For the Visual

I'm including some visuals and commentary for The Hub's post today.

"The Elder begins to meltdown. He doesn’t want to eat his Oatmeal. He tosses his milk cup, gets naked, threatens to pee on the floor, runs to his room, screams, and when he is set into a “wait area” he is crying."

This is when the Younger announces to me that "Brother take off train jammy-jams."

"He’s in a state of not using his words to tell us what is bothering him, even though we know that he can. Everything is familiar… bowl, spoon, milk, even the presentation of oatmeal is the same. Telling him that he has to eat his breakfast is making him meltdown even further. My Lovely and Talented Wife put the timer on the stove and tells him that he has 5 minutes to eat his oatmeal and then finally we get some indication on why he has been acting like a maniac."

He kept saying over and over again that he needed help. In other words he wanted me to feed him. "I need help, see?" as he begins to scoop of some oatmeal and casually dump it on the table. "You know how to feed yourself. What else do you need?" "My L-Max" "I hear that, and I said you can have it after you eat." He throws the milk cup and the spoon across the table and starts to throw the oatmeal bowl. I stop him. So now he is scooping the oatmeal out of the bowl like it is play dough. But here is the thing...he started eating it off his fingers so I knew that he was hungry. Well, he has a fixation with numbers, especially a digital countdown. My exact words were that he had "until the clock says zero or he loses L-Max time." That gets him going just about as fast as reminding him that black things grow on our teeth if we don't brush them.

"But I need a different spoon"
"Would you like a smaller spoon?"
"Yes."
I look at The Hub, happy that we found the lightswitch, to let him know that THAT is what this was all about, since I'm not sure he would have picked up on that otherwise.

"It turns out that he didn’t want the spoon that I gave him. The same spoon that I’ve served him the last 3 times, instead he wanted the smallest (infant sized) version of our silverware. Once he got this spoon he ate his food without a problem and without fuss."

He even took a HUGE bite of oatmeal that barely would fit the large spoon, much less the infant spoon. That's when I said, let me get the camera and take a picture of that big boy bite. So literally less than 30 seconds after receiving the spoon of choice, this is what he looks like:

He even came to church with me this morning and we got no reports. No news is good right?

So even among the great things that are happening with his intervention, we still have moments like these throughout the day, which probably doesn't come to much of a surprise to those of you who live with ASD everyday huh?

I'm so glad that The Hub blogged about this scenario. His perspective is quite interesting, especially when you take in account the recovery period (even for an adult on the spectrum it takes time - thank you for being brave enough to bare your true self- the good, the bad, and the not so pretty). For me, these are mole hills, speed bumps, that just put a blip in your day until you can find a solution, or redirect. Barely different from that of a typical tantrum from a typical 4 year old. It doesn't affect the overall time management of my day more than a typical tantrum would. The difference is the source of the frustration and the fact there is almost always a solution (the lightswitch) that literally can take them from dark to light (one extreme to another). (For The Younger sometimes we have to just let him "cry it out" and he still holds a grudge against us! Ha!) The most frustrating part is when you can't find the solution because it is so way out there random. Today The Elder was ranting on and on and on about his L-Max. An outsider would think, "what a spoiled brat, there is a time to play and there is a time to eat. you've been told before that you can't play at table, and yesterday you complied without a word." When the truth is that his behavior had NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS DESIRE TO PLAY WITH THE L-MAX AT THE TABLE, OR BREAKING THE RULES, OR DISRESPECTING HIS PARENTS. It had to do with the fact that TODAY he had no confidence in using a regular size spoon. Maybe he is afraid that he will spill it on his lap (common reason in the past). That would make him less than perfect, and he can't let us think that, right? Maybe he remembered that ONCE UPON A TIME that one time someone fed him at the table while he played with his L-Max and that might be the solution to the fear he woke up to this morning, so he thought he would aggressively request for his L-Max in hopes that he wouldn't have to use the spoon himself and risk spilling the oatmeal. Does this sound familiar????

What's interesting is I wrote the last post last night, slept on it, had this experience this morning, read The Hub's post, and then went ahead and published and then followed up with this one.

New Clothes Phobia?

Over the holidays we went shopping (love those outlet malls) and got these CUTE, matching (of course), blue, fleece camouflaged pullovers for the boys. When we were still in SC I tried to get them to wear them, but the weather was so nice that it was actually too warm. The Elder said, "I don't need a coat! I'm not cold!" So now that we are back in the mountains and the cold temperatures decided to come join us for the winter, I thought that I would try again...

Again, I started with The Younger and he actually screamed and hollered, not because of the pullover but because I tried to get him wear a pull-up with cars on them. Cloth pull-ups are not cheap so I'm sad that he won't wear them. (Aside: I pulled his diaper off this morning and let him roam naked and he used the potty all by himself! I just asked him, "Did you pee pee in the potty?" "Yes," he says nonchalantly. I go look and sure enough, there was pee pee in the potty and no puddles in the surrounding areas! Yahoo!) So I put a diaper on him and then he left the pullover on too. I bring The Elder his pullover, making sure he can tell that it is like his brother's.

"I can't like that. I'm not cold."
"You're not cold now, but you will be when we get outside."
"I'll just wear my blue coat."
"You can wear both."

He actually picked it up, sneaked, and hid it in the closet in the playroom! He hasn't figured out yet, I guess, that you don't hide things from people when they are watching you. Ha! But then again this is the guy who, when playing hide and seek and you ask the rhetorical "where are you?" he yells back "I'm right here" from his hiding place!

So we get all ready to go and I asked him why he didn't want to wear it.
"Because it has a sticker on it."
"No it doesn't."

He had to show it to me and was pointing to the camo pattern. I guess he mistook it for a sticker. So what's up with this fear of stickers on clothes now???

"I really would like for you to wear the same shirt as your brother because Home Depot is a really big place and I can find you really fast with this pattern, like a mama zebra can find the baby zebra."

I'm so full of it. Although all of that has merit, the truth is they look so dang cute when they are dressed alike in cute clothes! Ha! Well, it worked and he wore it very reluctantly. When we got to Home Depot, he totally forgot that he hated the pullover. When we got back into the van later he looks at me and says,

"I can wear this shirt on Tuesday."

So now it's one of his favorites!

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The other clothes story is short and sweet...

