Aron organise a dishes station where they all get washed and sent back to the food court. She even made flags for yesterday with various things on them, I think the main one said it was the scrubbers tent! As I was on there Paul was in charge of the kids. He came over saying he would do the dishes if I took Beth on the octopus as he wont do the scary rides. I tried to find somebody to go on with her as I really wasn’t all that keen. I even asked the school captain Kane, his mum was on the dishes with me and told me how cute it was that Beth calls Kane ‘Pilchard’ from the Bob the Builder show! She seems to have taken a shine to Kane and he’s lovely with her. He wasn’t keen either and in the end the lovely Jessica came to the rescue and took Beth on the ride.

Today we’ve got the movies and Hogs Breath for lunch again. We’re going to see Rango this time. Beth chose Jessica, Erin and her third was Laurine who is an aide at our school and afriend. She came along last time as she had wanted to see Alice in Wonderland. Beth with her elephant memory had remembered this and had wanted her to come again. I told her that she could have a third girl and Laurine also as she wasn’t coming in our car but no, that’s who she chose. I’ll let you know how we go.

I went to a meeting last night. It was to talk about the prep to 12 high school proposal in Ferntree Gully for autistic kids. It’s where my heart tells me that Bethie should go. We are planning to send her to the local high school because we had been told that she would not be able to go there. Originally when I went to see the principal of the current primary school for kids with autism, it was thought that the high school would begin to open in 2012. The primary school would be moving in to the site and year 7 would begin either that year or the year after. They would then stagger each year level, going up to year 8 in 2013 etc. I was rapt as I thought we’d just make it. But no, Beth would be considered to be a year above in the special school system as they have to finish their schooling before they turn 18 and their funding ran out. I’ve always kept in my mind that if it was going ahead then I’d battle. I’d rather send her til year 11 to a special school and home school for a year that go to a mainstream high school with her and I was willing to argue the point.

Unfortunately I now don’t get a choice at all. The battle to get this off the ground has taken 4 years. It was decided to take over an unused school building/block that has been vacant since 2005. It has sat all these years untouched. I know there is a lot to organise and clearly they didn’t get the go ahead til yesterday but we’ve built a whole new building at our school in less time. Anyway, this means that the school wont be opening as a high school until 2013 or even 2014. I still held out hope that, if they were to open then as a full school – prep – 12 – that it was still an option if high school went belly up in say year 9. But no, the staggered start is going to be every year.

I’m gutted. In the back of my mind I still held out hope. I had a psychologist on the phone talking about all the testing for our high school aide funding, basically telling me that perhaps I should look at the special school system. It’s not like I haven’t tried. That is what I want for Beth. She suggested another school which is an hours drive. I told her it would be impossible, at one point I would have Bridie at primary school, Bill at high school and Beth goodness knows where. She made a point that there is a bus. I said that I don’t want Beth on the bus for at least 2 hours a day, she needs her downtime just like other kids.

One of the things mentioned at the meeting last night was how hard it would be for the high school if they started all at once, what with all the kids going through puberty. That’s what got me going. I thought of my Beth running into the toilet, pulling her pants down as she goes. At least if she was with others like her she wouldn’t be laughed at as much.

Anyway, not to take away from the fantastic result that these ladies got last night. Good on them! They are just parents like me who saw a need in the community and after 4 years made it happen. One has a son who also will not benefit, the other has a son who will. I’m so pleased for those who now will not have to go through the gut wrenching task of going from high school to high school wondering where the hell to send their kids. 2 of my friends have kids who go to the existing primary school, how wonderful for them to know that their kids educational future is secure, I’m so happy for them.

I know that by the time Bethie reaches adulthood there will be much more around for autistic people. I’m sure there are people with much older kids who think the same thing about kids like Beth. Autism hasn’t been recognised for that long and it’s just now, as it’s nearing epidemic proportions (1 in 90 now) that the government are starting to sit up and take notice. My job is to make my daughter’s life as safe and happy as possible. I hope against hope that high school will be a good experience for both of us. The only other choice now is home schooling. I just feel so sad that I can’t choose a school, not based on trends or courses or sports or music, but on safety. Surely that’s every parents right?

It’s Beth’s 12th birthday today. The kids are still home as Bill’s blisters are quite bad in his mouth and the girls blisters are on their last day (thank goodness!) I can hear Beth getting incredibly frustrated at the moment with one of her presents. She asked for a talking Bratz Chloe doll. When I told her we had bought all of her presents already she used the logical argument that we could use the money that my Aunty Diana sends us from the UK for her birthday money to buy it. I was so pleased with her reasoning that I bought one – from America. The problem is that I think Beth thought it talked as in having a conversation. Instead it seems to ask questions and Beth has to answer them. She keeps yelling questions at it! Never mind, she’ll work it out.

We’ve only had about 2 fights today. One was that Bill and Bridie were playing with the new toys and, God forbid, Beth wanted to play with those ones. I reminded Bill that on his birthday he didn’t have to share his new toys, or if he did he got first choice as to which one he wanted to play with. This resulted in a mini tantrum with door slamming. The other fight was with Bridie as she desperately wants to play with Bill nearly all the time. The rest of the time it’s with me. Therefore I obviously try to encourage the sibling playing. Bridie needs to be kept busy all the time. She gets bored very easily and doesn’t cope well with being born into a family of sloths. She’s constantly asking me to do things with her. Poor old Bill cops the brunt of this boredom.

