Tag Archives: autism talk

Autism Strategy, Makaton

Makaton: Good Morning

The pain and illness that has consumed our house for the last forty-eight hours has passed. After a good night’s sleep, I stretch my arms upwards and breathe in the new day.

I pick up my phone and focus on a new goal. At Rhys’ annual review a few days ago, we discussed the use of Makaton and how visual signs are a good method of aiding verbal understanding. Rhys is a visual learner, so I was keen to get started on a way to enhance our communication and develop his understanding.

‘Good Morning’, seamed like a good start to my Makaton journey. I type it into Google and watch a lady demonstrate the sign. It is a simple thumbs up and swoop across the shoulders. “I’ve got this” I say to myself, holding up my thumb and swooping my hand from one shoulder to another, in confirmation of knowing the sign.

I know that Rhys is one step ahead of me in learning Makaton, after his experience of it in school. So I have a positive feeling that this is going to be a good move forward for us.

I can hear the chatter of Rhys next door as he occupies himself with his numbers. He must have been up for about an hour, but is happily entertained, and for once has not pounced on top of me in the commencement of a game of hide and seek.

Walking into his room, I crouch down in front of him. Previous multiple attempts of prompting for a “Good morning” have been semi successful, but never clear or freely spoken. So I am excited to see how this works out.

Looking into Rhys eyes, I get his attention. “Good Morning” I say, holding my thumb up and passing my hand across my chest, in sync with the two words as I speak them.

“Good Morning” replies Rhys in words more clearly than I have ever heard him say. It is spontaneous, with no prompting. A response I would have received from one of my friends hearing my greeting.

What a great start to the morning. It is definitely going to be a good one. I immediately run back to my bedroom and shake awake my husband. I explain the makaton and Rhys’ response.

“What’s the action” he asks. I show him the sign, and he mimicks me, confirming it back to himself.

Kneeling down by Rhys, he looks at him and holding up his thumb says, “Good Morning,” followed with the swoop across his chest.

“Good Morning” says Rhys.

It could have been coincidence, or maybe the Makaton had helped, prompting the clear communication. It doesn’t matter. Rhys communicated back to us without prompting.

I am excited for this new goal. An additional way of building communication with my son.

For anyone wanting to come on the Makaton journey with us, I want to introduce “Makaton with Jessie”. Rhys’ little sister who is joining in with the plan. Because as Jessie puts it, “We are a team!”

I think she is doing a pretty good job. What do you think?

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Autism Life

A Pain That Cannot Be Communicated!

I remember a little girl looking up at her mum with sad eyes and saying, “Mummy, I have a headache in my tummy” her hands hugging her belly in pain.

She didn’t have the words or knowledge to express her pain, so she did it in the only way she knew how.

Fifteen years ago, I lay curled up on a hospital bed in pain, a doctor came up to me and asked me my symptoms. Looking up at him through the slits in my eyes, I mumbled, “I don’t know.” The pain was so great that it emanated throughout my body disguising its source.

Illness comes in many forms and even when you have the ability to express verbally what is wrong, we often cannot find the words or process the detail to do so.

And that’s for those of us who can talk.

So when I picked up Rhys from school this morning, the absence of language and knowledge to express his pain, was only presented with tears and the words, “Sad”.

Rhys is either happy or sad.

Just one or the other. He doesn’t kmow any level in-between.

So I become a detective and look for the non-verbal signs. A feel of his forehead to check for temperature, a look at the colour in his face, the sound of a cough or a sniffle, and the alertness of his character.

There is no temperature, no cough, no sniffles. But he holds his ears and cries, with the words “sad” verbalised between breathes.

He wont eat except for soft food like his white bread sandwich – his crackers and orange remaining untouched.

When we get home, he perks up. The quiet atmosphere is a blessing to his torment. But a flash of the calpol syringe sets him off again. The request to bring something to his mouth brings distress.

I think I have identified the culprit of his pain. His teeth. The new big boy teeth pushing through his tender gums.

But I have been wrong before. I can only guess. I can only make sense of what I see. Because my little boy cannot tell me.

So we will play it safe. Give him another day’s rest and fingers crossed he is ok.

