Keep On Keep'n On

Last Friday I called and left a message for the CARD (center for autism and related disorders) organization. Carter was already registered with them but we had not really called them for services. Our CBA Oscar had mentioned the week before that Kim, who is our particular caseworker with CARD, actually teaches the police department how to effectively deal with individuals with Autism. Apparently there was a case where a young autistic man was dealt with excessive force because the officer involved did not understand that he was autistic nor how to deal with him. Following that case Kim was called in to give them the 411.

She is going to be coming out to the house in a few weeks and has told us about 2 workshops that she will be teaching that she wants us to attend as well. But until then she gave me some ideas of how better to deal with Carter's behaviors. She said loss of privilege does not work for Asperger's kids. We had noticed. They have to be in a situation to be earning whatever is important to them. She told me to pick 3 to 5 things and Carter earns them with appropriate behavior. Computer time is at the top of the list, time with Vivian one on one in her room, a trip to the library, etc. Just in the past 2 days things have been going better with Carter. His nighttime routine has been going very well. The morning has been tricky because we are running into his sensory issues. He does not want to wear anything long, sleeves or pants. The mornings have been cool and it is not an option so ... huge struggles to get him dressed and out the door.

Nan actually turned him in to his teacher who we lovingly call the warden. The warden made him have a sit down to think about his behavior regarding getting to school. When Dad picked him up from school Carter said, "This was a completely unnecessary day, meaning what Nan did. And then I had PE. This was a completely not good day. At all!" Carter hates PE. The social issues are a challenge for him and the running is a challenge for him because of his CP.

Maylene has been doing well overall with just some minor tantrums. The CBA pointed out that we have identified a 3-week cycle with Maylene's mood disorder and we should be coming up on that down cycle next week. Lovely, thanks for reminding us. She is definitely more stable than ever with the Abilify so I hold out hope that maybe she won't cycle this time. This is how a mother survives, we hold out hope. She did have another mini tantrum while Oscar was here today. No big deal and he was able to give me some pointers on how to handle it, which was helpful.

Vivian has been doing very well. Giving her a list to work off of for getting ready has really helped her to have it more together, who knew?

Evan is a potty trained little man these days. He is doing well and is just a sweet sweet baby!