Living with Autism

I recently joined a new facebook group for Parents of Autistic Children in Australia who are trying ABA. The old chestnut: When to toilet train?  came up and it reminded me to repost this advice:




Don't be pushed into it!
You have to be ready to persevere with it so make sure there are no holidays, or house moves coming up, or any kind of disruption to normal life as it will set you back.

Prepare by making a visual social story laminate the pictures and put them in the toilet where you can point to each step as you prompt them to do it.

You can also make a little book of pictures to represent each step - to read together.

These days you might be tempted to do a story using an App but please be warned - if you want it to be accessible during the toilet routine, you are setting yourself up for a water (and worse) accident with your iDevice.

Make it out of paper using pictures from any of the free image sharing websites listed below*
Adapt it to your child's needs and cognitive lev…

Once upon a time my little Liam was a biter.




Still is but he has learned to bite his own hand* in order to stay out of trouble.

We didn't teach him to do this, but the consequences of biting other people taught him to try and stop himself, by putting his hand up to his mouth. He used to bite a lot of other people. A lot.

Biting is such an effective way to get someone out of your space, to elicit a reaction, and to get sensory input when you are angry, threatened or excited, that it comes naturally to many children, not just those on the autistic spectrum. It comes just as naturally for the victim to squawk or scream in an amusing fashion, back off and leave them alone with whatever they were doing before you got bitten. No wonder it works.

So, how do we put an end to it? Well the first thing is not to react. Very difficult when your beloved 3 year old has just nipped you on the c-section scar (a convenient height when you are 3) and you are in white hot pain meltdown. But stifle …

My boys in the new pub in Greystones: "Mrs Robinsons" a nice way to encourage Boo to take a walk. xx

I'm sure it seems a little hard core to be posting a product review on New Year's Eve, so let me explain; Like many people, I like to think about what the new year might hold, and what I can resolve to do to make things happen. 
I don't smoke, I'm not too bothered about diet because at my age I find if I don't eat the right things, my body quickly tells me to cop on - and the regular visits of the wine fairy will be addressed later in January.


What I do resolve to do is get a bit more of a handle on Gracie's vocal approximations. When typical children learn to speak they move through the sounds like Bababaaba, Dadadaddda, and there is a natural progression as the baby talk eventually turns into speech.


Gracie did not say any babble and as you know, did not produce a recognisable word until she was six so her mouth did not "learn" to make each core sound.
She had little or no clinical therapy for many years, and access to a speech and language pathologist …

This year, Gracie is saying "Happy" when prompted to give a seasonal greeting.
So Happy Happy to all my friends and supporters. It has been a huge year for me and my company.  A lot of hard graft but also a lot of lovely feedback and that is what keeps me going on the difficult days.

My lovely Gracie is doing great at the moment, lots of unique requests* and interaction. Lots of giggles and fun so we have nothing to complain about.
Liam has made a huge list of DVD box sets that he wants. Like everyone, Santa was a little bit short of cash this year but he managed to find a few of them and a few surprises too.

To make it easier on parents, Santa, Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents or really cool supportive friends who want to help you get the gift of independent communication, you can now get Grace App for €20 or $25 which is the average value of an iTunes Gift Card, for the next few days.
Even if you don't have a device yet, you can download the app on your iTunes account an…

Liam made this lovely picture a few years ago, inspired by an episode of "Bear in the Big Blue House" or "Arthur." Note: the Colombia Tristar™ inspired winged horse pulling a carriage. Last time we were in Ballarat he had my sister find him a Menorah in an antique store. And my sister was delighted to find a lovely neon blue Krishna light that she plugged in on the deck to add to our ecumenical holidays that year.

So whatever you celebrate, I want to wish you a wonderful season. And please, if you have any trouble sorting out your priorities with regard to obligations, always put your immediate family first. You will never have cause to regret the time you spend with your kids doing what they like, whatever that is.

xx

It is my Liam's Birthday as of 5 am on 11th December. 

Still as beautiful to me as he was when I first held him in my arms 14 years ago.

And at the noodle market last weekend.






PS. It's also The Grace App Wizard's 23rd Birthday today. Go and wish him a Happy Birthday here

Here's a lovely new video made by Grace App Developer Steve Troughton-Smith.

For your interest, it explains how a person might request a particular DVD featuring our favourite little red monster, ask for help with choosing a chapter, request a snack, and a particular drink all using the features built in to the App. In essence the idea is to explain how Grace App gets you whatever you want.

xx

Just watched "You've got mail" with the previously quite adorable Meg Ryan and always loveable (to women at least) Tom Hanks. (why do men HATE Tom Hanks so much?!?)

So it got me to thinking about all the things that have changed since this supposedly era defining film was released.

* Big super store putting small personal but obviously much more expensive shop out of business.

Ok. This happens. It happened when we were all rich but we wanted more stock and we wanted more STUFF like coffee and muffins AND books at the same time. It also happens in small villages where a big shopping centre with a roof and free parking opens up out of town and suddenly your rainy parking officer infested main street becomes a pain in the butt. Then it becomes a dog shit footpathed, pound shop & thrift store boarded up wasteland.
However, when was the last time you went into Easons/Borders/Angus&Robertson to ask if your favourite author had anything new, and was told "no, but …

Remember how I said the Tabloids wouldn't cover "Life With Autism"  because they couldn't find a negative angle?
Seems The Irish Daily Star did.....


