Halloween party, November Group meeting, and great news of the week.

Hi everybody,

Here are some dates to remember for the next weeks:

I will be out of town for my "Calm Amid Chaos" course at the Option Institute (home of the SonRise program) from Oct 30 to Nov 4. Any extra help you can give Antonio those 6 days that I will be away will be very appreciated!! :) I will post the schedule before I leave!

On Saturday Oct 29th, we are still planning to have our Halloween party at 5pm. We will have snacks, practice trick-or-treating from room to room and have our parade of costumes. If you have costumes at your home, please wear them. If not, come and wear our costumes from the dress-up box. I know some of you have commitments, so don't worry about it. If you think you can come, let me know so that we are ready with the snacks.

After I come back from my course, we will have our November group meeting on Sunday, November 6th (3:30pm to 5:30pm). Please let me know if there is a conflict, and we will try to accommodate everybody. As you know, attendance to the group meeting is super important so that we are all on the same page.

And now some great news of the week:

- On Monday, I will make copies of the ideas that came with Liam's new box of cards so that you all have more suggestions of games to play. He loves them and I give credit to that box with Liam starting to say YES pretty consistently!!!!! I came to his room with the box of cards and he immediately ran to me. I was holding the cards up to see what he would say. I heard something like "I want cards", so I said: "did you just say 'I want cards'?" and he says a big "YES!" !!! It was amazing!! Kaffie was there and we just started laughing! That night also, he was in his tent and I asked him: "Do you want your pillow in the tent?" and he says: "yes", I celebrate and run to get him the pillow. Then, I ask: "do you want your blue blanket, too?" I get another "YES", so I celebrate and run to get him the blanket. Then, I say: "what about the pink blanket?" and I get another "yes" !!! It was amazing! He was smiling with a BIG SMILE and LOVED to be celebrated for his yes-es. That was on Thursday. Since then, I have heard so many YESes!!!! Always appropriately! So, ladies, I am telling you, by the time of our group meeting, the YES/NO goal is going to be super mastered!!!! Let me know what you see with you. Don't overdue the yes-questions, though. Be natural, and celebrate big when he is using Yes/No appropriately!

- Liam also did very well in a trip Antonio took to Target on Saturday with Liam and Duch. Duch was terrified with the Halloween decoration and was covering her eyes. But Antonio said Liam walked very nicely in the store, responded when Antonio told him to come in his direction, pushed the grocery card, looked at things around him, walked on his flat feet, and never threw himself to the floor in fetal position like he was still doing last month!! So, we have this theory that things are changing in Liam's body!!!! Ladies, I am telling you, we will see great things from Liam in the next weeks and months! Also, because of the mosquitos in the backyard, he is spending more time in the house, and to compensate, he is relaxing by having more showers and baths!!! He had 4 today!!! :) He does use his language while he requests me to put the shower on or off or the bathtub on or off, and he even does it himself! I am just scared he may get hot water! Anyway, try to tell him that showers/baths will be after play time :) oh! And sensitivity to sound seems to be going down, too!!! We will have more appointments with the energy doctor for Liam and Duch this week.

- Finally, some Duch news. She did very well with her cousins, Diego and Nina!!! First time she pays so much attention to them! She was a bit sick last week, so she did not have her usual energy, but she had several play sessions with Diego and some of our team members, like Kaffie, Shelby, and Mary. It was great to see her with her cousins!!!!

Have fun this week! We are super excited to see how the kids keep evolving!! Enjoy these pictures of last week!

Celebrating Duch!

Those of you who have known me for the last 4 years know that a question that I asked everybody, doctors, therapists, teachers, other moms, was "how does it look when a kid starts to pay attention to other kids?" That was THE question for me. One SonRise teacher once told me that it would be a slow process that would start with the kid starting to look more at other kids. Well, it has been a realization for me, that after 4 years, I am not asking teh question anymore, I am LIVING the answer to the question. To see Duchis' face when she looks at Tony is AMAZING! This is the same girl, but her face is completely different!!!! Wow! I guess this is how the miracle of recovery looks like, one little step after the other.

