All is Well, just no time to type :0)

Just a quick note of thanks to everyone who has checked up on me! We are all fine here at the pond. We've spent the last weeks working on getting a re-evaluation for Frog - closing out the old IEP and getting a new one together. I've also been teaching an enrichment cluster in Diva's multi age cohort at school - 12 kids ranging between 1st and 5th grade. The theme this year was Winter Celebrations around the world - we are studying celebrations that grew out of a recognition of winter solstice - the shortest night of the year. Lots and lots of prep time have gone into project which we based on Lights of Winter



We've made Yule logs, wassail, Swags, Saturnalia cake and meed (mock of course), Chinese lanterns, and Raven masks. We've told stories from Scandinavia, Italy, China, India and America. We are noting many similarities between ancient celebrations and some of our current winter celebration customs.

I also have new office space and hope to start moving in and getting set-up the week of the 15th (when the enrichment cluster is over). I've been busily scouring the Internet for deals on office furnishings and equipment.

Today we are off to Bellevue for Diva's first State Championship Gymnastics Meet. Tomorrow she has a mini dance recital and next Saturday her gymnastics club is holding their home meet/exhibition.

If all goes well - I'll be back to posting around the 22nd. I promise I am coming back!

I've been busy here at the pond dividing my time between home schooling, starting a business, and working with the IEP team to get Frog a new school placement by January. We were also feeling a bit under the weather last week so everything took longer than it should have.

Here are a few of our home school highlights:

I'm outing Frog on this one, but I thought using the letters he's been writing to write his name was a reasonable and important goal. I have a magnetic alphabet fishing game and we used it to "fish out" the letters in his name an put them in the right place. I sang about the letters in his name as we fished.



He was supposed to follow up by connecting the dots to write his name - but that was more than he was willing to do this first time out. I'm hoping as we continue with this game he will become patient enough with it to actually teach him how the game is supposed to be played.

We continued reading Coyote's Rain Song from our ENKI fairy tales. Frog seems to enjoy this story. Our composition book was not handy, so we used a sheet of tag board. He was able to identify the word CLOUD from the two words on the sheet. He copied the letters C and R with support and resistance.



We made a rain stick to shake while we sing the rain song from the story. I had Frog put the letter C in the Cloud (with support from me after we practiced making the letter C together). I had him put Coyote under the rain cloud. Finally I had him put dots (for rain drops) falling from the cloud (I helped him hand over hand with this). I had already partly assembled the stick, and had him pour the beans into the tube. I finished tapeing the ends and putting his picture on the outside.




Later in the week we read a new Baba Yaga story -



a Russian version of Cinderella. It is a rather long story, but Frog has listened to it twice already. I'm hoping to interest him in a little doll making before we move on from the story.

There has also been a lot of play time, running in the wind, and making music together. Today we went to Frog's new school and met his new teacher and the rest of his team. It went very well. We will see how things go in January when there are more rules and expectations to stay on task.

Day 35 - Back to Frog School

We started the morning with a decision. We had 4 more days left on our medication trial. I had reduced Frog's dosage back to 5mgs last week to see if having more time to adjust to the way his perceptions changed would make a difference. He continued to cycle between clam/lethargic to sensory overload melt down with prickly feet, large red itchy splotches, lots of tears and the need to go to his room and sleep it off. He also has gone quite manic every day around 4 or 5 pm, running and yelling non-stop. His therapists were very happy with his session yesterday, but still reported red itchy splotches and discomfort. Frog and I have really not had any quality home school time since we started the medication trial. This morning I decided we have had enough. So today was school without meds.

We started the day with Frog choosing pancakes for breakfast. He ate a little bit before we had to leave to take Diva to school. He ate a granola bar in the car. With a little prompting, Frog gave Diva something between a high five and a wave goodbye. At home we finished breakfast then headed downstairs for some Floortime. Frog wanted to climb up the mats against the wall. We turned it into a climbing and sliding game with an anticipatory 1, 2, 3, go! Later he moved to his swing. He let me move my body into the swing and add additional pressure for proprioception. We used the setting for requesting and working on the ee sound - with the choices "eat sweet feet?, squeeze knees?, or kiss please?" There was lots of Frog laughter, twinkling eyes, requests (offering me the body part he wanted pressure on) and ee sounds. We moved on to music and took turns strumming the guitar and singing/vocalizing into the karaoke machine.