We took the tags off the last pair of new matching jammy-jams (that's what The Younger calls them) tonight for them to wear but The Younger insisted on wearing the Timberland Footies PJs. So I handed The Elder his new robot PJs and he looked at me and said,

"I can't wear dese. I can wear them on.....on Friday."
"Oh but isn't today Friday?" (I'm quite the liar today)
"It's Friday? Oh! Then I can wear dese!"

And then he puts them on.

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As far back as I can remember I have ALWAYS loved getting new clothes. Does anyone else have weird New Clothes experiences with their kids?

The date is set...

The Younger did great yesterday at the orthopedic. The Hub met us there. It was a really big office complex with a lot of people in the waiting room. You could tell that The Younger was overwhelmed at the grandeur because he would not let my hand go. When The Hub came in, I said,"Look who's here!" and he just stared at him. So I said, "Um, it's Daddy." Then his face lit up and he lifted his arms up for him. I hope that isn't an indication that he needs glasses too...

Anyhoo after filling out paperwork and praying they would call his name soon before the 2-story blinds came crashing down on us (why do kids think they need to pull on those strings?), it was finally our turn to go back. He did perfect with the x-ray machine. I guess the time at the pediatrician's office was just a dress rehearsal. Maybe he knew he would get a sticker. Who knows?

No sooner were we back there when I smelled something. "Do you have something in your diaper?" as I'm checking it out. I look at The Hub and say, "Yep, it's a solid one!" The Younger corrects me and says, "No, it's a poo poo."

Well, I was texting The Asst back and forth trying to get a publication mailed out that day so since technically I was working, The Hub volunteered (after I handed him the diaper bag) to change it. He had to ask twice for the bathroom and twice they told him to just change it in the exam room and twice he explained that they were cloth diapers. Our exam room was near a station so I heard everything. The second lady even gave him a plastic bag,

"Can't you just put it in here and throw it in the trash can in there?"
"Well, it would just be the poop."
She looked at him like he had 2 heads. I interject from the doorway,
"He needs a toilet to flush the poop. I don't think the people after us would appreciate us throwing poop in the trash can."

Finally he took The Youngers pants down to show her the diaper. After 5 minutes of requesting a bathroom, she points them in the right direction. Geez!

When they got back I asked The Hub,
"Why are they arguing with us on this?"
"Maybe it's a high security bathroom?"
"I can't imagine it meets sanitary standards for us to throw the poop in the room's trash can." (It was a big trash can - like the size you put by the curb. I guess for trashing larger leg casts?)
"Shoot, maybe I should just take a d*mp here." as The Hub pretends to sit on the trash can and waving to the doctor pretending to say "excuse me, don't mind me, we weren't allow to use the bathroom." Just then the doctor really did walk in and we busted out laughing and the doctor is looking at us like, "did I miss something?"

Anyhoo, enough fun and games. The verdict: Verified that he has congenital trigger thumb, surgery is necessary. They'll have to put him under for the half hour procedure and then put him in a cast past his elbow for 2 weeks. sigh... Fun. The date is set for Feb 15th.

"Are you kidding me?"

This was the response from my brother after I asked, "Is there a Starbucks in town?"

I wasn't sure if it was "duh, there are Starbucks everywhere" answer, or if it was "we don't have anything in our dinky town" answer. It was the latter. We didn't plan our consumption very well on this trip. We assumed way too much, so our food routine has been off the last 24 hours. Actually our whole routine is but I figured, better to do this on a trip AWAY from home than in our own home. No blender for The Hub's daily smoothies. Because tax is cheaper in SC (like by 5%!) we decided to wait until we got here to purchase groceries since we get the organic-gluten-free-casein-free-costs-an-arm-and-a-leg brands and every little bit helps. So we had very little food to choose from. We found a KFC during the trip and peeled off the breading to get it as gluten-reduced as possible. (Here's a picture of The Younger discovering he like corn-on-the-cob. Was NOT a fun diaper to change later especially since I didn't think about bringing a sprayer.) We made a box of hash browns for breakfast and noticed in the ingredients that there is wheat flour in it (I guess to keep the potatoes from sticking together). The kids have been super hyper today and I looked at The Hub saying "no more gluten for them." He laments, "why does gluten turn us into zombies and they go freakin' crazy?" Well, The Lola (my mom) only knew of one place to go (because we scoped 2 grocery stores in town that had nothing organic, much less gluten-free) and we stocked up on some goods for the kids that they (and we) can handle.

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So we come in yesterday and The Elder goes crazy running around the house. He goes up to The Lola and says in shock and awe, "You got TWO uv em???? One over there and one over there?" I realized he was speaking of TVs. We only have one TV upstairs in our house and we have taken the the cable out of the wall. So they had 2 channels going simultaneously on ABC family watching The Incredibles and USA watching Christmas Vacation so that those in the kitchen were bombarded by clashing noises. This morning, we were serenaded by Spongebob at breakfast. I looked at The Hub and said, we have got to buy some toys to lure these kids away from the tube. So we went out today and got these.



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The Kiddos immediately took ALL (all 832 of them) the throw pillows off the couches and onto the floors. This is acceptable in our house because we have crappy furniture. My parents however have really nice furniture, the kind I'd like to have one day when I grow up. The Lola was hilarious when she decided, "Maybe tomorrow I'll have to establish some house rules." I interjected, "Maybe now?"

"Rule #1: Pillows are not toys."

So The Hub made a sign and taped it onto the oven and printed that for The Elder to read.

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Today was the first time The Younger met his cousins and the first time The Elder noticed them. Collectively, they are ages 2, 4, 6, and 8. Isn't that cute? (Since there are more of them, I couldn't called them The Cousin.) Well, The 8yo announces "I have glasses now....Are yours as bendy as mine?" and then later over dinner he looks at me and proclaims, "did you know that animals are connected to sound waves?" So the smarty pants are obviously hand-me-downs, except each kid keeps the smarts before passing it on. The Elder isn't that great with names yet until after the 2nd or 3rd meeting so as he was calling after them "Hey, 2 guys...." and then later trying to get The 6yo's attention, he calls after him, "Hey....the one with the no tooth." I thought I would die laughing.

The 6yo With No Tooth shares The Younger's love for bananas. We don't understand why he put it on his head. I think The Younger has a classic sensory look on his face as that peel gets a little too close to his face. Here you can see The Elder indulging his most recent compulsion, flipping the light switches on and off.

"Rule #2: Light switches are not toys."

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"We need a napkin." (uh-oh)
"What happened?"
"He has tomato on his shirt."

