N is for Noah

School went much smoother this week.  I was more organized and I had taken a look at week one and was able to find ways to tweak our schedule.  I think by week four or five we will be right on task.  Our theme for the week was Noah and his Ark.  We learned about the letter "N", the number one, and the color orange.  Our memory verse was : "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Genesis 6:8  The big discussion of the week was that just like Noah, we need to listen to what God tells us, no matter how crazy we think it may be.

 On Wednesdays the kids have a friend over who is doing the same home school plan.  We will call her "Princess".  This weeks sensory bin was a water bin with Noah's Ark.  We used the Ark and animals to act out the story.  I started and then prompted the kids to finish the story on their own.  They did an awesome job and had obviously listening been listening to the story when we had been teaching it to them because they were able to tell the story without my help.  I then let the kids have a little free play together in the water. 

And unlike in the Bible....our Ark sank.  :-)

After I cleaned up our wet mess from the water bin, I pulled out the bin from last week.  We didn't get a chance to use it last week because we ran out of time, and I thought the kids would really like it...and they did.  Last week we learned about insects.  I made a small bin filled with Decaffeinated coffee, plastic bugs and spoons and small cups.  The kids loved it!  It took alot to get them away from the bin when our time was up!  Although the kids enjoyed this activity, and it was a great sensory activity (the soft but gritty coffee grounds and strong fragrant smell), it was VERY messy and had the potential for some big stains on clothing.  (Next time, I think we will be sure to have old clothing on!)  I'm glad Peanut was wearing darker colors.  Sassy was wearing Khakis and although they looked like they may be ruined, all of the staining came out in the wash without any extra work.

They seem to love coffee almost as much as I do!

This week's fine motor activity we called "nickels".  I chose to use nickels because they began with the letter, "N" so it was an additional way include some phonic in our lesson.  I took a small shoe box for each child, and put a small slit in the lid.  The kids each got a handful of nickels (place flat on the table).  They then had to take the nickels, one at a time, and put them in the box.  This was a great fine motor activity!  It's not easy using your index finger and thumb to pick a coin up off a smooth table.

 

Peanut has an issue with a right sided neglect (he ignores/avoids using his right side).  He performs activities better with his right side, but prefers to use his left, which is actually more difficult for him.  He tries to use his left hand to write and cut but I suspect he is truly right handed.  When doing the nickel activity I instructed him to use his right hand to pick up the nickels.  After this activity was done, we moved on to cutting.

This picture is a little blurry, but which hand is her using???  His right hand!  I handed him the scissors and allowed him to chose the side.  He then took the scissors and cut out his memory verse 100% independently!  This is the first time he has ever been able to do this!  The picture is probably blurry, because I'm quietly crying as I'm taking the picture!  Once their memory verses were cut out and taped, we moved on to another cutting activity from "Lets Learn to Cut."  Again, I let Peanut pick which hand to hold the scissors.  This time he insisted on using his left and had much more difficulty.  I think we are going to start to encourage more right hand usage!  I have now begun to research this issue.  We can't be the only family out there seeing this type of issue.  I have found some answers, and will share what we have found as soon as I can understand it all.

Both children have some visual perception issues, although Peanuts is much more apparent, so I try to include upright activities with the easel every week.  This week we painted out number ones with orange paint.  The kids had alot of fun with this.  I think we'll make this a weekly activity.

I had found a Noah Ark activity on First School that turned out really cute and the kids like doing it.  It kept their attention for a good 45 minutes!  We used Q-tips to paint the rainbow and the ark.  I cut all of the construction paper pieces out before hand and helped the kids glue them on.  Using the Q-tips was another nice fine motor activity.  It also encouraged the kids to use a tripod grasp to help with begining to write.

Last week was busy but went very well.  I was able to get great progress with peanut and his ABA goals, and actually got some data graphed too!   I'm finding it's still going to take a while to fall into our new schedule so everything can get done.  I feel we are doing the right thing for our kids.  They are getting what they need.  This is just yet another confirmation for me that if you follow Gods guidance he will bring you in the right direction.

'"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:31

God Bless!

Mommy Provost

Our first official week of home school! (On our way to week 2!)

