AUT-2B-HOME IN CAROLINA ~ Teaching our twenty-five-year-old daughter with autism and aphasia, who is still learning about God, the world, and its people with a little help from Charlotte Mason
Pamela and I made GF/CF Gingerbread Cookies before Christmas, but she was still getting over a cold and was not really "up" for the activity. We ended up refrigerating the leftover dough and made another batch of cookies tody. We still have plenty of dough left for another batch, which I froze. My very first tip for this recipe is to cut it in half because I did not have any bowls large enough to handle the dough!
We made only one major tweak to the recipe because I could not find any amaranth flour at the health food store. We ended up replacing it with sorghum flour. The hint in the recipe about making your own insulated pans worked well and added opportunities for Pamela to reference to resolve uncertainty. She had never used a full-blown rolling pin nor cookie cutters, so baking these cookies was a great opportunity to learn new skills. My big tip for this recipe is to avoid over-baking because the recipe produces a very stiff dough.
You could say that Pamela went cookie cutter crazy. First, she tried out three-sizes of gingerbread men. Then, she tested out two kinds of stars, apples, and shamrocks. She enjoyed trying different kinds of shapes.
One mother recently asked me to recommend recipes with less than five or less ingredients to do some beginner's baking. That is hard to do when baking GF/CF food because, to get the right consistency, you must blend different kinds of flour. I think you could scaffold this by putting together all the dry ingredients in advance and then start the child off by focusing on the liquids individually and mixing them with the dry ingredients when ready. With beginners, you can scaffold by having all the utensils and ingredients out, oiling pans and preheating in advance, etc.
To work on referencing skills, you can leave the recipe out of the child's sight. This means the child will have to pay attention to you to figure out how to put the ingredients together.
I wanted to share some insight about how far Pamela has come in her ability to enjoy a full-blown large-family Christmas celebration without going into meltdown. Much of the credit goes to the Glasers and the Kings, who are the most supportive group of people anyone could desire.
First, you will notice as you watch and hear the clips that Pamela is surrounded by noise: seventeen people sometimes all talking at once in three languages (English, German, and Spanish), several speaking to Pamela at one time, plus the music in the background.
Second, you need to know that Pamela stayed through the entire celebration from beginning to end: she sat through the Christmas readings, listened to the Christmas carols (she was too hoarse to sing), and even contributed by signing "Silent Night" for everyone--can you say tissue moment? Then, she had no problems waiting patiently as each one of us opened presents, one by one, individually to allow us all to share in one another's joy.
Finally, you must know that Pamela could not have managed this with so much ease and enjoyment in her early childhood. From 1991 through 1994, Pamela coped with very large family gatherings by spending time in her escape hatch. At Great-Grandma's house, she played with the dolls under the bed in the guest room. At Tia Janet's, she studied the videos stored in Alyson's room. At Grandma's house, she sat on the bed in the master bedroom and watched television. She spent most of the time flitting around the room with her ears plugged and bolting to her escape hatch for peace and quiet. She had the occasional meltdown when we were too much for her. That last large family Christmas gathering was 1999 and she still needed lots of downtime.
Second of Twelve Gifts: Happy, But Not Joy
In this clip, Pamela received a Sweet Slumbers Bedtime Set. She is happy but does not rock in joy as you will see in later clips. Pamela briefly shows the gift to her grandmother on the left.
Eleventh of Twelve Gifts: Obviously Joyful
Pamela had asked for some kind of Moon Sand kit and was very delighted with the Moon Sand Pet Shop kit, selected due to her love of all things animals. Pamela smiles brightly and responds very nicely to a request to see her present. Then, she rocks to express her joy more completely.
First of Twelve Gifts: Surprised and Joyful
Pamela references beautifully in this gift from her Oma and Opa. The stuffed animal is contained in a plastic bag, and Pamela is unsure of how to open it. She thinks she can rip into the bag, but she turns to me and her Oma for reassurance. Once she realizes it is a huge Winnie-the-Pooh, she turns back to us again to share her joy with us, hugs her bear, and rocks in excitement.