My immediate thought was bloody nose, then worse I thought about the bottle of ketchup on the table. But then I see The 8yo With The Bendy Glasses with a whole Cosco-sized container of cherry tomatoes, feeding them to The Elder.

"Don't be eating those on the couch!!" (remember, it's nice furniture.) At least he got the Elder eating tomatoes, um, unless he spit them out and that is why it was on his shirt. The Hub thought ahead while he was in there, and removed the squeeze bottle of potentially projectile ketchup from the table while reciting, the next rule...

"Rule #3: Tomatoes are not toys."

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Off to deal with totally overstimulated kids...

Day -1

Well, we didn't get the car packed last night, but I was impressed with what we got accomplished before midnight. I've been at a Christmas Breakfast all morning and have my list ready to get the rest done today and packed before we go to our last Christmas Party tonight. I'm bringing my computer on our trip tomorrow, so I'll have means for checking blogs and commenting but may or may not pull it out the bag. So in case it is the latter, I hope everyone has a great holiday unless I'm going to be seeing you, which then of course you'd be having a great holiday right? Ha!

I know that me and The Hub have crossover readers so I won't repeat this potty story but had to link to it. The Hub has the funnier perspective on it anyway.

Here's a fun toy to play with. Merry Christmas!



Added this at The Elder's request:

One unscheduled event

It's 2 in the morning and we've had a poop disaster, a poop scare, and a family of four who may not get back to bed tonight! Details one of these days...

Updated at 8:06AM
[WARNING: not for the weak-tummied readers]

Ok, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the toilet flushing, which is odd because I'm the only member of my family it seems that knows how to do that. I didn't hear a cry out to wipe or pitter patter of feet to the kitchen for plundering so I laid back down but stayed awake because I had taken some allergy meds and it tends to affect my sleep in that way. About 10 minutes later I hear The Younger crying out for me that he "poo pooed, mommy!"

He has had the runs off and on for about 2 weeks now. We think that it started with too much chocolate the last week of November and his tummy environment has yet to recover. The Hub is feeding him Yogurt (of the Casein variety) as we speak to help. I have a doc appointment tomorrow so hopefully he will get a probiotic of some sort. I don't believe it is a virus merely because of the inconsistency, the length of time it has been going on, and the fact that none of us have caught it (knock on wood) despite the fact that he is mr. drooly boy. (I'd like for everyone to think that I keep my house germ-free, but sadly, I do not.) I alluded to a former poop disaster in some of the comments I've left on others' blogs but didn't really document it here. I'll just give the highlights here for my own journaling sake.

• On Dec, 3, did some Christmas shopping with just me and The Younger, stopped at Belk to purchase a gift card
• Was checking out the sales for myself when I smelled something awful
• The Younger asks for new diaper
• I failed to bring a diaper bag, but alas, we keep spare diapers in the car
• We do not keep spare diaper wipes in the car
• So we must go home, so I pick him up and put him in his car seat and retreat my poo-covered hand in parking space next to the handicap space so on-lookers wouldn't have to go out of their way to be a witness to my misfortune.
  
• New car and new diet, so there was not a stack of fast food restaurant napkins in the glove box.
• There was however, tissue in a baby shower gift bag (hey, it was an emergency), and a plastic shopping bag from going to Staples earlier.

We did make it home (sans Belk gift card) and I stripped him naked in the 50 degree weather outside and carried him straight to the tub. Placed all the garments and car seat cover and seat belts in the washer. He's telling the story all day, "Poo poo on my back, poo poo on my seat belt, poo poo on my leg....etc." I could have sung along, "Poo poo on my jeans, Poo poo on my coat, Poo poo on my car..."

So fast forward to 2am this morning. Since I was already awake from the toilet flushing, I decided the nice thing to do was take care of it myself, and not nudge The Hub to do the dirty deed. As I removed PJ pants, poop streaked his legs. Great. A messy one. (Remember they had been inconsistent in consistency and volume) Great. A BIG messy one. Without going into gory details of how it was dripping everywhere and he was squirming all over the place (oops, I guess that was a gory detail), it ended up that I had to hollar out to wake up The Hub for help.

As we were getting it all cleaned up with The Hub tackling hosing down The Younger and me taking care of the carpet and walls and clothes, The Elder appears and is butt-naked and he has his brown-mass covered hands in my face saying, "I need to wash my hands." It was on his face, his hands, and his bottom. I panicked. But then I caught wind of a pleasant smell. Whew. It was just chocolate. Chocolate!?!?!?! Where did you get that and why are you eating it at 2AM??? "I'm hungry."

To his defense, we had gone to his class party and there really wasn't a lot for him to eat (but contraband chocolate). So we go make him a piece of gluten-free toast and peanut butter. Of course you can't do for one that you aren't willing to do for The Younger so he partook as well. Then I got a little hungry myself. Peer pressure I suppose. We were all wide awake and had to start back and do the evening routine all over again.

I finally crawled into my bed around 5ish. At 7:30, The Younger comes to our bedside and we hear the most awful sound come from his body. We both sat straight up (Thank God he was on Dad's side of the bed!) and The Hub rushed him to the bathroom as The Younger exclaims, "BIG poo poo." Minimal movement translates to "maintained containment." Whew!

Alls well that ends well. Until next time....

Fun with The Elder and Google Talk

The Hub posted today's FULL chat session, including background information, school woes, and fun with emoticons. Here's an excerpt of Pink (The Elder via me typing) and me (The Hub)...

Pink: tuesday december 4 2007
me: what season is it?
Pink: thomas and friends and the shrink pot
sunny
me: okay…
Sent at 2:00 PM on Tuesday
Pink: the shrink pot and the shrink just do it percy and henry and gordon and the shrink pot goes upside down and it goes upside down ok good and make they get out. And now the shrink pot goes over and over and round and round and all the way to the floor like that and they go to the shed where all the other engines ok.
me: and then what?
Sent at 2:02 PM on Tuesday
Pink: i love you james and shrink pot does shrink james and went to the dark cave where percy shunting cars and the cars run down the tunnel and bumped into the straight thing in the tunnel and they CRASHED and now it there two things are up and a avalanche came down down to percy and doug and thomas came to the rescue. Thomas says that’s a close to avalanche and those cars can’t only Edward and Rocky and do the rest to get magnets to get those cars and um one day sir topham hat hear all that noise and sees the cars in the tunnel where the avalanche is. Thomas is in the shed with percey and james and where henry is. Rocky and edward are not here. They gonna be right back when they come to the shed they come to the turntable and they sleep and very good to sleep and the doors are closed. Ok The End
(I hope you copy and paste this in your blog)
yyyyyyyyyyyG
me: what a great story
Pink: Toby he saw a big river and the dam is breaking and the bricks fell down and make a big waterfall. And the bridge came ot and the pieces ofthe track and saw the sign beware the waterfall. and the driver said we go around waterfall we do. Harold droped onto Toby buffers and Percy was back there and pushed Toby all the way and clean clean clean and held and lived happily ever after. And The End.
I love you. Bye (from
The Elder)
me: bye
love you
Pink: cat mouse dog bear and washer

I really really really wish I had audio of this because it was hilarious. What you can't capture in the script were the times he was talking faster than I could type. Everytime I asked him to repeat something he would change the story. And if I was really far behind in transcribing, he would repeat the really important words.