This past week was our first official week of home school.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but it all turned out better than I expected and I'm loving our new schedule.  Last weekend, just before we were supposed to start, I got sick with viral pharyngitis.  I had a fever and couldn't get out of bed over the weekend.  I honestly don't remember the last time I was THAT sick.  Fortunately it was the weekend an so my husband was home and my mother stayed late with the kids on Saturday while my husband was at work.  My wonderful mother in law was ready to come help with anything we needed as well.  We really are so blessed to have such supportive family and friends!  By Monday I was feeling 80% better and ready to jump back into action.  I figured I'd share what we are doing and what we are using for the curriculum we've created.

Therapy:  Both children are in ABA therapy of some kind, and this is done daily.  Sassy has 5 hours a week through Early Intervention and we continue to reinforce her behavioral targets when the therapist is not here.  We can't afford to pay for private ABA therapy Peanut and I are doing his ABA therapy together using the Skills program through the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD).  I do trials with him while Sassy is in her various therapies and whenever else I can fit it in.  My goal is 20 hours per week.  My husband, my mother and occasionally Jacob's OT are also doing certain trials with him as well to help maintain the skills over various environments with different people.  I have to say I love this program.  Once we really get the program going I'll share more about it.

On Sundays Peanut does his Therapeutic Listening on the way to church and on the way back.  We live about 30 minutes from the church and we are there for a little over 3 hours (usually 9:30-12:30) so the sessions are separated by 3 hours.  During the week I work Peanuts therapeutic listening in while we are driving to a therapy, during free play time, or he will wear it during lunch or dinner.

Both children have Sensory Processing Disorder as well as fine and gross motor difficulties.  They both go to Sensory Integration (SI) therapy/OT at Easter Seals 1 hour per week each (We love Easter Seals!).  During our home school and play times I work in as many SI, fine and gross motor activities as well so they really are working on this daily as well.  We have our Sensory Room in our home, our awesome outdoor playground and sand table, and a local indoor playground that is run by a former therapists.  It is set up in a way that encourages socialization with the kids, fosters pretend play and is a safe environment for my kids (with safety issues) to climb, jump and slide to their hearts content. 

Sassy is seen weekly by a Special Educator through Early Intervention.  This person does OT and Speech activities with her.  Her receptive and expressive speech is considered advanced for her age, but she does need help on pragmatics.  Peanut still needs help with his speech.  We have him on a wait list at Easter Seals for an evaluation to get started in Speech Therapy with them.  I have training in Physical Therapy and some ABA (I learned the basics through a local Early Intervention program that Peanut was in 2 years ago, and I also completed and passed 40 hours of ABA training through the Skills program.)  So I am comfortable with OT, SI, PT, and ABA.  I know nothing about Speech Therapy so I've decided I need someone to help with this.  The kids also attend Music Therapy.  This therapy does a variety of activities that work on all of their therapy's combined.  We have seen some great language improvements as well as motor, cognitive and social improvements.  I recommend Music Therapy for any child with Autism.  The only downside is that many insurance companies don't cover this therapy.  For us, the expense is worth it's benefits.

With these therapies for both kids, I have been able to schedule it so we actually have 2 days without any therapy at all!  One of these days we have friends over to play and once a month, go with us on a field trip.  The other day I use to have a somewhat "normal" day.  We do our therapy and home school activities, go to the library, and run errands together.

School:
We decided on a Bible centered curriculum.  Each week would have a theme that goes along with the letter of the week.  We also have a color or shape of the week, a number of the week and a Bible memory verse.  This past week we learned about the letter I.  Our theme was insects.  We also learned about the number zero and the color Red.  Our memory verse was "God will instruct us and show us the way."  Psalm 32:8.  We read about Moses during our morning Bible time and talked about how God instructed and showed moses and the Israelites the way out of Egypt. 

We went on a field trip with friends as well.  We went to a butterfly sanctuary to see various insects.  There, the kids were able to see insects in every stage that the butterfly and moth go through as they transform.  They also saw birds, fish and even a praying mantis.  This was calming for Sassy and difficult for Peanut.  Being in a humid room, with butterflies flying everywhere around you, birds chirping in a room that echos, plants everywhere (which you are not allowed to touch), with fragrant flowers and the sound of a water fall, was tough to say the least.  He was asking to leave and so after a quick walk through we left that are and went to an area where the kids could still see everything through a glass window.

We begin our day with 30 minutes of TV and "wake-up" time.  The kids have their juice with all their first round of various supplements mixed in.  I call this their morning coffee.  If there is even the slightest delay in receiving that juice they are at your feet whining until they get it.  After that we turn off the TV for most of the day and have breakfast.  During this time we also review the calender, our daily picture schedule, do our Bible reading, prayer and devotional. Depending on our schedule depends on what we do next.

