Autism

I saw this on a PostSecret video and loved it... so true. 

Reinforcement Games

I found a new game at Target - Cars (the movie) fishing game! It includes 21 wheel "fish" to catch. It's kind of difficult to catch them, especially for the kids with motor delays, but overall I like it. The kids will say ANYTHING to get a car to fill up the holes and then we fish together.

Another all time favorite is Mr. Potato head... with glasses, eyes, nose, mouth, shoes, hat, 2 ears, & 2 arms... you've got yourself 10 pieces. and for all the mathematically retarded people (like me) out there, it makes it quick and easy to use each piece as a reward for a word well said and still keep quick percentages in your head.

Say Cheese... Pizza

I treated a 5 year old boy with moderate autism this afternoon. At the end of every treatment his mother says, "say bye-bye" and he says "say bye-bye". Today, she says it and he responds with, "say cheese pizza!!"

Every treatment with him is so different and can be very frustrating but he has gradually increased his novel expressions and I am very very excited about that!

I April Fool You!

So the little brothers are at it again :) We were joking with them and playing april fool’s jokes. They started joking back. It went a little like this: (CJ is an 8 year old boy)

CJ: Ms. Rachel, Bwelon (big brother) is behind you.

Rachel: No he’s not. Now say /b rrrr alon/

CJ: I April Fool You! /b rrrr alon/. But he is behind you.

Rachel: No he’s not and if he was i would know.

CJ: How?

Rachel: I have eyes in the back of my head.

CJ: Let me see

Rachel: (turns and lets him feel for eyes for a minute and then spins around and barks/screams so loud)

CJ: (screams like a girl and jumps 50 ft out of his chair)

laughter all around

CJ: Ms. Rachel, you scared the mess outta me! I think my heart hurts… like a heart attack.

Rachel: I April Fool You!!

Updates

4 yo little girl with deletion of final consonants… we have been working on various ending sounds, most recently we worked on T vs. K at the end. She gets them confused a lot. I was going through some animal flash cards to get her to produce final consonants. I held up a picture of a bird with the word”parakeet” at the bottom and expected her to say “bird”. She looked at it very hard and finally said… “parakeet”. I said, “how did you know that was a parakeet and not just a bird”. She says, "I can read words just not boots”. (sounds like books with a T instead of a K)


**We have 2 brothers in therapy right now and they are just too much fun. Every child in this family has been through our clinic. The older one was very quick to let us know that the younger one “don’t say his wuds wight”.


**I had a little 94 year old lady with unilateral vocal fold paraylsis due to an intubation experience. The first time she came in she was a classic case of diplophonia. This sounds just like the scary voices in scary movies. It’s almost like a really freaky echo. She worked very hard and within 2 weeks she was back to 100%. She couldn’t stop thanking me. It was just too sweet.


**I got certified for Vital Stim the last weekend in sept. It is amazing. I’ve already got my first patients and they’re doing great!


**We have a kid that can do the soulja boy dance exactly…  You should ask your kids what their favorite dance move is. They might just surprise you.

Dynavox

Rachel and I were treating/training a child with new communication device (Dynavox) today. He’s about 50% intelligible to us because we have been seeing him for quite awhile. We are working on personalizing the device for his individual communication needs. After about 30 minutes and lots of personalizing later he said, “You’re blowing my mind!!!!”

Positive Reinforcement

SLPs may be criticized occasionally for being too encouraging, bubbly, etc… However, we have found that this is what it takes to get results. Everyone responds to positive reinforcement… everyone. I was treating a 4 year old boy with autism and moderate echolalia the other day. We began by playing with some play-doh (a beach creations kit). I showed him how to make a starfish by rolling out the play dough and using a cookie cutter. I held it up to him and he said “YAY, Good job!! You made a starfish!!!” perfect grammar and inflection! I loved it!