"I said 'magnet.' Type the word 'magnet.'"
Never mind if it fit right there in that sentence.

"Not 'helped.' Mommy, you typed the wrong word."

"Woooooooow. That's a long story."

"Mommy, you typed 'avalanche' three times! Good Job!"

Say Cheese

The Elder got his school pictures back yesterday and I must say they are absolutely adorable. It was worth the extra $6 we paid for the touch-up on his forehead. He has a slight scar there (not seen in the picture) and The Hub calls it his "Harry Potter" scar. Now we are working a scar on The Younger's nose. The Fantasy of Trees photographers didn't offer a touch up option.

I also got a picture of him on the bus. I had been meaning to do that for sometime for the scrapbook but kept forgetting but yesterday I grabbed my camera when I saw the bus pull up and was able to get these cutie shots. He was in a quasi-awake state when I boarded the bus. And though it doesn't look like it, he was still quasi-asleep in the close-up picture by his bus number (he's infatuated with his bus number).

My motivation to work is still low but I have been managing to get things accomplished that "absolutely have to be done." The "have to be done" tasks have been postponed to the very last minute (or delegated) and the "nice to do" tasks don't have a chance in hades of getting done anytime soon. The Executive Function is lacking severely these days. I've decided to take The Big Bro's advice and going to cut to half a pill a day to see how that works. I've been taking one whole one every other day and that seems to have helped in the sleepy/snacky department. Of course time for all the fun stuff, like online Christmas Shopping, Pictures for the scrapbook and eating cookies and brownies with The Kiddos, have taken high priority. The Super Doc would be proud. The bank account not so much....

Tomorrow is another trip from The Elder's teacher. I think I should prepare for her visit but really don't know what to expect. Even though this is her second in-home visitation. I didn't know what to expect then either. Has anyone had in-home visitations and might have some advice for me? I'd really like to get the most out of all of our services. Don't assume I know anything. =o) She does strike me as the kind of teacher that truly understands him and wants the best for him. I'm eating that up now, as I know I'm not guaranteed that in the future just based on everyone's experiences I've read about AND local stories too. But I don't want to be naive and not ask for something that I should (and deserve to) ask for.

I feel like he has made a lot of progress. His speaking skills have greatly increased and he plays quite a bit with his brother. Just about a half hour ago we were pretending to go through a typical day...."Time for bed (pretended to sleep); morning time; time to eat breakfast (pretended to eat); time to get ready for school...etc" and even though it was a very Aspergian topic to be pretending, it was pretending. But I thought it was impressive when The Younger went to get "ice cream" from the "refrigerator" and came back to give it to The Elder who "spit" it out and said, "That's Yucky! I want white-flavored ice cream." That's some pretty good pretending right there, though I can't personally pretend that white-flavored ice cream could be all that great.

Yesterday morning he actually went to go brush his teeth by himself *shock* - He went running down the hall after we put his socks on and I thought that he went to find his shoes, but I went to chase after him to redirect him to the bathroom and he was already in there with (God knows how much) toothpaste and toothbrush in hand and scrubbing away. This morning it wasn't as easy of a task, but once I got him in there he was fine. I wonder if my new "mellow" attitude has anything to do with this? I certainly have been able to muster up a lot more patience in the past week. Ho Hum. I'm wavering on whether or not this is a good thing....

On a different note, I was actually admiring The Younger as he was taking care of a baby doll (he waved to the UPS man with it in hand and you could see the guy snickering) and truly relaxing in the fact that he has natural empathy (he was shushing me because she was sleeping). You can tell it is his own intuition and probably has been a Great Teacher to the Elder for lessons in neurotypicalism.

The NEW Paint

The Hub and I downloaded the Sketchup to our respective computers that night I discovered it (the name cracks me up. I keep thinking "you want Smustard and Sketchup on that?"...I digress) and we were both having fun playing around with it. It is quite advanced for a 4 year old (and 30-somethings as well), but I knew that he would have fun just clicking and making shapes because he loves the Paint program that comes with Windows. He calls this one the NEW Paint.

When he got off the bus, I gave him lunch. It was a much more difficult day yesterday, must have been because I sent a note to his teacher that her strategies were working. (I bet he secretly read that beforehand and decided that he would take care of that!) The day was filled with flying food, disrobing in the kitchen, and peeing on the floor. Sigh. Seems like the moment I let my guard down (even in excitement for him to get to try a new computer program) I get reminded to keep it up. I know, I know. I'm the mom and that is my duty to see things coming before the rage stage, right? I gotta get used to that whole paying attention thing. I just wish it didn't take urine for me to remember that.

Anyhoo, one of his very very best friends was coming to visit (which might have been a source of the episode) and he was so excited. Unfortunately it was going to be another hour before he arrived. I cannot in all fairness make him wait a whole hour. Well I had no choice, but I had a plan!!! Sketchup for dessert!

I told him I wanted to show him something on the computer. He got a little frustrated with the whole 3d perspective concept, but then again he was frustrated with working a mouse the first time he was on the computer (he kept touching the screen like he would on his L-Max). He loved the little man that comes standard when you start a new project. There is a horizon which helps you determine which way is up. He thought it was funny to make the man stand on his head. Anyway, I told him to make sure he saved it because I wanted to see it when he was done.

When I came back later he was playing Nick Jr games. I asked him if he was finished with his "house." "Yes" "Can I see it?" "Shore." (That's an echolalic moment he got from his Speech Therapist back in May! It is so cute to hear him still say it.) So we opened the program back up and I looked at his project. Now when I left him, there were a LOT of "buildings and pipes" because I was showing him what each tool did. Now it just showed one very squiggly line and no man.