This is where things are tough. Tough for both sides, the struggle to communicate, and the challenge to help.

Forty-eight more hours of cuddles is all I have to offer…

… and sneaky calpol in his squash.

Get well soon little buddy.

❤❤❤❤

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Autism Strategy

Bikes Are Not Just For Riding!

Rhys sat on the floor, his balance bike in front of him, on its side, the wheels spinning.

I looked at the bike, with an image in my mind, of him sitting on the seat, his legs pushing off the ground as he glided down the small path at the top of our road. An image I had seen of other children his age, while out with their family. High pitch screams of excitement as they felt the warm air glide through their hair.

Rhys however continued to sit and spin.

I knew he was happy, to him moving wheels was just the best thing ever. But somewhere in my heart, I wanted him to enjoy the movement of the bike and the feeling of freedom, it taking him on an adventure.

I consulted Google for advice, and there were a few printouts about riding a bike. They were structured into a number of pictures which sequentially formed a story, with a beginning, middle and end. The social story around the activity seemed like a good idea, so I printed it out and arranged it ready to show Rhys.

Bending down to his level, I held up a picture of a little boy. He was wearing his helmet, with the words ‘ride my bike’ stencilled in bold above the image. “Rhys, ride bike?” I asked.

Rhys’ eyes remained transfixed on the movement of the wheels, ensuring their continuous motion with a swift flick of his hand every time they started to slow down.

He did not acknowledge my picture.

I held up the second picture in the sequence. The boy was now climbing onto the bike, the words ‘sit on seat’ stencilled once again in bold above the image. “Rhys sit on bike?” I asked, taking the bike in my hands and lifting it up onto its wheels.

My social story suddenly took a different turn. Rhys got angry! His wheels had stopped moving. His fun had ended with no explanation except for some crazy woman holding up pieces of unrelated paper! He pulled the balance bike towards him, letting it fall back onto the floor. Lifting his hand he spun the wheel once again, and watched it move.

No fancy social story printed off the Internet was going to work. I realise that I would need to accept that objects didn’t necessarily need to be used in he way they were advertised.

Later that day we sat watching Peppa Pig. She was on the way to the dentist, every step of her journey described in her own little bossy way. The journey in the car, the waiting room, the dentist’s chair – it was all methodically described, with a happy ‘jump in muddy puddles’ ending.

I had an idea.

I grabbed my phone and searched. It didn’t take long, but I found a Peppa Pig episode where the family went on a bike ride. They had a race, they had fun while seated on their bikes.

I put the episode on the telly and we watched it on repeat. Then I searched YouTube and found a video of a little boy on his balance bike. I played the clip in the background as Rhys spun the wheels on his bike. After a while, I saw his eyes notice the screen, and then start to watch the movement of the bike as the boy rode up and down the road.

Picking up the bike, I placed it in front of Rhys, and he reluctantly sat on the seat as I pushed him over the carpets and around the house.

He rode his bike just like Peppa, just like the little boy on YouTube.

A social story does not need to be a paper sequence of pictures. It can be anything to describe and explain an activity or social norm.  Being in the technology age, I used the device at the end of my finger tips. A hub of resources just waiting for a search term.

We still have a long way to go on the bike. But we will take one step at a time. Thanks to Peppa, she got us one step forward.

🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲

Read about social stories and how to use them here.

Let me know your thoughts. Go to Facebook and comment if you have tried any strategies.  Share so others can try them too.

Autism Strategy

Planning for Success

Twelve little picture cards are placed sequentially down the wall. Each one in the green coloured section showing that they are still to happen.

I remember the process we went through to get to the full list of the day’s events. Initially I had placed them all on the wall and somehow expected Rhys to acknowledge the process – I was obviously delusional, or maybe just had a lot still to learn!

Three years ago we had mastered the first-then strategy. The use of two pictures to move Rhys between activities, communicating a clear sequence and managing the transition. Pictures became the basis of everything. I used them to communicate with him, reducing anxiety and avoiding meltdowns.

