Daddy and his colorful girl.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Line, Please?
So.
PDD-NOS.
Ben and I have accepted Sophie's diagnosis. Now we're attacking it like the geeks we are; by reading everything available and studying like we're two weeks away from a final exam. Sophie has not yet had her evaluation by a Special Ed teacher because she needs some medical tests done first. Until then, we're trying some things we've read about.
Sophie uses something called echolalia. She hears us say something and can't process or understand it so she just repeats the last thing we said.
Before:
Ben: "I love you, Sophie!"
Sophie: (just repeating) "I love you, Sophie!"
Sophie also uses "scripts" to describe how she is feeling or what she wants. She usually takes these from her favorite TV shows; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Imagination Movers and Sesame Street.
Sophie: "Whassa matter?"
Meaning: "Something is wrong!"
Origin: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode "Doctor Daisy, M.D."
Ben and I have been watching and listening to Sophie to see how she uses language and scripts. We've been trying to modify how we speak to her and see if she responds.
Now:
Ben: (pointing at himself) "I love you, Sophie!" (pointing at her) "I love you, Daddy!"
Sophie: (understanding her line) "I love you, Daddy!"
Now Sophie will come up to me with a grin and say "I love you, Mama!" because she knows that I'm supposed to say "I love you, Sophie!" back to her. She no longer needs the prompt.
We're working on some more scripts for when she's hungry, tired or needs something. Basically, we're teaching her how to use pronouns correctly which makes her connect to herself and others the right way.
It's a lot of work but Sophie catches on quickly. We're already thinking of some flash card ideas and games that we can play. We also use dialog from Mickey Mouse to see what's going on. God knew what he was doing when he put me in theater and made it easy for me to learn a lot of lines!
PDD-NOS.
Ben and I have accepted Sophie's diagnosis. Now we're attacking it like the geeks we are; by reading everything available and studying like we're two weeks away from a final exam. Sophie has not yet had her evaluation by a Special Ed teacher because she needs some medical tests done first. Until then, we're trying some things we've read about.
Sophie uses something called echolalia. She hears us say something and can't process or understand it so she just repeats the last thing we said.
Before:
Ben: "I love you, Sophie!"
Sophie: (just repeating) "I love you, Sophie!"
Sophie also uses "scripts" to describe how she is feeling or what she wants. She usually takes these from her favorite TV shows; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Imagination Movers and Sesame Street.
Sophie: "Whassa matter?"
Meaning: "Something is wrong!"
Origin: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode "Doctor Daisy, M.D."
Ben and I have been watching and listening to Sophie to see how she uses language and scripts. We've been trying to modify how we speak to her and see if she responds.
Now:
Ben: (pointing at himself) "I love you, Sophie!" (pointing at her) "I love you, Daddy!"
Sophie: (understanding her line) "I love you, Daddy!"
Now Sophie will come up to me with a grin and say "I love you, Mama!" because she knows that I'm supposed to say "I love you, Sophie!" back to her. She no longer needs the prompt.
We're working on some more scripts for when she's hungry, tired or needs something. Basically, we're teaching her how to use pronouns correctly which makes her connect to herself and others the right way.
It's a lot of work but Sophie catches on quickly. We're already thinking of some flash card ideas and games that we can play. We also use dialog from Mickey Mouse to see what's going on. God knew what he was doing when he put me in theater and made it easy for me to learn a lot of lines!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Music Therapy
One of my girlfriends wrote a post about how music affects her. I love how she describes how the music envelops her and is able to soothe her fears. Music brings her back to the past and she is now adding new memories to color those same songs. She ends with a list of her favorites. I thought it would be fun to give myself the same challenge.
Music affects me the same way. When my babies are upset, my first response is to sing to them. When I'm happy, I crank up the music in the car to dangerous levels. (And hopefully remember to crank the volume down before my husband drives the car again.) I tweaked her categories for me.
- My All Time Fave - Carry on My Wayward Son Kansas
- Fave Religious - Before the Throne of God Above Selah
- Fave Classical - Brahms Requiem (ORIGINAL GERMAN, PLEASE.)
- Fave Love Song - Love Petra
- Fave Christmas Song - One Small Child
- Fave Weird Al Yankovic - Trigger Happy
- Sophie's Lullaby - Slumber, My Darling Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss
- Gideon's Lullaby - La, la, Lu from Lady and the Tramp
- Milly's Lullaby - Goodnight, My Angel Celtic Woman
- Fave Soundtrack - Blues Brothers
- Fave Score (YES, THERE'S A DIFFERENCE!) -Braveheart
- Fave Workout - Black Betty Ram Jam
- Fave Feel Like a Bada$$ - Supermassive Black Hole Muse
- Fave Musical - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
- Will Always and Forever Make Me Smile - Nightswimming R.E.M.
- When I Need to Get Angry - Faint Linkin Park
- When I Need To Cry - Winter Tori Amos
- When I Need to Dance - She Bangs Ricky Martin (shut up.)
- To Cover with My All Girl Punk Band - Breed Nirvana
- Our Song - Look Around Blues Traveler
Friday, February 10, 2012
Princess Bride
My insano-beautiful sister. This is why I always feel I should be introduced as the Sister with the Good Personality.
Mommy's Little Genius
Gideon loves to play with any and all of our computer devices. One of his first words was "Apple".
Not the fruit. He was pointing at the logo on the back of the laptop.
He's texted gibberish to people and called random numbers. When he was a year old, he took pictures of his feet with my old flip phone.
I've password protected my iPhone to try to keep him from switching my icons around AGAIN. I was feeling pretty cocky about it when I saw him pick up my phone and momentarily get stymied by this block. So I got up and went to put something away. I came back and found him babbling away with the phone to his ear. I smiled at how he was imitating us until I realized...the phone was connected to someone.
Someone not in English.
What?
That little rat had hit "Emergency Call", dialed a random number and CALLED ANOTHER COUNTRY JUST TO CHAT.
I hung up as quickly as I could. Then he got the phone back and activated the Voice Control.
I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!!! I was sitting next to him saying "Show Mommy what you pressed!" as he jabbered away happily.
Maybe he'll make lots of money one day. Then he can pay me back for the frustration.
Not the fruit. He was pointing at the logo on the back of the laptop.
He's texted gibberish to people and called random numbers. When he was a year old, he took pictures of his feet with my old flip phone.
I've password protected my iPhone to try to keep him from switching my icons around AGAIN. I was feeling pretty cocky about it when I saw him pick up my phone and momentarily get stymied by this block. So I got up and went to put something away. I came back and found him babbling away with the phone to his ear. I smiled at how he was imitating us until I realized...the phone was connected to someone.
Someone not in English.
What?
That little rat had hit "Emergency Call", dialed a random number and CALLED ANOTHER COUNTRY JUST TO CHAT.
I hung up as quickly as I could. Then he got the phone back and activated the Voice Control.
I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!!! I was sitting next to him saying "Show Mommy what you pressed!" as he jabbered away happily.
Maybe he'll make lots of money one day. Then he can pay me back for the frustration.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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