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Teaching Jeremiah, A Journey into the Mind of an Asperger's Child
May. 16, 2008
"B B B B B B B!"
Back to our alphabet letters after a few weeks of Eric Carle and we started off with "B". Ben was happy to pose for a few pictures as we walked around the house finding things that started with the letter "B". We found bread, beds, bears, bananas, bellies, bathing suits, books, Bibles, and more! Whew! There sure are a lot of "B" words!
Then Jerry sponge painted a block letter "B" blue, painted with bubbles, blew bubbles, and played with those cool, big, round, punching ball balloons. Say that fast ten times! Jerry also made brownies for his Pioneer Clubs Scooters class.
 Making Brownies
He made up super powers he thought hero "Bubble-Man" would have and lined up his super bouncy balls on a big masking tape "B" on our living room floor.
 Super Bouncy Balls on a "B"!
It felt good to get back to some basics after all of the unit studies. I have pulled out some of the curriculum I bought for him from the FPEA conference last year. I stopped using it tearfully after many failed attempts to get him to work at it. I found the books after cleaning out his school drawer after testing and decided it was worth another try.
We worked on his Reason for Handwriting Kindergarten book and also the Making Math Meaningful curriculum that my other kids really enjoyed and built their mathematical foundation on. The difference in Jerry's attitude and ability and desire to sit and learn with me was amazing. I truly believe it is a direct result of our decision to relent and put him on medication back in December.
He learned about equal and unequal, though we called it bigger and smaller or shorter and longer. We put forks, spoons, crayons, markers, yarn pieces, pipe cleaners, and so much more side-by-side and Jerry told me whether they were the same size or not and, if not, which one was longer and which one was shorter. You could see his confidence increase with each correct answer and I made such a huge deal out of every success.
Comparing his handwriting now to that from September and October was amazing too. His hand is so much steadier and he doesn't freak out if he goes slightly off the lines he is tracing. He is also much more patient about coloring the pictures that go with each letter. I took his journal out again and he even started working in it. I don't have him do handwriting and journaling in one day because his hand gets tired and then he gets cranky. We just keep switching back and forth. In his journal, he traces his name and then draws a picture...anything he wants to draw.
Before
Now
I also have one of those huge advanced preschool workbooks and he has been eager to work on it as well. Several days this week, he had to compare objects and find which ones belonged together one day and which ones did not belong together on another day. This was a difficult concept for him at first.
I made it simpler by looking at the row of pictures first and finding the similarities and/or differences for him. If there was a helicopter, an airplane, and a rocket next to a school bus, we would go down the line one at a time. I would say, "Does a helicopter fly in the air? Does an airplane fly in the air? Does a rocket fly in the air? Does a school bus fly in the air?" That seemed to make it easier for him to figure out which object didn't belong.
I wasn't sure if he was really getting it until today and the last two rows of objects. Once was a mitten, a pen, a banana, and a piece of paper. I simply asked him which two went together or needed each other. He took about sixty seconds or so and then pointed at the pen first and then the piece of paper. Then he looked at me and I cheered and clapped and praised him galore! It was awesome!
We're just going to keep plugging away. Next week is packed with finding out test results, dentist appointments, a birthday party, and me leaving for the FPEA convention on Thursday and not coming home until Saturday. I've discovered with Jerry that we cannot take time off when I want him to learn something. It's all about repetition. I plan on doing as much with him as I can in what little time we have, even if we only take out one book a day next week. And as long as we go over the letters he has learned on his coconut tree EVERY morning, he seems to retain their sounds.
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May. 15, 2008
Tattooed Foreheads!
On Tuesday, I took Jerry for his check-up with Dr. Rao, his psychiatrist. Now on both Risperdal for his mood swings and Zoloft for his obsessive compulsive behaviors, he needs to see Dr. Rao more frequently for medication management. Anyway, Dr. Rao was quite concerned about some labs that had come back on Jeremiah after a routine bloodwork exam at his last physical. It appeared as though his kidneys and liver were not functioning properly and this was not at all related to his medications.
Obviously, panicked, I made a few calls for referrals and managed to get Jeremiah an appointment for both a G.I. and kidney doctor on the same day...yesterday. John took off from work, we farmed out children to families willing to take them on for the day, and off we went early in the morning.
The G.I. doctor had a few concerns, but not related to Jerry's bloodwork...rather his bathroom habits. We'll just leave it at that! He ordered an x-ray and more labs, including a stool sample!