Frog decided he would like to take a bath. This fit well into our school day, as stories work best for Frog when he has water to play with. Since today is a very rainy day and there are at least 4 more days of rain forecast, I thought rain would be a good subject. We re-read It's Fall and talked about the changes we've seen outside this week. Then I read Coyote's Rain Song, a Native American story from our ENKI folk and fairy tales. I had the pleasure of taking Diva to see According to Coyote at the Seattle Children's theater.



Gene Tagaban , the gifted story teller, brought Coyote to life for me. At the time, I really wished that Frog had been able to see the show with us - but I knew it was still too much for him. I must admit, I heard Gene's voice and saw Gene's mannerisms in my head while I told the story today. Frog and I both enjoyed it. (side note: If you ever get the opportunity to see According to Coyote performed or to see Gene Tagaban perform or speak - do not miss it!)

After I finally talked Frog out of the tub, we opened up the windows and doors so we could hear the rain. We also listened to the rain pounding on the skylights while I got our art supplies ready. Then went outside in the rain (and got almost as wet as Coyote) to do our art project - rain painting. I put a few drops of food coloring onto white paper plates and we took them outside into the rain. The rain bounced off the food coloring and splashed colors around the plates. Frog did not want to stick around for the "art" but rather ran around and experienced the rain bouncing off of him. He did come back and checkout the finished product.



After the plates dried in a warm oven, we used them for our lunch. Frog actually ate half his lunch today - including some yogurt WITH A SPOON (but only a little - he didn't want more if he couldn't use his fingers).



Frog also has a new box from Grandpa C.



Today, instead of using our composition book, we got out the markers and made lines and scribbles on the box.



We also discovered that when you push the box against the window, the box has a smaller window to look through - another perspective on the yard.



We finished off our school day with some more Floortime, including throwing and catching a ball - to musical rather than verbal cues. It is now 2:30 and Diva will be home soon. Frog is not having a melt-down and does not appear to be heading for a nap any time soon. Since we have had a week of sleep problems, I'm hoping this is another sign that stopping the medication is the right thing to do.

Day 34 - HALLOWEEN FUN

I knew I wanted to work with pumpkins and Halloween this week but I wasn't quite sure what we would do. We are still struggling with the dosage on Frog's Vyvance and he has had some pretty off days. When I logged onto 4-frogs this morning, I came across a link to the 5 Little Pumpkins poem at If I Only Had Superpowers


Diva loved this poem when she was in pre-school and I had just heard one of Frog's friends reciting it after he learned it at school. So I gathered up our 5 little pumpkins and Frog and I went downstairs to read the poem and roll the pumpkins away at the end. I went through it three times, but Frog was not impressed. Not even when he had a pumpkin muffin to eat while I acted out the story.

What he is impressed with is a Russian fairy tale I found in our ENKI material about Baba Yaga - an eight foot tall witch who lives deep in the forest in a hut on three chicken legs. Her black geese snatch up children and bring them to her to cook for dinner! The children in the story get away and make it home safely. Frog wants me to read it again and again. He even went to his composition book today while I was reading the story. He flipped through the pages until he came to the page with a witches hat and broom and the name Baba Yaga. He patted the page as I described the witch in the story.

For our art project, I cut contact paper into a pumpkin shape then had Frog put the face on it. Afterwards he got to sprinkle, pour and dump a mixture of rice, paper punch outs, and glitter over the pumpkin face. The glitter stuck best of all so we ended up with a sparkly pumpkin face.



After lunch, Frog got to spend some time in the autumn sunshine, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the sandbox, and running around the yard.




I had a meeting in the afternoon, so Grandpa came to our house to hang out with Frog. They had a good time :0)

We still have to decorate our big pumpkin. But given Frog's preference for witches, I got him a few dress-up options to make a witch, warlock or wizard costume for Halloween. We'll see what he thinks of it tomorrow.

Day 33 -

As some of you may have read at 4-Frogs, financial circumstances are requiring that I go back to full time work. To accomplish this Frog's School will become a night and weekend school starting in January. Frog's Grandma has been watching Frog in the mornings this week to give me some time to reorganize and make plans. This has been very nice for me, but very hard on home school as Frog is at his best in the mornings and early afternoon and our routine requires 4 to 6 hours so I am not trying to cram everything in at once and overwhelming him. Between the change in our routine, the splitting of my focus and the medication trial - Frog's School has really suffered the last two weeks.

Tomorrow Frog is staying home in the morning and we will see what we can do. I'm tempted to keep him at the present medication level for another week to see what happens for a week when he is better adjusted to the dosage.