To celebrate this moment, here are the news I emailed you last week about Duch:
"- On Saturday morning, all of the sudden, I see Tony chasing Duchis downstairs trying to tickle her; she is running smiling; he catches her and tickles her; she laughs and laughs and starts running away; he laughs and chases her; she grabs him by the waist; he laughs and keeps running; she tells me "he is tickling" ... it was very sweet and just amazing to watch!
- On Saturday at noon I take Duchis to The Little Gym to observe a class with 4-5 year old girls. I had already visited the place this week and they told me the class has 8 girls and one of the girls is also recovering from autism and does great in the class. Duch was a little bit nervous, but she liked the place. She participated a bit, she observed a lot, and she said she will come back next Saturday! The teachers at the Little Gym were super welcoming!! Almost surprisingly welcoming given all the times that I have been told that my kids are not ready and are not welcomed to be at a certain school/place... In contrast, these gym teachers were telling me to keep bringing her because the other girl also took time to get used but she is now super used to the class! So, this will be a new challenge for Duch! Every Saturday 12-1pm, Duch will be going to the Little Gym. Send her all your positive energy so that she gets used to the routine quickly.
- On Saturday afternoon, Mary brought her niece, Emma, to play with Duch. They played CandyLand. I observed through the camera. I thought Duch as a bit distracted with the potato chips (snack for the group) and ran a bit around and talked some scripts memorized. But, she came all the time when it was her turn and she won! I could only see Duch's back, but Mary said that Duch kept looking at Emma a lot. Then when I was chatting with Mary downstairs, Duch started to come smiling and would run into Emma and push her, then laugh and look at us and tell us: "that was funny"! It was a bit rough, but it was what she sees Tony doing sometimes: run around in a silly way and then kind of push her. Thanks God, Emma was patient, since Duch kept looking at her smiling and then running to her to push her and then run away. It was exciting to see the attention she was giving to Emma, since in the past she would have just ignored her and gone her way.
- Today, Duch spent time with Tony and me doing legos in Tony's room, and later on she went with Jordan and Tony to play musical missions and to read fairy tales in a "fort" with a flashlight while it was raining outside. The sessions with Tony are part of the weekend routine for her now!"

You may ask yourself, what about THIS week?
This are Duch's great moments of the week:
- Went to see Peter Pan, her first theater show! She did well. She was tired after 7 hours of therapy that day, but remained calm and attentive.
- Went to story time + craft time at the Manvel library with Kaffie. Did great and participated in dancing time with the other kids, observing them a lot.
- Went to The Little Gym again. She did not participate with teh whole group, yet, but was in teh class all teh time observing, and getting familiar with the teachers and teh equipment. She said she is coming back next week! The teachers have a plan to slowly invite her to participate with teh whole group.
- Played with Shelby and Tony with the Legos, and also played with Kaffie and Tony with painting.
- Is very comfortable with Tony, sitting with him, answering his questions about Legos, imitating him, and sharing things with him.

The best part of this process is that I get to see it again with Liam, when he is ready :)

Cheers to the princess of the house!

Summary of Group Meeting - Oct 2nd 2011

Goals for Liam:

1. Eye contact: Motivate Liam to copy simple exaggerated facial expressions
2. Communication: Encourage Liam to be consistent with his fuller sentences.
3. Communication: Inspire Liam to share feelings and emotions.
4. Interactive Attention Span: Motivate Liam to play new games (e.g., the Signing time pretend stories and themes)

o YES/NO: Let go for two weeks
o Games with pictures of team members for making new sentences or funny gestures
o If he rips books: he fixes them.
o Invite him to go to the bathroom before he leaves the room to go outside.
o Be very careful with the toilets and flushing!!
o Halloween games/crafts: Great opportunity to introduce Liam to dress-up and animal hats!
o Signing games: we have to books with signs and a chart with signs. Guessing games or “show me” games with sign language. Also youtube.com has examples of the signs from Singing Time.

1. Tip-toeing

a. Yulene’s exercises
b. Crab walk. Penguin walk. Walking backwards. Animal walk (except bear walk)
c. These animal walks could be combined with the animal cards and animal sounds games.