The kidney doctor ruled out kidney problems after a urinalysis. We got the x-ray and had Jerry's blood drawn before calling it a day and then, thankfully, Jerry provided the stool sample shortly after we got home. I want my pastor to add collecting stool samples into his Mother's Day message next year when he speaks of all we moms have to do! I think that beats out wiping runny noses and changing diapers. We even had to stir it in the vials the lab provided with little wooden spoon sticks. YUCK and thank God for a husband who doesn't mind "dirty jobs"!
So with pooh in my fridge waiting to be driven to the lab, a needle stick in Jerry's poor little arm, and an extra tummy x-ray to appease Jerry from the lab tech, Jerry earned his forehead pirate tattoo. Results of all of these labs and tests will be in on May 28th. The doctor doesn't think it's anything serious, but wants to rule some things out just to be safe.
Be praying!
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May. 15, 2008
Meet....Louis?
Louis
The kids were a little confused at first. Michaela just said, "Great! Another boy!" They had all really taken to the name Neena, but after much debate (I liked Gideon), chose Louis from E.B. White's, "Trumpet of the Swan". He was a misunderstood and misinterpreted creature himself!
The vet said Louis did not get along with the kitties in the cages around him and hissed at them all night. Now I understand why. Can you just imagine the jeers from his peers? "Neena! Hmf! What kind of a name is that? What are you, some kind of girly man? I guess your owner dropped you off to get 'spayed'!" I hope we didn't give him too much of a complex.
The worst part is that Jerry called him "cat" for three days until he could remember Neena. Now he's Louis! I guess Jerry and Louis are in the same confused state right now!
Anyway, Neena or Louis, it doesn't matter. Boys are just as trainable as girls and we'll start harness training Louis as soon as his incision heals.
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May. 12, 2008
Assessment Day
It's that day all home schoolers anticipate with a little excitement and a lot of fear and trembling as our kids are tested at the end of the school year and evaluated for promotion. Our tester Jan was here at 8:45 this morning and it is 5:45 and she's still at it with Michaela! The kids took turns all day with different subjects. We'll find out the results next week.
I made sure Jeremiah got a good night's sleep and had a full tummy this morning. We played in my room until it was his turn and.........it was the most frustrating time EVER!! He wouldn't sit up in his chair. He never spoke above a whisper. He occasionally fell to the floor and rolled around laughing. Then he would cry. Above all, with the exception of a few recognized colors and obeyed directional commands (up, down, under, on top of), he acted as though we played with Play Doh and went to the playground every day all year long! He counted things, "one, two, five". He only recalled three of the eight letters on our coconut tree! AAARRRGGGHHHH! I wanted to cry really.
This was Jerry's first ever assessment and I am sure there was some anxiety for him in speaking with Jan, whom he'd never really spoken to before, but COME ON! We have worked so hard and he has been so successful in so many areas over the last few months. I assured Jan this was not an accurate assessment of what Jeremiah knew and I believe she understood that as well.
Thankfully, my best friend (and special educator) Kim said she would sit down with us over the summer and we would re-evaluate Jerry and his initial IEP and set some new goals for him for the next year. I realize that he will be in kindergarten again, but I am confident that he has met some of his first year's goals. I think we will have more success with Kim because Jerry knows her, responds well to her, and Kim has this almost "stealth-like" way of getting inside Jerry's head without him even knowing it. He'll tell her what he's learned whether he realizes he's doing it or not!
Anyway, there's my day in a nutshell. Kim came and picked Jeremiah up after his test was over as he was doing back flips off my bed out of boredom at having to stay in my room while the others were being tested. There's only so much T.V., so many games, and so much playing with new kitty Neena that any kid can handle in an eight-hour day!!
Above is a picture that Jerry drew for Jan during one of his more cooperative moments. This is a man complete with hair, eyes, ears, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Use your imagination!
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May. 9, 2008
Meet Neena
 Neena
Meet Neena, the newest member of the Bertic family. Yes, we got a kitty!
The kids have been wanting another pet since we moved into our apartments and couldn't bring Mazy with us. Mazy was our dog. She was a little dog (wiener dog actually), but she was very, very aggressive. We were told that the apartments were strict about aggressive animals and you could be evicted if enough people complained about your pet. Mazy had enough of a bad reputation with previous neighbors that we didn't want to take any chances.
