Untitled Document

March 11, 2009 • Donnie MAINSTREAMED! No more SPecial Services. They called him... the "N" word!!! n-o-r-m-a-l.

April • Visit with Jennnifer and Micheal at their Little Pink House. Jenn threw a bbq birthday for the boys in a park with a massive play structure. Too much wind. Too much fun. :)

April • MaryEllen chaperones Donavan's class trip to FARM DAYS! cock-a-doodle-do!! Bus loads of Kinnygartners.

April • Oddie (d4) & Tiffany visit.

April 30 • Fiesta !

Most Recent Page and Pix last photo update May 2, 2009
• • •December 25, 2005• • • March 3 -9, 2006• • •March 10-15, 2006• • •March 16-20, 2006• • •March 21-April 21, 2006 • • •April 22 - 29, 2006• • •April 30 & May 1, 2006• • •May 6 & 7, 2006/Meeting AustinTXPetersons• • •May 8-26, 2006• • •Train Museum• • •Meeting M.E.'s ElDoradoCountyCA Tribe • • •Poland• • •Radom• • •AWAC2006 Opening Ceremonies• • •AWAC2006 Contest Days• • •AWAC Photo Album• • •Tahoe Renaissance Festival 06• • • Aug18-Sep18,2006• • •Oct/Nov 2006• • •Dec 2006• • •Christmas2006• • • invite010107 • • • Jan 01 2007 • • • !ROCKET Day!Birthday Boys, April 2007 • • •Spring 07• • • Summer 07• • • Cooking 101• • • BMX & Smokey Bear• • •Fall 2007 • • •Punkins & Such 2007 • • • MORE October 07• • • HALLOWEEN2007 • • • Decemeber 2007 • • • SPRING 2008• • •April 30, 2008• • •March/April2009 • • •

June 7, 2008
• • • PROGRESS(LAST REPORT • Tuesday May 2, 2009 from Carson City NV)

DONNIE's Progress Scroll down to earlier entries...
•••May 2008
We brought in some additional help with some of Donnie's behavioral shortfalls. The school arranged a PhD, Child Pschologist for four sessions and we paid for a couple more. Tests. Lots of talking. Some new behavioral strategies. USeful for M.E. to have the additional input and perspectives. Onward. Basically we have to continue work on "impulse Control". Keeping hands to self. (not hitting, spitting, that sort of thing) Home class room is now focuised on How to BE in a Classroom, listening to an instruction all the way thru, repaeting it, THEN doing it. Not just hearing the first words, and leaping off to do whatever comes to his mind. Slowing him to THINK FIRST.
D5 is mentally ready to Be A Big Boy - NOT a Baby, so that works as reminder. He is strongly independent and detests being treated like a baby when he does not comply on his own. Finding his motivations changes, so right now, this works...
He had a Big Bash of a Birthday. We talked about it for two months, getting a sense of what was really important to him. Playing at the Purple Playground. Hitting the Candy Box (a piñata). Gum. Cake. And KIDS!!! We had the bonus of forty plus law enforcement officers doing a Training near the Playground. One car after another loaded with trainees, speeding to a screeching halt. Ye-ha! Once they got wind that it was Donnie's birthday today they all gathered around and he had quite and audience. "The Good Guys" gave him lots of attention.
We have our next IEP with the school May23. This time to decide about a plan for Kindergarten. Will he be ready for Regular school or do one more year int eh special school, catching him up. Speech is doing better. He is still lacking prepositions, lots of verbs and the appropriate verbing, Nearly there on He & She, him/her...
He eagerly completes chores. Like most beings, he digs purpose!

