What Stims Mean!

Not everything goes as smoothly as I hope, and Tuesday was a case in point. I wanted to give Pamela a preview of my plans for her to make "no sew" tied reversible fleece blankets. I copied a bunch of pictures off the Internet and put them on two pages for us to review. To strengthen episodic memory, it can help to spotlight various stages of an activity. My objective was two-fold: do the preview and see what gestures Pamela makes in casual conversation.

The problem was that Pamela was itchy from her skeeter bites. She was very distracted and stimming up a storm. While she used some echolalia productively and appropriately "Please stand by," "Cut," "Don't say that," and "Don't do that to me again," she blurted out some off the wall stuff: "Maizie," "Yes or no," "Director," "It's to be announced," "Big bad wolf," and "Rollercoaster." She even reverted back to the earliest syntax she first learned when we started the association method: "I saw a . . ." and "I have a . . ." It is interesting that her syntax feel apart when she felt confused.

I did see some positive things. Even thought Pamela did not want to engage, she trusted me enough to hang in there. She did use some declarative language in the midst of all that stimming. She told me, "I don't feel so good." and used "we" language when she suggested, "Let's go somewhere else." When she was confused, she said, "It's stucked," and I think she meant, "I'm stuck." She also used lots of single nouns and "this" when a word escaped her.

Her nonverbals were there, too. Pamela paid very close attention to me when I looked at her and made sounds. Sometimes, she nodded or raised her eyebrows. She caught on right away when I was using eye gaze to give her a clue about making a blanket for her babies for she asked, "What?" and then started naming things in her room. She hit her leg to show frustration when she saw the dog in the room, scolded the dog, and shifted right back to joint attention with me. She also did that when she was mad at me! I ignored her, so she tapped me for attention. She used several gestures: point, hitting her leg gently, grabbing the page to tell me to turn it, cut with her fingers when she read the instruction about cutting, and poking me. These were all natural gestures that I did not pull out of her or demand.

I had hoped she might immediately figure out my idea about making blankets for her babies. She did not. First, I pointed to the babies. That did not work. Then, I started looking at the pictures. That did not work. So, I asked, "I wonder which one baby David would like." Then she caught on.

When we read the directions and talked about what we had on hand, I had hoped she might immediately figure out shopping for cloth over the weekend. She did not. I said, "When we go shopping," and paused. She did not react, so I added, "What could we do on Saturday?" I tried sticking with declarative, but I had to ask questions because she wasn't tracking. I ended up giving lots of explanation at the very end, rather than dragging it out, because I thought it would have pushed her patience too much.

The very next day, Wednesday, we had a lovely conversation: Pamela was not itchy and was much more engaged.


Objective:
I want us to have a conversation that is not an obvious RDI thing to see what gestures arise. We are talking about two emails Janet and Alyson sent to her.

Overall Impression:
Pamela struggled much less than yesterday and you could tell by her quick thinking! She followed my nonverbals well!

What Worked:
Pamela had no idea what was in my hand. She started off with one of her stims, "New York," and I went with it. I figured I could nonverbally guide her into guessing Louisiana. I was really shocked that it worked so well! :-) Immediately, she thought of the wedding. Again, she used some declarative language about her cousin, aunt, and her princess attire.

Pamela paid very close attention to me when I looked at her and made sounds. Sometimes, she nodded or raised her eyebrows. She was much more engaged with me than yesterday.

When she changed gears from wanting to bake a cake to shopping at Piggly Wiggly, I played dumb. She did follow my nonverbals and got a little annoyed with me. She grimaced once at me in frustration, so I pointed. Right away, she poked me and then adjusted my chin! I have never seen her do that. That would be expressive imperative because she is telling me not to pout!

She used the following gestures: point, pointing to herself, poking me, adjusting my chin, and slight frustration flaps. These were all natural gestures that I did not pull out of her or demand. There was one gesture that I felt I demanded: pointing to her teeth.

What Did Not Work:
She stimmed a little, "New York. Don't say no. Change it. Don't say that. Yes or no." She stimmed a lot less than yesterday!