She was wonderful with us. She was simply overprotective and prone to escaping out the front door and chasing people for blocks while convincing them she was a doberman. We left her with John's parents and still cared for her basic needs, but when mom and dad went to Illinois for a month at a time (at least two times a year), we had to figure out how to care for her while they were gone. Sometimes, we planned to be on vacation at the same time they were. This posed a real problem.
In the end, we prayed and found a wonderful new home for Mazy on ten acres of ranch with eight other dogs just like her and dozens of ducks and stray cats to chase and torture. The kids were satisfied that she was safe and happy, but still sad that their pet had to find a new home. Thus started the "wanting".
Last weekend after the camping trip, we took Jonathan's friend Leo home and he introduced us to Neena. Leo's dad found her under a car, stopping traffic just outside Busch Gardens on Busch Boulevard. He took her home, cleaned her up, and they began the process of finding a home for her. As far as the kids were concerned once they saw her, she now had a home.
They worked on dad for hours, begging, pleading, offering to take care of her every need that arose. John was never opposed to a cat, but it would mean coming up with a security deposit and $15 a month extra for our lease. He told the kids he would find out what the deposit was on Monday and let them know his decision then.
The answer was in the total...$300.00!! Ben and Jonathan produced half with their saved chore and birthday money, but in the end, it was just too much to justify for a pet, especially with other bills looming. The kids were disappointed, but relented just the same. Jonathan did refuse to give up however, even to the point of calling Leo and telling him to hold the kitten a few more days while we prayed. He asked all of youth group to pray for us as well. Spontaneously throughout the next few days, Jonathan would ask me to pray for us to be able to somehow get the kitten.
Laying in bed the other night I remember a website someone sent me for Jeremiah about service cats. The website explains that cats can learn to initiate play, recognize and interrupt repetitive or compulsive behavior, provide tactical comfort by staying in the child's lap and sitting still for several minutes at a time, and play without use of claws, or teeth. They can also be trained to assist the child when they feel overwhelmed in over stimulating situations, social situation tolerance, distract the child when they are becoming frustrated with routine tasks, provided some sense of "sameness" if the child's routine changes suddenly, facilitate child's improved communication. The cats will also be able to carry via her tags information about the child's condition, who the child is, and how to help in the event of a "shut down".
Needless to say, the wheels started spinning and I went to the office the next day and asked about service animals. There is NO security deposit or additional monthly fee for service animals! I phoned Jeremiah's doctor and spoke with her and she agreed that a cat would provide great behavioral therapy for Jerry and she sent a prescription to that effect to the apartment's office. They added Neena to our lease and the rest is history!
The kids were overjoyed of course and Jonathan sees his prayers as answered, though we did discuss that sometimes the answer is "no" and we just have to accept that. He agreed though he said that would have been difficult to accept. I told him it usually is, but God always knows better than we do.
We headed to the pet store and got a scratching post (to save our furniture), a few toys, food, and a littler box. God is so good! The store refills your litter tub with scoopable little for only .39 a pound. So next is to the vets for shots and spaying.
And then the training begins. First we will harness train her. Then we will leash train her and work on simple commands. We have the help of Tenere Kingdom, the website we were sent. Tenere Kingdom was created by a boy named Samuel. Samuel is 14 and has Asperger's Syndrome. His mom gave him an assignment to write a paper on a business he could "create" that would help others. After finding two stray cats, Samuel not only created his business on paper, but has made it his desire and goal to help others like him for real.
Samuel has a service cat that was prescribed for him and he has reaped the benefits of its companionship and training. Samuel's vision is to create a service/therapy placement center for children with autism and other kids who would benefit from a service cat. Traditionally, therapy and service animals are dogs. However, Tenere Kingdom believes that cats may be a better choice for some kids with autism. Their small size makes them less frightening than dogs, and their independence makes them easier to care for. Cats can be fully trained for many tasks and even obey command like dogs.
Samuel's story is amazing and he is working on his business licensing and non-profit status through recycling soda tabs! Such a neat kid and passion to help others! Anyway, his website features training tips, a downloadable guide, and videos of his cats that he is currently training, as well as updates on their progress.
For more information about Tenere Kingdom, visit http://www.freewebs.com/tenerekingdom/index.htm.
So we're off on our new adventure! Cat ownership and training 101! We'll keep everyone posted. I will probably post videos and update everyone of Neena's training progress on this blog. We appreciate your prayers on this journey!
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May. 5, 2008
Pseudostrabismus
Yeah, whatever! Praise God, this is what they diagnosed Jeremiah with today at the opthamologist. Basically, because of the shape of Jerry's face, his right side being more rounded than his left, he appears to have lazy eye, but does not.