•••September 2007
Working on cooperation & impulse control this month in a large way. His sassy mouth and quick temper get him in trouble at school. And at home. As a untied team, we work with his teachers and the bus staff on positive reinforcement to get him on a healthier track. As always, the boy is a challenge. He is storng willed and we send him to what we now call "The Thinking Chair". Working to encourage him to THINK. First... :0 whata concept. He responds favorable to praise and encouragement. And there is progress. We are vigilant, consistent and always hopeful for his spirit and his heart to triumph. He is a good soul, with the challenge of a stubborn will.
He has a grwoing list of chores and responsibilities that he executes without question or grumbling. He enjoys being the "helpful boy". Setting the table for meals. Clearing all the dishes to the sink. Emptying waste bins from around the house, then taking the big trash out to the Brown Cans. He drags the Brown Cans to the curb on Mondays. He lets his dog out and in. He hooks and unhooks her leash. He moves laundry hampers to the washer room. He picks up his room with little instruction, althought he certainly is subject to distraction... The eveing bath is his responsibility. Filling the bath is supervised. Hair is shampooed by Mo. But the rest, including mopping up the water on the floor, hanging his towel after drying himself, then dressing for bed are all his without supervision. Then he will come in for snuggles and when the time comes often puts himself to bed with a sweet "Night-night, Tater".
He is still moody and can be difficult and oppositional. That may never change.
•••July/August 2007
SPEECH DELAYED. The cognitive speech/language center of the brain is delayed. School assessment gauges the level at which he is understood by the un-indoctrinated ear at 80%. This sounded like a good number to us, but if you listen to him, it is clear more work needs to be done. :) At this point he is still getting the letter sounds. Rrrrrrr Ruler. Rrrat. Randy. Like that. And his syntax is still way off. The "talking" he does now is ENTHUSIASTIC, nearly constant but would require some translation to the unacquainted ear. Don3 even asks for translations from time to time. It's nuances of words and his pronunciation. He is grasping concepts. He is assembling and re-assembling thoughts. And expanding his vocabulary at an advanced level. What he is challenged with is the SPEECH part. He did not learn to speak as a toddler.
So now his brain is charging ahead, and he's eager to talk! But he is still learning to shape his mouth to make the letter sounds. I sit with him and just listen. Let him roll. We continue with lessons, both at home and at state pre-school to address his speech delay, and he gets the benefits of early child ed.
We are still working with him on impulse control. He is still sassing and gets frustrated when he is told "No". We have been teaching him "alternate responses" to an instruction. Rather than a knee jerk "no" he is encouraged and rewarded for the response "Yes, ma'am. Thank you." He is also storing smiles and giggles in his tummy to call on when needed. But the teacher is still reporting him hitting and acting out negatively in class. We are working closely with her to make it clear to the lad that his worlds are linked and actions in one place have consequences that follow him home. For instance, sassing a teacher at school will net him a loss of privileged at home.
•••May 2007
It's been a busy winter and spring. D5 and Mary Ellen have spent this first half of 2007 in Texas. Seeing lots of family. Donnie has occasional wet pants or bed, but nothing that isn't completely normal for this stage of development.
His communication is, well, CONSTANT! The boy LOVES to talk! Syntax is off. Vocabulary is still expanding rapidly. Pronunciation is progressing. We still work daily on correct sentence structure, new verbs for verbing, and letter sounds. He nailed the "L" sound when rewarded with the dogs Leash to hold. He definitely does respond to motivational rewards. His impulse control is often in direct proportion to how tired he is.
We have been successful with giving CHOICES rather than commands.
We have moved from trike to bike with ONE training wheel and helmet. He caught on immediately when the wheel was swapped to the other side, and it was no surprise thathe went for the tools to switch it back.
