Autism Storm Hits!

There was an Autism storm in my home early yesterday  morning and things were strewn all over..clothes I was folding, books of mine, waste paper baskets & things off the kitchen counter..all over a package of top ramen my son wanted. I weathered the storm and he still did not get the ramen. When he hit me, I grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard enough for him to know I meant business (Do NOT Hit ME)! Damn I hate it that I have to practically bully my child:(...Now, I am glad he was off with grandma for the day....wonder what I will do..oh yeah! yard sales..here I come..
And I yard saled all day. When I got home, I still had a few hours with no kids.

During my break yesterday I bought a safe lock box with combo lock and it had a cable with it. Hubby and I put all of our keys in it and tethered it to our 1930's iron bed. When my daughter asked what was in it and I told her, the look on her face was priceless as she could no longer gain access to locked doors. Then this morning, my son has been hunting all over for the keys and there I found him sitting on the chair with dad's pants on his lap:)  absolutely priceless.

Today, I will spend my time cleaning his room of all the spaghetti noodles and raw rice on his floor. Wonder how many dishes I will find. Hopefully, he has not peed on his floor again. The battle continues..I surely can hardly wait for the day to see a yellow bus:)

Water Play

A few days ago, the kids were enjoying having daddy spray them with the hose. Braxton loves it. I started taking some action shots and as it progressed, I could see where he was getting over stimulated by the water spray. I thin k the softer spray is better for him...Enjoy the photos   

Battles Continue Over ABA

Over the weekend Braxton did fine off and on. He seems proud he has a schedule, but he tries to manipulate it by putting what he wants on the schedule such as Walmart. I just take it off saying "Not time". He is now really good about not having both computer and tv on. Usually, he prefers TV. The only channel he likes is Nick Jr., so he actually can learn social skills.
Yesterday, our gates were closed except for a brief period of 10 minutes. Wouldn't you know it though, in that time he managed to escape, with dad watching and went down and let the neighbors dogs out again. The neighbor was out there luckily and retrieved her dogs.
Now, she has her whole gate hot wired.  My neighbor also told me he has been peeing on the gate and fence posts right along with the dogs. NOT socially acceptable! If he does it again though, I can see him running home with his pants down around his ankles to show me he is hurt..you know where:)
The other day, he had fallen and hurt his winky and that is how he came to me to show his hurt. Well..I certainly was not going to kiss it to make it well..(laughing out loud).
Today I am going down to buy some things for a Treasure Box for motivators for Braxton. I am also making a schedule for Sarita so she does not feel left out.
I made a story book for Braxton on Shutterfly. You can view it here :
                                         share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CbsnDhu4aM3Xw
I had made one for our daughter also.
That is all for now. Have a great day and visit soon. 

Dear God, Help us.. ABA is hard..

Yesterday, Braxton's teacher and the 4 PARA's came into our home for 2 hours. Mrs. H (teacher) has worked so hard for us. She came with a clip board that had strips on it and a schedule in pecs. She had it in order and it was perfect. Everything was explained and with the opportunity to also work with Braxton while they were here.
It was very helpful to see it in action.
We all went into Braxton's room and he came in and asked us all to sit and was very excited to have 'company'. When eh felt his space was invaded,  he said "Out of room please."  to which we immediately complied to his wishes and left while thanking him for having us in.
The battle came when they were gone and we had to work it. Many times, my mind raced "Now what do I do?" There were a couple of melt downs and I stayed firm as possible.
I know I made many mistakes giving too many chances even after I said "Sorry, try again tomorrow."
I felt so much like a failure and a complete idiot to boot.  There were some things that clicked with him and I was proud of him. I just need to get a "Treasure Chest" together. One thing that is starting to click with him is 'Either tv on or pc on..not on at same time'. Poor child is 12 and has never had to do this at home.
Mrs H said she felt with both on, it over stimulates him and she gave some examples such as him putting his ear really close to the monitor and turning the volume up very loud. I must say my eyes were opened.
Tonight when he came home from school, things went pretty well and then we hit the road blocks over tv and computer time. He was highly agitated and at one point, I took his remote until he calmed down for 2 minutes. As soon as I gave it back, he threw it. Again I took it away. He got it back and threw it again which prompted a "sorry, tv goes away."
Needless to say, I finally relented after he was calm and this time he did not throw it, nor did he scream. By rights, it should have gone away till tomorrow.
 During the time with the tv, schedule , etc, my darling 7 year old daughter was right in the middle of the chaos.  She was busy telling him what to do, giving him 'time' out and adding to his frustration. I am setting up a chart for her so she won't feel left out. I will make sure to put a pic of me up there with the words MOM IS BOSS :) It is amazing that with her being adopted, how much she is so like I was.  I certainly understand my mother now and sincerely apologized to her.
There is another positive and that is he really showed interest in his schedule and showed he where to put it. He was busy arranging things and did pretty good.
I have to say ti was I who was so exhausted last night. It is hard work . I can only get there one day and one step at a time. I look forward when I have learned enough to be able to help another parent.
Let's hope this weekend won't have me crazy by monday. :)