"What happened to all the buildings?"
"Because I just like this tool. It works. Just like that. See?"

The tool? The eraser!

What were we putting in our mouths?

This is a timeline journal post.

We first learned about gluten back in June 2007 after his evaluation, but before we got the results and diagnosis. A friend of mine was telling me how her friend has a son with ADHD and had been on meds since he was 5. He told his mom "those pills make me sad." (This is heartbreaking because think of the nonverbal kids who are on these meds, or even my verbal son who can't describe his feelings and emotions.) He currently is 13 and takes no medication because his mom changed his diet.

So we thought, it wouldn't hurt to try it. If I can find the picture the Hub took of everything we had to pull out of our pantry I will post it. Our counters looked like a grocery store aisle. Our whole family went on the diet. For me, it really was to support the Hub since he would benefit from this diet as well. If we could get it out of the house, we can't cheat! Besides, if it would bring focus like it claims to, then I was all for trying it.

In September 2007, during our evaluation with the School System, the psychologist asked if we were seeing a difference in the Elder since the diet. And I really couldn't say yes or no, because I did a poor job documenting it, so I said no. Then the Jenny McCarthy era came. And she raved about the gfcf diet. We had considered taking casein out of the diet but really dragged on that because we all looooooooooooooooooooooooooove cheese and those substitutes just aren't the same. When Jenny said that her son's vocabulary doubled and he become more affectionate, I started realizing that I had noticed the same thing in the Elder. So we went ahead and took the plunge and took the casein out. Macaroni and Cheese just isn't the same, but we have finally found a great cheese.

About 6 weeks later to now, I'm seeing what I believe are the effects of removing the casein (if anyone can back me up on this based on your experience I'd be grateful) in his digestive system which seems to be getting closer to regular. He also doesn't whine or groan as much (which might have been from tummy aches from not eliminating). He also is eating. Today I didn't have to tell him twice to eat, nor did I have to tell him to finish. Maybe he doesn't have the full feeling? He has been playing with his brother a lot lately, as in he would start it. His pretending has increased tenfold. His conversations are conversations and not 21 questions.

He had a little allergy episode with the classic runny nose and watery eyes. The next day I ask him, "How's your nose?"
He checks to see if it is running and then says, "It's better."

To a typical family that might sound mundane, but I was mouth hanging open shocked at his response. About a week ago, this is how that conversations would have gone:
"How's your nose?" (no answer) "Look at me because I'm asking you a question." (darting eyes) "Is your nose better?"
Finally an answer, "Yes."

He has learned the phrase, "Want to join us?" (and says it ALL the time. cute) And the other day he accidentally knocked the Younger down (usually it in intentional - sensory-related someone said to me) and he stopped and went back and asked him if he was OK. I feel closer to him than I ever have.

I can't believe the progress he had made speech-wise since he's been at the new school. He also seems calmer. He's still having some self-control problems at school, but come-on, that is like Stimulation-Mart.

So now, on a slightly different perspective. What has this diet done to the rest of us?
For the Younger, I haven't really seen a difference. He's always been regular, he's always been affectionate, so I couldn't use those as litmus tests. He is talking more and in sentences, but then again he is 2 and that is what 2 year olds do!

For the Hub, he got a PR for his marathon time. Here is the excerpt on his diet...

What I Learned

So even though I didn’t eat enough on race day, I think the oveall change in my diet this year made up some of the difference on Saturday. One key thing to my diet has been drinking a vitamin enriched smoothie every morning consisting of Flax Oil (Omega 3,6&9), Frozen Blueberries, Soy Milk, and the Vitamin Smoothie Powder. Since I have been on the Gluten Free diet, my snacking has dropped some. Where I might have 2 donuts in the morning 2-3 times a week, I don’t do that anymore and some of the gluten food that is here at work are left untouched by me. Don’t get me wrong, I still eat my fair share of candy bars and other taste-good-bad-for-you stuff, it’s just now, I am more conscious about it.

For me, I personally look at a piece of cake or a biscuit or a pizza or any indulgent food that contains gluten, and almost immediately turned off (unless it has chocolate, then I waiver back and forth). When I eat gluten now, I literally become a zombie. One day I slept for 16 hours. Luckily it was a Saturday and the Hub was on kid duty. So now I think twice before I consider putting something in my mouth.

But I do have more energy, I lost about 5 pounds (finally got rid of my pregnancy neck without the exercise!), I drink my coffee black now which makes me feel very "grown up" hahaha, I eat much healthier, we save money by not eating out as much (and calories),

However, our grocery bill has not been pretty...

Could I actually be normal?

Monday....I exercised. Spontaneously. I took the Younger in the stroller and went around the neighborhood for a mile, which isn't much but our subdivision is extremely hilly. I was gonna go for another mile since I was warmed up but made the mistake of passing th house and the Younger kept yelling, "back home, back home." Don't think I could handle a tantrum for a whole mile. So we came inside and I did some lunges and stretches. I really felt like I had been productive.

Then today, I hung out at the Shoney's that we have our networking meeting and did some work (I love those internet cards!). Some very productive work, yet still came home in time to get the Elder off the bus. I went through his backpack and he had a big red circle around all of the "Great" marks (that is the highest mark)! WOW...

Eric has also been eating. Eating without whining. And finishing everything on his plate. I do think we are seeing the effect of taking Casein out of his diet. He is pooping a lot more often. Like every other day instead of every other week (exaggeration). Could this all be related?

This is a strange feeling. Seems vaguely familiar and slightly uncomfortable. Could it be......normality? I'm not sure if I can handle getting all excited about that yet, but I'll revel for now. I think I might even deserve a nap...

180 degrees and green water

This morning started out like a mess. I mean a real ugly mess. Because it started messy, I just couldn't get motivated. I knew that Eric's teacher was coming at 1:30 so the only thing I was motivated to do was clear a space for us to sit on the couch. First thing I did in the morning once Cris took over Ryan was email Terry's psych, the Super Doc. I had a lot on my mind and I wanted to get that to her asap before I forgot that I was feeling that way. Soon after a friend of mine called and by the end of the conversation I was yelling. I guess I had a lot to get off my chest! I bet she's real glad she called me today.

