Doodle has stopped picking at her skin, but her speech is falling. Tuesday night I got home from work late. Doodle was still wide awake. I told her, "You're suppose to be asleep!" She responded with, "Surprise!!!" And that has been the main word she's used for a couple of days. It's taking longer for her to answer request in what she wants and the correct way in which to say it. But once she gets into the new school hopefully everything will get back on track with progression.
I'm not sure if I have made the announcement, I'm sure that I have but Doodle has gotten into the school I was pushing for, for the past two years. So starting the new school year she will be a panther. That's the school's mascot. I couldn't be more excited. The bonuses are that she will be getting the same services she received from the school district that we loved so much and miss every single day!
So now I am working hard on Doodle's line. I've already got plenty of Lavender soap stocked piled and now I am working on her other product lines. I want to make sure that I have a large enough stock pile before I start putting products up for sale. I already have a few stores lined up that want to carry Doodle's line. And before school starts up, I will having the launch party, where samples will be given out for free. To not only celebrate the line launch but to celebrate Doodle getting into the new school.
So what else would there need to be said? Well, I'm frustrated with the school that she's left behind. This summer I am spending more time trying to re-condition Doodle back to where she was before the move almost two years ago. If you guys remember, back during the school year I shared with you how I conditioned her to do homework without complaints. I also have a picture schedule that I use only when days are really bad for Doodle. No fighting, she does what she the schedule says and I don't even have to say a word except for, "Look at your schedule." I haven't used the schedule in a long time, but this is common bread and butter to autism.
I do have a blog post all about the schedule. I have even increased her use of her communication book. Because she's just not speaking the way that she used too. Every time she completes a task on her schedule she gets a small piece of candy. At work they had on clearance little foot print hard candy's for cakes. It was a large bag for $1.99 so of course I couldn't pass it up. And those are the candies that we are working with for the month.
Never give a sucker to a child on the spectrum who is suppose to be completing tasks. I used to watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey, that is until one of the moms' found out her kid had autism. At first I was all happy about it, then she started doing all the no no's of autism. He completed a task she gave him a sucker, and tried to get him to continue on with the task, with no success. Well, duh, your kid got a reward that could take him 20-30 minutes to finish, he has no desire to work on what you want him to work on. And then there was the episode where they were on the hunt for camels milk, because it helped remove the autism from their child. And that was the last time that I watched the show. The parents were just grasping at straws. Look, cows milk has been linked to causing stomach issues in children on the spectrum. If you replace cows milk with almond milk or rice milk or even goats milk you don't have to drive around Amish country on your vacation in a tour bus to hunt down camels milk. Children on the spectrum suffer from gut issues, that's no secret. Seeing all this just grated my nerves to no end.
They also suffer from yeast issues. And many like my Doodle are highly sensitive to sls. Anything with sls in it will cause her to hit herself, beat her own head in the floor and cause her to try to rip her skin off her own body. Which is why I make all my own products for her. I can eliminate that issue for her and she can better focus and concentrate. Focus and concentration is one of the issues that children on the spectrum have.
So as I was saying about the picture schedule. Doodle has acclimated back to the picture schedule beautifully. Every time she does a task she comes to me for her small piece of candy. Skittles work great as well but I went with what I have. It's a small piece of candy. It works beautifully and I don't have to wait until she's finished with a sucker or playing with a sucker (lollipop).
And why have I not started reconditioning during the school year you might be wondering. Well, it all boils down to this. Doodle is normally in school for 8 hours a day. The only time I have Doodle for more then 8 hours is when she is on holiday or the weekends. Everything I would be working on during the school breaks or during the weekends would end up being derailed by the teacher that she had. Every weekend I would be starting new. I just don't have the patience for that. I did however have the patience to wait for summer break and start fresh.
So in other words I am doing my own form of compliance training, with expectations using candy rewards. So far so good. By next week she will be progressing again with no issues. The regression should officially be halted in it tracks with the help of her communications book. Re-reading through some of the blog from 2015 I can see Doodle's decline and all that has been done with the teacher from the school year we just left.
As a parent of a child on the spectrum it is our job to make sure that our children stay on track if we don't get the option for summer help. They really don't do that here. Use everything in your power to get your child back on track. I can honestly say that this coming school year I will not be doing as many IEP's as I had been used to doing for the past 2 years. And that's because it's a school that is used to doing IEP's they already know the rights. From what I understand they even hold a seminar every year to let parents met lawyers and learn even more about their rights. This school is going to be my dream. I can officially say that I will be retiring from leveling up. Bus driver got dismissed, leveled up, para got fired, I leveled up again.
And speaking of leveling up. Doodle's teacher that has caused all the issues that I am currently correcting. I've already gotten word that she was let go a few days after the last day of school. But I will admit that the teacher had taught me a lot. And it's information that you yourself need to know. Sign up for class room mom and sign up for PTA/PTO at the school. That's the easiest way to have unquestioned access to your child in the classroom. Many of us as parents work and yes I understand that you can't be at the school as much as teachers think. But you need to sign up. You need to be more involved in your child's education. The more you pop in that classroom the more you know what's going on.
Have a great day guys.