2. Expanding SIGNING TIME – Themes you can use in games with BOTH kids:

- Time to Eat: Grow - Garden - Every Day - Cook - Kitchen - Make - Fork - Plate - Napkin - Knife - Spoon - Cup - Bowl - Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner - Dessert - May I be Excused? - Egg - Sandwich - Soup - Popcorn - Peas - Tomato - Salad - Spaghetti.

- Welcome to School: Crayons - Scissors - Paper - Glue - Pen - Pencil - Table - Chair - Backpack - School - Line Up - Pay attention - Learn - Remember - Smart Principal - Teacher - Class - Student - Name - World - Numbers - Count - Draw - Paint - Read - Quiet - Rest.

- My House: House - Kitchen - Refrigerator - Freezer - Stove - Sink - Family Room - Sofa - Rug - Table - TV - Bathroom - Toilet - Bathtub - Shower

- My favorite things (Colors, Vegetables, Fruits, Activities): Colors - Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Purple - Rainbow - Fruit - Strawberry - Pear - Peach - Grapes - Watermelon - Vegetables - Corn - Lettuce - Beans (little/big) - Potato - Walk - Run - Sit - Swing - Dance - Sing - Jump - Swim - Soup - Noodles - Tomato - White - Black - Brown - Pink - Work - Practice

- Everyday signs: Hungry - Apple - Cookie - Cereal - Banana - Bread - Cheese - Cracker - Ice Cream - Candy - Help - Full - Hot - Cold - Dry - Wet - Like - Don't Like - Day - Sun - Night - Moon - Stars - Happy - Laugh - Sad - Cry - Boy - Girl.

- My neighborhood: Playground - Roller Skates - Picnic - Kite - Swing - Slide - Climb - Sand - Helicopter - Bus - Boat - Motorcycle - Slow - Fast - Store - Buy - Stamp - Mail - Library - Story - Office - Work - Restaurant - Firefighter - Police Officer - Doctor - Nurse.

- My day: Awake/Wake Up, Good Morning, Brush Hair/Comb Hair, Brush Teeth/Floss Teeth, Clothes, Get Dressed, Shirt, Shorts, Pants, Sweater, Dress, Skirt, Choose, Pretend, Imagination, Game, Blocks, Build, Puzzle, Fun, Clean Up, Pajamas, Bed, Pillow, Blanket, Light (on/off), Good Night, Dream.

- Who has the frog?: Frog/Hopkins - Lost - Who - Where - How - Why - When - Find - Which - What - Guess

- The great outdoors: Backyard - Explore - Tent - Trail - Bridge - Stream - Woods - Mountain - Porcupine - Raccoon - Deer - Bear - Owl - Skunk - Beaver - Wolf - Eagle - Fox - Bug - Ant - Fly - Spider - Bee - Worm - Mosquito - Caterpillar - Butterfly.

- Playtime signs: Friend - Play - Train - Doll - Bike - Bear - Please - Share - Your Turn - My Turn - Book - Read - Socks - Yes - No - Drink - Thirsty - Dirty - Clean - Potty - Bath - Hurt - Sorry - Stop - Go - Wait - Wash Hands - Thank You - Grandma - Grandpa.

- Family, feelings, and fun: Home - Family - Brother - Sister - Son - Daughter - Uncle - Aunt - Cousin - Tree - Wind - Leaf - Grass - Cloud - Rain - Snow - Coat - Boots - Gloves - Hat - Feelings - Grumpy - Surprise - Silly - Scared - Excited - Sick - Love

- ABC signs

Goals for Duch:

1. Communication: Inspire Duchis to share stories and have conversations about her favorite topics
2. Communication: Help Duchis by responding literally to anything she says
3. Interactive Attention Span: Motivate Duchis to play the Signing Time pretend stories
4. Perspective: Show Duchis how good it feels to be kind and helpful to others

*** Stories / conversations / pretending to talk on the phone

Conversations with Duch:

- “Let’s talk about our day. I will tell you what I did and then I would love to know what you did.”
- “Let me tell you what I did yesterday/today (or what I will do tomorrow)”
- “Let’s talk about our favorite things. My favorite ____ is ….. What about you? ….”
- Funny memories:
- “Let me tell you this funny story that happened to me on my first day of class ….”
- “I am going to tell you about my hobbies…”
- “I have such a funny memory of something that happened to me when I was playing with my brother/sister ….”
- Let’s make up stories! Once upon a time …
- If Duchis’ answers are very short, you can use: “And then what?” “What else?” “Tell me more”, or not verbal cues with the face or the hands.
- Remember it is not about asking questions all the time, but about sharing your stories, so that she incrementally starts sharing more.
- When reading books, ask some playful questions like: “Which character is the funniest?” “What is your favorite part?” Tell her what your funniest character is and what your favorite part is.

- Duchis’ scripting – From Megan: “Make what Dusya says applicable. Meaning, can you carry on with what she says in "script" and turn it into a game, interaction, conversation. Act out what she says and show her how it can come to life and be a brand new thing altogether. Responding literally would in fact be acting it out. (E.g. if she said, "It's Elmo's birthday." You say, "Oh yes! I forgot. Let me wrap a present for him. ssshh it's a secret. etc etc).”

- Playing with Tony: If you see a chance to play a game with Tony and Duchis about something that BOTH love, like LEGOS, start playing and see if they both come to join you.

*** Halloween Games and Crafts – Duch loves Halloween!!!

*** Handwriting without Tears materials

REMINDERS

- Closets with toys (shelves) – If you need to find new games/toys go to the guest room closet or the closet next to Duch’s room

- Clean up (toys/tables/food on floor) – please help us to keep the rooms clean

Thanks for coming!!!!!!!!!

Jordan, Tony, and Duchis' Musical Missions

Today, Jordan, Tony and Duchis had musical missions for the second time. It lasted 2 hours! They used the magic carpet to go to different countries. They used the cards with landscapes to decide where to go. They created a map to establish the route to follow. First, Jordan made the map, but then Tony made the second map. In the different coutries, they have different things to do. Duchis' dolls came in teh adventures this time, since she was into dolls today. In one adventure, Tony ended up dressed like Cinderella and Duch was dressed like a knight! In another adventure, they went to a ball. Jordan ended up dressed like Alice in Wonderland. I took these pictures at the very end. Tony and Duch looked tired, but the whole 2 hours were completely peaceful and wiht total engagement!!!! Keep visualizing with the visualization posters, ladies! :) And keep showing the kids, how much fun friends are! :)

Molly and Megan's first sessions

This week Molly and Megan had their first sessions with the kids. They got feedback and Megan got to see her video, too. Great start! The kids were excited and were open to new friends! Welcome to the team!

Some favorite Bday pictures of this year

We had a great bday this year!! Thanks everybody!

Summary of Group Meeting - August 28th 2011

Here is the summary! Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks!

LIAM

1. “WHERE?” + “FIND” ---- Liam’s speech therapist, Jeannie, is working on “WHERE?” on Thursdays. She has this great cards that he loves and he asks her for cards using “where is …?”. Here are some ideas of how to help him to use more “where?” at home. He has used it in the past, so it is a matter of showing him how helpful it can be.

a. Play “hide and find” games. Hide things that he is motivated for, but that he is not too attached to. Hide them in the room, in the tent, in the ball pit, etc, etc.
b. You could hide snacks and then he has to find them.
c. Bring some cups/glasses to the room and hide things under the cups like the magicians do. First show him how the game works and then invite him to guess where things are.
d. Play “I Spy” with him since he loves those books and games. Plus, he just got an I Spy mat puzzle where you can also find things using “WHERE” and “FIND”.
e. Get “find and seek” sheets from Sam’s. Combine them with Bingo dots and flashlights.