Last of Twelve Gifts: Extreme Joy
Pamela waited patiently all night for Baby Alive, which we saved until the end. Pamela tells us that she plans to watch PBS Kids (which she does every weekday at noon) with her new baby. She was so excited that she carefully stood up and had to release her joy in a "victory lap." Many people with autism find ways to express joy physically like a football player does an end zone dance.
As promised, Pamela sits down every weekday at noon with her baby to watch PBS Kids for an hour. She has informed me that we now have FIVE members of our family, where there were previously four. She plans to celebrate New Year's Eve and Leap Day with her baby. When pressed for a name, she says, "No name" or "Baby Alive!"
Tomorrow, I plan to cover what tips have helped Pamela learn to enjoy herself, even in large gatherings. I will close with the gift that gave ME great joy: Jane Austen the Illustrated Library. This nine-pound book contains all six books with sketches and color plates and large enough print for Steve to read.
I have company visiting and little time to blog. Last Saturday night, I was frantic! All month long I had been practicing Bethlehem Morning, which I was supposed to sing at church last Sunday. Well, apparently, I had rehearsed this piece one too many times because the tape broke the night before I was supposed to sing! ACK!!!!!!!
Fortunately, I looked online and found the song was not only available at CBD Books, but that I could download the vocal track for ONLY 99 cents and burn a CD from the download!
YIPPEE!!!!
The double miracle in this is that Pamela started getting a cold on December 15 and I thought I would catch her cold, just in time for my solo. Again, fortunately--or was that God's perfect timing--my sore throat started on Christmas Eve after all of my singing obligations were finished!
I found an article on Dr. Talley who helped me find my voice. What they do not mention his great ragtime versions of the Navy Hymn and the Doxology. I had never soloed, much less sung much, until Dr. Talley accepted me into the choir and glee club. He even selected me to do the alto solo from the Easter Messiah and hired Jeanne Kelly to be the voice teacher for all of the soloists. She was fantastic, and I still remember many tips and tricks she taught me about singing.
I was not surprised that no clips of Christmas in Washington exist on You-Tube from the two years I was on the show. So, I googled it. I was flabbergasted to find a DVD of the 1983 show hosted by Andy Williams up for sale on eBay! Even more so, I WON THE BID. So, now Steve and the kids have seen a very young and thin version of me singing for President Reagan on national television.
I also found some pictures at the Osmond family website from the 1984 show, which I will be happy to share here. You can see larger shots by clicking each image.
I have a copy of this same program displayed at the Osmond website in my memorabilia from my days at the boat school. Again, you can see larger shots by clicking each image. And, that is enough sea stories for one evening . . . (Jamberry, don't you love it?)
I opened a 14-ounce can of coconut milk and skimmed off two ounces of the cream. I replaced the evaporated milk with the remaining twelve ounces of coconut milk.
I did not have the buttery sticks that might have worked, and the nearest decent health food store is 75 miles away. Instead of 3/4 cup of butter, I tried the remaining two ounces of coconut cream and four ounces of vegetable shortening.
I found the recipe too sweet the first time I made it, so I cut back the sugar to 3/4 cup.
I did not have any yellow cake mix handy, so I substituted it with muffin mix.
My sister Pam has cut milk from her diet, and she tried the pecan praline dessert and raved at the taste. My daughter Pamela loved it, too. I found it equal in taste to the original, but the GF/CF version does not brown as nicely. Unfortunately, I took no pictures . . . maybe next time! By the way, everyone loved the gluten and casein packed version, too, and the only modification I made to that was lowering the sugar to 3/4 cups.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you I am not a great cook. I am a terrible cook as Pamela has attested. EVERYONE loved the Cranberry Conserve, which is GF/CF without any modifications! I did make the following changes:
I was feeding a huge crowd of seventeen (that is huge for me). I tripled the recipe.
Instead of using 4.5 cups of sugar (3 times 1.5 cups), I cut it back to 3 cups (which would be 1 cup per batch).
Pamela used up all of my lemon juice, so I used 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar instead of 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
This conserve tastes wonderful on turkey as well as pork chops.