Circle time: There are some other daily things we are sure to do.  One of those activities is circle time. Each child has a carpet square to sit on.  We sing the hello song to each other, a Bible song, a preschool song, and a finger play activity related to the weeks theme.  We then site together and use use my laptop to do a couple of activities on Starfall.com. 

School work: The kids are both working at a preschool level.  We will do small and big art projects as well as various worksheets and activities relating to our weekly topic.  It seems impossible to buy one curriculum in a box and have it "fit" you child, let alone 2.  We have created a curriculum using multiple sites and books.  We are using an eclectic approach, mixing multiple forms of teaching including classic teaching methods, the structure of ABA and theories of Charlotte Mason, Montessori Method, and Sue Patricks workbox system.  I will share more as we go.  I was unable to really take any pictures of anything this past week because I was so busy trying to make our new schedule "work".  I think as the weeks go on it will get a bit easier and I'll be able to post more as I go.  All of the kids therapy progress and school work progress is documented in a sheet I created to keep track of everything.  I was able to fill most of it in last week.  I guess so far, so good right?

So that is our new home school plan!  Phew!  I'm tired just looking at it!  Well, I'm off to try to unburry ourselves from some laundry before bed.

Goodnight and God Bless!

Mommy Provost

Our Construction Birthday Party!!

Peanut turned four August 21st!!!  I can't believe he's already four, they grow up so fast!  In the past couple of years we have transitioned from having a giant birthday party for each child to having a small family party and a small kids party.  This year for Peanuts fourth birthday we had his party at our house.  I got a Celebrate Express catalog at the hours a few months ago, and I went through, pulled five pages out of the magazine and let Peanut pick his own theme.  This year he chose a Construction Theme which I have to say, turned out to be a really cute theme!

I was able to have custom made invitations created through Vista Print.  We dressed Peanut up in a cute construction outfit and downloaded his picture on to the invitation.  

(Our personal information is blacked out)

The morning of the party, I went out and picked up our balloon order.  A friend of mine and I went out ant decorated while my wonderful husband stayed in side, fed the kids lunch and got Sassy down for a nap.  We wrapped streamers around the swing set and attached balloons and happy birthday signs to the fence.  We set up a table for face painting, filled the sand table with sand and construction toys and filled a kiddie pool (which ended up being the star of the party).  We blocked the driveway off with a car and left out chalk and tricycles for the kids to play with.

 The party started at 2 and ended at 5 so we only really had to serve snacks and cake.  We had water, soda and juice in coolers.  We also had out a veggie platter, watermelon slices, chips, pretzels and chocolate covered strawberries.  I wanted the kids to be able to have most of the snacks too if they wanted them.  The chips and veggies were organic and the strawberries were organic an covered in chocolate from Enjoy Life which is milk chocolate  made from rice milk instead of cows milk.  The kids loved being able to eat most of the snacks and everything was empty when it was time to bring the dishes in to prepare for the cupcakes.

Here is the view of the swing set.

For favors, we filled pails from the Dollar Store with goodies (bubbles, crayons, coloring sheets, Slinky's, wiki stix, stickers and an organic lolly pop.)  I then got hard hats from Celebrate Express and used letter scrap booking stickers (I had found on clearance) and put each child's name on their hard hat.

I went to Toys R Us and bought some inexpensive tool sets ($2-$5 a piece) and put them in a pail of sand as the center piece for the tables.  I also got paint swatches from the hardware store and put them on the table as well.

I printed off a little tag to put on the goodie pails to thank the children for coming to the party.  I mounted them on card stock an put small construction stickers on them as decoration.  The tag says, "Thank-you for joining the crew.  Peanut had fun celebrating his 4th birthday with you!"

For the food table we took black table cloths and used yellow duct tape and made the table into a road.  The trucks are puzzle pieces from on of our infant puzzles.

Walmart was having their toy clearance a couple weeks prior to the party.  They had their construction moon sand set (Moon Sand is gluten free) on clearance so I bought 2 sets.  One the day of the party we assembled the pieces and combined the sand from both sets into one container.

I made our own cupcakes (as well a a few that were gluten free, casein free, egg free, soy free for my kids).  We crushed chocolate and cinnamon graham crackers, crushed them and sprinkled it on top for the "dirt".  I had printed off this construction symbol from Microsoft Publisher, cut them out and glued them to Popsicle sticks from our home school supplies.  Wallah! Cupcake toppers made with what we had around the house!