My bottomline conclusion is to agree with something Dr. Gutstein said at a breakfast for my consultant and parents in her practice. Self-stimulation is a secondary issue, and, as the brain organizes, it usually goes away. In Pamela's case, physical discomfort or illness distracts her brain and her verbal stims increase!

Collapse and ruins

When you see the ruins, there will be market bottom. Buy a gun

It's the end of the World, after all...so they say. At least, some rules are changing but Tulip mania will come sooner or later again :))

In case you haven't read media lately and my last blog article, I have put up few follow-up links that describe the World and its current mindset/geist.
Let's repost these stories :

US retirement accounts have lost 2 trillion
So far and US only...

Iceland - the first souverign nation facing bankruptcy after global financial crisis
National state emergency

Pakistan's the second...after Iceland

Financial manager in LA killed his family
Money worries start to blow someone's mind and tragedy unfolds

Insolvency crisis among UK retailers in 2009 ?
Not aware about the troubles ahead, yet...

Hong Kong bank customers want their money back from banks
At any cost, riots looming...

Brazil and Argentina try trading without dollars
Greeenback not needed as before...

South Africa starts killer disease
Spreads like a plague

Stolen opium for those unhappy in the future
Happy pill for the masses

Russia's bull welcomes Cold War 2
Red Army marching...


Great Britain , de facto, makes agression against Iceland
Give us those geo-thermal wells or we will...

Funny ''flash'' Gordon acting King Arthur
Me, me, saving the World...

Sheriff's returning to the town
Too late, bankers got papers...

Why So Many Negative Attack Ads in Politics?

Negative political attack ads boil over on media these days. And, in election debate follow-ups, many news media channels point out half-truths and distortions. Ever wonder why seemingly decent people resort to so many half-truths and outright falsehoods? Negative political ads influence young voters most according to a report in the April issue of Journal of Consumer Research. You'd be intrigued by what happens...

Negative ads significantly impact the mind of registered voters aged 18-23 in comparison to positive ads, according to the research findings. Though negatives are distasteful, they carry enough weight to change preference and behavior of younger minds.

Thus, "successful politicians rely on the 'pervasive power of the particular,'" according to Frank McAndrew, in Scientific American Mind Oct/Nov, 2008. They build on anecdotes and personal narratives to make political points.

Trouble is, the more people hear stories repeated, they are more likely to accept them. And it's related to the plasticity of your brain. Here's why...

"Any act of remembering re-weights memories, tweaking them to try to be more adaptive for the next time you try to remember something," explains Anthony Wagner, Stanford Psychology researcher. "The brain is plastic—adaptive—and one feature of that is not just strengthening some memories but also suppressing or weakening others." Amazing that repetition, whether negative or positive, can reinforce and change memory.

No doubt you begin to see why the narratives displayed must be questioned and thoroughly researched. Repetition can otherwise trick the brain.

For a more thoughtful approach:

• Study what the candidates say about the issues
• Check the facts presented
• Watch several media news sources to get a bigger picture: Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, National Public Media
• Turn off the attack ads
  

What would you add to get the big picture and avoid persuasion through negative attack ads?

Pamela Beams!

Two years ago, I reported with joy that we figured out a way for Pamela to memorize poetry: a combination of copywork and studied dictation. She took baby steps in understanding figurative language. She recited Daffodowndilly as a present to her dad and The End as a video gift for her grandfather. Last year, Pamela began to enjoy poetry: she held her very own "Poem Marathon" and wrote a Christmas poem all by herself. Over the summer, I noticed Pamela had memorized some poems recited by a toy teddy bear my parents had given her for her birthday. So, this year, I tried doing straight memorization of poetry by auditory practice only.

Today, Pamela memorized the third poem of the school year. She is so proud of her accomplishment and her face beams with joy. If you are having a bad day, I guarantee this clip will bring a smile to your face. If not, you are a grinch!