His pediatrician thought he had lazy eye in his left eye at his six-year check-up a few weeks ago and she referred him to the opthamologist. He said it was a common misconception in kids whose faces are shaped like Jerry's.
Personally, I never noticed either his left eye looking different or the shape of his face being different from one side to the other. Either way, thank you Lord that Jerry does not have another diagnosis to add behind his name!
And the thought of glasses, surgery, or even an eye patch made me cringe. Poor Jeremiah is clumsy enough. We don't need to add an eye patch and obstruct half of his vision on top of it.
They did have to dialate Jerry's eyes for the test today and he was not at all happy with that procedure, but the consolation was in the cool sunglasses he received afterwards!
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May. 1, 2008
"The Very Busy Spider"
Ok, I am officially Eric Carle'd out! We ended our bug unit with "The Very Busy Spider"...a stretch for me since everyone knows how much I HATE spiders!! We had so much fun though. We made another of our crawling bugs, this time a big, black, hairy tarantula. We also made a cool spider snack with marshmallows, pretzel sticks, and M&M's. Then we drizzled chocolate syrup over our yummy pet to look like he was in a web. Jerry loved eating this critter up, especially licking the chocolate syrup off the plate.
We circled eight-legged things on a worksheet, made "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" finger puppets to act out the song. We also made a cool egg carton cup spider craft that you pulled through a piece of PVC pipe as you sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".
I stuck one end of a piece of masking tape to Jerry's shirt and he spun around as I unrolled the roll of tape and "caught" him in my web. Boy, did he giggle!
One of my less enthusiastic projects was finding a vacant spider web, spraying it lightly with blue spray paint, and then transferring it to a piece of paper to dry so Jerry could see its pattern up close and touch it.
Here's a picture of our spider handprints craft too.
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Apr. 24, 2008
"The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle
On with the bug theme! Next was "The Grouchy Ladybug". We collected six ladybugs from the bushes outside our apartments and put them in a habitat to watch for a few days. We found a bunch of bush branches that had aphids all over the leaves and we stuck the branches in a cup of water in our habitat so we could watch the ladybugs eat. This was fun!!
Jerry enjoyed it so much that last week at Pioneer Clubs at church he tried to collect some ants to keep in his habitat and watch....fire ants! Yes, he scooped a big pile of a mound up in his hand before we could stop him. Twenty-nine bites in all! He said, "I was just trying to keep them mommy!" The first few days of redness, swollen fingers, and itchy little pimple bites hurt us all to look at. They were all in between his fingers. His left hand of course...the hand he uses for everything. Poor guy. I don't think he'll do that again. At least I hope not.
Anyway, back to the ladybugs. We made emotion face cards by taking pictures of Jerry's sad, happy, surprised, and mad faces and talked about how grouchy our ladybug friend was and what makes someone feel grouchy. By the way, twenty-nine ant bites make you feel very grouchy!
 Jerry's Sad Face
We made a ladybug puppet using red Solo plates and black felt spots that we Velcro'd to the ladybug so we could count them as we removed and added them. We also gave our puppet a felt smile and used a paper fastener to attach it to his face so we could turn it around to form a frown when our ladybug was not so happy anymore.
 Ladybug Puppet
 Fingerprint Ladybugs
We annoyed the other kids by walking around singing "I Wish I Were A Little Ladybug" to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It". By the end of the week Jerry learned from the song the ladybug's colors and what they eat so it was worth the repetition in my book.
We counted ladybugs and made ladybug ABC cards. We also made a crawling ladybug, similar to our crawling caterpillar.
 Crawling Ladybug
Overall, this was a fun unit and now Jerry walks around spying bees, ants, dragonflies, and other outdoor critters and exclaims, "Hey you, wanna fight!" He puts his fists up and assumes the fight position and everything. It's too cute...as long as he only directs this at bugs anyway!!
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Apr. 15, 2008
I forgot "H"!!
 Cool "H"at!!
In reading over my last entry for typos, I realized I never blogged about "H"! We did learn the letter and have not stopped singing "My Hat Has Three Corners" since!! We put heart stickers all over a big masking tape "H" on the floor, made a big decorated foam heart magnet for Miss Kim, and Jerry even decorated his own hat. We hot-glued army men, greenery, and guns all over a camo-colored baseball cap. Jerry thought it was pretty cool. Hot Tamales became the candy for the week too!
