Thursday, March 19, 2015

Turning a bad day to good, Autism

This morning I've done something that I haven't done ever in my life for a morning. I was making my coffee and looked on the counter. I noticed a bucket of candy that is set aside just for Doodle. Here is a trick that I learned from Doodle's teacher a couple of years ago when Doodle went from a wild child to a well behaved child that I could take out in public.

I have been battling with Doodle this entire school year because she just doesn't want to go to school. At all and it is a hassle to get her ready and out the door on time every single morning. Laying on top of the little bucket was a packet of Spree's. I know where the idea came from and this morning I was going to do it.

I went back to our room, got dressed and turned on the light to get Doodle's uniform. She poked her head out from under the covers and announced, NO SCHOOL. NO SCHOOL. NO SCHOOOOOOL!
I pulled the pack of Spree's out of my pocket and replied, Do you want a piece of candy? Yes, she said in a sing song way.

Get dressed for school and mommy will give you a piece of candy. I handed her her uniform and sat down at the computer to figure out what my day was to look like today. Doodle laid back down on the bed. I calmly prompted her again that if she wanted a piece of candy she would need to get ready for school. When she sat up and put on her shirt it was progress. Then she yelled out, NO SCHOOL!

All I did was hold up one piece of candy for her to see and she was back to getting ready for school. I didn't give her the piece of candy until after I brushed her teeth. It had to go that way because if I gave her the candy before brushing her teeth I would have had to wait for her to eat it and it would have taken forever. Which would have resulted in a tardy.

We were a tad late getting out the door but only by 2 minutes which really caused a problem for me as the traffic was lined past our neighborhood. And that means getting to school on time was a 15 minute time difference. In all honesty I should have just walked her across the street to school, but she does have autism and that means that if she makes a break for it I've widened her field of where she might go. Right now Doodle is a little too lazy and would prefer to ride everywhere. She hates walking and that includes our afternoon walk.

So will tomorrow work out better for getting ready for school without an argument? Only tomorrow will tell. But as for today I'm doing pretty good for my morning and for that I'm happy.

Have a great day everyone.

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