Most of my family (my parents and five of seven siblings and family ) celebrated a German Christmas together for the first time in twenty-three years. Steve's parents and a nephew also joined us for the festivities. First, we lit a white candle to honor loved ones who have died and spent one minute in silence, followed by lighting a red candle to remember those serving in our military. Then, we took turns picking Christmas carols from the very same song sheets we used as children--well, copies of them. We alternated songs with Gospel readings from the Time-Life Book of Christmas published and purchased the year I was born. Finally, each child stood next to the Christmas tree with a gift for the Christ child. Pamela signed Silent Night while I sang it, and David read A Nativity by Rudyard Kipling.
When it comes to Christmas, the Germans are smart. We always opened our presents on Christmas Eve so that children and adults could get a good night's sleep. Because we had some pretty lean years, someone played Santa by passing out presents, one by one, allowing time for all to see. We did not think it necessary for each adult to buy the other adult a Christmas present, so we held a white elephant gift exchange, minus the white elephants. I was sneaky enough to slip in gag gifts with mine: (1) I re-gifted a can of creamed possum with a nice gift card plus and pretty Amazing Grace go-cup and (2) I hid the movie Amazing Grace in a box of microwave popcorn. The gift exchange generated many laughs, especially the You Might Be a Redneck If game.
The first thing Pamela did this morning was pull her baby out of the box. She gave her some juice and changed her diaper. I would have filmed her but was busy chopping up pecans for my cranberry conserve for Christmas dinner. I did snap these photos of her putting on her baby's slippers. At noon, Pamela dashed across the street with her baby to watch television at my parents' house.
I am too tired to edit much video and will post clips tomorrow!
Pamela did not always remember events by date. Prior to 2004 when she started a journal that she kept for about two years, she remembered events by location. Like me (a navy brat), we moved often enough for this system to be helpful as you can see in these pictures. The animals represent the Chinese zodiac.
Her memory of events and dates emerged in the Spring of 2004. The first dated entry in her autobiography, which she wrote without consulting her journal, is from March of that year. It ties into her intense fascination with broken things, too:
I didn't go to mass at March 28,2004. David broke a tape. David listen on another tape. Tammy, David, and I go to a library. We didn't have co-op at 3/30/04. We have haircut in a mall. David visited Merlin. They dropped off Merlin. David broke an arm. David went to the doctor.
I decided to go on a fact-finding mission to see how accurate her memory is. While I knew David broke his arm in 2004, I could only narrow it down to a season: either spring or fall because David missed out on some of the YMCA program which takes a break in the summer and people do not roller-blade during a Minnesota winter. I went to David's journal and confirmed three things Pamela covered. First, we did go to the library on March 29. Second, David did invite his friend Merlin over for a sleepover on April 2. Third, he did break his arm on April 3. (Why do emergency room visits always happen on a Saturday?)
This feat may not be all that amazing. After all, Pamela kept a journal during this time period and one of her favorite activities is to relive the past by pouring through pictures, home videos, homeschooling paperwork, and journals. She stopped keeping a formal journal when we moved to Carolina, which would be July 2005 (my memory system is based on the house in which we lived).
What impresses me is that she must keep a journal in her head. I went back through her autobiography and journal-in-a-box and made some astounding discoveries. I am at a disadvantage because my memories of events are not connected to dates, but I have a little helper . . . the Internet! She remembers these post-journal dates in her head, while I have to look them up online.
Perfect Recall
* October 2005 - Saw The Hobbit in Charleston, SC
* April 16, 2006 - Spent Easter with the Grandparents in Asheville, NC
* Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - Stayed with Oma and Opa while I went to the Charlotte Mason Conference in Boiling Springs, NC
* June 11, 2006 - Performed Celebrate Life performance (confirmed by the handout)
Pamela's journal-in-a-box is complete through the end of June 2007. I have searched high and low for any errors, and I found only one! She wrote that David went to a concert on September 22, 2006, but the Casting Crowns concert he attended was really on November 10, 2006. Wow! Only ONE mistake! If I did not have this blog, I would be lucky to get the year right!
I know I shouldn't complain about this because I have it made. Some parents deal with children who perseverate over potty humor or impress people with burping the ABCs. Others leave visitors with a lasting impression of themselves clothed in socks--only socks! Pamela's headache-inducing interest revolves around broken video tapes.