We did manage to get one project done today - a face project that I had done with Diva when she was three or four years old. I set the pieces out and had Frog, with help, place the face parts where he wanted them to go. Then I glued them down for him. I made one first for a model.

This is the pumpkin face Frog made:




The similar pumpkin face is the one I made. The smaller pumpkin face is the one Diva and I made years ago. The extra pumpkins are for Diva to put faces on later - she always feels left out when she sees what Frog got to do at school!

Day 30 and 31 - Trial and Tribulation

On Monday we bumped the meds up from 5ml to 10mg. Frog cycled back and forth between regulation and disregulation. He seems more tactile sensitive while on this medication and wearing clothing is getting more difficult for him. We read one book - Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, while Frog played in the bathtub. He was quite distressed through most of the reading. The distress continued throughout the bath and even after he got out. He seemed to be experiencing sever pain in the groin area - something he has dealt with off and on for years. He was finally able to urinate, which relieved the pain and left him calmer and happier.

We've talked to so many professionals about this and they all conclude it is a sensory issue and leave it at that. It is so frustrating! It may very well be a sensory issue, but it is also very painful. It might also be something else, but nobody has any ideas about how to determine what might be going on. I suspect this has more to do with Frog's lack of ability to speak for himself, answer the doctor's questions, and because he is autistic and has sensory processing disorder - so they choose to stop there. The only suggestion I get is to bring him in when he is having an attack. He can't be touched when he is having an attack - so I haven't figured out how to get him to the doctor's in time for them to see him.

We had planned a leaf walk and leaf rubbing activity for today, but Frog's sensory state put that plan on hold. He played in the yard on his own for a little while, and watched Diva play on the wii (even tried out the balance board on his own), but mostly he just rested. I did a few leaf rubbings and he checked them out. He also explored the leaves themselves - tearing them and letting them fall to the ground.

On Tuesday, I spent most of the day getting the van serviced. Frog spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa. He seemed to be tolerating the 10mg of medication much better today. He was not holding his head and fussing as much as yesterday. He was tired, not surprising since he was awake between 2 and 4 am last night. When he came home with me, he began to have pain in his feet. Like the groin pain, this is not a new experience. It happens often when Frog is stressed or under some sensory pressure. He goes from not wanting anything to touch his feet to stomping them on the floor really hard or, like today, jumping really hard and high while screaming. It looks like he is having a very extreme pins and needles sensation in his feet which he is holding very taut. They sometimes get hot. And his ears turn bright, bright red. I have video, but again it is not loading onto blogger. If any and of Frog's therapists would like to see it, let me know and we'll make arraignments.

Edit: I was able to load one of the videos on Youtube -


On the positive side, he was very communicative today when he wasn't in a sensory melt down. He really wanted to play and sought us out with vocalizations, a couple of echoed words, and lots of referencing and giggles. Tomorrow he has Speech/OT at school - maybe we can get our leaf walk in after that.

Update - Wednesday Frog woke in a good mood. He did much better at Grandma's and seemed to be tolerating the medication better than he has the last two days. But when we got to our Speech/OT appointment at school, Frog went into meltdown and had the same foot reaction he was having yesterday. It was actually good timing since it gave his therapist a chance to see what this looks like and try all the things that logically should help, but don't. By afternoon, Frog and I were both wiped out. Frog had not slept the night before and neither had Frog's Mom or Dad. Fortunately, Frog took a very short nap and stayed up a little later, going to bed around 10pm. We were all able to sleep through the rest of the night.

Day 29 and 30 -

Day 29 was a day off for Frog - Frog's mom was on the computer all day working on a real estate transaction. When Frog's mom wasn't looking, Frog did some drafting too - which meant Mom had even more drafting to do.

Frog continues to show the pattern of regulation - disregulation and gets worn out around 4pm. He did seem to sleep through more of the night last night.

Day 30 we've tried to get back on track and focused our attention on Geese. We read The Mournful Goodbye from our ENKI nature stories. It is the story of Little Goose and her first migration. Then we did a little art project. I did one by myself while I hummed the tune I'd been using to sing the verse from the story:

High honks and low,
Fast wings and slow,
The skies all one song,
That echos below.





Frog moved in and out while I worked and hummed. He played with the feathers, and licked the stamps. Eventually he let me help him drop some feathers on his goose page and press the stamp on the page instead of on his body. He took the crayon from me and added a few marks of his own.



