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Post by Jessie on Mar 13, 2007 4:48:14 GMT -5
Will be thinking about all of you. Keep us posted when you can.
Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 8, 2007 15:03:07 GMT -5
Awww, poor Andrew! Hope he's feeling better soon.
Yes, very sick of sickness this year!! Just when we think everyone is getting healthy one of us comes down with something else and pass it around to each other. Enough already!!!
We'll join you on the island once Andrew is feeling better and not contagious anymore! LOL
Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 8, 2007 8:48:36 GMT -5
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Post by Jessie on Mar 9, 2007 10:31:47 GMT -5
Huh, this is the one thing that Jason doesn't do! He NEVER does this in public or when we are with other people. He does jabber when he is in his room by himself, but I always assumed he was either talking to the dog, singing along to a movie or just playing out loud . . . never really thought of it as a conversation.
I agree with Susan, might be nice to just talk to yourself instead of hearing the usual "What?, slow down, use your words . . . " when trying to communicate with other people!
Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 8, 2007 8:52:52 GMT -5
Very sweet!!!
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Post by Jessie on Mar 7, 2007 8:26:40 GMT -5
I can't believe he's 14!!!!! He was just a little boy when I first met him. He really has grown so much in every way when I compare him to when he and Brian first moved to Michigan. I'll be taking a Superman cupcake cake to his school here shortly so he'll be excited. Then, tonight it's off to his favorite restaurant (outside of McD's of course), P.F. Chang's. Saturday we will have our family birthday party for him. We are still torn about what to get him for his present . . . I'm going this afternoon to make the final decision!! LOL Happy Birthday Jason!!!!
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Sad
Mar 6, 2007 9:08:33 GMT -5
Post by Jessie on Mar 6, 2007 9:08:33 GMT -5
Oh so very sad. They will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 6, 2007 15:20:20 GMT -5
Leah . . . well, um, I'm the President of our Board, so yeah, I can contact people However, even though I have access to everyone on our "list", there really are only a couple of older kids that I have ever met through our group and they and their parents tend not to come to meetings anymore. We have lots of babies (and dang are they cute, there were three little goobers at our meeting last night) and the bulk of the age group is somewhere between 5 and 10. Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 6, 2007 5:00:30 GMT -5
This is a leap over from the Self-Stimming thread. Part of Jason's boredom comes from not having a social circle - we know this - we just aren't sure what to do about it. He is in a self-contained school that is about 15 miles away. Therefore, I'm guessing most of the kids live more towards that rural area than they do around here. PLUS, and most importantly, Jason does not really take to other kids with disabilities. As a matter of fact, two of the other boys in his class that are his age also have Ds and they butt heads all the time (hmmm, can we say 3 stubborn boys trying to be the leader of the pack?? LOL). There's really only one other boy in his class that I think might be an option to get together with outside of school. He gets along with his classmates overall, but I wouldn't consider them his "friends" per se. We don't have any neighbor kids for him to play with. The girl that lived next door that would come over and play basketball with him moved away a couple of months ago. His cousins that he was close to that used to live a mile away moved to Florida last year. His other cousins that live close by are younger than him and they simply do not have the same interests and don't enjoy playing with each other. He definitely enjoys being around older typical kids . . . however, with his communication problem it's really difficult to ask a 15 or 16 year old to come over and hang out with him (not that I even know many 15 or 16 year olds, but you get the idea) when there is really no conversation that can take place. Really, I think our only option is to get him involved in a weekend activity. After school isn't so bad with the boredom thing, it's mostly on the weekends. We have tried to get him involved in Special Olympics floor hockey and bowling. He loves to bowl but refuses to participate with the SO team. Why? I have no idea - the whole participating with other special needs kids thing? We have monthly Ds association meetings and every other month is a casual meeting where we bring the kids. I don't even take Jason anymore because all of the kids that are there are younger than him and he is bored out of his mind. I started taking craft projects for all of the kids to work on and he has no interest in doing anything like that. CC - ever since you said that Chris was in karate, I've thought that's something Jason would enjoy. I think I finally have Brian convinced that we should give that a shot. He was reluctant to have Jason taught fighting skills (LOL), even though he can already out-wrestle grown men as it is!! So . . . MB or anyone that has some suggestions on how to create a social circle - I would certainly welcome those!! Thanks. Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 7, 2007 8:23:41 GMT -5
First of all, I didn't realize that there was an "Outbox" that stored all of my outgoing PM's!! LOL There have been so many times I wanted to go back and re-read what I wrote to someone and didn't see that I could do that - duh.
Second, I tried to use the backup function and I don't see where you go to download the zipped file that is spelled out in the instructions. Maybe this function is just not active right now.
Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 6, 2007 15:15:45 GMT -5
LOL Dawn!!! We DEFINITELY wouldn't send him to his room naked if he was doing THAT kind of flipping!!! LOL
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Post by Jessie on Mar 6, 2007 4:40:25 GMT -5
Allisa - I forgot to address your brushing suggestion. Not sure, but I think Jason would probably flip his lid if we tried that. Doesn't mean I won't try it, but I don't think it will go over well!! LOL
Dawn - I'm not sure how else to describe what Jason does other than to say "flipping". He doesn't really dangle objects . . . think of maybe cracking a whip. That's more the motion that he does with a shirt or something that is floppy in nature.
MB - actually I was thinking that might be a good thread to start in regards to the social circle. I'll post it up right now because I did want input on that issue too.
CC - I agree, he needs to be involved in an activity . . . more about that in the social circle thread.
Thanks everyone.
Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 5, 2007 14:42:20 GMT -5
Kind of like how I need to have the fan on, even in the middle of winter so I can sleep?!! LOL Ok, I can relate. That's why we struggle with this issue, because I do believe it's a need on his part and not just a bad behavior that needs to be fixed. I think Jason's number one reason would be boredom. He needs more peer interaction. We know that, we just don't have a good solution yet. Yesterday when I went up to his room he was sitting there with the light off, no TV on, no boombox on, just sitting in the middle of his room flipping his shirt. I think we just need to come up with a way to allow him to do it, but not destroy things in the process or drive us nuts. I like the cheap t-shirts located in one area, flipping only on the bed suggestion. I'll talk to Brian and see what he thinks. Once we make it clear what the expectations are and we feel comfortable that he understands them, then we'll move on to consequences for other clothes that are used and destroyed (if that happens). Thanks!!!!!!!!!! Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 5, 2007 11:11:03 GMT -5
We are very torn about what to do with Jason and his self-stimming behavior. First, let me state that I DO understand that it's part of who he is and that there is a "need" for him to do this on some level. Here are the problems that come along with this behavior though. His stimming method of choice is to "flip" things - particularly clothing or any toy that has something long - let's say a wiggly tail or snake. If he is outside, it's tree branches. 9 times out of 10 it's his clothing. Two problems with this. One is that if he is allowed to stim for very long, he gets VERY wrapped up in his own world and gets angry and agitated. A doctor of his told Brian and his ex a long time ago that he should not be allowed to self-stim because it works him up too much. I don't know if this doctor specialized in Ds or not. The second problem is that he eventually destroys his clothes. On top of "flipping" he is a compulsive "worrier" - KWIM? If there is a teeny tiny microscopic hole in something, forget it, the garment is history and shredded to pieces. Well, once he has flipped a t-shirt a few hundred times, it tends to wear out and he manages to find any worn spot. No, I don't buy cheap clothes and yes he has a ton of clothes. It got to the point that we removed all of his clothes from his room and they are now downstairs in the basement in a dresser. However, we can't send him to his room naked (LOL) so he can take off his shirt and flip away. If we get after him about it - and yes, try to redirect him to do something else to keep his mind occupied, he will literally take the pillows off his bed and take off the pillowcases to flip those (and be ticked off at the world for making him stop). Grrrrrrrr He has so many other things to do in his room alone (which is where he prefers to be 90% of the time), games, tv, movies, books, you name it, he has it. He also always has the option of hanging out with us, which he generally tends to NOT want to do. Typical teenager in that regard. Even if we could occupy his time 100% of the time (which, sorry, that's not realistic) he is someone that needs his alone time - he gets overstimulated if he is on the go from morning 'til night without a rest period. One little additional aggravation for us is that his room is directly above the living room and we have to listen to him "flip" onto a hardwood floor that just has an area rug. Ok, so he has needs, but we need some quality of life around here too!! LOL So . . . do we continue to try and make him stop stimming like this and make him suffer consequences to get him to understand he can't do this . . . do we give him ONE object that he is allowed to flip for a certain amount of time each day (keeping in mind this might be super hard to control for us) . . . do we let him do what he seems to need to do and forget about worrying about clothing or OUR mental stability . . . If we do go the making him stop, making him suffer consequences route, my thought was that whenever he does rip something to shreds and we have to throw something away, something of his goes in the trash with it. Is that horribly mean? I don't know what consequence would be appropriate for just the stimming alone, even if he doesn't ruin something. Talking until we are blue in the face about this and removing clothes from his room have not curtailed the situation at all. HELP US!!! Thanks. Jessie
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Post by Jessie on Mar 5, 2007 10:44:52 GMT -5
Wow! What a WONDERFUL choice to have to make!!! I think I'd pick the Honors Assembly too . . . Jessie
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