RPM Vidoes - Making Progress

So the fist try at RPM didn't seem to be too successful, I was wondering why, and what I could do better when I had the thought, try things like 3+X=5, and see if he can select the correct number. (His school teacher had indicated that she didn't think he recognized symbols because he could not correctly locate the #2 when asked to do so.

Here is a link to the (video were too big to post)

2/14/15 - Algebra

I know Stephen is so intelligent, I hope we can unlock his voice soon!


We've been working on RPM almost every day after school---we had a few really tough days where Stephen would choose the right side choice EVERY SINGLE TIME! I didn't know what to do, I asked in the group and other moms expressed the same feeling.  One day I decided to just write the answers instead of tell him what I wrote, he was much more interested in that!  Then I made some 3 card stencils, and helped him spell a lot of his answers.  Here is a video showing him starting out with the stencils.

3/2/15 Using the stencil cards

Thought I would do a progress check again, so I video tapped our session.  I am so proud of the progress he is making so quickly.  I hope we will be able to continue teaching him these skills!

3/9/15 - A lot of progress in one week!


Hope you enjoy watching these videos and are as excited for Stephen as we are! 

RPM Day 1---2/12/15

Why do we have to go through trials?

I've been learning a lot about trials or why life is sometimes so hard!  Not because of the trials I am going through, But because of the difficulties and struggles I require Stephen to go through!  Last week it took him 9 hours to do something, after 9 hours of struggling he did it and felt pretty proud...the next day I had him practice 5 times in a row, he did it 5 times in 2 minutes.  He has now successfully done it himself everyday since. I could have just given up that day and continued to do it for him, but now he is so much more independent then he was before.

 I think a lot of our trials or difficulties are like that, could God intervene and just carry the burden or solve the problem for us? Of Course!!! But how would we grow? What is really in our best interest?

Requiring Stephen to grow has helped me understand why when I pray things don't just go away or get easier.  Heavenly Father loves us so much that He lets us struggle, so we can grow.

It is so hard sometimes to watch Stephen struggle and fight doing what I know he is capable of doing, Sometimes it seems he puts more effort in to not doing what I ask than would be required to do the task.  When I think about my life I wonder in how many ways I do that to, do I work harder to avoid difficulties or frustrating situations than I would have to do if I just faced them head on and pushed through?

Looking back at where Stephen has come in the last 2 years it is truly amazing.  He has made so much progress and has learned to do so many things, each new skill has been such a battle and at times I have wondered if it was really worth it to "make" him do it himself.  I love him so much that although it is hard to watch him struggle I want more than anything for him to be successful!

I think Heavenly Father feels the same way about us!

Some links:

Be for your good
Trials help us grow
Finding Joy in Life

A New Begining

 It has been so hard to not have Stephen typing all his thoughts and what he is thinking/feeling.  I've been thinking a lot and every couple of weeks we would try to encourage him to type "eat" or "treat" or something, and just hadn't seen any progress.  Last week he was able to type "treat" with a lot of prompting from me, "Touch the T"--and deleting the wrong letter, "close, touch the T" The next day he wouldn't even try. 

This morning I came upon this entry from a boy who types to communicate: it really gave me some hope.

Typing is not my idea of fun. No one believes that controlling my hand to do what I want can be so much work. Getting my fingers to choose the right letters is very hard. So much concentration is going into keeping myself really from making mistake after mistake. In the beginning it was much more difficult but because I have practiced so much it is getting easier. So now I can type on my own. Lots of time I still don't want to type but my mom knows that I can get better at typing so she keeps pushing me not to give up. One day I believe that typing will be as easy as riding my bike. I remember when my legs and feet could not move the pedals on my bike. Now I can do it easily.
Oliver

Understanding how much work it actually is for Stephen to control his body to actually type a word helps me be more patient working with him, it has also helped me to find ways to encourage him, reminding him of the things that use to be so hard for him, (like getting dressed, feeding himself, loading the dishwasher, buttoning his shirt, putting on his socks and shoes, playing games on the Ipad ect.) he can do all these things without really thinking now!  Eventually typing will be the same way for him. 

