Journal Entry from April 30, 2008

Thomas has really started having more tantrums the past couple weeks. They are not terrible really, but he will just be inconsolable for a while. This has kind of coincided with his obsession of the gate on the porch. He opens and closes it, and opens it and closes it, and opens it and closes it…… He’ll just keep doing it until we pick him up and carry him into the house crying with tears steaming down his face. Last night when I kept trying to redirect him to go into the house, he took me by the hand and walked with me into the house, and then he went back inside and closed the door behind him. I then went back outside to get him, and he was running down the driveway toward the street. It really scared me. Usually he’ll just go back out and play with the gate some more. We live in the middle of the city so it is incredibly dangerous for him to be running from me. Now that it is finally getting nice we’ll start going to the park again. I’ll try to have him walk with me so we both are more comfortable with walking on city streets.

We talked to M (from Play Project) last night about the gate-shutting thing and we think that it is a cause and effect thing he is going for. And he’s made it part of the evening routine (we don’t have the problem in the morning, he might do it once or twice, then gets right into the car to go). We’re going to try to get a really fun, cause and effect toy to get him away from the gate. We’ll make that part of the routine. We’re also have a big problem with the routine thing at daycare. He’s getting more and more set on his routine. We were able to break him of the routine of opening his bedroom door after we put him down for bed. He would sneak back to the door and open it and peek out over and over and over… So we got a doorknob cover so he couldn’t open the door. It was on there about a month and I took it off over the weekend. He did really well and hasn’t done it since. It’s nice that it worked so well. Hopefully we’ll keep doing well with that.

Every other week Thomas goes to the autism playgroup with daddy one morning (the other week it is an afternoon playgroup). For various reasons they have not made most of the morning playgroups, due various people’s illness, spring break, lack of transportation, etc. Yesterday was the first time that they went to the morning playgroup and then brought Thomas back to daycare for the afternoon. First of all, there is theoretically enough time to get there in time for lunch, but yesterday they will just finishing lunch and laying down for naps. Then, (we’ve actually been having this problem in the mornings too) we usually start out in different room and he plays for 5-10 minutes before the teacher in his class arrives. He is absolutely set on starting in that other classroom, including yesterday. He was already upset when we wouldn’t let him in there, and then we brought him into the classroom and they are finishing lunch and we try to get him to sit down and eat and that isn’t working. He ended up just screaming. We got a call an hour later wondering if something had happened that morning (like shots or something) because he was still really upset and wouldn’t settle down. I also wonder if it was because I was there. Normally I wouldn’t be there, but I was meeting Sam for an appointment we had yesterday. I don’t know what to do. Should we skip the Tusday playgroup because it interferes with lunch? Or should he have lunch before leaving the playgroup (just bring something with)? Or should we see if he can sit in the daycare office and have lunch on that day and then have him go down for a nap?

M also suggested that when we bring him late, we should have him sit in another room for a couple minutes with one of his favorite toys so that he gets to have a little of that free play that he usually starts the day with. I just don’t know what to do. I think that the playgroup is beneficial because he gets 1:1 attention interacting. Most of the other kids are autistic too so it is very structured and they teach the basic social skills that our kids are lacking. I just don’t want it to be such a distraction that it ruins the rest of his day. At the beginning when Sam was still working nights, they had made the suggestion that if we weren’t able to do the play groups maybe the DT and ST could stay for an extra hour on his regular therapy day. Maybe they should continue with the Thursday group and every other week do an extra hour of therapy. I don’t know. It’s hard to know what is going to be most beneficial to him. M also went to observe and make suggestions at daycare. She said that there is basically no transition between activities. The teachers clean up and then the kids are just expected to do the new activity. She tried to explain that Thomas is very focused on what he is doing and does not notice that they are cleaning up so it comes as a shock that he suddenly has to stop the thing he was enjoying and do something new. She suggested flashing the lights or singing a clean up song or something. They have been using the pictures, but we’re still not completely sure he knows what they mean. We need to figure out something to communicate the change to him. It makes it so much more work and stressful to have meltdowns every time they change activities.

I think I am going to buy a set of pecs pictures. I have been trying to do my own, but they are not as nice and take too much time. I would like to start using the visual schedule. I just want a nice set to use so that it is easy and complete and everything. I put in a bid on ebay for a CD with pics, so hopefully I will get that. Well that’s about it.