 Miss Kim's Heart Magnet
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Apr. 15, 2008
Going "Buggy"!
No, we have not quit learning our alphabet. In fact, we still go over the eight letters on our coconut tree everyday so that we don't forget them, but Jerry took an interest in caterpillars a few weeks ago and so, in step with the reason we home school, we took a break from our "routine" and have been studying caterpillars and butterflies instead.
I think Jerry knows most of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" story by heart now. We've read it so much! We also saw the play, along with two other Eric Carle stories, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. That was fun. We visited the butterlfy garden at MOSI and Miss Helen is waiting anxiously for a few of her caterpillar eggs to hatch so that she can give us a few to watch change into butterflies. We have a butterfly habitat and had fun with it a few years ago, but Jerry doesn't remember that time.
So what have we been up to? Whew, where to start! Jerry made a caterpillar out of a clothespin and some colored pom-poms and then wings from paper towels so that we could turn our caterpillar into a butterfly whenever we wanted to by attaching the clothespin to the wings. Jerry used an eye dropper (great for fine motor skills) to color the wings with food coloring in water. He was amazed when I put some blue food coloring into the red water to make purple!
We ate life cycle spaghetti for dinner one night. I mixed shell (cocoon) pasta with corkscrew (caterpillar) pasta and bowtie (butterfly) pasta. For a snack we threaded Fruit Loops onto a pretzel stick, added a marshmallow head, and broken pretzel pieces for the antennae. Sounds strange, but anyone who knows me knows my theory. Anything with marshmallows is yummy!
We made a Very Hungry Student story. I filled in the blanks while Jeremiah told me his favorite things to eat. He got a little goofy in the middle, but laughs hysterically every time he hears me read the story to him. Here's what he came up with...
On Sunday Jerry ate one can of beanie weanies. But he was still hungry. On Monday Jerry ate two pears. But he was still hungry. On Tuesday Jerry ate three apples. But he was still hungry. On Wednesday Jerry ate four sausages. But he was still hungry. On Thursday Jerry ate five butterflies. But he was still hungry. On Friday Jerry ate one caterpillar, one sun, one snowman, one leaf, one cloud, one stick, one cheese stick, one can of Spaghetti O's, one mushroom, one tomato, and one potato. That night he had a stomachache! On Saturday Jerry ate one chocolate Pop Tart. After that, he felt much better. Whew! Jerry sure was hungry.
We also made a coffee filter butterfly. Jerry colored spots with markers on the coffee filters and then sprayed them with a water bottle so that the colors would spread out and run together. We added a pipe cleaner body.
I sectioned a paper plate into fourths and Jerry made a butterfly life cycle. He used a navy bean on a silk leaf for the egg, pom-poms for the caterpillar, a shall pasta noodle for the cocoon, and a butterfly sticker for the butterfly. He also traced the words of each part of the butterfly's life cycle.
Jerry also used my potato peeler to shave some crayons so we could make a wax paper butterfly by ironing the crayon shavings in between the wax paper.
Then Jerry used Q-tips to put paint blobs on one side of a butterfly cutout. He folded the butterfly in half and it turned out very pretty the way the paint blobs spread from one side to the other.
We re-created "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" story on a homemade felt board. I used a pizza box from Pizza Hut for the felt board. I decorated the outside and then covered the inside with felt. Then I laminated the pieces from the story and put felt on the backs of them so Jerry could re-tell the story with the pieces or follow along on the felt board as I read the book.
 Outside
 Inside
Jerry used his fingerprints and inkpads to make his own butterflies and caterpillars. He glued sticks on the paper for a tree and cotton balls for clouds. This was a great sensory activity. I also let him add his own things to the picture. So he added a sun and a snowman!
For math, I laminated leaf pictures onto index cards and then numbered the cards from one to ten. I gave Jerry navy beans (eggs) and he put the number of "eggs" on each leaf that the card said to. He's not real good at counting yet and so I held up my fingers to represent the number on the card. Then, as he put each egg on, I put down one finger so he could see how many eggs he had left to put on.
I printed out about twenty colorful butterflies as well and laminated them to index cards. Then I cut the index cards (and butterflies) in half and Jerry had fun matching each butterfly half to its partner.
Then Jerry put laminated story cards from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in order to practice his sequencing.
We also practiced beginning letter sounds by gluing pictures of things that began with either a "c" (caterpillar) or a "b" (butterfly) onto their appropriate page.