Anyhoo, I was a little nervous, ok a lot nervous to meet with his teacher. I didn't know what to expect. Up to this point, my experience with meeting with his teachers had not been favorable and involved a lot of finger pointing (in both directions). So I tried not to stress about it and I played a little solitaire while Eric watched Backyardigans (aside: I was appalled at a Charter commercial that was played during that show where they said the word sex - I mean you don't let echolalia ears tune into that! You just don't! - I'll have to rethink the watching of Nick Jr. - I mean they were also advertising Nick at Night during day time hours using Dora!! But I digress even though I'm really really concerned about that.) When Eric's teacher got here, she was actually human. I mean there was no Cruella Deville. Cris sat in and she gave us both great strategies to use and amazing insights to some of his antics, for example his throwing objects and his inappropriate laughter (which gets under my skin...grrr). She also gave me much comfort and reassurance of feeling the way I was feeling overwhelmed. Terry had been diagnosed after our IEP meeting so I hadn't really been in contact with her since then other than pick up. So I relayed that to her and she looked at me like..no one has ever suggested that you before? In other words, she had already figured that out just from observing him at the IEP meeting and at drop off. Crazy the difference it makes when you get around experience professionals. So she was even able to help me with some parenting strategies that I could easily teach Terry to do. See if I can show him what to do and do it right from the beginning then we are OK with pretty much any technique. But if I teach it to him wrong, it will be hard to get it corrected and executed consistently (no pressure). All in all I was pleased with the meeting.

I left shortly after she did to meet Terry at the Super Doc's office. I hadn't really had much communication with him since the morning from hell. After the great meeting, I was having a hard time remembering if I was still mad at him or not. Sure glad that I sent the email to her, however I didn't go back to "study" it to remind me. We got there at the same time and about 15 minutes early which isn't like us at all. But he asked about the teacher meeting and I started to tell him some things that we were doing right and some things that we were WAY off on. As soon as I stopped talking for him to get a word in about it all, he started talking about stocks. "So are we turning this into a special interest conversation?" Which I meant jokingly and I think he got that (or he completely missed it) because he continued to talk about how our money was doing. I was happy to hear it was doing very well, but I wanted to finish the Eric conversation before we went into Super Doc's office so he would have the info before I told her. He obliges. She comes out to get us in the waiting room and we are all cozy on the couch like a couple in love looking in my notebook of notes - a complete 180 from what she's probably read in my email (and evidently T's email too). So glad that I sent that email or it might have been a completely different session!! She gave us great advice. She even recommended some drugs for me (YAY - bout time!) and I left there soooo relieved to have solutions and strategies. Just what I had prayed for. All I needed was SOMEONE to tell me what to do because I didn't know where square 1 was to start there. She also prescribed me some "me-time." She said I've got to got to got to have it everyday. It was a must. Do it like it is medication. That made me feel a little uncomfortable. I already feel like I don't do enough and to procrastinate on purpose and for my own personal benefit just makes me feel uneasy.

So on a slightly different topic and to piggy back on the potty post I made earlier. Eric's teacher said definitely have a routine BUT switch it up a little. So tonight for tub time when the boys weren't looking, I squirted some blue food coloring into the water. It actually took them a while to realize the water was blue - the Younger noticed first. (I was scared for a moment that it might dye their skins and I had visions of the movie Big Fat Liar and the little blue man.) But they had a blast in the blue water. We only gave them Dixie cups to play with (instead of the usual buckets of bath toys). Eric says, "We can use brush-your-teeth cups in the blue water?" So cute. Well Ryan used the potty before bath time like he always does. Before he got back in the tub he had to go again. Well they are in the tub I look over there and he's got it pointed straight up and he was making a little fountain. "Not in the tub, we do that in the potty!" Terry says kinda under his breath, "You might make it green." Supersonic Eric Ears heard that and said, "I can make it green?" and goes to contribute his own yellow coloring. Ho hum. Time to get out. And what does Ryan do? He goes to the potty again. Geez he musta had a lot of liquids tonight!

My boy wants to potty all the time...dd..pp

I can't read the hub's post today without flashing back to this moment. Back before we "knew" I struggled with Eric running out of the church and into the parking lot like a madman with no awareness of what was around him....like moving vehicles. Luckily it was usually during pickup with I would go get Ryan and other moms would slow down his progress enough that I could catch up to him. One particular day it felt like moms were holding the doors open for him. Grrr. Anyhoo, I think I dropped everything - maybe even Ryan too because I'm not sure where he was when all this happened. Perhaps I left him with a parent. (Poor guy - the 2nd borns have a tough life) Anyhoo, I got him right before he ran out in front of a minivan, who was probably only going 1 mile an hour looking for a parking space, but I tried to transfer my fear into him by telling him it was going fast and almost ran him over. When I had jerked him out of the street he had fallen on the pavement and had gotten his hands grossed up. This was before the "I have to touch/lick everything" phase, a time when he hated to be wet or dirty. As I was ranting on how he almost got killed, he's screaming, "My hands! My hands! My hands!" meanwhile never acknowledging the situation. I was livid but didn't know what to do (remember this was before AS was ever a twinkle in our eyes). We happened to be in a handicap parking space as we had this little scene and I made him sit down, really just so I could take a couple of deep breaths. He looks on the ground at the symbol painted in the parking space and says, "Look, Mommy, a Potty!"

Well I thought I would just die laughing if I hadn't been so mad at him. I gathered our stuff (including Ryan) and we went home.

My initial thought of his comment was that the person is sitting down and maybe he looked like he was sitting on a potty. After some thought, I realized that most public restrooms have the sign beside the "Men" or the "Women" signs on the outside of the room or on th door of the "big" stall. So perhaps he thought the space was a potty. Well reading Terry's second part of his post might shed some light:

The Big Blue Potty

Also on our excursion yesterday, I had to go to Kohls to redeem a coupon that we didn’t use at checkout. It ended up being in our favor, but it took a few iterations to get the prices worked out correctly. As The Elder and I were walking through the parking lot, he stopped on the painted handicap symbol on the parking lot, a big blue (3 ft x 3ft) square with the universal picture of a person in a wheelchair.

The Elder is in the middle of the sign, looks down at the symbol, puts his hands on his waist and asks, “Daddy, can I go to the bathroom here?”

“Wha? No. No. No.” I rapidly replied, finally figuring out exactly what he was doing. He hasn’t quite figured out the whole public urination concept yet. The other day, he had his pants moving down his waist as he was going toward a tree in the church parking lot during our annual Trunk or Treat event.

He is a riot.