Later we worked on the letters G for goose and V for V-formation. Both were part of our goose story. Frog was able to find the word V formation in the book, and put the paper goose with the word goose. He reluctantly wrote the letter G, and enjoyed removing the bean geese from the V formation. (I re-glued them several times before I took the picture :0).



Frog was getting tired and started having mini meltdowns. He finally went to his room for some quiet time. When he came back down, he said he was ready to go to his NAET appointment. He was being treated for grass. When the treatment began he got really silly - very engaged - and pretty loud. I always feel sorry for the person trying to enjoy an acupuncture treatment in the next room when Frog is with me. He did quite well for the rest of the night.

Day 27 and 28 - THE TRIAL CONTINUES

Ok, I've tried for days to upload video of Day 27, and it isn't happening. So you will just get a lot of words :0)

Day 27 -

Day two of the medication trial. We are supposed to stay at 5mg for the first 7 days, then bump up to 10mg to see if there is any difference. It took Frog a little longer to take the medication today. I saved the extra in case the first dose got dumped or spit out onto the floor.

I spent the morning working on legal documents and let Frog have some free time in the playroom. He seemed calmer and less prone to get into things. When I finished my drafting, I suggested it was time to get dressed warm and go outside to work in the garden. Today's lesson plan centered on Dirt and Worms.

I went upstairs and got dressed. When I came back, Frog was on the kitchen counter near the refrigerator helping himself to cookies from the cupboard. I got him down and tried to entice him to go outside. We did some dancing and jumping around, but he showed no interest in getting dressed. I decided to fix lunch first to see if some protein, along with all those cookies, would make him feel more receptive. He ate very little and threw the rest around.

He still did not want to get dressed - no pants, socks or shoes, thank you very much! I told him we were not going outside without more clothes on. He was angry, but still did not want to get dressed. I cleaned up the mess from lunch and Frog wrapped up in a blanket and settled into his favorite wing back chair. He was none to happy when I got out the composition book. He was able to identify the word Worm when given the choice between Dirt and Worm on the page. We worked on using a good pointing finger to identify the shovel and the bucket from a page of stickers. And he did a good job, under protest, with his letters.



This was followed by a scream, at me, and a bite to his wrist before he took off upstairs with his blanket. He went to my room and fell asleep in front of a blowing fan.

When he woke he was very out of sorts. He needed to be alone and would move from room to room to get away from everyone. He did a lot of rocking and singing. He could not tolerate listening to us talk. He did manage to tell us that his head hurt. Then he went back to bed. Frog's Dad feared he was getting sick - he's been very sniffly and stuffed up the last few days. I thought it was strange that he was fine earlier in the day. I had a hunch and went downstairs to locate the cup with the extra medicine. I'd put it away on the top of the refrigerator - pushed way back and behind everything else that is up there. Sure enough, Frog had finished off the other 15mg of the medicine with his cookie before lunch!

We dropped the rest of our plans for the day and monitored Frog. His breathing and heart rate seemed normal. He was agitated, but not more so than we've seen at times in the past. After an hour or so, he got up and sat on the landing to the stairs, rocking and singing. Then he came downstairs and sat in his chair. This is what Frog looks like on 20mg of the medication (video should have gone here - Frog sat Still in the chair for 10 minutes or so. He did very little vocalizing and moved his head and eye gaze very slowly. He looked out the window, he tracked his Dad's movements, and he spotted the fire burning in the wood stove and stared at that. After leaving the chair and eating a little dinner, he seemed a little less spacey. He watched TV by himself and seemed quite calm and happy. As the night wore on, he got more energy and began to run and vocalize more like himself. He went to bed around 10:30 and got some sleep before waking again around 2am. He had a hard time getting up the next day.

Day 28 -

Day three of the medication trial. We learned from yesterday and locked the extra medication in the refrigerator until we were certain he had taken his dose. Then I dumped the extra down the drain. Although he had a hard time getting up and going, he was happy.

After taking his medication and eating some breakfast, he was happily playing downstairs, but came quickly when I started singing the Let's go get in Mommy's car song. He was receptive to Floortime type play especially swinging, wrestling and tickling. He was not as happy about putting on clothes, but agreed to them in order to get a ride in the car before going to his Speech/OT appointment at school.

He became more agitated at school cycling between happy jumping, requesting, and referencing to wails and the need to lay flat and press his body against a resistant surface. He responded well to deep pressure until it pushed him over the edge the other way. When he wasn't in this agitated state, he was happy to be with the therapists, made lots of eye contact, threw the ball, took the monkey, asked for the trampoline, complained when the swing was moved - but we felt that trying to direct him to the board to write or the vantage to talk would push him back over the edge.