Don't worry, I am using that "Selfish" headline on Mr Hammie every time he fails to bring me tea or a glass of wine..

I was also kind of perplexed to see a thread on a Special Needs Discussion board saying how sad it made them feel??

I was heartened to hear from the producer who said that the show had got HUGE viewing figures and she was delighted. I had hoped that this would mean the media could start telling positive stories about disability and special needs without losing ratings.

As the show is no longer on Real Player you can't watch it but hopefully someone might get it uploaded to vimeo so you can watch it yourself and judge.

In any case I had some really good news to share. I made it on to a Beauty Blog!

I was in the chemist on Monday night getting Gracie's prescription filled (at the last …

In case you hadn't heard, The Domican Family (aka; Boo, Bratty and Mr Hammie et al) appeared in a television documentary last week called "Life With: Autism"

It was part 3 of a series of programs which demonstrate that life with a serious condition can be just as joyful and rewarding as any other, sometimes more so. We took a risk taking part but have to say that while the experience of filming and being interviewed was quite stressful, the final result was wonderful.

Gracie in her little nest
If you are in Ireland you can watch it on the above link. If you are outside of Ireland you have to wait until we can get it uploaded on to something else. When you do watch it you will get to meet not only my children but my other half, who finally gets to tell his side of the story. It was so positive in fact that the press department of the TV company had trouble getting any additional media coverage for it. Seems it is easy to latch on to a hard luck story like: "My Autism H…

From The Irish Daily Mail - "You" magazine, October 29th 2011.
A few corrections: The kids were in state autism schools from 2002-2008 and I ran an after school ABA program with Saplings Tutors. In 2008 first Liam, then Grace were accepted into Saplings Rathfarnham where we started playing around with the iPhone as a communication device.
While O2 supported our development process and donated 6 iPhones, Steve was totally responsible for coding and listing the App on iTunes where it was approved on March 11th 2011.
And if you can collect 85 old mobiles you can trade them in for an iPod Touch Gen 4. (not an iPhone)
If you collect more you can even get an iPad - go here to get involved.h

I need a Dollar Dollar, a dollar euro is what I need...

This is our Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) Enda Kenny and yours truly. I had just asked him for a few billion euros....
Nah, not really. I had just been awarded the Elevate program by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland which will give me up to €35,000 of mentoring and structured business support and I thought I would grab a pic with our gracious leader.
The three main winners of the Impact awards are to share in €600,000 of grants and structured support and the Taoiseach made a point of how inspiring they are in their respective fields.
Congratulations from me to the lovely (really lovely) Sean Love of Fighting Words Creative Writing Centres. Niamh and Michelle from Women for Election  (kicking unequal representation's arse)  and  Micheal Kelly of Grow it Yourself whose speech made me want to go out and build a plastic tunnel in my backyard and start growing Bok Choi.

I also have to share with you the amazing work of Dara Hogan of…

I was terribly sad to hear of the passing of Steve Jobs; before you ask - yes, I read about it on Twitter, on my iPad as I was having my first coffee of the day.
Yup, I'm an Apple Fangirl but unlike the many others who took a bite of Apple Artistry and found they wanted more, I came to iWorld by a different route.

You see I am the mother of 2 autistic children who have both had severely delayed communication and as a result, extreme behavioural challenges in their lives.
Both eventually learned to communicate their needs using "pecs" which stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. To put it simply; when someone is not talking they often develop other techniques for getting what they want. They might start by leading you to the fridge or cupboard to get them a drink or snack, but if they can't get your attention they can try grabbing, dragging, pulling hair or biting you or themselves. Your natural reaction to quickly get what they want reinforces the negati…

Without Steve Jobs, Gracie might not be calling me Mummy. He truly changed our lives. Rest in Peace Steve, we will miss you. xx

Women Mean Business made me their 2011 "Big Idea" Award Winner for Grace App Communication.
Women Mean Business is a magazine for business women in Ireland and the event held at the Shelbourne Hotel - very nice; was attended by some real movers and shakers in industry.

My super friend, the lovely "Mrs Doyle" collected the award at 2:30 pm and gave a lovely speech on my behalf - while I queued to get off our Aer Lingus flight at T2 Dublin.

But Mr Hammie rushed me to the Shelbourne where I caught the second half of Dragon's Den Hilary's keynote to the Women who Mean Business.

I had tea afterwards with Mrs Doyle (of course, Tea Tea Tea!) and a lovely catch up. Lovely goody bags too. Will post links etc later but for now, thank you all xx

We are going home tomorrow, after 3 weeks of rest and relaxation. Grace is delighted to see the suitcases, Liam is looking forward to seeing his favourite tutors at Saplings. Me? I could live here. For another month at least..


Zoom in for a look at a rasta guy with a rasta dreadlocked dog. Seriously.

Using the front facing camera without my reading glasses. Holiday hair. Nice. 



Ever so kooky cat lady and husband. The cats all came running from everywhere when she arrived. 


Very nice husband with beer in Rustica Italian Restaurant on Carabeo - which overlooks the Balcon. Nice nephew was babysitting back at Casa Roberta.

If there is a better place to download an update & restore an iPad - I wanna know about it.

WORDS

Words.

A word is good or bad.