Brendan slept through the night Friday night. He woke up in a good mood. We had to go to Lodi to see his RDI therapist (we try to see her once per month). What we are working on right now is "executive function". This tends to be difficult for autistic kids. Executive function is a set of mental processes that helps connect past experience with present action. Most of us use it to perform activities such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and space.
Well, Brendan did very well during the session. She played games with him that she has guided him in the past. Lately, she has been slowly holding back to see what he will do. Lots of times, there may be no reaction and then she has to prompt him first nonverbally and then verbally. He only needed a few prompts during one of the games and on the other two, he did very, very well.
I cooked him lunch after we got home and told him I wasn't feeling well and was very tired. So, he signed 'sleep' and laid down on the couch. I laid down on the other couch and rested for about 30 minutes. One of the things that amazes me, when I became a parent, is how you can doze BUT still hear your child! I felt better after resting a bit and I thanked him for letting me rest.
Then we went upstairs to listen to his music....and he broke a CD. So, no more music for the rest of the day. I did allow him to watch a Barney video, but even that didn't appease him. He was fixated on his CDs.
After his bath, he was irritated because he could not listen to his music. Since I could tell he was getting more mad, I told him it was time for bed. This is of course after a few headbutts. Instead of reading to him like I do every night, I just told him good night.
I went back downstairs and watched him on the monitor. After 15 minutes, ,I could hear him crying softly. So, I checked on him. I think he felt bad for being mean to me. He seemed remourseful. I had him get up and swing in his gym a little because this usually calms him down. But he was still sad. He wanted me to lay down next to him and hold his hand, so I did. Then he asked me to 'stay'. So, I did and we both fell asleep.
He woke up at 5am. I went to work early since I had been up for awhile trying to get him to go back to sleep. He kept his Dad busy going places and was pretty good until they went to Jamba Juice. To make a long story short, he headbutted his Dad because he thought the drinks on the counter were his, but they weren't. His Dad told him to wait for their drinks, but Brendan got upset for being wrong. Under the circumstances, I told his Dad, I would have thought those drinks were theirs too.
When I got home, his Dad looked tired and went to work. Brendan and I went to my parents house for a visit. Then we came home and made brownies and cupcakes. Then I had him take a nap (5pm) because he couldn't keep his eyes open. He woke up in a good mood and the rest of the night he was happy. He is in bed, but not asleep yet..
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