Building "therapy" into every day

As home school teachers we have to be careful that some of our time is actually spent at home, working on school work. Depending on where you live, the number of activities: music lessons, art lesson, 4-H, scouting, dance, swimming, can seem endless. Add in a child who needs therapy (speech, occupational and physical therapy) and you could spend your day, in the car driving from appointment to activity.
In the beginning, we were fortunate that the therapists came to our home but once M8 hit 5 that ended. After that it was (and still can be) a constant juggling act to get to where we need to be.
Not only that but therapy can be , well, no "fun". Also, for therapy to be effective it needs to be done every day.
There came a point when I realized that I had to set limits because I just could not do it all. Que "at home" therapy. Home schooling is ideal for this.
 I built in many different activities which could be deemed "therapy" but made it a part of our everyday school. Some physical therapy exercise are done while saying times tables.
M8 had a great need for pressure and bouncing so we would play M taco's and roll him in blankets while reading a story.
Since I sew, I was able to make some of the necessary equipment myself. First thing I made was a weighted vest. This gives a child some neural feedback and can be calming. It can also provide a great, non-verbal, signal such as "it is now time to sit in a chair to do something". We only used it when M8 needed to do his handwriting or another (relatively short) seated task. It is important not to use it all the time because it loses it's effectiveness.

Weighted vest, using modleling clay as weights

The next item I made was a ball bag. Our OT had one of these but it was very expensive. I went to Jo-Ann fabrics and bought some mesh fabric (the type used for sports shorts) and sewed a big bag. Then I got ball pit balls by asking on our local "free-cycle"  (an online place where people can offer items up for free that would otherwise be thrown away) if anyone had some they wanted to get rid of. A lady who lived just around the corner from me had a huge number of them and was delighted that they were finally off her hands.

Mesh ball bag with ball pit balls.

 The purpose of the ball-pit bag is to give the child all-round neural feed back. Also, because the bag is (still) big enough for the child to get into they can get in, "hide" (some children on the spectrum need this to get away from over-stimulation) but still see out. The fabric of the bag is slightly stretchy and also gives a little resistance.

M8 getting into his ball bag

For what ever reason, M8 loves this ball bag. Often I will let him get in it between  school activities for several minutes. This seems to help him focus and we have less sensory seeking behaviors ("mom I need a hug" or being grabbed or pinched).

Another thing we began was  The listening program a form of auditory therapy. Before beginning this I researched it carefully as there are a lot of dubious things out there. All most everything associated with autism also carries a pretty hefty price tag.
This program has some properly done studies to back up what they said. Also, knowing some of the issues that M8 has, severe perseveration (talking on and on about one subject), sensory seeking behaviors, drawing the same pictures and sensitivity to sounds, I felt that this might be helpful to him.
We began this two years ago. One of the things I noticed during the first 10 week cycle was how his drawing improved (he used more colors and would draw different things. Other than that I didn't think it made much difference. The two times 15 minute break I got while he was listening though was worth it to me!
It was a friend of mine who brought something significant to my attention. "what have you been doing with M"? she asked me one day. What do you mean? I asked. "Well, he isn't climbing all over you anymore and touching everyone". That was when it hit me.
A really annoying set of behaviors that he had (pinching, climbing on me, especially while we were out and the worst grabbing my thumbs and jumping up and down practically pulling them out of the socket) had stopped completely!
Being a scientist by training I had been taking notes and observing M. I noticed that when we got to CD 5 and 6 his behaviors changed. During the second cycle, M8 came down one day when the phone rang and ask: "I heard the phone. Is it for me"? To someone who does not have a child on the spectrum that sentence may seem unimportant but to me it was huge. For the first time M referred to himself as I  and  me. Also, that he was interested in the phone which had previously terrified him.
Did the Listening program "cure" M's autism. No, but his and our quality of life did improve noticeably.
There are many other little things that I have built into our (school) day that could be termed therapy but I have tried to make them fun. M and I bake cookies together but we do it non-verbally. This helps him really interact with me and promotes a natural eye gaze because he has to look at me to figure out what we are going to do next.
Having a child on the spectrum means that you are in it for the long haul. You have to come up with creative ways to make that journey sustainable for you and your child.
In a future post I'll talk a bit about ways to set up a supportive learning space for all your children.

Summer fun?

I am sure that many home schoolers wonder: what should we do when school is out in the summer? There are families that homeschool year round, while others take a break during the summer.
What do I do? Does a long break cause problems for M8 because of his disability?
Before M8's diagnosis, summer was the time I used to clean up, re-group, refresh and plan what we were going to do next school year. I still like to do that but as the years go by I am less organized and more tired. I need a plan and some routine or left to myself and my inclinations I would sleep late, stay up too late and not acheive anything.

E13 loves a long break in the summer, because it gives her time to hang out with friends, read lots of books and do "extra" curricular things. She has been learning to fly so she spends a lot of time with her nose in a very thick manual learning ab out lift, aeordynamics and other "fun" things.
 Some people would consider this school work; higher level physics usually is but for her it is a break.

I debated what to do for M8. A long break messes up his routine and that is something he and other spectrum children thrive on. We have had some more crying episodes than usual because we are doing more out of the ordinary things (going to swim in a pond for instance, going on a long road trip, vacation Bible school). On the other hand, he has actually been playing.

Many children on the spectrum have trouble with pretend play or even playing in general. M8 has suddenly started playing, using a script, with his trains again and has been building some elaborate track lay-outs.
The other thing that he has wanted to do was the new fractions program from Math-U-See. Every day he ask to watch the video lesson and do a home made work sheet. He, how great is that, a kid who wants to learn fractions.
Going with the flow, taking field trips, cleaning up (not much fun bu essential) are the best things to do during the summer.
Homeschooling days or hours can sometimes seem long but the time we have with our children is short. Before we know it they will be grown and leaving our homes so it is best to make those times exceptional, fun and memorable. How you define those words depends a little on the child but do not be afraid to do it.