Peanut enjoyed his cupcake...



And so did Sassy!

 All I can say is, what a great day with great friend and great fun!  I not only had fun during the party but I also had fun planning it and making all of the decorations.  It's days like those that make me feel that we are really blessed.  God is good!

God Bless!

Mommy Provost

Hurricane Irene: What we did while we were stuck inside.

We live in southern NH, about an hour or so from the coast so we were prepared for hurricane Irene.  We made a "hurricane kit" and a food bin filled with Organic GFCF meals and snacks in case we had to leave the house in a hurry.  We prepared for the worst case scenario, just in case.  The way I figured it, if we were prepared we wouldn't need it, if we weren't prepared then we would have needed it.....so we prepared.  As you all already know, we were blessed and the hurricane turned into a tropical storm and missed hitting us directly.  Needless to say, we were just stuck inside all day.  We were even more blessed to keep our power!!! (Not everyone in our area was so lucky).  Part of our preparation was finding things to do with Peanut and Sassy.  I ended up finding a cute hurricane craft to do with the kids.  We spent the morning in our jammies and watched movies.  In the late afternoon when the kids were crawling the walls, that's when I whipped out our hurricane project. 

I began by talking with the kids about what a hurricane is (in basic toddler terms, and as simple as possible).  The ability to look outside and "see" what the hurricane was doing made it a little easier for them to understand what I was trying to tell them.  I showed them the shape of a hurricane with the picture I had found the night before.  This is an actual space image of hurricane Irene that I found on "google images".  We individually went through the word "hurricane" and I had the kids name each letter in the word.  I then wrote the word on their paper and made a spiral shape to guide them.  I then had them draw out what they saw outside and/or in the picture I had printed.

Here is Peanut drawing his pictures.  He told me here he was drawing the trees outside and the rain

Sassy said she had drawn what she saw in the picture I showed them.

Then I gave the kids a handful of cotton balls and had them pull them all apart. (Awesome fine motor activity that encourages a pincher grasp as well as the use of both hands!) 

Then we put glue on our paper in the spiral shape of a hurricane. 

Then I had the kids stick their cotton to the glue to make their hurricane.

Here is their finished project.  The kids seemed to really enjoy this project.  I'll hold it aside for the next hurricane.  Hopefully this project won't be needed for a long time.  Maybe at that point we can get more scientific with it!!

We were blessed to have been spared, but not everyone was so lucky.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who were effected by the hurricane as well as to those families who lost loved ones as a results of the storm.

God Bless!

Finding hope where you least expect it.

Yesterday we took the kids to Yorks Wild Animal Kingdom .  I had gone last year with my mother and the 2 kids and things went fairly well.  This year my husband was able to come with us.  He was a tad bit nervous about having our two in a large amusement park.  For those who don't know him, he tends to "hover" around our children when he's with them.  People joke around and give him a hard time about it but knowing the safety difficulties our children have, I don't blame him.  We started the morning off slower than we had planned and left the house an hour latter.  I had re-arranged our therapies to give us the whole day off so we didn't have any stress trying to get home at any specific time.  We figured we would "go with the flow" and really go with whatever our children would tolerate.

I want to start by saying we love this park.  I found it pretty clean for a zoo and amusement park.  The pricing was fair.  All of the employees were very courteous and kind.  They always smiled and wished you a fun day when you exited a ride.  We never once encountered an attitude from anyone and they seemed happy to help you out in any way you needed.  I will recommend this park to anyone looking for a fun place for a family day.  (I'd also love to take the kids back when we do our zoo unit I have planned!)

The day went much better than expected.  The kids were so excited to get there they didn't seem to be bothered by the drastic change in schedule.  We got there in time for lunch (we had a cooler and a large bag full of food, drinks and snacks for the kids.  When you have kids on such a limited diet, you never know if you'll be able to find food they can eat!)  We went into the park and paid and then sat to eat lunch.  We decided to go to the zoo first and then we would make our way to the rides once we had a child (or two) in some type of sensory overload.  It was crowded, loud and hot, but they made it through.

Peanut lasted about  1 1/2 hours in the zoo.  I was very proud of him.  They both showed slowly worsening signs of sensory issues but held it together well. 

Peanut and Sassy with their daddy.