He shares well 90% of the time.
He is grasping manners and polite behavior. He is still extremely curious, ever the explorer, adventurous and outgoing.
Socially he is doing fine. We have replaced the inappropriate hugging of strangers with a polite handshake or greeting. Table manners are progressing very well. Forks over fingers. Napkins over forearm or pants leg.
The nose picking that leads to gushing nose bleeds is infrequent as he understands the cause and effect of his behavior.
He is a compassionate, friendly lad and we are quite proud of his social interaction. He is well accepted, yet very much an individual. He has the normal 4YO need to learn his turn to talk. Or the instant NEED to interject when the phone rings.
He is not swimming, per say, but treads water, goes face under, fully enjoying pools, rivers, lakes and now the ocean waves of the Gulf Coast.
•••November 2006
We hereby declare November 2006 "successful potty training " month for the boy. yeah! Phew. Onward!
• He consistently, with few if any errors, identifies the individual letters of the alphabet by sight, proper name and sound it makes.
• We have begun to spell out words.
• We are working on sentences/requests, with articulation. No baby talk like "oo dis" for What is this?" He even catches his own mistakes and chimes in with "Try again".
We are mastering What, Where and Who.
We are adding new verbs, (verbing, the school call it): climb, take, put, ride, watch,
"I Would Like..." "May I have..." "May I take this...to my room?"(usually involves food:)
And the word list for this week's interests is:
Steady State, Big Bang, Galaxy, Nebula, Universe, Quasar, Quark, Super Nova, Telescope, Edwin Hubble, knickers, (kidding on the last - Hubble was an eccentric who liked to wear knickers out of fashion)
(We watched a pbs/NOVA special one evening called "Monsters of the Milky Way" next morning d5 requested - repeatedly - "More Black Hole Movie" which sent us to the internet for some DVDs about space. He is also interested in Spiders & Reptiles, amphibians, touching animals)
Donnie's dog, Tater is still a big part of each day. And it is good for both D5 AND Tater!! Every dog needs a boy! (Don't tell Donnie, but Tater is really MY dog! My Rin-Tin-Tin! I feel so safe knowing Tater will alert us to any intruder. She is a good dog. Tonight she decided she would teach donnie and I how to play fetch-and-throw with her. She was bouncy and waggy. We were giggly and happy to oblige.
He likes to brush his teeth, even after the tube of toothpaste was set out of reach, and will not be available unsupervised until he masters the concept "just a little bit". You can create your own images to go with that set-up. He does explore possibilities. :)
We are quick and consistent with consequences and praise. At this stage of development the only way he loses a toy to the trash man is when a toy becomes something to hit the dog with. "Buzz Lightyear is GONE". And when he says GONE, you KNOW he understands Buzz is GONE and he can tell you why! :-)
IMPORTANT MAN SKILLS:
"Pull my finger" "Stinky pants" "Belches for effect, followed by "rude". Oy. Human males... and we still let them live indoors...
•••October 2006
Words and more words. It has become nearly impossible to keep track of his words. Now we're on to sentences! Concepts. We took him to a Planetarium to see a star dome movie of the Human Body. Fascinating. And then, we snuggled up at home and watched a PBS/NOVA presentation called "Monster of the Milky Way" about Black Holes. Next day he was walking around asking for the Black Hole Movie. Now THAT got us going. We thought he was just zoned out. chillin with us at the end of a long day. No sirree. He was interested, paying close attention and then looking for more. He made the connection of Black Holes and Space.
He makes sentences. What, where. May I have. May I touch. Before the Nevada Day Parade, we focused on "May I touch your horse, sir." which came in very handy.
Donnie is charismatic, strong willed, curious, and always on the move. And yes, always chattering away. It's hard not to see him as exceptional. Bright to say the very least. Charming, oh, my. Use your powers for GOOD." " Make Good choices."
He is OUT OF DIAPERS!!! Yippeee. Moving forward.
•••July 23, 2006
We are nearly thru the "ten" colors: Red, Green, Pink, Blue, Black, Yellow, White are solid in his repertoire. Almost solid on Purple, Brown, Orange.
