Dakota's Days - ok who can give me info on this?

Dakota's Days

Sep. 7, 2008

ok who can give me info on this?

If anyone has any ideas or answers for me Id love it if youd leave me a comment with them.

These are some of Dakotas newest things...

MUST touch back of knee with toes of opposite foot with EVERY step. Fine at home but makes trips to the store take FOREVER.

getting dressed means that he lifts his foot, touches the inside of the opposite leg with his toes, puts his foot down, lifts it again, touches opposite ankle with his toes, puts foot down, lifts foot into pants. If I am trying to help him so we can hurry it can get VERY old very fast.

Going potty is a very similar routine to getting dressed.

Fake, purposeful coughing OVER & OVER & OVER. The first time he did it I thought he was choking.

A noise that sounds like a braying donkey that he will just suddenly start doing out of the blue & do it OVER & OVER & OVER & OVER. One time it was close to 5 minutes before we could get him to stop.

He MUST touch my leg with his foot. He will stand beside me & put his foot RIGHT against my foot or my leg. Several times now he has almost tripped me because I have walked past him & he has put his foot out to try to touch my leg. Or I have been standing at the sink or something & he will walk up beside me & I turn just as he lifts his leg up & trys to put it against my ankle or the back of my knee. So far I have not ever had anything in my hands but I am very afraid he is going to do that sometime when I have something hot in my hands or the baby or something.

Walking up stairs means step up, step down to touch the last step with his toes, then up again. So going up stairs is basically one up, one down, back up. One up, one down, back up.

Im just not sure how to stop this stuff, or if I should even try. He is VERY hard to break of these habits until he moves on to the next one.

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Comments

Sep. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Sounds like ocd behaviors. Does he get support from a local school? There are trained professionals for him that could offer valuable insight and support. Home schooling does not have to mean no assistance from others tha could multiply his progress and happiness.

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Sep. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

oh, N, how frusterating! i am so sorry! i wish i had knowledge that would help. One thing i have wanted to ask you is if you try to control any of his behaviours in general through diet? just curious.
will be praying---THe creator know the key.

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Sep. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

opps forgot to sign! above comment is me,
Birdie

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Feb. 1, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momma24blessings

First, I want to thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I'm really glad you did, so I could find your blog. It's really encouraging to me to know there are other moms who really understand what our family is facing every day. As far as Dakota's behaviors go, I hope that has gotten better. Nemo has some similar things that he does. For example, he has to "pat" (feels more like a prize fighter slapping me) my back or my face whenever I hug him or pick him up. He toe walks alot, and rocks back and forth against walls, banging his head and back. One thing about Nemo is he has major sensory processing disorders, so when he does these things, I try to provide him with some alternative sensory stimulation. I have several different kinds of chewy tubes because Nemo has major oral sensory issues. Sometimes, (not always) I can redirect him just by giving him another sensory option. I also try to model what he "should' be doing. For example, if he's toe walking, I'll deliberately walk in front of him, going on and on about how much fun it is to walk with my feet flat on the floor. Doesn't always work, but sometimes is better than nothing. I know this may sound terrible, but bear with me on this one...we got a pretty large box in the mail one day and I set it down in the middle of the living room floor with the intentions of recycling it later. Nemo found it, crawled in, and stayed there for a couple of hours one day. He ate in it, watched some tv, and colored in his coloring books. He seemed really calm afterwards - I think it was having a small, safe place where he could get away from all of us and decompress for awhile. I made him a little cubbyhole in a corner of the living room. I put his favorite toys and sensory items there. So now when he is doing some of his "behaviors", I can tell him to go to his "cave". Sometimes it works. I know it's not 100%, but at least we and he has some relief at times. I am also blessed to have him in an outpatient and occupational speech therapy program. His doctor wrote a prescription for it and our insurance pays for it. That way, I don't have to go through the public school's OT program. In our state, a child is entitled to free OT services through the school if they are school age, whether or not they are a student. I'm not sure what the rules are in your state, but in our school, the services are minimum, so I'd rather go through the private office since our insurance covers it. I hope some of my insights helped. God bless you!

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Feb. 1, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momma24blessings

Oops! I forgot to add something to my comment - sorry! You were mentioning how trips to the store become a big problem. We have similar issues with Nemo. He has to smell everything before he looks at it and/or touches it and if we go down a different aisle than he thinks we should go, he falls apart (he turned over a shopping cart in the grocery store about 3 weeks ago). Something that has helped a little bit is putting a compression vest on him under his clothes when we go out with him. I've also learned to give him the "30 second warning" if we're going to take a different direction than he thinks we should take. I use pictures of things if I think he doesn't understand what I'm trying to tell him. Basically, if I give him the "heads up" on what's going to happen next, it helps reduce some of those behaviors. And most times, to be honest, I wait until my husband is home from work so he can go along and stay in the car with Nemo if necessary. Sometimes, it's just not worth the hassle if I just have to run in for something quick. But I think all kids on the autism spectrum have those little "quirks" that are part of their special personalities. Whenever I feel like I just can't take one more second of this, I try to remember what a gift God has given our family. After all, God trusted us enough to give us a child with special needs - so that makes us special, too. One thing I do wish Nemo would stop doing is throwing everything in sight. He's very fixated on basketball goals and getting the ball in the goal. Now, flowerpots, the toilet, and sinks are "goals" and anything he can get his hands on is the "ball." I've tried telling him (about a million times) that we can throw balls outside but we can't throw things in the house, but so far, it hasn't sunk in yet. Oh well, I'll keep trying... :) God bless!

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Aug. 10, 2009 - About that foot touching knee thing & donkey braying

Posted by Chick Hatchers

My daughter baaaed, like a sheep, for about an hour one evening. Funny when I think back to it, but annoying and embarrassing as heck when she was doing it (loudly, of course, and in other people's faces!) Arg.

It's hard to know what he's doing with the foot/knee and touching your leg with his foot. If it's part of autism (which can have some ocd-like characteristics, but not ocd exactly) it could be that he is doing the "symmetrical" stuff, where he feels something on one half of his body and has to feel it the same way on the other side of his body. I don't know what to do about it because it's typical for these atypical kids. If it's sensory related (also a big piece of autism) then you could try ankle weights. Start out low, like 1/2 a pound or 1 pound and work up.

BTW, I traveled here from your other blog, which I hopped to from El Cloud. I will be commenting on your other one as well because I want to know what the Horton shirt says and where I can get one!

My 6yod is pdd/aspie so although I don't know EXACTLY what you are going through, I can relate to a lot of it.

mychildsview.blogspot.com

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About Me

tracking the progress our 8yo Developmentally Delayed, Autistic son makes as we homeschool him. We also have 6 other dc who we also homeschool but this blog will be focused mostly on him You can meet the rest of our family in my other blog, Abundant Blessings, link under Haven Blogroll below.