The zoo was pretty impressive.  We saw an elephant, monkeys, lions, a tiger, deer, bears, camel, I really could keep going and going.  The animals seemed well cared for and happy.  Sassy has an obsession with animals and bugs of all kinds and she was in absolute heaven for sure.  We stopped once for a snack and a drink and then made our way to the butterfly sanctuary.  We lasted about 5 minutes (if that) and then we were off to the rides to try to calm their sensory systems.

Sassy got to ride her first roller coaster with her daddy.  They also rode the train, boats, swings, and carousel.  Peanut was fascinated with trying to figure out all of the clips and locks on the seat belts on all the rides.  Although I like to see him trying to figure things out (nice critical thinking) but not when you can fall off a ride once you figure it out.  Needless to say, we were the annoying, seemingly overprotective parents yelling to their child to "hold on".  What people may not have realized is that the purpose of this was to distract his hands from the clips and locks.

Chooo chooo!!!

Peanut and Sassy on the boats

Sassy and Peanut on the swings

Sassy and Peanut waving to the camera!

We really had a great day and I know my husband and I will never forget it.  So where's that hope you ask?  Is it because we had a great day despite our family's difference? No.  Is it because we made it an entire day with two toddlers with Autism without one tantrum or meltdown from either child? (A miracle in itself!) No.  It was actually because of a short and quiet encounter I had with an employee at the park.

We were at a kiddie ride.  As I have mentioned, Peanut was obsessed with trying to unlatch every clip and lock he encountered.  I had noticed the man operating the ride was quieter and less bubbly than the rest of the other ride operators we had met up til then, but thought nothing of it.  As the ride started up I saw Peanut start to fidget with the clip on his seat belt.  Sassy just sat back with a stone faced look as she had on every other ride (This is her relaxed look.  As soon as any ride ended she would beg to go on it again).  My husband and I began to take turns yelling (we had to yell because of the noise in the park) to Peanut the various prompts we had found worked on the other rides, but the swing seemed to help him to keep his focus on this little clip.  Suddenly I heard the man operating the ride loudly yell for Peanut to stop playing with the clip.  Peanut looked up and actually stopped playing with the clip (for only about 10 seconds, but it was longer than we were able to get him to stop!).  I don't typically make it a habit of revealing my children's diagnosis unless I feel I really have to.  For some reason I felt this was one of those occasions.  I got closer to the man and shortly explained that my son was fascinated with the lock because he had Autism. 

The man turned his head towards me and looking at the ground and said, "So do I." 

I was shocked by the response and looked over to him, realizing he never really had made eye contact with anyone and I said, "Oh, really?" 

 "Yeah" he said. 

I stood there in silence not knowing what else to say.  I just had never expected to hear that sentence, especially at a noisy, busy amusement park.  I could tell he was feeling the same awkwardness, searching his social repertoire for what he is supposed to say next, and honestly, I was doing the same.  I've never had the opportunity to speak with an adult with Autism.  I'm sure we will have more opportunities in the future, but this was a first. 

He then turned to me and said (again, looking at the ground and I wasn't going to push the eye contact so I also didn't look right at him), "I know exactly how he feels right now." 

"Really?" I said, again shocked by what he said. 

He sighed and in a more relaxed tone stated, "Yeah, I really do." 

I looked right at him, "If I could know for just five minutes what it felt like for him, it would mean the world to me." 

He then acknowledged what I said with the quickest attempt at fleeting eye contact and a small smile, and then he turned back to the control for the ride.  Our conversation was over.  I was so tempted to ask him more about what his life was like, but I was afraid of being rude, and honestly didn't want to distract him from operating the ride my two angels were on.  All I can say is I was honored.  I was honored that he chose me to share his diagnosis with, and even more honored that he attempted to give me the eye contact that is just so difficult for people on the spectrum. 

I was caught of guard for sure, but most of all I was filled with hope.  Here was a man in his early twenties, with Autism working on his own. I now liked Yorks Wild Animal Kingdom even more for giving this man his job.  Families with children on the spectrum will understand.  This is not just a job, it is a chance at making a future for himself.  Any parent with a young child will tell you that the uncertainty of your child's future is terrifying.  Will they be able to live on their own?  Hold a job? Have friends? A marriage and children?  For some the answer is yes, and others the answer is no.  Seeing this man gave us hope.  I told my husband of my encounter.  About 30 minutes latter he said, "You know, seeing that man operate the ride makes me feel...." He paused.  "Hope?" I asked.  "Yeah....hope."