On a different note, he had his school pictures today and we had to pay an extra $6 for phtot retouching because he had a small scratch 2 weeks ago on his forehead and it had turned into a dime size wound recovering from mild infection and constant scab picking. We've been putting bandaids on his forehead which is funny considering he used to HATE anything sticking to his skin - bandaids, stickers, temporary tattoos, post it notes, etc. But these are COOL bandaids - they have Hot Wheels on them!! He went back and forth on whether to get the Hot Wheels or the Nascar ones. It was a tough pick but these had a better box - reuseable as opposed to the recyclable carboard box. But now it is healing since he can't pick at it. He actually gets mad when you take it off. He literally cries like you've held him to a fire or branded him on the rear.

I was afraid that they wouldn't think to take it off for the picture, but hub put a spare in his "communication folder" in his backpack so I think they put two and two together. Plus I had told Eric that teacher would take it off for the picture and put a new one on. So even though both parents forgot to send a note, quickly say at drop off, or call in to remind them to take it off, I had confidence that Eric would have kept them in line.

He came home asleep on the bus (so cute, esp since the other little boy was sleeping too) and went straight to the playroom and popped in the Cars DVD (again). THis time what made it funny was that he made me stay and watch because "such and such" was about to happen. Already having full length movies committed to memory.

"Want to see him turn blue? Watch..."

"The car turns over and 9-5 bounce over the wheels. Watch..."

"There...see? Mens and Womens." (The cars were going to the bathroom at the track)

I'll let the potty theme to come full circle and leave it at that!

What's all the talk?

Today was a fun day with the boys. I again got to spend pretty much the whole day with them and it is just amazing how well they are talking. I have noticed that Ryan has taught Eric a lot of phrases (and Eric has taught Ryan a lot of behaviors, hmmmm...) and it is so cute to hear the Elder echo the Younger.

Some of the things that have sunk in this week for Eric. To ask to use the computer. Wow, I never thought I'd see the day that would happen without me having to duck to avoid a shoe, or spoon, or whatever he could get his hands on at the moment, when I would have to say no. Or quickly remove the laptop from in front of him (or vice-versa) to keep him from beating the keyboard to death. I mean to hear "mommy, caniplay on lour computer please?" wants me to let him use it every time he asks and so far I have. He does have his own logon name on my laptop, so he knows he has to "Switch User" and get to his screen before he can play (which he can do independently). He used to have a Thomas Wallpaper but has moved over to Curious George and on his 2nd CG scene since I showed him how to change the wallpaper that one time. He also has a bunch of Internet Explorer links (which is how I know he is on his screen in a quick glance because I use Firefox) on his desktop that only HE knows where they link to, because to the layman, the links look like they link to some site called "lksjdh ;uh;fjzsdj ohg;oshdogi," ";shtuwaotuSDjf;o'rg" and ";ish;oahrjgJ dng;ahr'goi." plus some other sites too that speak a similar language.

Well, today our internet is down so I was planning on using my broadband card, but in an attempt to stake claim to my computer I told him it was down, and he proceeded to hover over the network icon in the systray with the mouse, saying, "No, we have 5 bars!" He was ok with playing Purble Place for a while which is on my hard drive.

During that, the Younger awakens from his nap and comes running to me with arms up, saying, "Hold you." So I pick him up so he can he what Eric is playing on the computer. "Sit down stead." So I let him share the barstool with his brother. When Eric finished and won his game, I cheered for him. Ryan then put his right arm around Eric's shoulders and his left hand on Eric's left arm and gave him a squeeze and said,"Good job, eh-kick!" just like a proud dad would do to his graduating son. Of course this is also the same kid that 10 minutes later when we put Little Einsteins in the DVD player tell me to "Go away" as I go to kiss him good-bye. Hmmmm.. where'd he learn that from, eh-kick?

We are trying to potty training Ryan (not very hard as he is still in diapers - he hates trainers). But every night after tubtime we let him run around nakey until he pees (yes, our carpet is sad). And then we tell him that feeling is pee pee and when he feels that he needs to sit on his potty. Last night he was in our room and ran ALL the way to his room (which isn't far but when your legs are only 12 inches long I guess it is) and sat on the potty without prompting and he made pee pee!!!

Because I've been spending a lot of time with the boys lately, Ryan has gotten a little clingier than normal. Tonight he used his body as a barricade to my car and wouldn't let me get in and I was already like 5 minutes late for a meeting. And when I did get in he tried to open the back seat door. When I pull out of the garage waving to him, he was giving me the "fake pout." Cris and I each had to cover our mouths to laugh. It's funny how I don't get too wound up about this separation anxiety. I guess because Eric never had it, and I had lived through the stress of it vicariously through the other preschool moms whose children in Eric's class were screaming death cries when they got dropped off. And then again learned the lesson right along with them that they are just fine. (I think I cried more because Eric didn't cry when I dropped him off)

Anyhoo, the meeting was canceled so I came home in less than a half hour and I thought I would surprise him. They were both in the tub and when I got there they became wired. We let Ryan do the nakey dance (no pictures were taken to protect the embarrassment at his future wedding reception) and they were running up and down the halls getting us "food." TWICE Ryan stopped what he was doing to run and sit on the potty and TWICE he would look up at me and say, "s'not working" (stage fright I assume). Shortly after the second try, he peed on the floor. He was very upset about this and started rolling on the floor, saying "I'm sleepy." I mentioned to Cris how it is so odd to hear him talk about his feelings because Eric never told us when he was tired or hungry or thirsty or happy or whatever (at least accurately). But, again, Eric has learned a lot from his baby brother. Like how to pretend play at least with the "serving us food" game. It's cute because Eric's play is a cross between what he sees/hears Ryan do when he is pretending and what he sees/hears us (Me, Terry, & Cris) say when we are actually serving him food.

"Mommy, what do you want? Orange juice or apple juice?"
"Orange Juice"
"That's a good ideeee."
Then he puts his hand tightly over my mouth (as if he is trying keep me from talking) and makes drinking noises.

My boys....growing up...

Update on the school front...