Day 1 Rough Start

Yesterday after spending a couple of hours cleaning my son's room of everything from food and dirty dishes, etc.,  I was bound there will not be anymore food taken into his room. Normally, he is good about putting trash where it belongs and picking up things but not in his room.  I had let both of the kids eat in their rooms figuring their rooms are their rooms. However; it was not a good idea as I am the one who cleans them. And they need to get different habits for when I leave this world.. The last time I started this, I relented into letting them have just popcorn in their rooms and it led to other stuff.
Plus last night, was the night to start them eating at regular times. When I went to bed, there was a lock on the fridge and everything was put up except some fruit.
I fixed chicken with veggies and made a huge salad for dinner. Braxton wanted another piece of chicken and I told him he needed to eat his salad first. It took him a bit and caved in and ate it. By the time he got to his second piece of chicken, he was irritated and made a super mess getting it to which I insisted he clean it up and he did.
Later on, he must have had 2 packages of Top Ramen hidden and he got them out and headed for his room. He does not like it cooked. I reminded him to 'eat at table' and took the other package away.  This is where the battle started.  With the unopened package in his hand, he began to bang it on things on the table and kept hitting my glass cake plate and cup and then while still staring at me, would start pushing things with it.
I asked him if he wanted the Ramen and he replied 'yes' to which I told him I would take it away if he kept it up.  Well, the little stinker took the package and put it on the floor and began breaking up the noodles. I figured he must want them cooked. I asked him and he replied "No."  Then he picked up the package and proceeded to dump it out on the table and then pushed it with his hand. I calmly got up and scooped them onto a plate and threw them out the kitchen window.  He just watched me and then went into his room.
The rest of the night went smoothly after that. I am hoping I can manage to stay on my toes and keep up the momentum.

What is wrong?

Last night after we were in bed, Braxton came into our room crying his heart out.  It was clear that he was very upset. If he is hurt, he will usually show us his hurt. To me, he acted scared and all he wanted to do was crawl into our bed. I hate to think this, but I believe his younger sister knows what happened and had something to do with it. She is only & and does not understand things and is very jealous when attention is given to him.  We give her a lot of attention.
It is sad when your child is not able to tell you why they are crying or upset.
I am looking forward to next week and setting up some sort of schedule for Braxton and learning a bit of ABA. I think I will also use some with Sarita.
I also think if we had more consistency and order in our home, things would run much smoother.
Braxton has been loving Dr Seuss lately. He was excited about the book shelf in his room and has been stocking it. Another book he likes is the June B series.

Well, today has been good and Braxton has done well. Tomorrow , he gets his freedom back on  his bike.
I will walk him on the boundary route . I am thinking about making a red hexagon sign on red construction paper and posting it at the edge of the neighbor's driveway.  He knows this sign as it is on the bathroom door at school. It was put up for him.  I will also give him an incentive as he listens and a consequence if he does not.
I had a long conversation with my neighbor, telling her I cannot say he will not let her dogs out again. I also made it clear to her that I cannot police him every moment as I am only one person.
She absolutely does not want to lock her gate and while understanding her reasoning and rights, the other part of me does not understand that if she put that gate up to protect her dogs, why she does not go an extra mile.
And yes, I have already had someone attack me on my position. I fully understand my responsibility and I do know that my son must be taught respect of another's property, etc.  I am fully aware that a child whether disabled or not can face serious consequences if not taught..even if they do not understand.
The person that has attacked me does not know me or my child, does not know the full extent of his disability. I had asked a question on another forum, asking for suggestions to help him understand and that is what I got.
Yes! I am frustrated as hell right now. We parents know what we should do about situations, but we do not always know how to go about it! What will our child understand?
What do you want from me and other parents? Shall we just put our children in a cage? Shall we be frightened every single minute of the day that our child will do what we taught them not to do? Do you want me to carry a bucket with me, so I can be right there to monitor my child, so I will have a place to pee?