Meals on Wheels

I don't like to assign my kids busywork, but I noticed Pamela showed a sudden interest in crossword puzzles. She got this booklet with a kids meal from a fast-food restaurant and filled out the crossword puzzle about the planets, all by herself. Since we are in are last week studying chipmunks, I thought it would be fun to make a crossword puzzle (thank you, Online Crossword Puzzle Maker) with all of the vocabulary words in the back of the book. And, it's a good thing I did!

I was just finishing up typing Pamela's association method sheets when my dad (who lives across the street) showed up and reminded me that I was going to help him with meals on wheels at ten! It was 9:14--and I was still in my pajamas and had not eaten any breakfast. I quickly got dressed and ate (in a flash, thanks to my training at the boat school). I threw together some independent work for Pamela to do: copywork, the crossword puzzle, and her association method sheets! Dad and I spent an hour and a half on the route and, when I arrived home, Pamela had finished them all!



Speaking of meals on wheels, we signed up to fill in from time to time and the kids and I will be delivering meals one day near the end of the month. When I got home, I made up a map so that David can help me navigate (Pamela is so good with directions, she will assume that role down the road). Pamela's role will be to hand David milk and salad, and David will be take the hot tray, milk, and salad to the door. I will be the supervisor and driving. I am thinking that, down the road, Pamela could reach the point where she and I could take the food to the door. In two years, David will be in college, so we have plenty of time for her to learn the more challenging role.

I got my wheels turning on another short term project for Pamela: no-sew, tied, fleece, reversible blankets. I think it would be neat for her to make blankets for her babies, now that winter is almost here. Then, she could also make a larger blanket for one cousin who is due in November and another cousin due in May. I am already crocheting a blanket for each--one is pictured left--but I think Pamela could master this. If you do an image search online, you can find some neat pictures and instructions on the basic blanket and variations. I have a friend who does monograms, and I think it would be awesome to have a monogram of the baby's name sewed in first!

Oh, I wanted to share the cheap books I scored at last week's used library book sale: fifteen books, many of which are classics, for only $13. YES! That is a better deal than Paperbackswap! And, if that is not random enough for you, here are some pictures of Steve (our resident drummer), our two dogs, Lovely Loa and the Arwenator, and David, who's assist tonight helped his team score!

Reflections about the Princess

Click here for the previous installment of the Princess Dress Diaries.

Pamela blew the socks off everyone, and I want to take time to process everything that I observed and insights that others shared with me. There will be a part two because Pamela's tias plan to write down their thoughts, too!

Aware and Responsive
Pamela has been aware of her environment for a long time. Now, she is also aware of people: what they say and what their body language says. She is very interested in expressing herself and adding her part to a conversation. A classic example of this was our trip home to Carolina. Steve, who travels overseas quite often due to his job, is platinum in the eyes of Continental. During a long layover in Houston, we checked into their Presidents Club. The agent at the desk asked how many were in our party, and Steve replied, "Four." Not only was Pamela listening to their conversation, she corrected him: she held up her babies and said, "No! Six people!"

This greater attention to people means that Pamela is better able to understand what is happening. She listens to what people say and applies it to the situation at hand. That means she is more able to figure out what we are planning down the road. She is more able to adapt in dynamic situations because she is no longer taken by surprise. When something unexpected happens, she is able to read people's body language and figure out an appropriate response. For example, when she opened the gift for the wedding party, Pamela was a bit puzzled by the jewelry tree. She looked at Alyson and then me, so I smiled broadly and said, "You can hang things on it in your room. It will look beautiful." Pamela still wasn't too sure but relaxed and did not toss it over her shoulder like she used to do with other unwanted gifts.

Calm and Poised
Because Pamela is more aware of people and what their actions may mean, she was much calmer in uncertain situations. One of my nephews has not seen Pamela in eons. He was stunned that she could stay with us at the rehearsal dinner and sit at the table before her food arrived and after she finished her food. All he remembered of her during family holiday gatherings was her disappearing act after she finished eating--usually to watch videos in a bedroom.