I found a cool craft in an Usborne book that uses yarn, a picture of an animal, a penny, two beads, and a straw to make the critter appear to "crawl" up a wall. This was fun!
 Crawling Caterpillar
We made a caterpillar from different shapes of construction paper. Circles were his head and body, rectangles were his antennae, squares were his eyes, and triangles were his feet. We actually did this project at Abrakadoodle with our other home school friends.
And of course, every creature can be made out of a toilet paper tube!
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Mar. 24, 2008
Jeremiah and Jesus
Yesterday at church the kids each received an egg whose contents told the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jeremiah was so excited that he came running into the office where I was counting the offering afterwards and said, "Mom, I got an egg and it has surprises inside. Wanna see?" He opened the egg and I explained to him what each of the items inside stood for. There was a penny to represent the thirty pieces of silver Judas accepted to betray Jesus. There was a piece of leather to represent the whip Jesus was beaten with. There was a thorn for His crown of thorns, a little wooden cross, a nail, a rock to represent what was rolled in front of the tomb, and a piece of cloth to show the kids what Jesus was wrapped in when he was buried.
Jerry, being very visual, hung on every word! He has since opened the egg and retold the story in his own words at least six times! If you click on link above the picture, you can see video of Jerry's version of the Jesus story.
Anyway, Jerry learning about what Jesus did on the cross for him is obviously a huge part of what I have prayed for God to teach him through me...and anything or anyone else He can use. Thanks to a .25 plastic Easter egg and a few objects he can touch and see and relate to, He is well on His way! Praise God and thank you Terrace Palms Children's Ministry.
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Mar. 20, 2008
"A" and "F"...Here We Come!
The last two weeks were very successful! Yeah!! We did "A" two weeks ago and Jeremiah helped me make apple cake. We even made a little one for Miss Ramos. He was so excited to give it to her and tell her that he made it. We also painted apple prints and played with ants I'd printed and cut out. By the end of the week, my other kids were so tired of hearing me sing, "If All the Raindrops"! Even now though, when I tilt my head back, look up at the ceiling, and belt out, "ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah", Jerry points to the letter "A" on the coconut tree. So yes, driving my other children crazy is worth it!!
I was scared of the vowels at first and hope to start putting some words together for Jerry soon now that he knows some consonant and vowel sounds. I'm a little nervous about doing that though so haven't yet.
This last week was "F" and we played with "f"ire trucks, Jerry's "f"arm animals, and had a "f"inger "f"ood "f"amily night of "f"ish sticks and "f"rench "f"ries. Whew! Say that fast ten times!!
Behaviorally, Jerry is starting to resort back to some of his old habits. He's started having some minor meltdowns again and is back to jumping up and down and flapping his arms when he gets excited. We've noticed in picking him up that he's gained some weight and so I'm sure it's time to adjust his medication again, just as Dr. Rao had said we would need to as he grew. His appointment is in May and so I am trying to hold off until then.
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Mar. 7, 2008
Five Down!!!!!
C, T, M, R, S
Well, after our little hiccup, we've been plugging away. First Jerry learned his "T", and this past week, we worked on "S", which is very easy and a lot of fun considering all of the things that start with an "S". We did sand art, made Model Magic snakes, rubber stamped, went to the park to enjoy the sand, slide, and swings, and...ate sprinkles for a snack, of course!
Our new fun everyday is testing Jeremiah's letter knowledge at the end of the school day. He stands on the dining room chair so he can reach the top of our palm tree where we have put a cut-out of every letter he has learned so far. Then, with everyone watching (and sometimes a drum roll from big brothers), I make a letter sound and Jeremiah points to the correct letter. This week, he got all five letters correct all five days!! If you're wondering why a palm tree then you really need to read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. Jerry loves it! And of course each letter he gets right is met with an onslaught of cheering, clapping, high-fives, and M & M's!!
We also have a palm tree picture we tape to the fridge or a cookie sheet so that, while I read the story, Jerry can use letter magnets to act out what happens. We do this every week for repetition. I guess I don't have to tell you how tired the other kids are of hearing me shout in my big voice, "Chicka chicka boom boom!" Oh well, we're five letters down and so they only have to hear it another 21 times!
On the speech front, Miss Ramos is back to the "c" sound. Why? Because to teach Jerry the sound she taught him to say the words like this..."ccccc cup" and "cccc carrot". So now he sounds like he stutters! Great! She had moved on to the "l", but decided that we needed to go back and fix the "c". Baby steps, baby steps!
