Here it is! Abbey’s Year video!! I don’t think I got around to doing one last year, but we have several older ones on our YouTube channel. It’s amazing to see how far she has come! She’s happier than ever, communicating more than ever and is really getting the hang of going new places and trying new things!
Celebrate with us as we look back and see how we have helped Abbey learn and grow!
Click here to watch Abbey’s Year 2014!
Here’s Abbey asking for the same thing over and over….she’s got a one-track mind today!
It’s been a rough week of not enough sleep for either of us. We’re doing much better now so I’m counting my blessings as she repeats herself over and over, so thankful that it’s in such a nice sentence!:)
It’s so important to look back! Sometimes you feel like you’re at a stand still, not making much progress or that it’s just going so slowly. When you look back and see, over time, all the progress there has been, it can give you that motivation again to keep on truckin’! Whether you’ve video taped when they were younger or have old IEP’s to look at or just even old pictures, look back, look at how far you’ve come!! Look at how far we’ve come!!
Click on the video below! And, wait until you see the video on the bottom…a blast from the past!:)
Click on the video below to see Abbey getting ready in the morning, right after we started using a picture schedule for her, before she had a communicating device. It made such a difference with her!
Today was a patience testing kind of day. It takes an extraordinary amount of patience to raise a child with autism and I have a lot of it, most of the time…but sometimes, I wonder, do I have enough??
She’s starting to understand more and more what she’s supposed to do and what she’s not, but sometimes the temptations are too much for her and there she goes into everything again, or not stopping to play outside to come in and go potty. She’ll go months and months doing great and then once she does it, seems like she does it over and over and over! She listens well….trick is, as long as I’m patient and firm, together! She can totally tell now when I’m getting frustrated, oh dear!
Abbey has made so much progress communicating and with so many of her really hard behaviors, but why does it seem like when they make great progress in one area, another area gets harder?
It seems like Abbey’s sensory world just gets completely out of control, out of this world crazy sometimes, and we’re seeing it now more than ever! Is it just because she’s so much bigger and older now? She has broken a very long list of things in her house like her window, holes in walls, our couch, her bed, more chairs than I can remember, just to name a few…and none of them when she was mad! She broke all of these things just rocking, bouncing, jumping around in big, huge movements. We have swings inside and out, exercise balls, stuff to chew on, sensory stuff all over our house for her to play with…but it’s just not enough. Will we be able to find something that is enough? I don’t know, but we’re working on it! We’re working on another outside trampoline as her inside one just doesn’t seem to do much for her…but, problem is, she’s so heavy and so rough on things, we need a really good, safe one…yes, expensive, just like everything Abbey needs and breaks! Well, more praying! AND, as we work on these really hard things, we’re just gonna keep on focusing and celebrating the great things that are happening, ’cause that’s what it’s all about!
Ugh, sensory issues are so hard! Just when you think, just maybe, the days of picking tiny pieces of non-edible things out of their mouths is over, it’s not. The need obviously comes and goes, for Abbey anyway. Pica, or chewing on all those non-edible things, has always been a problem for Abbey. We go through so much Spry gum, it’s crazy!
We’re working on getting her a big trampoline again, realizing how much she really does need that outlet and that sensory input. Finding the sensory things that help them, can make such a difference and teaching them to learn to ask for those things is imperative!
Here’s Abbey trying to tell me something! The video of her is a bit hard to hear, sorry, should have turned up the volume on her iPad. I think you should be able to make it out, though.
She’s been doing a lot of talking lately…with her device, which has been very exciting! She uses Proloquo2Go to talk to us. And, she’s bringing it to us, which I explain in the video, is huge!
Click below to see the video!
It so exciting when you find something that motivates your kiddos to communicate!! It doesn’t come easy, but I think, gets easier as they start learning and start realizing how it works for them. Some days, she’s a communicating machine and other days, it’s like pulling teeth. It all depends on her mood and what she wants, how motivating it is for her and how motivated she needs to be that day. Some days she needs some prompting and other days, she just goes and goes…those days make me so happy!
So, this was a pretty good day! She was happy and very motivated by candy! This video shows the progression from the beginning, starting with me showing her what to do, to her figuring it out and going with it! Candy is extremely motivating, as you will see! So cute! I used one of the ‘expressions’ on Proloquo2Go for ‘thank you’, so that’s super cute too…
Click the video below to see her treat or treating, in action!
Yesterday turned out to be a fun day, well most of it! We went to a ‘trunk or treat’ event at our local autism center, The Responding to Autism Center. My oldest son with high functioning autism put on ‘his idea’ of a costume and went to help out with one of the games for the kids, but ended up hanging out with his friends, from social skills classes, that showed up, for most of the time….which was really neat to watch. My oldest kiddo, Maggie, almost 18 now also came and helped out with games. I was so impressed with all the teenagers there, how great they were with the kids. I saw lots of kiddos having a great time and a couple struggling…but a nice safe, understanding place to do it in!
So, Abbey participated in a new way this year, which was very exciting! I added a folder to her Proloquo2Go on her iPad with the buttons, ‘trick or treat’ and ‘thank you.’ She caught on VERY quickly, that she received candy when she did this and had a big smile on her face….stay tuned for a blog post about this, WITH a very cute video! And, yes, my Proloquo2Go peeps, I added the ‘thank you’ with expression, so super duper, extra cute!:)
Click below to see my video diary post for today and hear what I have to say about taking opportunities!!
So, yes, Abbey is a bit of a foodie, as you can tell. Ok, so, she really loves food. You can tell by the apps that she chooses to play the most. These apps are fun and they do work on pretend play, creativity and lots more! Wait til you see what she likes to top her donuts with…oh, boy, she’s her father’s child, for sure!:)
abbeysvoice 