We had "Get Acquainted" day at the Preschool today. I must say that I feel much better now that I have talked with Eric's teachers. They seemed very willing to work with Eric. They do not practice Time Out in the classroom, only redirection, which eased a lot of anxiety because I didn't want the other kids seeing him in Time Out all the time and be afraid of him (Time out doesn't appear to affect Eric at all). The other pit in my stomach was to warn them about his biting. I know they have a very strict no biting policy, as in expulsion after the 3rd time (Warning, Sent Home, Sent Home for good). They didn't immediately go at me like I envisioned in my head for weeks. I really felt at ease so praise God for that! I brought them a copy of the John M Ortiz lecture to listen to. Neither of them had heard of AS so I was glad that I had it available for them today. I just hope they listen to it before Monday. I'm trying to think of things that I need to make sure they know. I'm so new that I don't really know what to tell them until after it happens, even then I don't always know how to tell them how to handle it. I am experiencing this with Cris as she tells me about the "what happened today" episodes. I know what to do in the heat of the moment, but I rely alot on my instinct and how do I teach that to someone who doesn't know my child as well as me? When you know what sets him off then you can prevent a bite or meltdown or whatever. Once he is in the mode though, it takes spur of the moment creativity, a lot of patience, a lot of love, and a lot of acceptance.

I think the younger is going to have a lot of fun this year. His teacher Miss C told me over the summer she was looking forward to having him this year and I warned her that he was mighty strong-willed. Her response was the stronger the better! Yeesssss! The only bummer thing is that they don't allow cloth diapers in their class. They did last year. I guess because they are potty training at this age, I dunno, but I did ask if I could send one for them to put on him at the end of the day. That's one diaper a day, 2x a week that I wouldn't have to 1) pay for and 2) contribute to the diaper pile in the land fills.

I can't like that

The intro to Floam was interesting...He was so excited when I showed it to him through the packaging. "What's that?" "It's floam, its like playdoh." "Like playdoh? Lemme see it." His excitement turned into instance disgust. But very pleasant disgust I might add. He just flicked it off his hand with a half-smile (I'm being an optimist here) on his face and simply said, "I can't like that."

So they went outside to play with the playdoh. Oh yeah, and I figured out that he really isn't playing with it. He uses the scissors (from the letter/number kit I just bought) to cut the playdoh into "cookies" and then the last cookie he just mutilates with the scissors. Today I passed by when he was having playdoh time with Cris, and saw him stacking the Playdoh containers into a tower (no playdoh was out except what Cris was playing with). Short lived love affair huh?

So do I dare reintroduce Floam in the same DAY? Why not? He had a decent response. So during my "shift," as I call it when Cris is off duty, I pulled it out and spread it over my hand like a glove, and he stressed out about that. "Gotta take it off, mommy." Then I tried to flatten it to see if I could use the letter stamps, but that didn't work. It crackles a little bit as you mash it and I think that might have been hurting his ears by the way he was shying away from it. Finally I put it all back into the tub, no lid. I started playing with the younger who LOVES playdoh, and he's learning a few letters here and there. All of a sudden I hear, "Look mommy...holes." He was poking his finger into the Floam and there were about 10-12 finger indentions in the tub! So I made a bigger hole and called it a swimming pool, and then I made "stalagmites" and called them trees (which really impressed him by the way). He tried to make trees by picking a little bit and stretching it up (if you've ever played with Floam, that just doesn't quite work). So a little bit was picked off inadvertently and I asked him to roll it into a ball. "It's too small" So I gave him a bigger chunk, and he made a "ball" with it! He still had some stress lines going on on his forehead but he was really trying. Next thing you know I took the whole slab out of the tub and held it to him to let him squeeze it. I finally got this shot of him going "solo" with the stuff.
WOW, what a day!

Another part of today's WOW day was it was his first Cherub Choir rehearsal ever. I took him to his class and they were all sitting in a circle and he comes in and plops in the middle. Ms. N shows him where he needs to sit and he listened (he was still in the middle of the circle but not so obvious-we haven't told anyone at church about his diagnosis yet). I didn't see him again until they were dismissed 30 minutes later, and he came running out saying "mommy!" and ran to give me a hug. I was shocked and elated at the same time. Glad no one knew about his AS because no one would have believed me! On the way home, I tried to get him to tell me about his experience. "I can't say it." Then I went into the detailed questions, "Was Henry there?" "Yeah" "Did you sing a song? "Yeah" etc. He did try to tell me something but I'm not really sure what that might have been. But when we were almost home he said, "I like going to school." Wow wowee!! A clear, complete sentence AND describing an emotion!!!

I'm a happy mommy today!

[Newsflash: The younger just successfully used the potty for the first time! Could this day get any better?]

Party's Over

OK, It's been a long day of back to back pity parties. I've been on the phone ALL day with a friend with 2 special needs girls and my Mom and then my Dad. I'm ready to get up, dust off, and start learning again but in a productive manner. I just need to feel confident about my son and my husband and stop trying to categorize everything little thing - was what he just did AS or autistic or NT or whatever.

I love this quote in the article I read from an Autism Vox link:

"If you've seen one child with autism, you've seen one child with autism," Leebold says.

I felt a little uncomfortable when I met with the preschool directors because I felt like they were stereotyping him into the "They" category. They do this and They do that and They don't like this, etc. One of the directors has hands-on experience with working with a student at their school. But that's just it...A student...as in ONE. The rest is textbook knowledge. I know that it is not their intention to make me feel uncomfortable and that they truly have Eric's best interest at heart, but I wonder if they really understand what he needs. I asked them to give him a week or a week and a half (because he did really well at VBS) to see how he does before they change his curriculum. I said this because when I visited the class last year the teachers told me that by the end of the year (when most of the kids in this class will be turning 5 during the summer), they should be able to count to 20, know their alphabet, know their basic shapes and basic colors - um, Eric learned to count to 100 sitting on the potty when training (he actually figured it out himself using the pattern of numbers), he could say the alphabet phonetically before he was 3yo (aa, buh, kuh, duh... thanks to Leap Frog Letter Factory), he pointed to a stop sign one day last fall and said "hexagon," he also knew then the difference between sky blue and blue and violet, and to boot, he can do basic math and use an abacus (at least I think he can - I don't really know how to use an abacus, but he was figuring what 2 plus 6 was using it. (He turned 4 July 8th) Anyhoo their response was, "Oh no, we won't change for him, HE will conform to US." My reaction was a blank look. Smooth, Jen. Because of my lack of confidence at the time, and their knowledge of how "They" are, I wasn't sure if I could respond intelligently. Now I'm thinking what are they going to do when the other kids learn nothing because Eric keeps yelling out the answers (that is what he does to Ryan)? Surely they are going to have to change something in his curriculum. I'm going to hold on to the assumption that they are referring to social conformity, I'll just expect that they do it in a sensory friendly way.