The rest of the presents seem to be a success. She got a slinky dog, some zhu zhu pet accessories, some clothes, a nice horoscope canvas for her new room, some powerpuff girl figurines and a disney annual. Oh, and some slippers. I think she did very well. She loved her slinky dog and was reading a toy story page to him with Jessie, resulting in another fight as Bridie wanted to play with Jessie at the time. I love being a mum!

She’s chosen takeaway pizza for dinner (yay!) and Paul will have to get a cake on the way home. She’s also chosen pancakes for lunch. Unfortunately I’m still having problems putting photos on here. It was hilarious taking them. She reminded me of the My Name is Earl character Earl. He could never have a photo taken without his eyes being shut. I’d take one that looked great, then her eyes would be shut in the photo!

I’ve got all my kids home with hand, foot and mouth disease. It was expected. After all there are only 2 weeks til the school holidays and I had packed in too many social activities to keep me going before then. It happens every holidays, I have one (usually Beth) sick the week before they start. Hopefully I’ll still get next week, fingers crossed.

Beth had swimming on Thursday which was terrific. Once again she worked really well for Paton. She’s an excellent teacher and I continually tell the management as I’m a big believer of credit where credit’s due. Beth really enjoys her lessons too.

On Friday Paul went to pick up a bag of stuff that I had gotten from Freecycle, an online organisation that you can give things away and request things also. I had asked if anybody had powerpuff girls stuff and had received a bag of books, a money box and a doona cover from a kind lady. Beth was rapt and spent all evening reading her 10 or so books.

We had a busy weekend socially. Saturday we had Bill’s basketball game (he got a certificate) then went out to lunch with my family. It was my Dad Bill’s birthday last week and it’s Beth’s birthday tomorrow. Beth got a lovely necklace from Dad and his wife Helen as well as a cat card. It meows the birthday song which amuses her no end. One of the many things that I love about Beth is that she’s very complimentary. She was telling Helen how much she likes her earings. She does this a lot, she’ll focus on something nice about somebody and let them know. Some adults could learn from this!

Sunday we went to Bev and John’s for Beth’s birthday lunch. Bev made a roast beef and Beth’s (as usual) was gone before anybody else was halfway through their meal. They gave Beth a requested glow doodle. It’s like a magna doodle which illuminates in various colours. It’s also see through so you can trace something underneath.

What a shame that Beth can’t be at school for a little while. Hopefully her blisters have actually been unnoticed for a few days as Bridie has had hers since last Wednesday and it’s now Monday and she still has them. Beth tries all the time to get out of going to school but as this week is her birthday she was looking forward to taking her bags of chuppa chups to share. Never mind, she can take it next time. Hopfully  I can figure out what’s wrong with the photos on here by tomorrow so I can post some photos of Beth’s birthday. Have a good day everybody.

Bethie and I just got home from Sensational Kids. I took some photos of the working out that I’ll attach in another post as it’s being temperamental at the moment. I found it very complex and was impressed that Beth grasped some of the ideas. First Rod has asked her what was going on and she told him that she had done maths and was doing data and chance. She then said it was about days away and people. We assumed from the rough diagram that it was in fact a bar graph about absenteeism but she didn’t elaborate at all. Rod was saying that Beth has got some great ideas but finds it hard to explain. As is shown in the white board, her linguistics as far as engagement, promimity and vocal tone are quite good. Her quantity and quality however are poor as she will answer questions with one word. We also had to try to get out of the whole question and answer way of speaking. She will only give what is required if you just ask a question as opposed to putting it in a conversation. For example rather than asking when seeing a bird “What’s that Beth?” you could say “Look there’s a bird in a tree over there.” This will model how you would say this and stop her answering a simple “A bird” as an answer. She then may go on to say “Yes, it is a bird in a tree” and even elaborate on colours/size etc.

We then went on to Beth writing lists. She had to write 3 things she liked, 3 things I liked and 3 thing Rod liked. She asked appropriately what we liked and I lead into my answers. For example I asked what I did after assembly on a Friday with my friends and she remembered that I do art class. Once she had all the answers Rod told her that he was going to argue why he didn’t like her choices, a bit of a debate. I myself found this quite difficult to grasp so I thought she did an excellent job. She then had to argue against our things. Rod said he liked Luna Park and she said that it was scary and the ghost train was haunted. She suggested that I don’t go to art anymore and I argued that I like to see my friends. With Rod’s help she suggested that I do something else with my friends. She did so well as it is a difficult challenge.

After Rod Beth went in with Whiskers (not her real name) our occupational therapist. They have developed a great bond and Whiskers reported to me that they enjoyed having back and forth conversation with Beth really interested in what Whiskers life was all about. They did a chart with what makes Beth happy. Beth told Whiskers that we were picking up a guinea pig on the way home today, she was obviously very convincing as Whiskers spoke with me about it. I said that no, that was not even a thought we had discussed. All in all they seemed to have another great session.