This is the pattern I am seeing at home with the medication. He cycles between regulation and disregulation more often than usual; when he is in the regulated part of the cycle, he is calmer and more focused than usual, but the focus can only be used for things he initiates or comes to on his own - it does not extend to other-directed activities. His OT suggested that the medication may be changing his perception of sensory input so much, that he is in a period of readjustment and it may take some time before he can attend to some of the activities he was doing before.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Floortime play, and then Frog took a nap. I was kind of hoping the medication would put an end to the afternoon naps, but he still seems to need them. Maybe this is part of the readjustment too.

An Award

Rainbow Mummy at Organizing the Jellybeans has honored Frog's School with our second award! And a beautiful award it is too :0)



Congratulations Rainbow Mummy, on winning the award. And thank you for thinking of me. I appreciate your support and comments here at Frog's School.

I've just given this award out over at 4-Frogs, so I'm going to wait and pass this one on at a future date!

Day Twenty Six - HERE WE GO

Today was our fist day of the new medication. I dissolved the contents of the capsule into 4 oz of water and gave Frog one ounce to drink. He had no problem drinking the medicine. He did act very sleepy most of the morning, but I had a hard time telling if that was due to the medication or lack of sleep the night before. He also did not want to keep his pants on - but that is not entirely unusual.

We read our book while Frog played in the bath-tub. We are reading the Moon books this week and hoping to get outside for a twilight walk to look at the moonrise. Frog listened to the books and kept requesting more. We read Hello Harvest Moon, I Took the Moon for a Walk, and Twilight Comes Twice. Then we listened to some music while Frog continued to play in the water and I did some movement work within his view - mostly tai-chi and ballet moves that emphasised mid line crossing. He did become very agitated while listing to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto number 2. He calmed down when I changed to a Haydn piece. I wonder if the Brandenburg was a little too busy.

We had some lunch, then worked on our letters. Today I choose "O" for orange and "M" for moon. Frog would not work at the table, so we moved around the house. He was able to choose the orange item from a field of 2 to 4 for our orange collage. He also made some nice "M" in his composition book.



He was really not happy about finding the letters on his Vantage. But he did manage to make a nice pointed finger all by himself.



Our afternoon adventure was a trip to the pumpkin patch (they opened it after all) to look for orange pumpkins. Frog liked walking the grounds with mom. He enjoyed looking at the chickens, until the looked at him and started coming closer looking for food.



Frog also liked running in the pumpkin patch. Mostly he wanted to play with the dirt. When I started asking him to find a pumpkin, he got really annoyed with me and the crying and carrying on started. I picked out one pumpkin and we went to pay for it. Frog was still struggling to keep it together, and the added voices of strangers was more than he could take. We had a bit of a wrestling match in the grass (where Frog wanted to sit and pull grass to drop in front of his eyes). Eventually we made it back to the car and enjoyed the ride home in the wind and the rain listening the his Pam Marshalla phoneme CD.



Frog and I spent a little time outside exploring the back yard on a cool wet rainy day.





When it was time to come in, Frog took off his wet shoes and socks and decided to curl up in a blanket and take a nap. Dad carried him to bed and he slept until just after 5pm. He was up and down for the rest of the night.

Day Twenty Five - CAN'T FIGHT THAT FEELING

The fans and dehumidifier continued to run all day. Good news - the floors are dry. But Frog had a difficult time focusing on anything but the white noise, blowing air, and sight of the rain falling outside. He was alternately stimming and sleepy. He is also battling a bit of an intestinal bug which did not help. When he did rouse himself, he wanted little to do with school work or engaging with mom. Other than requesting food, he spent most of the day exploring on his own - playing with water until mom would take it away; climbing on the wood stove (not hot), the counters, the dehumidifier, and furniture; and he brought out a lot of toys he hasn't generally played with in the past. He got his sister's kite out and experimented with the kite and the wind from the fan.



When he was quiet and sleepy, we read I Took the Moon for a Walk and Twilight Comes Twice. We listened to music and I did some mid line crossing movements to the music and let Frog watch me from a distance. The moves I used are found on the Smart Moves DVD program he has watched before and we've done some of them together, hand over hand in the past.

We watched the changing weather - rain and breezes blowing through the yard. We also noticed that our bird feeder has been discovered.