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Feb. 27, 2008
Happy Birthday Jeremiah!!
Six-years-old! Wow! Our baby!! Jerry had a great time with his friends after church on Sunday at CiCi's and then we went to Wordspring Discovery Center in Orlando for his actual birthday. Daddy took off from work and we ended the day-long celebration with dinner and cake at Pizza Hut.
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Feb. 24, 2008
The Taste of Autism
Jeremiah & Sammy
I just love this picture! It really sums up what yesterday was all about. It was Autism Speaks' Walk for Autism and it was all about raising support for research and programs for autism spectrum disorders. We were blessed enough to have the walking support of a few of our biggest life supporters and friends, the Cragg family. And when I say supporters, I don't use the term lightly. There have been times in my walk with Jeremiah and his diagnosis over the last year and a half that Kim has not just supported me, but carried me. And as for Sammy...well, he has put up with his share of Jeremiah in the past. Still here he was, his short little legs huffing it faithfully the entire mile for his friend.
Though we could clearly look around and see how blessed we are that Jeremiah's Asperger's is not as severe as some of the other children we saw at the walk, John and I shared a moment where we just reflected on where we'd come from, where we were, and where we had yet to go on this journey. When you have children, you envision the birthday parties, the sleepovers, the parades, carnivals, and even the simple get-togethers that await you with your children.
I stood in the midst of thousands of others yesterday and could honestly say that I never pictured myself at such an event when I pondered things I'd do with and for my children. There was such a cameraderie. Kids were crying. Some wondering off the path we were to walk. Others were holding their ears shut from all of the noise. And still others were having complete meltdowns at the overstimulation of it all. But no one seemed to notice really. Everyone was in the same "boat". No one looked at another's child as if to judge them or their behavior. Compassion ruled.
Jeremiah overheard me speaking with a resource person at the walk and she mentioned autism and smiled as she looked down at Jerry. We walked away and Jerry said to me, "Mommy, what autism? Will I like it? Does it taste good?" I wanted to cry and wasn't quite sure how to answer him. I just smiled and told him that autism wasn't something that you ate, but something that you had. He asked me then if he had it and I said yes. I know he didn't understand what I'd just told him because he looked almost proud, as if he'd won some contest and autism was the prize. But I couldn't get his question out of my mind and thought about what autism tastes like the rest of the day. My final conclusion...bittersweet. I'd give anything to shield Jeremiah from the disappointments, hurts, and uncompassion he will face in his daily challenges with autism, but I wouldn't change the blessing he is to our family and the joy he brings to us just the way he is. Bittersweet.
 "Team Jeremiah"
 Mommy & Jerry
 A Sweet Treat
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Feb. 20, 2008
A Speed Bump
Ok and it's not the big table size speed bumps that you can glide slowly over either. It's one of those little obnoxious ones that jar you uncomfortably no matter how slowly you go over them.
For the last year at speech class, Jerry's teacher has focused mainly on teaching Jeremiah the "c" sound (hard c). He has made tremendous progress and, when he thinks before he speaks and speaks slowly, he actually uses what he has learned and says his "c" words right. Last week at speech Miss Ramos (Jerry's teacher) told me that she was going to switch to a new letter for a while because Jerry was over-exaggerating the c sound now. I sort of knew what she was talking about, but found out for sure this past week.
Week 4, letter four. I picked the letter Tt. Jerry has always been able to make the "t" sound and so I chose this letter for success. I asked Jerry to say turtle. He said, "curtle". I said toys. He said, "coys". I said table. He said, "cable". I said tooth. He said, "cooth". Do you see where I'm going with this? And the more I tried to correct him, the more frustrated he got and he just shut down, yelling, "I can't do it!"
Now, can you say, "AAArrrggghhhhhh!" It's like three steps forward and two steps back. After a little re-grouping, I decided to just make this a review week and reinforce the C, M, and R sounds he learned over the last three weeks. At this rate, he might know the alphabet by the time he's ten!! Ok, now I know I am exaggerating and that he will get it eventually. I also know he needs more time to process and learn things that other kids his age learn in 1/2 or 1/4 of the time, but remember, I am obsessive-compulsive!! I want him to learn NOW! God is working on me. That's for sure!
All mommies reading this...when your child whines during school, when they cry over writing a paragraph, when they take an hour to do five math problems just because they daydream too much...just be grateful they are getting it! I know Jeremiah is too, but it sure is an eye opener when you have three other kids in the home to compare learning styles and rates to. I wanted to cry on Monday at this new discovery, but I know it's just another little hiccup that we'll get over soon enough. Just wanted everyone to know how they could pray for us this week.