So today I would ask him a question after reading from a book, a simple one word question and then let him try to answer it himself, if he wasn't able to after 3 tries I would help him by telling him the letter to type---I found that if I pointed to the left or right of the keyboard he was able to find the right letter quicker---still with a lot of difficulty. 

I was able to stay encouraging and let him know that I was proud of him even though it was so hard. 

It was also easy to tell when he had "given up" and just started pushing randomly until he accidentally got the right letter.  (He only did that on one word). We just took a break and came back to the same word. 

I think E is almost an automatic letter already, he rarely misses the letter E and doesn't need me to point to what side of the keyboard it is on!!! 

There is hope, and I'm pretty excited about that! 

***I think this blog is turning into more about me and my progress rather than Stephen's!

A Hard Decision

This week Stephen has started typing 1 letter of a word and pressing "speak" he seems to think it is too much to have to write the whole word himself.  We have also been trying to to work on the next step to independent.  We would point to a letter on the keyboard and have him type different sentences (typing practice).  He did great at first and then we started trying to just say the letter and have him do 1 letter on his own. he would look at me with a mischievous smile and would hit the key next to it, or hold the key down for multiple pages.

We asked him why it is hard to type by himself and he said, "I could if I tried." 

I bought lots of treats, ice cream donuts, cookies, fruitsnacks---to try to motivate him with food, he said, "I don't want to ear treats, I should just get them because I have Autsim." 

Nothing seemed to work, the more we would try to encourage the harder he would push back to not type, it needs to be his own idea and he needs to have the desire to do it himself!

We talked with some other parents who have been in similar situations and they said, it wasn't until we told him he wouldn't get anything unless he asked for it that he decided it was worth it, if you continue to help him do it he will never have any reason to do it himself.

So we are going to go through that battle, it hurts so bad to not just help him; but I know he is capable to do it and that motivation is what is keeping him from doing it! I hope he decides quickly that it is worth it!  I know that if we don't do it now we will have to do it down the road, so we can either do it today or wait 5 years; but he is going to have to go through it, and climb his mountain.

We would appreciate prayers that Stephen will decide he wants to communicate and understand that it would be a blessing for him!

It is so frustrating to me, he has been given one of the greatest gifts that I'm sure most autistic kids would love to have, he often says "I don't care" when I try to explain how blessed he is to have this opportunity.  It is so hard to watch him waste this opportunity!

Pray for me to, that I can be patient in him going through this learning experience!

Communicating Step 1

This is how Stephen types, and why it looks like we are just having him type what we want him to. He doesn't look at the keyboard (the light bothers his eyes, so he's memorized where the keys are-which is how most people type anyway).  He also requires someone to hold his hand so it will move the way he wants it to.

We are currently working on him becoming more independent in typing...I'm not sure if it is a lack of motivation or just unlearned body movement keeping him from doing it himself.  Right now we practice a couple times a day on a key board, we point to where the letter is and say the letter name--the thought is that once he has had enough practice his body will memorize the movement for each letter and he will be able to type without assistance.

We hope it works!

"Listening"

I remember other people always telling me that I had a lot of patience, and I would scoff and say; you have no idea how impatient I am... the last few weeks I've realized that I do have patience, and how necessary it is for Stephen to communicate like he would like to.

Often times Stephen will be asked a questions and he'll start typing the answer; before he can even finishes I will hear, "Ok, I know what you want, lets go." I think it is really important to wait until he decides he is done before assuming that he is done. ---It is just like interrupting another person while talking, assuming you know what they are going to say.

Another thing that sometimes happens is Stephen will begin typing a sentence and someone will say, oh ..... and finish if for him and so sometimes he says what they think instead of what he himself thinks.

One more thing that has happened, is Stephen will start typing and whomever he is talking to will get bored and start talking to someone else.

As I review these scenarios I realize they are very typical of communication in General. Waiting for Stephen to type all he wants to say and waiting for someone to finish saying what they wanted to say is an important listening skill we should all work to develop.

I remember when I first started typing with Stephen that I would lead his hand to the speak button when I thought he was or should be finished, I decided to wait and have him initiate it and realized, he was capable of and wanted to say more than one sentence when talking; sometimes I sit there for 5 min just having him type, not saying a word (although I am often tempted). but just "listening."