Frog did have a good time playing in the van after we brought Diva home. When I left to pick Diva up from gymnastics tonight the high beams were on, the turn signal was blinking, the volume on the radio was turned up high, and my seat was folded forwards. Frog had a good Floortime session with Dad tonight after all the fans had been turned off.

Frog's new medication has still not arrived at the pharmacy. Looks like we will not be starting the trial until next week.

Days Twenty Two, Twenty Three and Twenty Four - CHANGES

Changes, Changes, it seems there are always changes. Monday was our last day with our beloved SLP who has been with us from the beginning of this whole adventure. She has been amazing, thoughtful, innovative and a great collaborator with all of my observations and wacky ideas - some of which have paid off :0). But like so many others, financial changes on the pond will not allow for continued private services. So we said goodbye, promised to keep in touch and hope that we will be back someday.

After our speech appointment, we read a few books, played some music - Frog has discovered Diva's toy guitar and I'm starting to think he should have a real one - and did some Floortime. After that, Frog played outside while I worked on financial plans and got ready for our trip to Seattle to see Frog's neurologist.

Tuesday we left the house bright and early and made it to the appointment just a few minutes late. Frog was really cooperative and the Doctor did some observing and listened to my observations about what had changed and what had stayed the same over the last six months. He suggested a trial of Vyvanse for Frog. Frog's Dad and I have gone back and forth on the issue, sometimes we feel he's too young and we aren't ready to go there yet, other days we wonder what if this was the piece that was missing? Frog has never really had trouble engaging and he is showing day by day that he really does not have a cognitive impairment - but he has NO attention span, little impulse control, and a very skittish tendency when others direct their attention or intentions towards him. I trust this doctor. We've decided to go ahead with a 30 day trial, just to see. This could make for a very interesting month.

We also work with a psychologist at the clinic. She asked us if we would help her with her thesis project and she needed some video of Frog and I interacting. So our "school" day was 20 minutes in front of a video camera in the clinic playroom. Despite the unusual surroundings, or maybe because of them, Frog did remarkably well following through on directions although I did have to do a lot of redirecting to keep him on task.

When we finished up with the doctors appointment, we took advantage of being in the city and had a family day at the Zoo. Due to busy schedules, there was no one to pick Diva up after school and keep her until we got home, so I pulled her and she came with us. Frog did a great job of attending and staying with us at the Zoo. Dad or I always had a hand on him, but he moved right along with us, only stopping or sitting down to rock a few times. We spent over one and a half hours wandering through the park.

We saw lots of big bushy gray squirrels while we ate lunch. Frog shared his cheese and crackers with them by dropping them off the end of the table.



Some of our fall stories talk about squirrels fattening up for the long winter months. I was glad we got to see it in action. I asked Frog about the squirrels today and he remembers them.

Frog checked out most of the plants at the zoo, and sampled a couple when I wasn't quick enough to get them first. He survived! He also showed some genuine interest in many of the animals.







Frog got very excited about the gorillas. He was doing a lot of low vocalizations while he watched them. When he saw the baby riding on its mother's back he let out a holler. Gorillas don't like loud noises. We gave Frog one warning. When he yelled again (agitating the docent as well as the gorillas) we told he we had to move on because he was too loud. I'm hoping this resulted in some incidental learning, but Frog has a hard time controlling the loud outbursts when he is excited.













We had to wait for the ferry on the way home, making it a very long day. Frog got a little fussy towards the end, but held up remarkably well. He was so tired when we got home. He found a blanket and curled up on a footstool near the couch where Diva was watching TV. He usually won't watch TV or stay in the living room with another person, but he was quiet, calm and content. I sat down near him and stroked his head, moving his hair back from his face. Usually this would be his cue to get up and leave. But he stayed and asked me to do it again and again.

Today, however, was another story. He did not want to cooperate. He only wanted to go outside. We weren't able to get our prescription filled - they had to order the meds. - so it will be Friday before we can try them. I dressed Frog 4 times in 30 minutes as he kept stripping off his clothing. I told him we were going to school to meet with the therapists (OT/SLP - amazing, amazing team, by the way!!!) but he just kept taking me to the backdoor. I finally got him to the car and we made it to school right on time. He did great in this initial session with his new SLP and the OT and OTA he has worked with in the past. I think this is going to be a winning combination. He started getting upset when it was time to go.

