Adventure-Search & Rescue with Kaden

Sensory is heightened for Kaden always.  Every day is a new smell, sound or texture that he either seeks out or runs away from like it's the end of the world.  To him, it is the end of the world in his mind.  So, when he is crazy overloaded I sometimes try to over stimulate him sensory wise. 

For example on this particular day it was non stop with the hitting and negative self talk.  He was not responding with words, only grunts and pointing.  Wouldn't show eye contact and very withdrawn.  I decided to have Mahala do a math exercise with him and then we went outside to toss the football.  Not a good idea on the football tossing.  It ended up being a smaller version of WWII. 

So, I decided to take the pan we used to make our chicken farm for Easter and turn it into a Search and Rescue Dig".   We just finished our dino unit study, so he understood the whole excavation process.

The pan is filled with steel cut oatmeal and I put in anything & everything that I could find that could be buried.  And then we asked him to find things with wheels, things blue or round.  You get the picture......

It was a ton of fun and even though it only held his attention for about 10 minutes it was worth it.  Running his hands through the oatmeal and seeing the different objects settled him down and helped him refocus long enough to get dinner done ad then we started our night time routine.

To us, it is important to always have an activity or two like this up our sleeves so we can pull it out when all else fails.  The idea is to help Kaden have successful days and to feel positive about himself. 

Every day is an Adventure!!

Sensory Fun!!

Mahala was so Sweet the other day.  She made up these different bowls with sensory items for Kaden to play with.

She used pasta, flour and rice.  He had to smell, feel, taste and guess what it was.

She also did one with beads and small toys.

The favorite one was the slime she made in his favorite color....blue.

The whole playtime lasted for over an hour and I would say a good 45 minutes was him playing in the slime and flour.

He Loved mixing the flour and slime

We are very Lucky to have a Sister like Mahala!!!!

Carboard Projects

 For Christmas Kaden's stocking was filled with lots of crafty things, puzzles and small gadgets.  This cool race car puzzle was one of them.

After many long minutes of fiddling around with this cardboard contraption "we" finally finished it.  Kaden refused to use glue, so it was a wobbly situation from beginning to the end.

In the end his smile was all worth it!  Even though we had to eat hard, burnt fish sticks because we lost track of time.  :) 

Can I Mulitply That Mom?

 Kaden LOVES anything to do with numbers!!!!  Can I multiply those numbers for you Mom?  I hear it every day?  Everyday Kaden asks, "whats this times this?  Do you know if you multiply this with that it will be this?"  I reply....why yes Kaden or no Kaden Mommy wasn't thinking about that right know because she's trying to take a shower. :)  Lord grant me patience......
So, here is his Iguana Factor Game he loves.  I hide it sometimes, because to me a little math goes a loooong way.  :)  If you have a little one who loves to multiply this is a fun game.  And if you have one that struggles in math, this would be a great alternative to constant book work.  We have games for Math, History, Science, Grammar, Writing, you name it I have a game for it.  It just breaks up a normal week of school and allows lots of laughter.  :)

Can You See what My Face is Saying to You

 The other day Mahala sat down with Kaden and played name this face with him.  They made different kinds of faces with play-dough and she would make faces and he tried to guess what feeling it represented.
Kaden has a hard time with this.  The main emotions he can identify easily are:  happy, sad and mad.  All others are undetected at this point consistently.  Yesterday our ABA therapist came over to do a final assessment and she was shocked at how unaware of body language and facial expression he actually was. 
Good News, there are a lot of tools out there that can help him identify what the world is trying to say, one crinkled face at a time.  HAHAHAHAHA
I'm excited to finally have a path to follow, not so sure he is.  He had no desire to sit and talk with her unless she was giving him skittles or talking about his new nerf gun.  Part of me was just thanking God he wanted to talk about a nerf gun and not multiplication facts or Quantum Theory.  :)
By the way.....how do you teach Quantum Theory to a 5 year old?  Where in the heck does he hear about this stuff anyway?  :)

Sensory Therapy Disguised as Fun

A new craft project we did the other day!! I have a basket on a lower shelf that Kaden has access to whenever he wants.  It has quick projects, workbooks, small puzzles, tiny models he can build and trinkets from the dollar store.  Well, the other day it was a Bendaroo Day!!!!