I would place little pictures onto a green card showing where we were going and what would happen next. Crouching down to Rhys’ eye level in carparks, shopping centres and play areas with my sequence of pictures got a number of stares from the passers by, but I didn’t see the on looking eyes, I saw my son and the need to do everything to communicate with him and avoid a meltdown due to confusion and frustration.

The miniature schedule worked extremely well, and I continued to use it in a portable fashion.

After a few months, I changed to a red and green card adding a few extra activities to the sequence. Hand-over-hand I helped Rhys move each activity card from the green section to the red section to signify its completion.

It didn’t take long for Rhys to master this second step.

Once comfortable, I implemented the final stage. I took the schedule card we had been using for a number of weeks and stuck it to the hallway wall. The perfect central location to communicate our plan. As the activities were completed, I would take Rhys to the wall for him to move the card to the red section.

He soon knew where to see his plan. Now consisting of over twelve activities per day.

As I finished making the dinner this evening, I spotted a mop of blonde hair walk up to the communication wall. The little hand reached for the dinner card and moved it across to the red, “All finished” he said. But he wasn’t finished, he kept going. Bath, pyjamas, brush teeth were moved across too, and then the hand tapped the last card, “Bedtime!” it said, and two little legs walked down the hallway and up the stairs.

Schedules can help communicate the events of the day, but they can do so much more, like communicating when your little one is done.

👕🍳🚗🛁🛏

Click here to get a step by step guide to schedules.

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Autism Strategy

Countdown to Bed

“Rhys wash hair” I state, holding the little toy watering can where he can see it. I use simple words to explain what I am about to do, so he wont be taken by surprise.
“Ready, steady, go” I announce, and being careful to not get any water in his eyes, I lift the watering can up to his head, and start to count.

With every canful of water I count down, making Rhys aware of how long the activity is going to take.
“Five” first canful of water weting the top of his head.
“Four” the water running down the back of his head.
“Three” making sure the left hand side is saturated.
“Two” then the right.
“One” pouring the last canful on the top.

“Well done, Rhys” I say excitedly, wiping his face clean from any stray droplets of water. I take some shampoo in my hand and lather his long hair into a Mohawk, more for my enjoyment than his!

I then begin the process again.
“Rhys, wash hair” I say again, the watering can held high. “Five, four, three, two, one.” Lifting the towel to his face, I give Rhys a few seconds to breathe and reset. There is still a lot of shampoo in his hair, so when he is ready, I start the cycle again.

Washing Rhys’ hair use to be traumatic. Without any means to communicate with him at the time, it resulted in force and a close call to water boarding 😮 (or so it seemed). I had no way of getting him clean without a swift quick-as-I-could dunk in the bath. We both grew very quickly to hate an experience which was meant to be fun, engaging and relaxing.

“All finished” I announce. Lifting Rhys out the bath and wrapping him up in a large fluffy towel. His big blue eyes and contagious smile peep out from under the folds, confirmation that his bath had been fun.

I leave Rhys to put on his pyjamas, which I have laid out in order on his floor. Picking up the hair brush I wait for him to be ready. The brush is a pink anti-tangle one with unicorns on it, and actually his sisters, but it works a treat.

Kneeling down on the soft carpet and looking up at the dressed pyjamas I state, in the same way I did ten minutes earlier “Rhys, brush hair”. With each stroke I count “five, four, three, two, one”

Once I am done I scrunch Rhys’ hair into its natural curl, and give him a huge cuddle, breathing in the fresh fragrance of the bath.

“Sleep well Buddy!, you did great!”

🛁👨‍🦰

Click here to get a step by step on Countdowns.

I have used countdowns in so many ways to communicate time with Rhys and how long events are going to last. From hair washing, to brushing teeth and even during haircuts.

I use the Ready Steady Go technique to communicate the start of the activity, which is a great foundation for many other strategies. See more details here.

You can also add traffic lights to help with the length of the activity, and pictures or sequence cards to supplement the communication.

Be creative and combine strategies in ways that will be able to help you communicate and enjoy activities with your child.

Most importantly – sometimes things don’t always work first time, so assess what you are doing, keep trying and if needed, ask for help.

If you have missed any of the other strategies, find them all detailed here.

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