When we got home, we had lunch and he got his outside time as promised. He came in muddy and in need of clean pants. We decided to clean him up in the tub and read our books. When I finished the stories, he said he wanted to play by himself. I went back and forth between cleaning up downstairs and checking on him in the bathtub upstairs. He was being so good. He was turning the water on and off, just getting a little bit at a time. I complemented him on his control and conservation. I went downstairs to fill out one form our psychologist needed for her project. It must have taken longer than I thought. When I went back upstairs, the humidity hit me at the landing. Frog was not in the tub, Frog was at the vanity. Both basins were filled and overflowing with steamy hot water. The carpet and floor were soaked with a layer of water floating on top. The water was dripping down through the floor and into the furnace room and lower bathroom. School came to a halt. Frog was sent to his room, dried, dressed and left. I spent the afternoon cleaning up, best I could, and waiting on the professionals to finish the job. They got here around 5pm, removed the remaining water and left us with heavy duty fans and dehumidifiers. We shall see if further repair is needed in the morning.

Day Twenty One - DIGGING IT

We started our day off with the Pam Marshalla CD, Do You Like Pie. Frog really enjoys the songs, but so far he is not interested in singing along. He is becoming more tolerant and even enjoying some of the verbal synchronicity games.

Our plan was to play in the dirt today. I also wanted to make some fall leaf cookies, but some little Frog had crushed all of my leaf shape cookie cutters in his powerful mouth! So the next order of the day was to shop for a new cookie cutter and pick-up some potting soil, bulb food and some fall annuals. We went to Jo-Anne Fabric to look for a cookie cutter. Frog stayed with me while I shopped was very interested in the large assortment of sprinkles they carried. As I was looking at just one more thing, Frog got tired of waiting and slipped my grip on his hand - he ran around the perimeter of the store - very happy. He did not yell, he did not grab at anything on the shelves, he did not make a mess - he just ran around and took in the sites. When I finally caught up with him we paid for our purchases and headed to the nursery.

At the nursery he got to ride the flatbed cart again. We picked out our flowers and requested the soil and amenities we needed, paid and headed for the car. Frog is doing better and better out in the community. I hope to reach a point soon when it will make sense to take his vantage talker with us. It might be easier for him to learn to answer the basic questions asked of kids in a real context rather than the more contrived practice at the kitchen table or in therapy. Hard to say, but worth a shot.

At home we read Arnold's Apple tree. This time, Frog listened to the whole book - said "yes" it was a good story, and asked for more. We read Hello, Harvest Moon, which also met with his approval today. I had a lunch date, and Frog got to spend a couple of hours with his Grandma J. She said they had a good time playing and when one of the TV shows started talking about fall - Frog stopped to watch and listen.

When I got home, we took advantage of a break in the rain to work on our bulb garden. I started by reciting our verse. I began to work some of the potting soil into the dirt. Frog watched from a distance, running back and forth between the fountain and the sandbox. I managed to catch him once and got him to dump some potting soil into the garden. I set the bulbs in place and slowly began to cover them. Again, Frog watched from a distance.



I finished covering the bulbs and added some more potting soil as a top dressing. I went to begin the process of gutting some small pumpkins for our next project. While I was busy, Frog made his way over to the flower bed and played with the dirt. He watched me empty the seeds and guts from the pumpkin - the sensory aspect must have been too much for him. He went into melt down and was only soothed in the bathtub. While he soaked, I read It's Fall to him. He enjoyed the book and agreed that we had planted bulbs just like the boy in the book.

When Frog finished his bath, we planted our pumpkin planters.



These were made as gifts for Frog's Grandmas, Aunt, and our Neighbor. Frog is just starting to understand and get excited about giving things.

When the planting was done and we were somewhat cleaned up, we went to the table for our letter work. We practiced the letters L for Leaf and M for Moon.



Frog identified the sight words, wrote the letters, and put the stamps on the correct pages with some help from Mom. Then we spelled our sight words on Frog's Vantage, using word predict to finish the word as soon as it appeared.



Our last project was to roll out, cut and decorate fall leaf cookies. Frog decided he would rather watch the news. Diva and I finished one batch of cookies that Frog was happy to sample :0)

Day Twenty - PLAY DAY

We woke to ominous skies.



It seems Fall is upon us. The forecast predicts that we will see rain and wind by late Friday afternoon. I decided to set the lesson plans aside and enjoy the outside while we still could.

When we returned from taking Diva to school, Frog climbed into the front of the van. I took the opportunity to introduce some imaginative play. I climbed into Frog's seat and asked him to take me for a ride. He did a little turning of the steering wheel while I made sound effects - he seemed to be enjoying himself.