It all started on that unknown, but fateful day, back in 1996 in which Pamela broke The Honey Tree as recorded in her auto-biography. Later that year, the beloved MGVT 1 and 2 broke, a tragedy in the annals of Glaser history. A quibbler might note that The Honey Tree was released in VHS form on October 1, 1997. I might point out that some people have too much time on their hands and I believe her dating system at that time was based upon where we lived, meaning anything that happened in Pennsylvania occurred anywhere from the summer of 1996 to the Spring of 2000. Her calendar skills kicked in anywhere from the summer of 2001 to the summer of 2003 because we lived in Alaska.
Pamela wove into her auto-biography entries about every video tape or VCR she broke. For example, in September of 2002, she recalled, "A video cleaner is stucked in a VCR. Its acting up. I cut a VCR. The VCR broke." She even set aside a special page for tracking important video events: picking her favorite videos, breaking them, or buying them on eBay. Her biggest eBay haul was eighteen videos in one auction as a present for Christmas 2003, while her most important one was winning a new copy of the coveted MGVT 1 and 2 in February 2004.
But, I digress. Pamela discovered You-Tube this year. She started researching broken video tapes to which I refuse to provide links for obvious reasons. She found a couple of annoying ones in which mindless teens break video tapes over their head and some even chew the tape. Echolalia from these video clips can appear at anytime as you can see in this clip!
Fortunately, Pamela is too smart to try this at home. Unfortunately, she found a safe way to imitate this silliness that is non-toxic and non-scarring. I know I should be thankful for this! She makes paper videos and presses hard with a pen to semi-perforate them to make them easier to rip. To the right are sample paper videos. Here is an example of Pamela in all her glory.
You might smile and say "Awwww . . . how cute!" Check out pictures of my desk drawers which I clean out daily. These pesky paper videos multiply like tribbles. They must go through some weird life cycle change because sometimes they appear as tiny wads of paper. Occasionally, I even come across them soaking wet, probably from a very recent metamorphic transformation. I refuse to hear any of your speculation about alternatives because life cycle changes sound more hygenic!
I really should not complain. After all, this broken videotape craze has replaced the Hooper-Bloob Highway monologues. Occasionally, broken videotapes slip into conversations quite appropriately, and I go with it!
Pamela started exploring calendars in 2002. All on her own, she figured out how to look up calendars in Wikipedia and Google and learned about the fourteen kinds of calendars: seven leap years and seven common years. One of many things she does in her free time is to write different ways to analyze calendars. Not only that, she remembers the exact date of events that have occurred since she developed this skill. In fact, if you tell her your date of birth, she can tell you the day of the week on which you were born. This is a great way to break the ice with acquaintances! She knows what years go with what calendar type. Then, in her mind, she visually looks up the date just like we would look up the same information visually by going to a website.
As part of a writing co-op class, Pamela kept a journal for two years from September 2003 to July 2005. Back in September of 2007, she wrote her auto-biography in a spiral notebook but ended it on December 31, 2006. I wondered if she would ever write up 2007, and she has launched her account of this year in a very unique way: a journal in a box! She found some untouched, little tablets in my desk and started filling them out page by page. Methodically, she ripped off each completed page and placed them neatly in a plastic, food container.
So far, she has recorded daily entries for the first two months of 2007. Some entries look very similar, and it is amazing how accurately she remembers events by date, such as a trip we took to Wilmington, NC around Valentine's Day. She wrote that we saw a movie on Monday, February 26, 2007. (If you double click, the picture you can read that entry.) The movie was Amazing Grace, which was released on February 23, 2007. I remember seeing it on a Monday because Steve was hoping to take the afternoon off and meet us at the movie theater. She even writes down what days we homeschooled and did not homeschool. I wish I were as accurate in remembering dates at the end of the school year when I write up my homeschooling reports! In fact, I think I better just use her journal as a guide come August of next year . . .
When people converse with one another, they engage in a form of dialogue called narrative--a storylike mode of communicating, composed of a sequence of events with people as main characters. In the narrative, which may be real or imaginary, characters' roles and mental states--feelings, intentions, beliefs, opinions, and knowledge--are revealed (page 52).
