autism, speech delay

Just entering the world of autism phone apps–

Autism Apps (page 3) – Android


A while ago our speech therapist shared with us that autism applications could be found on the Apple Ipad, Ipod Touch, and Iphone.

Actually drafted this much of the post a while ago, planning to come back and add a lot of links.  But I haven’t had time to really put a bunch more together, so am going to post this much, just to give some first guidance.

http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/education/model-me-going-places-autism_udlo.html is an excellent social story program

http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/communication/vocal-slides_ijin.html you can indeed match pictures to sound files and the child can click on them – however they are not thumbnails. I need to find out if they can be.

These are free – I will post more free apps very soon, and also a few that don’t cost a lot as soon as I preview them.

(2020 – well, neither of these sites work.  I will leave up as a reminder to do this again, 9 years later.  There are a lot of free sites to help – at this point I’m more familiar with iphone/ipad as I haven’t had an android in a while.  But I will update!

 

birthdays, chris, colleen, speech delay

17 years ago – Colleen’s birth

colleenbaby

 

Yes, another birthday today!  Amazing how fast it all goes.

 

Was just reviewing some entries from my journal from back then – actually 5-12-94:

 

“First things first, I’m 2 cm dilated (as of last Friday) and am working only one more week.  I’m ready to enjoy this summer off with my children.  It will be beautiful.  I know I will be tired and frustrated sometimes, with a new baby, more work, less sleep, Chris’s reaction, Chris’s speech delay, worry over finances.  Financially we are feeling pretty secure right now, but I have only eight more weeks of pay coming.  We must be very careful.  We’ve not charged anything since February/March except for my car repair.

“We are praying earnestly for Chris’s speech.  He still adds another word (some of past, some new) every one to two weeks.  But it’s trying how slow it goes.  He said “baby” at school yesterday, but didn’t say anything today.  I will list in a little while all his words as of now.  Praise God for them!  In January he had none.  Here are his words:

“January – present, 35 words:  Bye-bye, hi, waffle, see ya later, all done, night night, no, juice, come here, Ma Ma, Pa Pa, Mommy, Daddy, Baby, Bear, Big Bird, lay down, sit down, ears, nose, shoes, socks, binky, hot, cold, yogurt, ice cream, truck, up, binky night-night, car seat, thank you, cracker, horn, beep beep,

“Plus, one time he said to mama, “Now, where did they go?”  Now we ache to hear him speak several words daily, and to answer questions, and ask for things by name.  The words now are random and to himself, not as a real conversation with us.  We are grateful for the words, but pray for their increased purposeful use, and frequency.  Sometimes, especially when Chris has been quiet a lot and/or throwing things (today).  I cry for a while, a fear comes over me that he will never speak and communicate normally.  It is a scary feeling. . . . I have to face these fears, cry over them, then put them at Jesus’ feet and leave them there.  If this is what is willed by God (permanent disability) we must face it day by day through prayer anyway, so we will do that through this period of not knowing.

“Chris will be attending preschool for two more weeks, then we’ll be off for two weeks (with me and baby!) then will attend a Friday preschool for six weeks, then a gross motor movement class two days a week  for four weeks mid-July –> August.  This will be good for him – still a “summer break” from going four days a week, but something to keep him learning and occupied one to two days a week for a few hours (and give me a nap period!)

“The Lord really had worked some miracles – he is great and holy and is taking care of us, and we have a beautiful family:  a beautiful loving son Chris and a coming treasure of a baby (boy? girl?) and a wonderful husband (who I wish I could see more).

“I need to get this house organized and check over budget tonight and it’s 7:30!  I also need to make dinner!  I just spent the evening playing with my Chris and writing in here.  Chris and I played color matching, play dough (creepy bugs game!) and snuggled.  After dinner I will get him in bed 8:30 – 9:00 and start straightening.

“I dream of getting this house beautiful and organized!  Will take years.  Yard too!  Gotta make dinner.  The next time I write there will be probably ‘a waah!  a waah!’”

So similar, yet so different – 17 years ago!

 

adhd, college, deafness, relocation, speech delay, weight

interests survey

LJ Interests meme results

    1. attention deficit:
      I believe my whole family suffers from this. Apparently I have it, but it didn’t affect my school work – I was kind of a brain ha ha! But my housework abilities suffer.
    2. back to school:
      I still want to go back to college, but this, again, is on hold. I really want to get either a music therapy degree or an occupational therapy degree.

Continue reading “interests survey”

adhd, autism, speech delay, work

Cutting down on computer time.

just posted this in my other group — thought I’d update here too.

Time: Sunday, 2/13/2005 10:34:34 AM (#65523)
User: dori

Comments: Hi – had to make a tough decision about 5 weeks ago and cut out just about all my computer time.

Quick update – Since Ryan quit napping right after Christmas, I made the decision to cut down/out the computer time because it was becoming unsafe to not monitor him at all times. Even now I’m watching him over my shoulder,but he’s eating at the moment. He is into everything, climbing up on ledges, cabinets, tables, etc. He still will often throw things, including pitchers of juice, etc. He is in speech therapy 3x a week still and starts preschool in 2 weeks (2/28). I am looking forward to a break and I think some structured school time will be good for him as well. He barely made it (by 2 points or so) into the special needs class in our city due to his speech. Of course that means we are hopeful he will be catching up on speech even further, which means he wouldn’t be eligible next year, but then maybe he can get into headstart. He will be in a special needs/typical mixed preschool from 2/28 until end of year in May.