He can rote count one thru ten, with a consistent lose of numeral "five".
As a lark, we taught him to quote Shakespeare. "To be or not to be" complete with inflection and gestures.
•••June 14, 2006
We ran thru two decks of flash cards tonight to come up with this list of words he READILY and CONSISTENTLY identifies:
phone, star, water, rock, key, box, book, balloon, ball, truck, train, car, bus, boat, bicycle, airplane, rocket ship, socks, shoes, hat, boots, kitty, cat, frog, fish, duck, dog, cow, chicken, bird, pig, rabbit, turtle, horse, goat, tree, flower, shorts, shirt, glasses, egg, cookie, banana, apple, spoon, plate, house, glass, fork, clock, bed, butterfly
COLORS: red, blue, white and pink - almost there on green and yellow
He also knows: peanut butter, jelly, waffle, color, Lake Tahoe :), up, down, high, low, inside, outside, room, eskelito, no tocar, bridge, wait, clean, dirty, hamper, pinecone, backpack, tub, bath, shower,
Swimming, eating, running, walking, dumping, sleeping, cooking.
FRANKLY, it is getting harder to keep up with the list because it is expanding rapidly!
He is learning to cut his food with a knife. He carries in groceries or whatever else to be helpful. He walks his dog. He picks up the pine cones that appear daily on the lawn and puts them in the trash. He knows that some places are for play, and some for quiet time and will make a choice to play outside or in his room. He assembles train tracks, then puts them away in their bin for the night. When he spills, he wipes up the mess, then puts the towel in the hamper, or paper in the trash. He dresses himself, changes his pull-up diaper, puts his clothes in the hamper. He leans calmly while his ears or nose are cleaned. He holds hands when walking, but gleefully cuts loose and run-runs when we get to green grassy open places. He lets the dogs in and out. Turns lights on and off. Hangs his jacket on the hook. Climbs up into his car seat, and tells you when he is not buckled.
•••June 5, 2006
Water, Walker, Jackie, Goat, Chicken, Noodle
Up, Down, High, Low, Clean, Dirty, In, Out
Dump, dumping, run, running,
He has begun to combine nouns with adjectives
Red Truck, Blue Truck, Big, Little
•••May 26, 2006:
OBSERVATIONS:
The last two weeks we have seen a major break thru in Donnie's eagerness to learn new words, as well as his willingness to comply and cooperate. He is learning to catch himself and reel in the start of a tantrum. There are still crying outbursts, but these are few, more frequent when he is weary, of course. His violent behaviors are minimal, with days and weeks between minor episodes, if any. He is charming, friendly, observant, seemingly unafraid. Enjoys bugs & critters of all kinds, wheels, trains, rocks, digging and climbing. DONNIE'S WORD WORD LIST as of May 26, 2006
NOUNS & Pronouns: Bicycle, airplane, truck, Scoop, Muck, Bob, shoes, socks, boots, waffle, banana, apple, ball, bird, bath, shirt, shorts, jammies, bed, nap, pillow, night-night, nose, eyes, ears, head, shoulders, knees, toes, feet, hand, fingers, elbow, arm, tummy, pee-pee, poop, poo-poo, dirt, no, yes, again, dog, doggie, puppy, cat, kitty cat, duck, cow, movie, beep, honk, baby, cookie, cheese, noodle, choo-choo, yuk, yukky, bus, bug, ice, gecko, wait, moon, spoon, okay, boat, ouch,
VERBS: eat, eating, run, running, cooking,
PHRASES: All done, More please, Drink please, In the Bowl, Help please, Catch it, What's that, Open wide, Piggies inside, Peek-a-boo, "It's stinky! Pee-u."
Please, Thank you
Up, Down,
COUNTING: One, Two
COLORS: Red, Blue
ANIMAL SOUNDS: Cow, cat, dog, lion, peacock, chicken, duck
ALSO: Walks like a duck, hops like a frog,
ASL signs: Please, Water, More
LIFE SKILLS:
He dresses and undresses himself head to toe. Puts his clothes in the hamper, and his shoes in their spot. Changes his wet pull-ups. Poops in the potty, when asked. Pees in the toilet both on his own and when reminded, Picks up his toys and puts them in their cubbies and drawers with guidance, Sits at the table to eat. Sits and "reads" to himself, Blows his nose, Washes his face and hands, brushes his teeth, Puts litter in the trash can, Climbs into bed and says night-night,
Naps for 1.5 -2.5 hours sometime around 3 pm. Bed at 9pm, up between 6:30 and 7am.
Ht: 42", Wt: 38.6

June 7, 2008
• • • PROGRESS(LAST REPORT • Tuesday May 2, 2009 from Carson City NV)