Charlotte Mason believed that the narrative style came easily to younger children once they had words:
Bobbie will come home with a heroic narrative of a fight he has seen between 'Duke' and a dog in the street. It is wonderful! He has seen everything, and he tells everything with splendid vigour in the true epic vein; but so ingrained is our contempt for children that we see nothing in this but Bobbie's foolish childish way! Whereas here, if we have eyes to see and grace to build, is the ground-plan of his education. Until he is six, let Bobbie narrate only when and what he has a mind to. He must not be called upon to tell anything (page 231).
For narrative to extend the zone of proximal development, it helps to establish a shared understanding with the help of scaffolding. The other day, we had some great interactions that illustrate this. Pamela and I made an elfball. (A quick aside for those of you looking for non-toxic toys for Christmas gifts, the toymaker sells her own book.) Pamela cut the entire thing all by herself, and I cleaned up three corners for her. Before taking the next step, I wanted to establish an understanding about how the flap folds need to be made along the lines. She tends to fold without looking!
Pamela could see the need to fold the flaps but did not see the inner lines that form the ball. I talked about what needed to happen next, and I thought she understood. When Pamela said, "I did it," I realized we had a disconnect. She needed more scaffolding to get to my level of understanding, so I demonstrated the next step and she caught on immediately.
I hoped Pamela might figure out what to do next. We needed to tape the flaps to the ball, so I tried to make the point non-verbally. An interesting thing happened. When I was going to turn my gaze to the drawer with the tape, Pamela spaced out (it started when she tapped her face). The brisk, "get on with it" Tammy would have snapped her fingers impatiently and said, "Get the tape." I am working on my personal goal to slow down. This time, I waited and moved my head in odd angles. I realized she was not paying attention, so I waited about fifteen seconds until she referenced me to tell me I could continue. One crucial element of scaffolding for most autistic children is to SLOW DOWN and give them the chance to process and think.
Another element of scaffolding for an autistic child is to communicate non-verbally.Because I have emphasized language and speech for so long, I have neglected body language. Part of the problem was I had read so much research stating that reading facial expressions was too difficult for people with autism. I did not even bother to try. However, since 70% of all communication is non-verbal, I now think it is important to make the attempt. Pamela and I are both way past the neural plasticity limit (that magical age of six) and, yet, we are both learning new ways to communicate! In this case, Pamela got stuck ripping the tape. In the past, she would persist in pulling up, instead of down along the jagged edge. So, I took the tape and demonstrated what to do. She grabbed the scissors, and I shook my head. She reached up to hold the tape, so I guided it into the position. Then, she had no problems with ripping the tape. This entire twenty-five second interaction is completely non-verbal.
I strung together a few examples of declarative language, the last element of scaffolding I will show today. I needed to cut off excess tape, and the imperative Tammy would have said, "Get me the scissors." The declarative Tammy asked, "What do we do about this?" Later, a piece Pamela cut needed to be cut in half. In the old days, I would have said, "Cut this." Instead, I observed, "I think this is too long." By making comments like that, I get to see how Pamela solves problems.
The main difference between being imperative and declarative is not necessarily words, but intent. If grabbing the scissors is the only "correct" response, then I am being imperative. Waiting to see how this interaction will unfold is more declarative. She might have disagreed and come back with, "It's okay." Or, she might have gotten a knife instead of scissors. On the other hand, she might have given me a blank stare. I learn more about how she thinks when I allow her to be an active participant.
At the end of the clip, the phone rang and I told her, "I'm ignoring the phone. The last time they hung up." Pamela stood up to get it, so I told her, "That's okay. Last time, nobody was on the phone. I'm not going to answer it." I had hoped she would ignore the ringing phone because I knew David would get it. I told her what I was thinking, and she decided to sit down and ignore it, too! However, if she had opted to pick it up and hand it to me, I would have answered it. The old imperative Tammy would have said, "Sit down. I'm ignoring the phone." Period. End of story.
These three elements of scaffolding are what I was missing before I started reading about RDI. I already knew about elements of teaching problem solving like breaking things down into manageable steps, including visual cues, demonstrating what to do, give feedback, only helping when stuck, being warm and encouraging, etc. What is new for me are thinks like slowing down, relying on body language rather than my mouth, and sharing rather than demanding. My focal points when interacting with Pamela are Slow . . . Quiet . . . Sharing.