A big thanks to Yorks Wild Animal Kingdom for a fun filled family day and thank-you to the man who reminded me what hope feels like, I'll hold it with me forever.

"...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."  Isaiah 40:31

God Bless.

Mommy Provost

Taking the leap

Sometimes, walking in faith means taking a deep breath, closing your eyes and taking a giant leap off the side of a cliff.   Initially it sounds scary, crazy, or risky, but the more you pray and the more you allow God to show you what path you should take, the more comfortable you are with your decision.  Randomly jumping off the side of a cliff is obviously not a very smart thing to do, but when you take that leap with God then you can take it knowing that there is a giant cushion at the bottom of that cliff to catch you. 

We took one of those leaps last week.  We signed paperwork to refuse all of Peanuts services through the school system.  Essentially, we pulled him out of the public school system.  We chose not to utilize any therapy services through the school.  Initially I was saying, “Now we are on our own.”  But I soon realized, we are not alone because God is with us.

For the past year now I have felt the push to do this, and as time progressed the push was stronger and stronger until we could no longer ignore it anymore.  At first I was scared.  With more and more prayer I began to feel much better, and now I am excited at the prospect of having my children at home with me full time!

I want to be clear, this decision is one that was a long time coming, but was NOT because of any issue with the school system directly.  We have always planned to home school full time, it just was a question of when.  Peanut is considered “high functioning” and so there is only so much the school can justify spending.  Honestly, they were doing a good job, and were doing the best they could, but I felt Peanut still needed more.

I sat down, created a therapy plan and 36 weeks of preschool lesson plans.  It surprisingly has all come fairly easily for us, and it seems everything is just falling into place.  I’m combining multiple resources to create my plans.  Our therapy plan is extensive and covers a wide variety of therapy.

* The kids will continue their Sensory Integration therapy privately and we will utilize the therapists for OT needs as well, with carry over to home.  We have planned sensory and fine motor activities into our daily plans.

*Peanut is  continuing with Therapeutic Listening.  We plan to use this therapy as well for Sassy in the fall.

* The kids will both continue Music Therapy.

* We are going to use Playing it Right! Social Skills Activities for Parents and Teachers of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Including Asperger Syndrome and Autism for social practice/activities.  We are also planning to go to a local indoor playground to take advantage of any social opportunities with “neurotypical” children as well as get in some great gross motor activities.

* We are using Skills through CARD for our ABA therapy.  We have just started using the program but so far I think this program is amazing!

* Our home school plans are and eclectic combination of multiple websites and the Preschool curriculum we already own.

* We have the names of some private Speech Therapists but we are going to wait on that until we feel Peanut may need Speech Therapy.  Right now his biggest language issues are pragmatics.  This area of speech is also addressed in the Skills program so way may not need to utilize speech therapy right now.

* We just had our yard fenced in (to stop the kids from running into the street) and my parents decided to build the kids a new swing set!  It is incredible!  What a blessing!  We are so blessed to have such awesome and supportive friends and family!!  So now the fun part, pictures!!

Here is the whole swing set.  It's hard to see everything but there is a slide, 2 swings, a horse swing, a set of rings with a bar in the center and a tire swing that also spins.

Sassy LOVES the horse swing!

Peanut is getting in LOTS of gross motor activity on the ladder.

The ground is covered in a thick layer of untreated Cedar wood chips to cushion any falls.  Sassy like digging in them.

He's such an unhappy boy isn't he?

All in all we are feeling really great about our decision about homeschooling and we are feeling overwhelmingly blessed.  We have Peanuts 4th birthday coming up soon as well as some much needed family vacation days we are also planning for.  I'm so excited to see what the future holds!

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ."   

Philippians 4:6-7

God Bless!

Mommy Provost

The start of our journey with Therapeutic Listening

 We started Therapeutic Listening Therapy a few weeks ago with Peanut and I had wanted to share our experience with the therapy.  I'm a little behind because of everything else that is going on in our lives but I'm hoping to catch up soon.  (Someday right?) 

