But I often get a slightly anxious feeling that I am not paying enough attention to managing Big Nut and helping with a few of his special "quirks". Pretty much everything you read about autism states that the time to help is NOW, preschool age, and I have justbeen too busy/stressed/tired/overwhelmed...
A few things that have caught my attention:
- There is some kind os disconnect in Big Nut's brain between a word's meaning and its sound and how he sees it. We were playing with Scrabble letters some time ago. Big Nut was having fun trying to name them. I forget what the exact letters were, but a couple of them he kept calling "B" (I think it was the "m" and the "v", along with the "B".) Another couple letters he was calling "D". No matter how many times I corrected him, he kept naming them the wrong way. He wasn't trying to be silly - he looked genuinely perplexed that it wasn't the letter he was saying. When I lined them all up on the table and told him to point out each one ("Which one is "M", Big Nut?), he got it right every single time. Switch back to him naming them, and he can't do it.
- He still needs constant direction and supervision. Left to himself, he simply gets into things. Emptying Q-tip boxes, tearing up cardboard, etc. He still doesn't really play with toys appropriately for his age, and not for a sustained amount of time even then. His little brother can play in the basement playroom by humself for 30 minutes to an hour without supervision. Big Nut is not allowed to because he simply gets into things he's not supposed to. I really don't think he means to, he simply doesn't know how to entertain himself. (And, yes, he still receives discipline for getting into what he's not supposed to. )
- Most people don't see these things because most people are around Big Nut in fairly structured environments (school, Sunday school, etc.). He does quite well with lots and lots and lots of structure. I don't have the resources to provide that much structure at home, but worse, I need to teach him, as he gets older, to provide structure for himself, and I just don't know how I'm going to do that.
- Speech is still tough for Big Nut - he often sounds like he's mumbling. Luckily, he seems happy to keep trying to get it right and really works hard for his "high fives" for correct pronunciation.
- Social skills are also a little off for my Big Nut. How do you teach appropriate social skills? Most people instictually know not to speak 1 inch from someone's face, and if they didn't, the other person's reaction would let them klnow to back up. Big Nut doesn't always know and doesn't "get" body language communication.
These are all things that I'm aware of and know I should be in some way helping with, but don't always know how, and even when I do know how, may not have the time or resources.
Frustrating.
3 comments:
Is he receiving services from his local school district. He should be eligible for free preschool as well as speech therapy, occupational therapy and possibly other services as well?
Because the preschool years are so important, there are laws governing access to those services. Even though he may not be old enough to go to public school, the public school system should provide preschool services.
Teaching social skills is important and essential. We're still teaching our 17/yo (blind, Asperger's) social skills that he can use in the working world. Keep at it; you sound like you understand PDD-NOS and your child very, very well.
Thanks for the info...I do know about that and Big Nut has been in public preschool since he turned three. One of the blessings of our moving to another town is that the program here is SOOO much better. He does receive speech (I am uncertain how much) and while he does not receive one-to-one occupational, there's an OT in his classroom as one of the paras.
What I need to do is have better communication with his teacher. (My fault , not hers.)
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