Pamela already knows how to put pictures in sequence, but we are having fun with a twist to this idea. I cut up cards in a sequence and put them in order. I present them one at a time in order. Pamela tells me what the characters are doing (practicing present progressive tense) on the card being shown. To add an element of having to read my face for information, she has to guess what will happen next. Then, I use mainly non-verbal communication to help her figure it out. With the climax of the story, I try to do a little bit of anticipation like counting before I show the card, starting and stopping, pausing, acting very dramatic, etc.
So far, she likes the nursery rhymes at Enchanted Learning. I do not tell her the title of the rhyme so part of the fun is guessing it. They are a bit drab, so I use our trusty, old, reliable, lovable 1995 version of MGI Photosuite to add some color.
These stick-figure story sequences look dull, but nearly all of them have a funny twist that Pamela makes Pamela giggle. For example, she expected the one with a fireman carrying a hose to be about a house on fire. Imagine trying to give her non-verbal clues for birthday cake! I ended up humming the birthday song. The thought of someone putting out a cake with a firehose tickled her fancy.
From time to time, Hearing Journey posts wordless books for the weekly preschool activities. Pamela loved this week's story which was about a pig and sheep riding a sled and crashing into a snowman. It reminded her of the beloved story Pa told Laura "The Pig and the Sled." If you think this week's story is cute, be sure to download the pdf file because it turns into a pumpkin on Friday!
Once I run out of entertaining story sequencing cards (none of that dull life skills stuff that bores us to tears), I plan to print out and cut up online comics.
Today's version of Foxtrot is a perfect example of something tailor-made for this activity. It will probablt change by tomorrow, so I will briefly narrate. Foxtrot is busy working at a computer. His mother is asking him about his progress on taking out her wrinkles in the family Christmas picture. He shows her the family on the bridge of the Death Star (Pamela is a fan of Star Wars), riding the back of a T. Rex ala Jurassic Park, waving at a Balrog (we read the books and have the Special Extended Editions of all three movies and even the cheesy cartoon version from the 1970s) and navigating the first level of Super Mario Brothers (the only game she will play on her Game Boy). The beauty of this comic is that I can have her guess each new scene and think of clues to help her think of each scene. I am already having fun just anticipating doing this one with her!
I have a feeling my blogging will be more sparse because 'tis the season to be singing--fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! Let me see . . . choir rehearsal Wednesday night (1 hour), youth band Thursday night (2 hours), youth band Saturday night (3 hours), multiple singing venues Sunday (3.5 hours). . . The kids and I are in a cantata on December 9 (Emmanuel: Celebrating Heaven's Child) and a youth/youngish adult musical on December 19 (City on a Hill) in addition to the ordinary choir and youth band stuff. On December 23, I will sing Bethlehem Morning and will spend the month finding my way up to that dreaded A flat! All those hours I spent rehearsing this week (which does NOT include the extra bits I do at home to get prepared for a solo) explain why no stockings are hung by the chimney with care . . . yet.
Pamela is already in the Christmas spirit. She has only one two more cards left in her Best Thoughts folder she has been making all last month. She told me she was going to write a Christmas poem and this is EXACTLY what she wrote. I resisted the urge to make little changes because I wanted to preserve her words as she wrote them. This sort of thing was impossible for her to compose from straight from her head three years ago!
Pamela and I made GF/CF Gingerbread Cookies before Christmas, but she was still getting over a cold and was not really "up" for the activity. We ended up refrigerating the leftover dough and made another batch of cookies tody. We still have plenty of dough left for another batch, which I froze. My very first tip for this recipe is to cut it in half because I did not have any bowls large enough to handle the dough!
We made only one major tweak to the recipe because I could not find any amaranth flour at the health food store. We ended up replacing it with sorghum flour. The hint in the recipe about making your own insulated pans worked well and added opportunities for Pamela to reference to resolve uncertainty. She had never used a full-blown rolling pin nor cookie cutters, so baking these cookies was a great opportunity to learn new skills. My big tip for this recipe is to avoid over-baking because the recipe produces a very stiff dough.
You could say that Pamela went cookie cutter crazy. First, she tried out three-sizes of gingerbread men. Then, she tested out two kinds of stars, apples, and shamrocks. She enjoyed trying different kinds of shapes.
