Thursday, 19 October 2017
Reducing language.
Nana's have the best parenting hacks!!! Here's my mom Anna O Connell teaching Logan to throw and tidy at the same time. 😂
I recently learned at a Middletown Center parenting course, that many kids with autism can take between 8 to 15 seconds to process anything we say. Even 8 seconds might seem like nothing but considering you or I can process things in less than 1 second it's quite a long time.
Do any of you ever find your child repeats back what you say immediately? Apparently this is their way of giving themselves time to process and understand what you've said. Clever little things!!!
The tip is to reduce your language dramatically. Keep it as short and as clear as possible for their brains to take it in.
And wait...give them time to answer. I know I'm guilty of repeating myself 10 times in a row when I want them to do something so I'm working on that!!
Just a simple one-word command works better here so my mom is just saying "IN" rather than " put your Lego in the box "... and he's understanding and doing it. Plenty praise helps every task also. 😊
I'm super proud of him. ❤
This simple throwing exercise is building an important little skill. It's good for his arms from an OT standpoint, he's hearing language and it's great for his concentration aswell.
Less clean up for us too. 😂😂😂
Sunday, 15 October 2017
Totally off my normal topic of Autism...
This post is about me as a person. Not a mom, or a carer but just a woman. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. It has just always been an issue. Partly because I fecking love food and partly because food loves me!! If I'm sad or stressed it's my comfort, and when I'm happy I celebrate with food. And there's no point in saying " I only have to look at food to pile it on" because it wasn't looking at the food I was doing, it was eating it.🙈
A while ago I joined slimming world. Over the years, after a back operation, a knee operation and 2 heartbreaking diagnoses for my kids I had let myself go.
The size 16's were getting tight and I wasn't happy. It can be easy as a mom to stop looking after yourself and focus on your kids. But I wanted some bit of myself back so I said I'd try it.
Now I'm not here to preach and say everything has changed and I'm now a model eater. It's tough. I still love food... a lot!! But it definitely helped the way I see food. And one thing I did get from it was confidence. Before I joined I didn't wear flattering clothes. I wouldn't have dreamt of leaving the house in a tight jeans and a body suit. I just didn't have the nerve. I looked at myself last night and thought, ok I'm not perfect, but for the first time in years I'm kind of happy with myself.
The jeans were a size 12 and I am super proud. The belly is still there ( thanks Kirsty and Logan 😂 )and if I wasn't so lazy I could go to a gym and work on my arms but that's ok too. 😂 I'm in no rush to be skinny. For now I'm just gonna give myself a pat on the back and say " you've come this far... keep going ".
I know I'm a mom and that's my job... but I'm a girl too. It's good to remember that once in a while.
❤❤❤
This post is about me as a person. Not a mom, or a carer but just a woman. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. It has just always been an issue. Partly because I fecking love food and partly because food loves me!! If I'm sad or stressed it's my comfort, and when I'm happy I celebrate with food. And there's no point in saying " I only have to look at food to pile it on" because it wasn't looking at the food I was doing, it was eating it.🙈
A while ago I joined slimming world. Over the years, after a back operation, a knee operation and 2 heartbreaking diagnoses for my kids I had let myself go.
The size 16's were getting tight and I wasn't happy. It can be easy as a mom to stop looking after yourself and focus on your kids. But I wanted some bit of myself back so I said I'd try it.
Now I'm not here to preach and say everything has changed and I'm now a model eater. It's tough. I still love food... a lot!! But it definitely helped the way I see food. And one thing I did get from it was confidence. Before I joined I didn't wear flattering clothes. I wouldn't have dreamt of leaving the house in a tight jeans and a body suit. I just didn't have the nerve. I looked at myself last night and thought, ok I'm not perfect, but for the first time in years I'm kind of happy with myself.
The jeans were a size 12 and I am super proud. The belly is still there ( thanks Kirsty and Logan 😂 )and if I wasn't so lazy I could go to a gym and work on my arms but that's ok too. 😂 I'm in no rush to be skinny. For now I'm just gonna give myself a pat on the back and say " you've come this far... keep going ".
I know I'm a mom and that's my job... but I'm a girl too. It's good to remember that once in a while.
❤❤❤
Some days. 💙
Some days I can't fathom how I'll do this for life.
Some days I'm so tired I can't even look at a pecs book or a visual schedule without feeling sick so I just give them what they want.
Some days I hide in the bathroom and cover my ears just so I don't hear incessant stimming or screaming for a second.
Some days I get pinched, bitten, and my hair is torn out... all because a small boy can't tell me what's wrong.
Some days a little girl cries her eyes out to me and I have no idea why.
Some days I want to scream into a pillow because life is so fucking unfair.
Some days I can't believe I may never hear Logan say "momma" or Kirsty say she loves me.
Some days the injustice of it all makes me feel like I can't breathe.
Some days I hate the life we have, and then I hate the guilt that comes with feeling like that.
Some days autism wins... and I lose. I lose my temper. I lose my head. I lose my fight.
Some days are just too damn hard.
Today was one of them.
Xxx
One very tired Momma.
Some days I can't fathom how I'll do this for life.
Some days I'm so tired I can't even look at a pecs book or a visual schedule without feeling sick so I just give them what they want.
Some days I hide in the bathroom and cover my ears just so I don't hear incessant stimming or screaming for a second.
Some days I get pinched, bitten, and my hair is torn out... all because a small boy can't tell me what's wrong.
Some days a little girl cries her eyes out to me and I have no idea why.
Some days I want to scream into a pillow because life is so fucking unfair.
Some days I can't believe I may never hear Logan say "momma" or Kirsty say she loves me.
Some days the injustice of it all makes me feel like I can't breathe.
Some days I hate the life we have, and then I hate the guilt that comes with feeling like that.
Some days autism wins... and I lose. I lose my temper. I lose my head. I lose my fight.
Some days are just too damn hard.
Today was one of them.
Xxx
One very tired Momma.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)