What is Therapeutic Listening?
Therapeutic Listening is a therapy families can do with their children to help with issues with sensory modulation, attention, and core strength.  The child listens to music that has been recorded with very specific tones that when listened to, will effect the vestibular and auditory systems.  High quality headphones are used so the music can be heard at a better quality.  The therapy is done at home (or on the go, or in a clinic) for 30 minutes 2 times a day. The listening session must be at least 3 hours apart.  The child is able to do activities while listening as long as it doesn't distract them from listening to the music.  In other words no TV, no computer or video games, and no activities involving music.  Each CD has specific clinical applications.  Cd's are switched every 2 weeks.  The therapy lasts on average for 6 weeks.  A trained therapist selects the Cd's according to an extensive intake evaluation completed by the child's caregiver as well as a one on one evaluation done by the therapist.  At the end of each 2 weeks, the caregiver fills out a short re-evaluation form to ensure the next CD chosen is appropriate and that changes do not need to be made in the child's plan. The only downside is that the therapy is not covered by insurance.  For more information visit the Vital Links website. 

Week One and Two:
The first CD we were given was called "Rhythm and Rhyme: Orientation, Regulation, and Sensory Modulation."  It's goal is to address sensory modulation, orientation, and core activation.  The clinical application is to promote vocalization, singing, phonological awareness, assist with sensory modulation difficulties, and facilitate core musculature activation.  We were told we may see changes in arousal levels, attention, awareness of environment and people, increased vocalizations and awareness of sensations.

We purchased a CD player that is supposed to guard against skipping.  We also purchased the HD500A Sennheiser Headphones, and tune belt CD player carrier from the Vital Sounds website.  One week before starting the therapy, we had Peanut wear the headphones and listen to music daily to get him used to wearing the headphones.  He started off only tolerating the headphones and music for 2 minutes, and by the end of the week he made it to 20 minutes a day.  I was a little worried we would have a problem doing the therapy if he wouldn't keep the head phones on, but soon discovered that when the therapeutic listening Cd's were in, he craved the music and wanted to keep them on! 

Once we started, we noticed that he was a bit whiny after each session, and in the first week he seemed to purposely seek out activities he knew he isn't supposed to do (for example, touching the TV).  At first I found it difficult to work the listening into our schedule but we quickly discovered what did and didn't work for us.  I found the best place for Peanut to listen was in the car.  I turn off the music in the car and he listens to his music.  Our drive to Sensory Integration therapy and Music therapy are each approximately 30 minutes so it works out perfectly and we can get at least one session in.  We also have done the listening while taking a walk, playing outside, in the grocery store, in our sensory room, and sitting at the table doing a fine motor activity such as play dough (actually Soy-yer dough) , moon dough, blocks, coloring etc.

For some time now we have been struggling with issues with Peanut jumping on top of Sassy and pinning her down, or walking over to her and pushing her.  We have worked with a BCBA (behavioral therapist) to stop this behavior.  We also tried working on the issue by addressing sensory needs.  Nothing worked.  After a week of therapeutic listening, we noticed that this behavior stopped completely.  Literally overnight!  I have not seen Peanut do it again since starting the therapy.

Two weeks into the therapy, there was a day that I got to spend alot of one on one time with Peanut.  We played pretend, we played board games, we did some chores, we sang. He actually wanted my attention and I was making sure to give it to him.  My phone rang, and I turned my attention to my phone (30 seconds maximum).  Peanut hit me in the head.  I looked at him, told him "no hitting" and looked back to my phone.  That is when he kicked me.  Peanut has never purposely kicked me like that...ever.  I scolded him and we went on with our day.  Anytime he didn't have 100% of my attention he would act out in some way or get whiny.  That night I started to research online to try to figure out if the uncharacteristic behavior was because of the therapeutic listening.  After my online search came back empty, I turned  to the wonderful "Ask a Friend" site on facebook and asked them what they thought.  As I was discussing the issues, a light bulb went off in my head.  Duh!  My son has NEVER actually wanted my attention!  I was looking at this all wrong.  This behavior wasn't a bad thing, it was a good thing!!!!!  The next morning I spoke with the therapeutic listening therapist and she agreed that this was a good thing.  She explained that Peanut was acting out because the desire to have my attention was new for him and he was probably unsure as to how to react to this new feeling.  He was acting out because he just didn't know what else to do!  After this, any time he has acted out we have stopped him and prompted him to give us the appropriate response. ("Uh, oh! No hitting.  Peanut, if you want mommy's attention you say, 'mom, can I have your attention?' ")  So far it's worked pretty well.

Peanut doing his Therapeutic Listening

So that was weeks one and two in a nutshell!  So far, so good!  I would (and have) recommend anyone struggling with sensory and attention issues to definitely try it!

Mommy Provost