Because we found a role in which Pamela could feel competent--passing out programs-- and used an interaction pattern she could fall into--assembly line (me-Pamela-guest), she looked poised. Because passing out programs does not require verbal interactions (especially since 100 people arrived during her half hour on duty), we played to her strength: nonverbal communication. If you watch the video carefully, you will see that she was very comfortable and confident in her role. She was not completely mechanical because she occasionally adjusted to close the distance between her and the guest or to avoid the roving ring bearer, adapted her pace to the rate of guests arriving, and altered her eye gaze. She treated strangers with distance and leaned into the hugs and kisses of family. She did not become flustered when I changed my actions or there was an interruption of flow. She even smiled gently about the guy who did not take a program. When the pace slowed down, she reacted naturally: a slight sigh or playing with her pearls. Her facial expression looked very calm and pleased, and she did not grimace once. The oddest thing was that Pamela was so poised I seriously doubt many people recognized her autism!

Humor and Babies
Pamela has progressed in two areas of development that we are not specifically addressing, and I suspect filling in certain developmental gaps enabled her to advance in humor and the appreciation of dolls. Until recently, Pamela only found verbal stimming and repetitive silly videos funny. Lately, she has started laughing at saying the wrong word or doing the wrong thing, people falling down, accidents, and mistakes. According to Dr. Lawrence Kutner in an article on humor, two-year-olds find things out of place funny. This lines up perfectly with our assumption that Pamela functions like a two-year-old in dynamic intelligence.

Pamela started to pretend play when we put her on a gluten-free/casein-free diet at age six. She began playing with Barbie and baby dolls when she was eight. What is new about her doll play is treating her baby dolls like members of the family and including them in family plans like holidays and vacations. For the first time ever, she is treating baby dolls like people. Her play is not sophisticated in that she does not feed them and spend hours in scenarios with them. However, she travels with them and gets offended if we imply that they are dolls. Again, an interest in dolls can begin as young as two-years old.

This video shows Pamela's ability to cope in a very noisy restaurant. You can also see a little bit of her humor (when her cousin Andrea hits her finger) and how she reacts to how her babies are handled.


Click for the beginning of the story of the Princess Dress Diaries.

80th Pre-Birthday Bash!

Steve's mother will turn eighty next February. Since all of her children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren attended the wedding, we held a pre-birthday bash at the Sun Ray Grill in the Warehouse District of New Orleans. Steve's mother and father are incredible because they still have enough get up and go to dance on stage at the wedding reception the night before this celebration. We look forward to sharing many more birthdays with them in the years to come. Below is a photobucket and video of the celebration, followed by a very prestigious award won by the official dance king of the wedding reception.

It goes without saying that everyone loves Pamela, and she is a favorite with the Glasers. David astonished them with his height and asked if we sprinkled Miracle-Gro on his head. He towers over all but one of his cousins! They must think we can transfer our ability to grow a giant kid to the garden because someone gave us this book about growing super vegetables. As I have a black thumb in both the kitchen and garden and Steve's porch ferns look luscious, he will be the one to grow super veggies.

And, now, our very important announcement of the winner of the Dance King contest. But first, you need a little background. The Glasers have many talents, and, while singing is not one of them, they are excellent dancers. They lived in Central America for many years (and some of the Glasers still do) and know how to keep time with a Latin beat. David has never joined in on dancing because he was a tender (and short) lad of twelve at the last bash we attended. After Pamela and I had retired to the safety of our hotel room and collapsed in a head-cold haze, David decided to hang out at the reception. Steve felt pity on Pamela and I and hung out with us. Suddenly, we receive an urgent call from his sisters. "Stevie, you have to see David! You didn't tell us he could dance! He's got moves we've never seen!"

David never told us he could dance either. . . So, while Pamela was the Princess of the Programs, David was King of the Dance! The next day someone tossed one of the Glasers these beads. In New Orleans, you don't need a reason for beads--any excuse will do. They thought it would make the perfect impromptu spontaneous award for the dance king.

David gave an encore performance with Tia Julia before and after receiving this award. Tia Janet pronounced him the winner. Enjoy!