2. “YES” and “NO” ---- We keep working on yes/no. We are getting there!!! It is a matter of persistence and consistency. Here are some ideas:

a. When you ask Liam questions, DON’T end the question with a noun. So, if you have applesauce or a snack in your hands, you can say “Do you want ….?” (pointing to the applesauce), but don’t say the word. He can say “YES”, “NO” or “applesauce”. If he says “applesauce”, you say “YES, applesauce”!
b. The sentence Shelby has been using to not use the NOUN is: “Is this what you want?”
c. I had a great time the other day playing this game with Liam. He wanted me to draw. So, he said: “draw an airplane.” I had some animal puzzle pieces there, so I would say: “What about a dog?, let’s draw a dog”. Liam: “NO dog”. Mom: “What about a fox?, let’s draw a fox”. Liam: “NO fox”. Mom: “So, should I draw this?” (pointing to the airplane in the book). Liam: “yes, airplane”. We did it many times. He was HIGHLY motivated by the drawing and would tell me no to the puzzle pieces and yes to the pictures he wanted from the book.
d. If you are using the light buttons, make sure you vary the questions so that Liam does not get used to answer only YES or only NO.
e. We made some glasses with YES and NO cards on top. With a YES glass, you can say: “YES, I love to sing” and start singing. Do fun stuff with the YES glasses. And then, with NO glasses, stop and do nothing. Keep showing him the differences between the YES and NO glasses.
f. In addition to “do you want …?” remember to use variations like “should we …?” or “should I …?
g. Make a game of things you know Liam DOES NOT like, so that he gets to answer NO. For example: “Do you want me to hang you from your toes?” Do you want me to scream as loud as I can?” “Should we wear more clothes on?” “Should I brush your hair more?” “Should we read this book about princesses?”

3. Tip-toeing ----- I will send you again the old and new videos for Liam’s feet. Please remember to do the foot exercises in your sessions. This is also a matter of consistency and persistence. Other ideas from Cara for helping his feet, which can be added to the obstacle courses:
a. Crab walk
b. Penguin walk
c. Walking backwards
d. Animal walk (except bear walk)
e. These animal walks could be combined with the animal cards and animal sounds games.

4. Obstacle courses: Keep using prepositions like: over, under, through, around, etc. At some point ask him what to do first, second, etc. We could use pictures, if we have taken pictures of steps of obstacle courses, or drawings, or words to give him choices for obstacle course steps.

5. Emotions, things we love --- Here are some ideas to show Liam more sentences about emotions and more adjectives about his favorite hugs/kisses/tickles games:

a. Keep telling Liam (and Dusya) sentences like: “I love playing ….”, “This is so much fun”, “This is great”, “This is silly”.
b. Introduce adjectives for the kisses, hugs, and tickles, like “I love crazy kisses”, “I love long hugs”, etc, etc. I, for example, types some sentences like this and cut them and put them in a bag and he had to pick a piece of paper and we would do whatever the paper said.

DUCHIS

1. If you see a chance to play a game with Tony and Duchis about something that BOTH love, like LEGOS, start playing and see if they both come to join you.

2. Duals in the playroom with 2 adults --- When the opportunity is there, we can play 2 adults with Duch so that we keep modeling her being a friend and things like: empathy, sharing, imitation (simon says, follow the leader, action songs). Even when you are alone with her in the room, keep creating play scenarios where she gets to learn things like:
a. “How are you?”
b. “What did you do today?”
c. ___ looks excited. ____ looks sad.
d. A friend gets hurt
e. A friend does not want to share a toy
f. A friend is confused
g. “Are you ok?”
h. “Can I help you?”
i. Show her to pay attention to another person and how to talk with another person in these situations.
j. The other day, I typed in pieces of paper different scenarios of things that happen to friends, like “my friend has a fever” or “my friend’s toy broke” and we got to play puppet shows of the scenarios with her toys. I had the pieces of paper in a bag and she was very motivated to give me papers so that I would recreate the next scenario.

3. Conversations ---- Talk with Duch about experiences she has had, like the movies or the bookstore. Use sentences like “Tell me about story time at the bookstore”, or “Tell me about the Smurfs movie”, “what is your favorite part?” “Tell me more”. Use her favorite topics so that she is highly motivated. Inspire her engage in conversations.

4. Pronouns ---- Cara taught us the trick of using our hand and point to ourselves, when we say “Me/I/My” and pointing to her (Duch), when we say “You/Your” and pointing to somebody else when we say “he/his”. Keep pairing names and pronouns so that she gets more used to use pronouns. It is a matter of modeling a lot and she will start doing it more.