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Feb. 14, 2008
Fort Foster Field Trip
We went on a cool field trip today to Fort Foster across from Hillsborough River State Park. Fort Foster was the site of the second Seminole Indian War. We got to tour the fort itself, sample some yummy "wares", and see some really neat artifacts, including arrowheads, and real musket ammunition. Everyone at the re-enactment was in full military or Indian dress and spoke and acted as if it were war times and they were really a part of the historical Fort Foster. We saw a demonstration of musket loading and firing (which Jeremiah could have used a warning beforehand), learned where the Seminole Indians got their name from, and saw so many authentic raccoon and wolf skins that it's amazing they are not extinct! We learned the roles of each gender, whether Indian or military and learned about ways each group of people was resourceful in times when food was scarce and weaponry archaic.
Jeremiah's only concern during most of the trip seemed to be whether or not EVERYTHING we saw was real and if the real Indians were going to kill some bad guys!
 Jerry at the Infirmary Desk
 The Group with an Indian named "Turkey"
 Fascinated with the Firewood Pile
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Feb. 14, 2008
More Super Sounds
It's been a while since I last posted, but I wasn't sure just how much everyone wanted to know about each and every letter we cover in our new quest to learn the alphabet. I can tell you it has been an incredibly long three weeks since we started.
Review, review, review!! And I say it again...review! We spend about as much time reviewing the last few letters we learned as we do learning a new one each week because Jeremiah has such a hard time retaining information. He is getting it. It's just slow going.
Two weeks ago was M (capital letters only at this point, of course). We made Model Magic M's and toothpick and "m"arshmallow creations. I try to have him play in a different medium each week too and practice writing the letters in it so that he can feel their shape for better recognition. So far, we have played in shaving cream and "goop", a combination of water and cornstarch until it is the consistency of toothpaste.
This past week was R and Jerry practiced writing them in "r"ed fingerpaint. He also lined "r"ocks up on a masking tape R on the living room floor.
Whew! Only 23 letters to go!! Keep praying!
 Model Magic M
 Toothpicks & Marshmallows
 Fingerpainting R's
 R is for Rocks
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Feb. 10, 2008
"What Kind of World Do You Want?"
Click on the following link to see what kind of world we want for Jeremiah.
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Feb. 2, 2008
Super Sounds
I was so eager to get going on another unit study with Jeremiah after the success of the planets study. I was almost too eager...out of fear really.
You see, Jeremiah's medicine has helped him to concentrate and be able to learn like he never was able before. I had this eagerness to cram all I could into his little head before...and here comes the fear part...the medicine stopped working; or John lost his job and we couldn't afford it anymore; or our insurance changed and didn't cover the medicine anymore. Yeah, I know, I'm loopy, but if you could only see how much progress Jeremiah has made since starting the medication, and the difference in his personality, behavior, and learning ability, you might understand just a little.
Anyway, my plan was to cover the ABC's and their sounds next in hopes that Jeremiah might someday learn to read. I thought I could cover a letter a day and he'd know the entire alphabet in a month. Then my good friend, some call her the other half of my brain, reminded me that they only cover one letter a week in preschool or kindergarten and expecting more from Jeremiah was simply unreasonable. She also reminded me that God is in control of what Jeremiah learns and retains and not the medicine. My fear was unfounded. I knew that. I just let my anxiety get the best of me...again!
So, we are starting our Super Sounds unit study, one letter a week. This past week we focused on the letter "Cc", as it is the hard "c" sound that Jeremiah has struggled so much in his speech therapy with. We had so much fun. He practiced writing the letter on a cookie sheet smeared with shaving cream, we used a "C" cookie cutter to make sugar cookies, he made a "C" block letter out of dry coffee grounds, we took pictures of everything we saw during the week that began with the letter "Cc", and we even made Jerry a superhero "c"ape to "fly" around the house in. We also put a masking tape "C" on the carpet for the week for Jerry to drive his cars on to feel its shape. His Asperger's self enjoyed lining his cars on the letter too of course. It was a good week. By the end of the week, I could point at the letter and he would make the sound clearly and without hesitation. Here are some pictures of our learning fun.
 Masking Tape "C"
 Coffee Grounds "C"
 Super Jerry's "C"ape
 Shaving Cream "C"
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Glitter Glue
Caterpillar
Butterfly