Kaden's finished project!!!

Preferred Asperger Activity

One of Kaden's preferred activities is playing video games.  He already saved the princess in Super Mario Bros so now he's tearing up lego batman 2 with a vengeance.  He doesn't just play with one controller he uses two.  He says it's more of a challenge.  :)
Well, you go Kaden....Mom's going to sit back, cheer you on  and watch you with her iced coffee.  I give him another week and this game will be won.  And when he wins or solves a video game he refuses to play it anymore.  Not even his Sister can get him to play it again.  He's like that with puzzles too, which is why I buy most of them at yard sales or swap out with friends.
I'm thankful he's not like that with card games or his chess set.  HAHAHAHA
What's some of your Kid's preferred activities?

Back off My Front Porch with Your Expectations

 Kaden is obsessed with his tablet. He plays chess, word games, mahjong, school work.  You name it, it's there.  It beats bringing a huge entertainment bag I did when my other two were younger.  It was filled with, books, crayons, paper, small tos, cards, stuff like that.  Times have changed....

 He was in a mood the other day and wouldn't get out of his night clothes.  He hardly ever wants to go somewhere and that day I had sooooooo much running around to do.  And needed Skylar's help.  I won't leave Kaden and Mahala home alone yet.  So, we all had to go, which means I had to pick my battles.   After much debating he came with us but he stayed in his "Home Clothes". :)

Which brings me to how I'm feeling toay.  The past few months I have been trying to shift my expectations.  I had to, No more am I going to feel guilty for not doing enough.  Or worry if this decision is right or wrong.  Could I have handled this situation better.  I have a child with a developmental disorder, he needs me.  I need me, my family needs me.  So, back up off my front porch and let me focus on what's important.  Not only do I get judged as a parent with a child who has ASD, but, I judge myself.  I am not going to be my worst enemy anymore.
My house doesn't have to look like it was ripped from the pages of a magazine.  And my days will never be planned out and put into a planner arranged by the hour.  I will always have gray hair sprouting and need to lose more weight then not.  Ok, maybe that's a little exaggerated)  But, one place that I will never cut corners or relax in is taking care of my children.  I will always love them and be there for them. And if from the outside you think it looks crazy or unorganized...you are more then likely right.  I'm just trying to focus on the important things to me, and to me that is the people in my house, not the house itself.

3D Mazes for Everyone!!!!

Kaden got this cool 3D maze book yesterday.  He was not too excited about the glasses part, but I talked him into using them.  He kept saying that he could do the mazes just fine without the glasses.  Forget about fun, he was ready to get down to business.  HAHAHAHA
He finished the whole book in about 20 minutes.  There went my $10!!!!  But, it was that or a sticker book that I knew he would have no interest in after 5 minutes.

Asperger Melt down

Today while we were at Mahala's practice Kaden had the Biggest melt down ever. He didn't want to put his shoes on when we were leaving the house, because he didn't want to cover his toes.  The whole way there he was fine, no problems at all.  But, when we got to practice and he saw the playground he got angry because he didn't have his shoes.  He screamed, hit the windows, rocked back and forth for the whole time.  I tried to use calming words and then I just let it run it's course.  As soon as Mahala and Skylar got back to the car and I started to back away he went silent and started playing with his toys. His punishment is to not have video games tomorrow.  And normally he is fine with punishment ad will not complain or try to get out of it.  It's hard sometime to tell what is asperger frustration and what is misbehavior because he is a 5 year old boy. So, I'm guessing tomorrow we will have a lot of chess and math going on around here.  :-)

Every Card has it's Place

Cards over Here, Cards over There.  Cards Everywhere!!!