Chris is still sleeping well and fairly healthy. He has periodic fits still where he runs through the house hitting himself and us and the walls – maybe 2x a week at this point (down from 2-3 times a day at Christmas when he had a cold).

Colleen is doing well in school and has speech and OT as well. She is also going to counseling 1x a week, since November.

Our work situation is still the same, Rog is looking, not finding anything, but his work is steady, and I had to stop looking “for” him as my job is these kids’ mom and right now Ryan is my biggest challenge. We have lost our insurance, but the kids still have theirs. Thank God.

I’d better go… I’ll try and post when he goes to school 😉

dori

——————————————————————————–
Time: Sunday, 2/13/2005 10:36:21 AM (#65524)
User: dori

Comments: He actually quit napping before Christmas, but I was still putting him down for nap times and he’d nap about 1x a week. But what happened right after Christmas scared me so much I stopped putting him down – he jumped up and down so much that somehow he hit his face on the crib bars and split his lip and bruised his gum. We thought he’d have to go to the ER it was bleeding so much. But it stopped, and it healed up. But no more “quiet time” in the day in the crib for him…

 

Christmas, life, relocation North Carolina, sleep, work

Christmas!

 

Yes, I remember Thanksgiving is coming, and I’m ready – I LOVE Thanksgiving! But I just wanted to get my Christmas background done here before it’s almost Christmas and I have no time to do it!!!

We’re surviving okay – Chris is having a little trouble sleeping again which isn’t fun but it’s not as bad as it was. We have a problem with his ears being blocked up right now which we’re not sure how to deal with.

I’m trying to get Christmas shopping done early so I can just deal with all the school events, etc., in December! I already am starting Christmas card/newsletter prep. I hope to get them out by Dec 1!!!! We are overbooked with activities – here’s our schedule: (And remember our busy 2 3/4 year old is with -me ALL the time, doesn’t nap, and sleeps like 8-5 a.m. (I can’t go to bed at 8 because of other kids still being up until 10 or so).

Continue reading “Christmas!”

asperger's, autism, Ryan, sleep, speech delay, weight, work

Sunny Sunday

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=F39pFlpQ&id=8AA97F55C9DDA85C1DA73230FDFD595806D9A9D2&thid=OIP.F39pFlpQ41zRa-Edn8XDBwHaJT&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fimg4.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20111217143120%2fdegrassi%2fimages%2fd%2fdc%2fManny123z.png&exph=392&expw=312&q=manny+degrassi+image&simid=608025956886450056&selectedIndex=4&ajaxhist=0
You’re Manny! (Manuela) You are clingy, yet cute.
Childish, yet can have some amazing pearls of
wisdom. You are the Sam to Emma’s Frodo. Cheer
up about Craig, dear. There are plenty more
boys who dig it when you call your stuffed
animals weird names!

Which Degrassi Girl are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I love Degrassi – can’t wait for new season!  (watch on the “N” on our new digital cable which I don’t want to get rid of with our “broke-ness” now….)

Doing great, though I feel bad I missed church.  Chris fell asleep just moments before we left!  He is doing very well – naps every day still (a little earlier than expected today – usually he’s nodding off a bit at church which is a GOOD thing).  So next week I’ll give him the pill a little later.

Continue reading “Sunny Sunday”

children, interests, music, organizing

busy busy busy


— you’d think I’d be sitting around eating bonbons by now, this SAHM, who has not worked in 7 weeks! But my to-do list keeps growing! So far I have

  1. Organized pantry and linen closets
  2. Cleaned half of each bedroom (a lot to clean!!)
  3. Rearranged and cleaned living room
  4. Balanced checkbook September through December
  5. Did all filing and paper sorting, once (need to do again, though!)
  6. Completed various paperwork projects (but have more to do!)
  7. Have taken children to numerous dr. appointments and attended school meetings

So very busy life for me!

Ryan is talking more that I’m home, for which I’ve been so grateful. I need to work with him even more, read to him, etc. I have been taking him to a music class at a local organization that is very fun! He also likes to play my guitar 🙂 This means I cannot really play it at that time as he grabs all the strings ;). I hope to get caught up enough on housework so that I can take 15-30 minutes a day to practice by myself on the guitar. I would like to get good again like I was in high school/college.

I still dream of getting back to college to get my music therapy degree. It would be cool to be really in practice on the guitar by then so I could progress a lot farther with some lessons there (as guitar will probably be my instrument of study there, though voice would be great too!).

Well I have a very busy day today with my mom coming over at 9:00, and it’s 5:30 now, so have one hour to scoot through kitchen and laundry room cleaning before I have to get Chris up for school (bus comes at 7).

 

children, health, life, work at home

RJ….

RJ had speech eval today and they want us to closely watch him and work with him a LOT as he may be a little behind. I was kind of thinking of doing some work at

home but now am reconsidering that. I think my hands might be full…. the kids are my priority!


This is a fearful area for us as Chris lost all his speech at 2 1/2. Ryan will be 2 on 2/22. But they said his play activity was great and that he didn’t seem in the least autistic. I’m just not sure I’m now going to send back him to day care at all right now – may just work with him at home intensely for awhile. The day care was able to take him on an as-needed basis so I could type at home. Well, at least I know that option is available if I need it! 
Kiddoes – always something.

I have more to update but so busy….

One thing I did want to mention though is my grandma passed away on 12/30. We will sure miss her! She was 92 1/2.