We went into the front yard and looked at the sky.



Frog thought it looked a bit dark and scary - but not scary enough to come back inside. We moved to the back yard. I worked on our flower bed a little more and repeated our verse from yesterday. We played in the sand box and checked on the swimming pool. I took a walk around the yard and gathered some fall leaves for potential crafts. Frog continued to play with the fountain and run around the yard.

When I came back into the house, I noticed that he was making a few trips to the flower bed to checkout the freshly turned dirt. I left my leaves on the kitchen table. When I was vacuuming the living room, Frog came in and played with the leaves. I hope the chance to play with the materials first will help him accept them as art supplies later.

The rest of the day was spent going in and out of the house. Frog was quiet for part of the day, lounging with his blanket, but didn't want to hear any stories. He was active in the yard for most of the day running, spinning, climbing jumping and digging in the dirt. He alarmed the UPS driver who made a delivery to our house. The driver encountered a very muddy and barely dressed Frog jumping up and down on top of the playhouse - I'll bet he had a story to tell when he got home :0)

Frog and I did some dancing and a lot of vocal play. He was also very excited about Dad's new Wii game and spent some time watching him play. By the end of the day Frog was plum tuckered out.

Day Ninteen - TRYING NEW THINGS

We started our day taking Diva to school and listening to the Pam Marshalla CD Do You Like Pie? songs for phonemes, syllables, and words.

Frog played with Grandma during the morning while I met with the new School SLP. When I got home we read a new book - The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree.



As with any new book, Frog was not in a listening mood. We read pages of the book in each room of the house as I followed him around and paused to let him vocalize his dissatisfaction. I had hoped to also read It's Fall again, but one book was all Frog could take. When we finished our book we had some lunch.

Frog went out to play in the front yard while I got our craft ready. Frog is usually even less enthusiastic about crafts than he is about new books. After talking with Beth Sutton, our ENKI home school consultant, about my observations of Frog's learning style, I decided to try one of her suggestions.

I thought about what I wanted Frog to get out of the craft, proprioceptive and tactile exploration and enjoyment of the medium (clay), then planned the craft around what I enjoyed and modeled it for Frog without directing any of my attention or expectations towards him. I usually have to bring Frog to a craft, and then he doesn't stick around. I don't know that he stayed any longer today, but he watched from a distance and came in to the table a couple of times on his own to check it out. When I finished my project, I left it on the counter for Frog to explore - which he did when I was not in the room.



After our craft, we went out in the back-yard to play - Floortime style. We played chase, played in the sandbox, and in the fountain. Frog spent some time on the trampoline and I took the opportunity to try some vocal synchronization as described in Pam Marshalla's book Becoming Verbal with Childhood Apraxia.



When Frog was done jumping, I went to get our shovel. I started digging a small flower bed near the fountain as Frog played. I recited a verse I wrote about flower bulbs -

When autumn comes we dig a hole and make a bed where bulbs can go.
They sleep away the winter hours and wake in spring as brand new flowers.

We make their bed with mulch and soil so little bulbs they need not toil.
When they are ready in the spring, their food waits their awakening.

We tuck the bulbs down in their place, giving each one lots of space.
We say good night and cover them deep and let the bulbs go fast asleep.

When winter starts to lose its chill and spring rain falls upon the hill,
the bulbs awake and stretch their roots and start to send up little shoots.

When the sun begins to show its face and frost no longer coats the place
where little shoots reach for the air- out pop spring flowers everywhere.

I invited Frog to check out the flower-bed and dig with a smaller shovel. He took a quick look, then he was off and running. I know he loves to dig in the dirt, so I am stretching out the bulb planting over a few days to give him time to warm up to it. We have a couple of other planting projects to do and a vegetable garden to winterize - so we will be working with dirt for awhile.



We came back inside for a snack, then worked on letters. We reviewed the letter P and the sight word Pie, and we added the letter L with the sight word Leaf. Frog was complaining of a sore bottom - a little bout of acidic stool - and did not want to sit down. We did our letter writing standing up - not as successful, but I wanted him to know he has options. When we finished the letters, I had him locate the sight words so we could put the stickers on the correct pages.



We finished our table work with some practice using a pointing finger to find the letters on the Vantage Keyboard. We spelled out our sight words.



Frog ended his day with lots of loud vocalizations which he invited his Dad to join him in.